Second question is what is more *accurate* and smooth. I can shoot 1/4" groups at 20Y with the R7. I want similar accuracy from the R9. Is the .22 smoother?Please only respond if you have direct experience. Thanks!
Quote from: PaulFWI on May 23, 2023, 01:22:43 AMSecond question is what is more *accurate* and smooth. I can shoot 1/4" groups at 20Y with the R7. I want similar accuracy from the R9. Is the .22 smoother?Please only respond if you have direct experience. Thanks! I never considered my HW95 accurate or smooth until I converted it to 22.
Quote from: TXKmike on May 24, 2023, 09:20:42 AMQuote from: PaulFWI on May 23, 2023, 01:22:43 AMSecond question is what is more *accurate* and smooth. I can shoot 1/4" groups at 20Y with the R7. I want similar accuracy from the R9. Is the .22 smoother?Please only respond if you have direct experience. Thanks! I never considered my HW95 accurate or smooth until I converted it to 22.22 is definitely smoother at full power. With the same full power kit the 95 family guns are 16 sometimes 17 FPE in 22 and around 15 in 177. Personally I think accuracy depends more on the specific gun. My 177 95 can best or tie any of my springers at 50 yards. That's including my 177 HW97, 20 cal R9, 22 cal HW95 and 22 R1. Only the 97 can occasionally best it. For the OPs bunny hunting any of them are more than accurate and powerful enough. It doesn't sound as if he's making long shots so 22 is naturally better. The 22 is smoother and makes a bigger hole.As an aside note I retired this week and will be full time in AR soon
I am likely going to buy a Beeman R9 to compliment my wife's R7.Intended use is killing cottentails to whatever range makes sense.I haven't shot a bunny (in the chest) with a springer in many a year. First question is whether a .177 will anchor them or should I go .22. (I won't do head shots - I shot a bunny's jaw off once and will never do that again.)Second question is what is more *accurate* and smooth. I can shoot 1/4" groups at 20Y with the R7. I want similar accuracy from the R9. Is the .22 smoother?Please only respond if you have direct experience. Thanks! "First question is whether a .177 will anchor them or should I go .22." Over a few decades I've owned a few different HW springers (HW50, HW35, Beeman R10 and the R9/HW95 is my favorite of the bunch. Over the years owning a Beeman R9 I started with the .177 cal and was perfectly satisfied with the caliber however I drank the "fatter pellet more gooder" CoolAid and bought a .20 cal Beeman R9 thinking that it would be better for hunting squirrels in West Virginia where I lived at that time. I was disappointed with the .20 cal mainly because the trajectory was loopier than the .177 which made using the proper holdover/under more difficult due to my "range guetimation skills", then I learned that a .20 cal pellet that misses the vitals wasn't as good as a .177 that perforates the vitals. To try making the .20 R9 more reliable on tree squirrels I bought some .20 cal Crow Magnum hollow points pellets after reading one forum member claim that .20 Crow Magnum pellet with at least 14fpe muzzle energy would double the size of the kill zone. Well, that was a bit of a disappointment too because past my 30 yard zero thos "backward flying trash cans" would sail off on their course making hits in the vitals problematic. I do have to mention however that when a CM pellet actually hit a vital (brain or both lungs) they did indeed put the smack on a squirrel. Here is a pic of a recovered CM pellet from a squirrel that was actually unlucky enough to be "double lunged"..............CM before shooting........Retrieved from the squirrel..........After that I used the .20 CM exclusively for a full week and found that my HIT TO RETRIEVE RATIO was exactly 50% vs a 90% ratio using an accurate hard lead .177 dome (boxed 7.9 grain Crosman Premier lights). Then I bought a used .22 cal Beeman R1 barrel, sent it off to be pro chopped & choked for my R9 thinking that perhaps the heavier weight and larger cal would make a good "squirreler". I found that with my setup the accuracy with a .22 cal dome was actually pretty good but (like the .20 dome) the loopy trajectory was a definite disadvantage for my R9/HW95 power level springers. I used the .22 barreled R9 for about 6 months and the used .20 and .22 barrels were sold, reverting back to .177 never to look back."Second question is what is more *accurate* and smooth. I can shoot 1/4" groups at 20Y with the R7"After about a dozen R9/HW95 power level HW springers I didn't have a single one that was "smooth" shooting before replacing the sloppy fitting spring and spring guide with home fitted spring guides in ARH aftermarket springs. Accuracywise, I didn't own a single R9 that wouldn't shoot a die lot marked and dated boxed 7.9 grain Crosman Premier (no longer available) after a bore clean and a few dozen "seasoning pellets" down the bore.Here are a couple groups I shot with my home tuned .177 R9 and HW95 (all shots when sitting on a bucket resting the gun on cross sticks).........Anywhoo....there is indeed a "lot of love" for the .20 cal R9/HW95 platform so I'm not saying that it's bad, just that my personal experience was disappointing after using the .20 for one season and .22 for another season.