There is a vendor called Krale in the the Netherlands that has the best deals on Weihrach rifles. There is no difference between the HW95 and R9 except maybe checkering. The HW30/ R7 are the same gun. The HW50 is similar in size to the HW95 but is 12 ft lb, so should have a little less recoil. The full power HW97 and 95 are about 13.5 ftlbs out of the box. You were asking about sights, so the HW97 and 77 are the same action, just the 77 has sights and the 97 has a stock with a higher comb for scoped use. Krale also sells uk spec 12 ft lb versions of some of the rifles. My HW97 is a 12 ft lb model from there and It has been great, although it takes a certain kind of stubbornness to stay with spring guns when PCPs are so easy to shoot.I have shot a RWS34 and it was pretty jumpy, but the owner shot it pretty well in field target. Even so, he bought a HW97 from Krale when we found out how cheap they are.(his scores have stayed about the same...)
Actually none of the guns you mentioned are ten meter guns - but I think you knew that. The really serious ten meter guns are indeed PCP and way above your stated price. The lower end ten meter guns tend to be SSP or single stroke pump guns. Of course they will shoot further than ten meters but with their 500 fps speed they tend to have more drop than spring piston airguns.Investigate the Daisy 853/953 series. There may be a 753 as well. Sometimes they come up on the GTA Classifieds. The length of pull may be a drawback for you but you could investigate a butt extension or a custom stock. You may wish to measure your personal length of pull. That is roughly the distance from your shoulder to where your trigger finger would normally be.I am personally fond of the Diana 34 - it's pretty simple and cheap to work on, though it rarely needs it. The fit and finish is not quite up to Weihrauch standards but I'm more concerned with how a gun shoots. Most of the spring piston air rifles are over powered for ten meters and not accurate enough for serious competition. I suspect you'll want something with a peep sight and not an open sight. I believe the Daisy 853 comes with a peep. You'd have to purchase one for the other guns.
Roadworthy gives good advice. The Daisys are near-10m rifles, easy to cock and safe enough in most back yards (less than 500 fps).A more expensive option, but apparently gobs of fun (I have coveted one for years) is a FWB300. Again, low powered, but spring-piston, with an anti-recoil system, and creepily accurate. Also beautiful guns. Daisys are great shooters, but I don't think anyone would call them beautiful. They are fairly numerous for sale on the Yellow and elsewhere.These choices pretty much assume that you will be content plinking and target shooting in the back yard. They are too slow for humane killing of all but the smallest "game" at the shortest ranges.Another possibility, if you are more interested in a sporter stock and non-diopter sights would be the HW30.And if you are interested in target shooting here in DFW, might give field target a look. We have a very friendly community here and get together to shoot a field target course once or twice a month. Please, have a look at field target, you might like what you see, and if you do, you might consider an HW97, which is a man-sized rifle, for sure, but possibly heavier and harder shooting than you initially seek, but also a fine field target gun.
You can find a lot of information on the internet at air gun vendors about a whole host of different air rifles. I will expose my biases here. I like the side cock recoilless type air rifles such as the FWB300 and RWS54. The first is long out of production and can only be found used. They are phenomenally accurate and becoming very desirable to shooters for low power shorter range shooting out to about 30yds. At the other end of the spectrum is the Diana / RWS 54, it is high power and very good at ranges out to 75yds or so. The FWB isn't really powerful enough for hunting except birds and chipmunks but will do a number on paper or beer cans in the back yard. The 54 is known to be capable of killing groundhog sized critters. To get a good basic education on air gunning with minimal investment of money, time, and exposure to advertising hype. I suggest going the the straightshooters.com website. They sell most of the good quality air rifles (a bit pricy though!) and have a whole series of articles in a column on the righthand side of their home page. Start at the top and read each article in sequence for a good basic education in the idiosyncrasies of air rifles. Then explore their offerings of air rifles. On the page about each rifle is a tab called our take. They suggest the best uses for each and have a listing of pellets they HAVE TESTED and chronographed. You can see the kinds of energies and weights available. They also show calculated velocities and energies and ballistic coefficients for each. They also sell sampler packs of about 20 different pellets (25 each) so you can find the ones that your new (well not yet bought) rifle will shoot well. Since they test shoot every rifle that goes through their shop, they have quite a collection of information. One thing they don't do is quote accuracies - too variable depending upon the shooter and the rifle. Another thing to do is find and download (free!) the Hawke ChairGun Pro software. Tinkering with it will give you a host of information on how pellets travel and the effective ranges for each. Regarding size - most serious air rifles are designed for adult men. If you can comfortably shoot a regular rifle or shotgun, you should be able to be comfortable with most air rifles. Have fun and check in to this site often. Some really really knowledgeable people hang out here!!!
Brother Man, you won't go wrong with a HW95/R9 .177/.20/.22 open sights are great. Scoped up she is great!! Best of Luck Brother Man
Diana's are good guns but Weihrauch's have better fit and finish as well as better sights.The 30 is a great plinker but too short for your height and not enough power for field target.Look at the 50S or the 95 Luxus for size and sights. Drop a JM plinkers kit in the 50 and it will be perfect for your 50 ft. At full power might do OK at field target. The 95 sub 12 fpe would be my second choice.
So I was just poking around for the HW95 Luxus that was mentioned. Is it true that Beeman is no longer putting out the same quality as they used to? Is the way to go a Weihrauch in their deluxe or Luxus models or whatever it is that they dub them if I want to get the quality that I'm looking for? This article says Beeman was bought out and is no longer putting out the same guns. Of course, it's also an article from 7 years ago.
So from what I understand, the 50S makes just a hair over 11 fpe. What exactly does the plinker kit do? shim the spring to increase power? Or is it a power plant replacement?If that's the case, then the R9/HW95 should be able to make better than that. I would guess anywhere from 12 - 14 fpe real world?
I recommend the FWB 300. It was made for target shooting 10m with aperture sights. It has the best 4 ounce trigger on a Springer. You can use it for field target if you replace the spring with slightly stronger one. Like all target rifles, it is heavy. It is very easy to shoot and not hold sensitive.Good luck.
An HW30 is a bit weak for FT shooting. There are two considerations there. First is generating enough power to knockdown a target at 55 yards reliably and that seems to take about 700 fps at the muzzle. The second is the increased velocity yields a flatter trajectory with less holdover and makes the shot more wind resistant.Springers mostly shoot best, for FT purposes, at right around 12 fpe, which is just under 800 fps with an 8.5 gr pellet.The other thing about FT if you think you want to go there, is that fixed barrels (under and side levers) tend to be preferred because of the attendant (superstitious?) accuracy not present in a break barrel. But, you can still have fun with it and some folks get good results with break barrels in FT.Beeman, a company formed by an airgun nut many years ago, used to be the importer of Weihrauch air rifles and redesignated them R1, R7, R9, etc. That company no longer exists, but is now a trade name applied to Chinese guns that may or may not be ok.So you are really looking at buying a Weihrauch gun new today (there may be a few new old stock Beeman Weihrauchs in stock here and there, but "Beeman" does not sell them anymore). The ongoing reference to Weihrauch rifles by their former Beeman designations is an historical oddity.The place to go for new Weihrauch rifles is Krale Schietsport in Holland.Two of the Dallas FT shooters have posted in this thread (Cliff, c_m_shooter, and I). Cliff was immensely helpful in getting me started in FT. The next match is at Elm Fork Shooting Sports on October 14. Come on out and just spectate if you want. It's really a friendly and welcoming group and we seem to love newbs.
Adam;If I were you, I would open the search a little. There are wonderful alternatives that lie at around $500 and that would satisfy your airgunning needs from now till 3 or 4 years to come. Now I said "needs"; your "wants" for sure will outstrip that in no time flat.I would SERIOUSLY look into a Walther LGV Master Ultra. You can improve the trigger with a simple change of a screw with no disassembly of the gun, or change it altogether for a number of aftermarket parts. You can mount a peep sight and a front globe sight fairly easily. They are accurate. Match accurate. And you can get the 12 ft-lbs version to do FT AND Match with no changes except for the sighting system (with the right pellets). They retail in the Netherlands for about $500I've shot the LGV in FT and can tell you that it does do well. Look for a review of the SIGHTRON SIH 4-12X40 AO scope in the E-Magazine that cannot be mentioned here and you will see what I mean.If you want something more 10M'ish, then look for an Anschutz 380, sometimes they can be had for about $500, are a much better gun than the FWB 300 (as demonstrated in the Olympics) and will be a gun that will outshoot you for many, many, years.While I do understand the concept of "budgets" I also understand that spending $400 to "just make do" is a vastly inferior alternative to spending $500 and thinking "Darn, this IS FUN!" every time you pull the trigger.Sorry to add to your woes, but you'll also find that in here, we are all "facilitators" of the neighbor's addictions. LOL! ;-)Keep well and shoot straight!HM
If you want a solid springer that is FT capable without breaking the bank, this right here is your huckleberry. https://www.krale-schietsport.nl/en/weihrauch-hw97-k.htmlIt will be about $400 to your door, I think $420 complete.The only drawback it has for general purpose shooting is its weight. With a scope, it is quite a pig for offhand shooting. On the other hand, that same weight makes it almost not-at-all hold-sensitive.
Quote from: TwiceHorn on September 14, 2017, 01:19:59 PMIf you want a solid springer that is FT capable without breaking the bank, this right here is your huckleberry. https://www.krale-schietsport.nl/en/weihrauch-hw97-k.htmlIt will be about $400 to your door, I think $420 complete.The only drawback it has for general purpose shooting is its weight. With a scope, it is quite a pig for offhand shooting. On the other hand, that same weight makes it almost not-at-all hold-sensitive.And, HOW exactly are you planning on Adam adding his required Iron / Peep sights?Just sayin' . . . .