HW30S in .22 cal. Yay or nay?

[Bill_in_TR]

For the original stated purpose of backyard plinking a .177 will do just fine. But let's face it we all eventually convince ourselves that we really need the one that catches our attention the most. It doesn't really matter in the end what we need. It is what we want that counts. My 30 is a .177 and it does everything I want a 30 to do.

[fwbsport]

For the original stated purpose of backyard plinking a .177 will do just fine. But let's face it we all eventually convince ourselves that we really need the one that catches our attention the most. It doesn't really matter in the end what we need. It is what we want that counts. My 30 is a .177 and it does everything I want a 30 to do.

That's pretty much it!

I like the .22 better and kept it. The .177 went to someone else here.

[cvasquez]

I would like to add a little something for the "lowly powered HW30s in 22 cal. First off if it has the vortek kit in it its an 8.5ft pound rifle. Low 500s with a 14.3 gr pellet. What can that do in hunting. Well Ive had crosman 1322 pumper with a few slight mods and stock barrel to match that power and Ive had the Crosman 112 bulk fill CO2 pistol shooting 510-520. Shots at crow at 30 yards went fully thru dropping the bird. Bunnies, and squirrels and pigeons out to 25 yards all fell to my 2 air pistols . I also own an R7 in 177 and while i love the gun for its flat accuracy out to 30 yds shots on game are a 50/50 proposition. You can hit right thru them but the damage is very small and they rarely drop where hit. Ive had to chase down far too many for this little caliber. It seems I get that even if the power is 700 or 800 fps . they zip thru the chest hit but the animal takes off. More likely to die but they can stay hidden . Who wants that. So whoever said 22cal is more for hunting is correct. Not to expect anything less on paper at the right yardage but then thats what this challenge was all about- yard work /short range. One other thing, youd better check the trajectory charts again. theres no 1.5 or 2 inch drop anywhere from zero to 25 yds with a 500fps 14.3gr pellet. I get plus or minus 1/4 " from 8yds to 25.

[wjjones]

I would like to add a little something for the "lowly powered HW30s in 22 cal. First off if it has the vortek kit in it its an 8.5ft pound rifle. Low 500s with a 14.3 gr pellet. What can that do in hunting. Well Ive had crosman 1322 pumper with a few slight mods and stock barrel to match that power and Ive had the Crosman 112 bulk fill CO2 pistol shooting 510-520. Shots at crow at 30 yards went fully thru dropping the bird. Bunnies, and squirrels and pigeons out to 25 yards all fell to my 2 air pistols . I also own an R7 in 177 and while i love the gun for its flat accuracy out to 30 yds shots on game are a 50/50 proposition. You can hit right thru them but the damage is very small and they rarely drop where hit. Ive had to chase down far too many for this little caliber. It seems I get that even if the power is 700 or 800 fps . they zip thru the chest hit but the animal takes off. More likely to die but they can stay hidden . Who wants that. So whoever said 22cal is more for hunting is correct. Not to expect anything less on paper at the right yardage but then thats what this challenge was all about- yard work /short range. One other thing, youd better check the trajectory charts again. theres no 1.5 or 2 inch drop anywhere from zero to 25 yds with a 500fps 14.3gr pellet. I get plus or minus 1/4 " from 8yds to 25.

Yikes!  A zombie thread! 

Since this thread died four years ago I've I've taken a bunch of bunnies with both my .177 and .22. I can't come to any conclusions about hunting/pesting with those calibers other than the .22 makes a good "whack" when it hits critters. 

[Yarddog]

I bought my 30 in .22 for targets and linking. Almost all of my rifles are in this caliber cuz it's just much easier for me to deal with in the larger sized pellets.

[Bayman]

I bought my 30 in .22 for targets and linking. Almost all of my rifles are in this caliber cuz it's just much easier for me to deal with in the larger sized pellets.

Plus its nice to only stock one caliber of pellets. It was nice when all my stuff was 177. I only needed to have a few different pellets on hand. Now I need a few in three different calibers. 

[cvasquez]

Well I just received my brand new HW30s in 22cal yesterday. I didnt adjust the sights or clean the barrel. I fired off 15 shots to get it going  abit and then started chonying the gun with 5 brands of pellets. After that I fired 5 shot groups open iron sights at 10 m with each. Heres my results (no dieseling, smooth thud shot cycle) a little stiff cocking (breach bolts were a little tight)
JSB 13.4gr-         523fps
JSb 14.3gr-         496fps
JSB 15.8gr-         457fps
H/N FTT 14.6-     480fps
Crosman HP 14.2gr- 500fps
This equates to a 7.8ft/lb gun with 2 brands of pellets. Seems the little princess likes pellets in the 13 - 14.5weight range for most energy/efficiency

As for the 5 shot groups 4 out of the 5 shot inside a dime and the JSB 14.3gr express 5shots inside  a 1/4" round hole   All groups hitting the bullseye. Not bad out of the box!!!!

[Yarddog]

Yeah, Ron, that's another good point! I've been real happy with .22...takes care of what I need!

[Mark 611]

This is an old thread for sure! but those are decent numbers CV for the 30 in .22cal! I purchased a COMETA 220 compact in .22cal, it's about the same size as the HW30, I'll say these size guns are fun to shoot! they're definitely a yard gun! 25/30yds and it takes care of my starling problem

[DanD]

I just put a new Vortek PG4 "Delrin-lite" kit in a new HW30 .22.

The gun was doing 482 fps with 14.3 CPHP out of the box.

When I installed the Vortek spring kit, I noticed the piston was extremely easy to move in the tube, almost falling under its own weight, but I didn't replace the factory seal because velocity was very consistent. I was surprised that the spring kit gave no increase in velocity despite its firmer cocking effort.

PG4 kit with OEM loose fitting parachute seal 480 fps with 14.3 CPHP.

I then installed the Vortek moly seal and cleaned out factory lube and re-lubed with ARH Moly paste while I was at it.

PG4 kit with Vortek Moly seal 507 fps with 14.3 CPHP.

I'm a little curious about swapping the factory spring back in to test with the Vortek seal, but I don't plan on doing that any time soon.
Another note about this gun is it was shooting over 600fps and accurately with Predator GTO pellets in factory kit, which is pretty neat for such a little gun in .22.

Have fun!

[Crowman]

Brett I have a 30 in .22 and have a stainless .22 en route as we speak. I love the .22 cal. I’m a plinker. Don’t mind the looping. The gun is accurate. Would I use on game, not a chance.
Especially in winter with snow, you can follow it with a scope. Dead nuts on every time.
I like the 30 and have a few because as I age the 30 with be far more practical to use. Crow

[bReTt]

Brett I have a 30 in .22 and have a stainless .22 en route as we speak. I love the .22 cal. I’m a plinker. Don’t mind the looping. The gun is accurate. Would I use on game, not a chance.
Especially in winter with snow, you can follow it with a scope. Dead nuts on every time.
I like the 30 and have a few because as I age the 30 with be far more practical to use. Crow

Right on! 

I love my .22 cal 30.  It’s the most entertaining air rifle I have.  Grab-n-go with pellets and iron sights.  Great for rolling cans in the yard. Mine has the “deluxe” stock from AoA.

[cvasquez]

Wow, so it looks like the factory spring and seal which is producing 7.8ft /lbs and great accuracy may be hard to improve on if i switch out the guts to a Vortek kit? I was thinking of having  a full tune  on it. So far though i love these little 30s rifles. I have another one i the R7 flavor in 177cal. That one is doing 700fps with a vortek kit in it. My HW50s in 177cal is now sitting more and more on the rack!! One thing I cant over emphasize, a 485-520 fps 22 cal pellet traveling out to 25 yards for me has dropped Crows, Bunnies, Pigeons Squirrels and starlings easily. You just have  to keep your stalking skills up and realize the limited working range and your good to go with a very compact ,light ,carry all day, rifle.

[WD Feese]

Yesterday I shot my Winchester 427 (Diana 27) over a chronograph and thought I would share the results on this old thread. Average was 515.0 feet per second producing 7 ft lbs. With Hobby (11.9 gr).  RWS Superpoint (14.5 gr) shot 452.8 ft per second for 6.6 ft lbs.  There were higher numbers in both groups but this gives an about average picture.
  If I  have time today I will run some numbers on a 22 cal El Gamo Expo and a hw 45. 

[WD Feese]

  I have a few more velocity numbers on for the purpose of comparing of airguns we may be familiar with to the abilities of the HW 30 in 22 cal.
  First off I had difficulty using my chronograph with the HW 45 knocking off of the shooting bench several times.  The pistol has been tampered with or the readings are bad.
  The El Gammo high reading was 448.6 or 6.5 foot lbs with 14.5 grain Superpoint and 503.7 or 6.7 ft lbs with 11.9 gr hobby.
  Slavia 622 high reading with hobby was 372.4 or 3.7 Ft lbs.and with Superpoint 347.7 or 3.9 ft lbs.
  My experience has been with the Slavia 622 and hobby pellets, sighted in for 10 yards the point of impact begins to drop at 17 yards ,corrected by slight hold change to 20 yards. This was shooting 2 inch spinners.
   With the same zero and Velocity of 500 to 515, I had change of impact at 22 or 23 yards.  I have not test past a 12 yard zero.  I do recall using the Winchester 427 on a close range squirrel and the skull was fractured in pieces and a 22 caliber hobby at 500 ft per second will make a sparrow turn into a cloud of feathers.

[cvasquez]

I also had the Winchester 427 as well as the RWS 28. My Winnie needed a much needed overhaul. I had the cylinder honed, and switched the leather seal to the 25mm vortek seal (conversion kit)  and a new maccari Merlin xl spring. She became a  solid  8ft lb rifle. The RWS 28 was in 177cal but that was almost brand new and shot 8ft lbs factory stock.