What to buy next

[Fleshwound]

I’m in the market for a good alll around 22cal that’s accurate at 30 yards. I have a Diana 34 in 177. And it’s awesome. But I’d like variety. Any suggestions?

[Yogi]

I’m in the market for a good alll around 22cal that’s accurate at 30 yards. I have a Diana 34 in 177. And it’s awesome. But I’d like variety. Any suggestions?

HW 50 or 95 would fit the bill.  Otherwise save your money and put it in the stock market.  We are near lows and the rebound in Dec and Jan will make you rich or at least richer!

-Y

[Fleshwound]

Actually, I'm doing that too.

[Denby95]

I have 3 Dianas in .22 all of which I'm fond of. The D54, D460, and the D34.

I'd say of those 3, I pick up the D460 or D34 the most just because the D54 air king is quite heavy, but its mechanism is absolutely impressive.

The D460 is quite slim and really packs a bunch, I enjoy shooting it alot.

[Fleshwound]

I like the size and weight of the HW 50. But it seems a little under powered. I don’t really care how loud it is or how hard it is to cock. It doesn’t even have to be a German gun. I appreciate any advice.

[Toxylon]

I reckon it would be good to hear a bit more about your preferences. The selection available is pretty vast, with ultimately big, subjective differences in handling etc.

Are you looking only for breakbarrels? Have you experience with other cocking configurations?

Do you plan to use open sights, at least as backups, or are they a non-issue to you? The first option would narrow the field quite a bit, as not even models that come with open sights are neccessarily usable with them.

Then there's the budget: there are good suggestions at 200 bucks, others at 500 dollars, yet others at 800+. If your budget is truly open, I would not be suggesting any of the low price models.

The hints at HW50 being a little under powered, and you not caring how loud or hard to cock the gun is, helps some.

[Yogi]

As Duke says, we need more information.

30 yards, HW 50 is not underpowered for 30 yard shots.  Hard to cock?
The compound linkage enables a much shorter cocking stroke that single linkage break barrels.  So the arc is much smaller.
I find the cocking to be short but sweet.

What do you want the gun to do?  What do you want it to do that your D34 does not do?  Otherwise either get a D34 barrel in .22 or buy a D34 in .22.

-Y

[Fleshwound]

Mostly I want to shoot beer cans. Maybe a dove,, rock chuck. Just want something all around fun in 22cal.  I know a lot of passion for air rifles on here, so this is where I went for advice. I kinda like the idea of a smaller rifle with more power but Im open to opinions.
 

[Cslinger]

I have been really happy with my HW95 over the years.  Cocking is not difficult IMO and it shoots very well with a great trigger.  I've had it successfully out to 50 or so yards.  My normal shooting, however, is 20 yards.  Here are some recent groups with the old girl.  Truth be told I am very happy with all my Weihrauchs

[Fleshwound]

You are a better shot than me

[Cslinger]

No I’m not.  It’s rested and I get to shoot indoors whenever I want so it’s cheating. .   I was just trying to show that the rifle itself is more then capable at 30 yards.

[Kragman1]

Did anyone say Beeman R9 yet? 


There are so many good ones...
A couple of oddball choices:
SIG ASP20, but hard to find and no factory support.  Runs around 20-22 fpe and is a pleasure to shoot.
Cometa Fenix, model 94 or 95.  Light & accurate, nice triggers, affordable, shoot around 18fpe but easy to cock. 
Walther Terrus or Parrus.  Also hard to find, don't know about factory support.  The larger Parrus is heavy & triggers are hit or miss.  23-25 fpe though, if that is meaningful to you.  Mine is also accurate.

If I had to buy a new production rifle today in .22, I would compare everything to the R9/HW95 to see if anything out there would make me change my mind. 
If it needed to be a budget buy, I would compare everything to the Cometa.

Of the three oddballs I mentioned, I like my Parrus just fine, I really like my ASP and I flat out love my Cometa-built RWS 94 (Fenix 400).
None of them are the equals in fit/finish/general quality to my few earlier Weihrauchs but they all out perform them. 
The Cometa is an especially under appreciated rifle.  Mine is my favorite rifle in my collection, over many more expensive and generally "better" guns.  It will never be for sale.

Others will have had more experience and will have better insight.

[Fleshwound]

That was great. Thank you. Those are options I would not have thought of. And that’s what I’m looking for

[BanjomanMI76]

Something you can easily and readily get repair parts for...

[DanD]

If you want a great all around gun but you think the HW50S is underpowered, then HW95 is the answer.

[Fleshwound]

I think you should sell me one of those.

[DanD]

I think you should sell me one of those.

The problem is that a good HW95 is the kind of thing you don't sell unless you absolutely have to. Pyramyd has R9s in .22 in stock, or keep an eye on their used gun page if you're trying to save money- sometimes they have refurbs for good deals. Another option is to get on the notification list for when Airguns of Arizona or Krale gets them back in stock...
Good luck!

[Denby95]

Utah airguns just had a sale of Diana 34s in .22 for 180 shipped. Might reach out to them if they got any returns.

[Kragman1]

One little clarification - when I said that my three oddballs outperformed my Weihrauchs, I was talking about power, NOT accuracy.  The Wiehrauchs take a back seat to no one in accuracy.  But the gap isn't very large...

So, maybe i should explain a bit -

The Parrus .22 puts out power close to a Hatsan 125/135 yet cocks smoothly & cleanly with much less effort than my 125 or my D350.  I don't have hard paper group numbers at distance (just mounted an AirMax 4-12) but in my basement range it shoots very well.  The weight helps for sure, making the weight a shooting advantage.  It is definitely not a carrying advantage, although that can be worked around.

The SIG ASP is a remarkable shooter, and when I have found a good repeatable body position to shoot from, even I have been able to make it look good.  I've shot a number of true pass through groups in my little 8 or 9 yard basement range, and spent a couple of hours burning up pellets shooting little cloverleaf groups and little specks of things off the 25 yard berm at my club.  It was almost boring.  Someday I'll get it on paper at 50, but it is clearly a fine shooter.
Also easy to cock, I do like the trigger, great ergos for me (synthetic stock) and adding a decent neoprene cheek pad has brought my eye to the right height for a good cheek weld.  But, also a fairly heavy rifle and SIG has abandoned them.

The Cometa is the Goldilocks Gun - it literally does everything just right.  Seems to weigh about as much as my FWB 124, cocks like a D34 (or easier), is as accurate as any of my Weihrauchs (many tight little 25 yard cloverleaf the one time I shot paper at 25 w/RWS SuperDomes) which is helped by a light, clean trigger, fits me right, etc.  I haven't shot it much since swapping out the 2-7 it had for a Vantage 3-9 but I will soon.
One more thing - mine isn't particularly hold sensitive, and the two beginners that I've introduced to airguns both gravitated to shooting it (and well!), even when an R9 was available for shooting.
I have no idea if that's a common trait.

So, I'm definitely NOT trying to throw any shade on Weihrauchs!  I'm just saying that there are other interesting airguns out there.

Krale is your friend if you decide on a Weihrauch, and while I've never done business with them I'm told that AirForce International in TX is a good company and they have Cometas.  They started at about $200 +shpg IIRC, but that was a couple of years ago.  Expect to pay more now. 

If you could turn up a good used R9/ HW95 though, I think that would be your all around best bet.  Consistent no excuses quality, should be supportable for a very long time.  Great stuff!

[cjtamu]

Hard to tell someone else what they should buy. I love my Diana 34 .177. But, my HW95 Luxus .22 is my favorite all around gun. Doesn’t mean it would be yours. HW50S is a fine gun, I love shooting Kim’s. But FPE probably similar to your Diana 34. More refined gun than the Diana 34 but that’s about all you’d get. Diana 48/52 in .22 is a great gun. Different shooting experience than a Weihrauch. Heavier than the HW95 but much lighter than the 54 mentioned before but you’ll have some recoil to deal with. You have to find what sounds good to you and pull the trigger. Literally. As suggested before, try AoA for used guns if you can’t find a model you want. They come in from time to time.