HW30S 177 Pellet Grain

[Teaboat]

Is 8.2 grain ok for the HW30S?

What is the maximum grain one would recommend to ensure smooth operation and longevity of the rifle?

[Oldgringo]

Is 8.2 grain ok for the HW30S?

What is the maximum grain one would recommend to ensure smooth operation and longevity of the rifle?

I don't know what the maximum grain would be but, l do know that my three HW30S' and my Beeman R7 prefer the 7.44 gr. AA's.

[HOSPassassin]

I have had great accuracy and pretty good spring longevity with AA Field at 8.4 grains. I wouldn't go any heavier, however. The latest batch that I received seem to be from an inferior lot so I have switched over to JSB Express at 7.9 gr. They work almost as well as the old AADF.

Definitely DON'T try heavy pellets with a head size that is too large. I have gotten some Baracudas and Premiers stuck in the barrel before.

[Lt. Dan]

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

[c_m_shooter]

There is no maximum grain.   Around 8 will give you about the best trajectory at that power level.   If you shoot heavier, it would be easier on the mainspring, but it doesn't matter much.  Don't dry fire it.

[Bayman]

My three Hw30s are most efficient and usually most accurate with 7.33 JSB or the AA clones. Efficiency is a good indication of what's easy on the gun. It's not necessarily the most accurate. There's times where 8.44 Exacts or 8.64 FTTs are more accurate. It depends a lot on the tins in hand. A good fitting tin of 8.44s will be more accurate than a poor fitting tin of 7.33s.


Typically with springers heavy for caliber pellets tend to induce more piston bounce which shortens spring life. I normally run 7.33s and 8.44s in my 30s depending on which is more accurate at the moment. The 7.33s make about a half pound more energy which tells you the gun is working more smoothly internally. Incidentally more smoothly helps with accuracy. Rebounding pistons from less efficient heavy weights can induce pressure pulses that disrupt accuracy.

All of my 177 Weihrauchs haves been most efficient with 8.44 grain pellets or lighter. Also fit has a bit of effect as well. A very tight pellet may decrease efficiency more than a loose fitting heavy pellet. Bottom line stay around 8 grains or under in your 30 and you'll be fine. You're gonna have to replace the spring eventually anyway. Use whatever you like but staying under 9 will help you get the most out of the spring. And for goodness sakes don't dry fire it because that will hurt the spring infinitely more than heavier pellets.

[north country gal]

As above, I now use mostly 7.33 JSBs in both of my two HW30s, but they've also done well with a variety of heavier pellets in the 8 plus range. Nothing heavier, though. I just find that the 7.33s are a good match for the HW30 power level and plenty accurate.

[Bill_in_TR]

I've had the most luck in my HW30 with 7.87 grain H&N Finale Match Light. Air Arms 7.87's shoot well too.

[SpiralGroove]

Is 8.2 grain ok for the HW30S?

What is the maximum grain one would recommend to ensure smooth operation and longevity of the rifle?

I don't know what the maximum grain would be but, l do know that my three HW30S' and my Beeman R7 prefer the 7.44 gr. AA's.

I also have found the AA Falcon 7.33 grain pellet the most accurate in my HW30S .... followed by the JSB 7.33 grain pellet .

[Teaboat]

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

[Teaboat]

What gr were the Baracudas and Premiers?

I have had great accuracy and pretty good spring longevity with AA Field at 8.4 grains. I wouldn't go any heavier, however. The latest batch that I received seem to be from an inferior lot so I have switched over to JSB Express at 7.9 gr. They work almost as well as the old AADF.

Definitely DON'T try heavy pellets with a head size that is too large. I have gotten some Baracudas and Premiers stuck in the barrel before.

[Bayman]

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

I don't care for Crosman pellets either. I used to use them a lot until about summer 2018. My problem with them is two-fold. First is the lack of QC. Unless they've improved the 177 Walmart CPHP seem to vary quite a bit in size within the tin. Heck I had to return two out of three tins once because they had 22s mixed in. If you stay away from their economy lines, Brands like JSB, RWS and H&N stay closer sized within a tin. Not always perfect but markedly closer. Thus they typically have less radical flyers.

 My second gripe is that Crosman uses a lot more antimony in their pellets than other brands. This makes them harder than other brands. It helps prevent shipping damage. The problem with hard lead is you either have to use it all the time or not at all.

Barrel seasoning or (fouling in a good way) is very important to accuracy. It can take a hundred sometimes a thousand shots to season a brand new or newly scrubbed and polished barrel. Shooting six hard lead Crosmans can almost undo all that soft lead fouling or seasoning. The hard lead scrapes it right out. If you continually shoot Crosman pellets or more Crosman than soft lead brands the barrel becomes seasoned with hard lead.

Soft lead can't clear the hard lead for obvious reasons. Now the expensive brand soft lead pellets just won't print as good as they should. At least until all the hard lead is literally scrubbed out and the barrel goes through the whole seasoning process again with soft lead. Which depending on the barrel can takes hundreds of expensive pellets. BTW soft lead pellets won't ever excessively foul a barrel. Crosman will. I haven't needed to clean any of my personal gun barrels since switching to soft lead brands. Some of these guns have over 30k shots on them.

Anyway between the inconsistent QC (flyers), the hard lead screwing up my accuracy with other brands and additional maintenance, I've decided not to use Crosman pellets. I can afford better pellets, so I shoot better pellets. I get more consistent accuracy from them and I'm willing to pay for it.

You'd simply be wasting money using expensive soft lead pellets through a Crosman seasoned barrel because they won't print as good as they could. If you're happy with the accuracy you get from Crosmans, stay with them and maybe just clean the barrel every couple thousand rounds to keep them shooting well.

Hth
Ron

[Robert 5mm]

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

Return them if you can - they are cheap - yes - but not consistant in size plus the lead alloy.

The Crosman pellets are made with increased Antimony in the lead alloy.

Crosman uses a harder lead alloy to prevent their pellets from distorting though normal storage and handling.

This makes then harder than lead but also deposit harder material in the barrel over time.

[Lt. Dan]

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

Bayman and Robert 5mm answered for me. 
And did a better job at it than I would have. Thanks guys.

[nced]

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

"What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch."
Back when Crosman was offering their die lot marked and dated 7.9 grain Premiers in the 1250 count cardboard box were the most accurate pellets for my HW springers. A while back Crosman discontinued the "1250 count boxed Premiers" and only the 500 count tims have bee available since.

I tried the Crosman Premier Hollow Points variety "from the tin" and found them to have rather small heads which didn't fit my .177 leade snugly giving mediocre accuracy...........


A few years ago the "Crosmans from the tin" occasionally came packed with "swarf and gunge" so I didn't test them for very long, perhaps Crosman has "cleaned up their act" and they may work well with your particular gun.......

[Lt. Dan]

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

"What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch."
Back when Crosman was offering their die lot marked and dated 7.9 grain Premiers in the 1250 count cardboard box were the most accurate pellets for my HW springers. A while back Crosman discontinued the "1250 count boxed Premiers" and only the 500 count tims have bee available since.

I tried the Crosman Premier Hollow Points variety "from the tin" and found them to have rather small heads which didn't fit my .177 leade snugly giving mediocre accuracy...........


A few years ago the "Crosmans from the tin" occasionally came packed with "swarf and gunge" so I didn't test them for very long, perhaps Crosman has "cleaned up their act" and they may work well with your particular gun.......

Ever since Crosman discontinued the "1250 count boxed Premiers" I've been disappointed more times than I've been satisfied with Crosman pellets. I decided to discontinue using them.

[Teaboat]

Thanks everyone for the education.
Regarding the antimony/crossman pellets, will it damage the rifle or is it more an accuracy thing (which I care a lot about too btw)?
What is swarf and gunge?

What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch.

I've never shot anything over 8.44 gr.  My Beeman R7 .177 prefers Air Arms 7.87 gr.

Personally I don't shoot Crosman pellets in any of my Weihrauch rifles.

"What is wrong with crossman pellets?  I just ordered a whole bunch."
Back when Crosman was offering their die lot marked and dated 7.9 grain Premiers in the 1250 count cardboard box were the most accurate pellets for my HW springers. A while back Crosman discontinued the "1250 count boxed Premiers" and only the 500 count tims have bee available since.

I tried the Crosman Premier Hollow Points variety "from the tin" and found them to have rather small heads which didn't fit my .177 leade snugly giving mediocre accuracy...........


A few years ago the "Crosmans from the tin" occasionally came packed with "swarf and gunge" so I didn't test them for very long, perhaps Crosman has "cleaned up their act" and they may work well with your particular gun.......

Ever since Crosman discontinued the "1250 count boxed Premiers" I've been disappointed more times than I've been satisfied with Crosman pellets. I decided to discontinue using them.

[HOSPassassin]

What gr were the Baracudas and Premiers?

I have had great accuracy and pretty good spring longevity with AA Field at 8.4 grains. I wouldn't go any heavier, however. The latest batch that I received seem to be from an inferior lot so I have switched over to JSB Express at 7.9 gr. They work almost as well as the old AADF.

Definitely DON'T try heavy pellets with a head size that is too large. I have gotten some Baracudas and Premiers stuck in the barrel before.

The Baracudas were 10.67 and the Premiers were 10.5.

Baracudas are great pellets for powerful guns that can make use of them... not so much for a svelte little HW 30.

Premiers have a bad rep among a lot of airgunners who shoot more expensive guns. IME they are clearly not as consistently made as JSB or RWS, for example. The box I had was especially bad and had absurd variations in head size. No gun I have ever owned (and I have had many come and go) shot them well.

[BanjomanMI76]

fine chips or filings of stone, metal, or other material produced by a machining operation.
"a curl of metal swarf"

Gunge - informal British
a sticky, viscous, and unpleasantly messy material.

Thanks for the information on the CPHPs and the HW30S which is on my dreamlist next.

[SpiralGroove]

I still have 5 boxes of CPL from 2017 for my HW95 Hybrid . 

- The 7.9 grain pellets are the best that I've found to date and when they're gone ....  .