A .30 FX Hybrid to the head at 20 yards put this chipmunk down for good. I'm surprised he even had a head left after the shot, but I'm guessing the slug didn't really have enough time or material to work with to fully expand before it exited.
Got this squirrel right in the upper chest at 30 yards. I was using the 43.7gr Airmarksman Hex Slugs going around 1030 FPS at the muzzle. Looks like the slug exploded like a varmit round and most stayed inside the animal, judging by the lack of giant exit wound that a .30 slug usually makes in small game.
Got the first chipmunk with my .25 Avenge-XL with 33gr Apolo slug at 975 FPS at the muzzle. Hit him in the neck/upper shoulder area for an instant kill.
The next one was with my .22 RTI Mora. I was using the 40gr Frag slugs at 1010 fps at the muzzle and they didn't disappoint. The slug really blew that chipmunk up with a hit on the spine from behind. He dropped where he was and didn't even twitch.
Both shots were somewhere between 15 and 20 yards.
I finally rounded out my collection of PCP calibers this week with the .22 RTI Mora II Sniper. I wanted to get something that was capable of launching some extra heavy and boat tailed slugs for some long range shooting and this gun doesn't disappoint. I've currently got it tuned to be shooting some 40 grain slugs right at 1000 FPS. I've only shot out to 100 or so yards so far and it's still hitting extremely hard at that range with slugs.
I've got it set up with the Thermnight 4k 219r and a knockoff Accu-Tac bipod.
I went with a Mora over something like an Impact because it's ready to go for heavy slugs right out of the box with its 1:16 barrel and there's no need to build up the gun with a bunch of aftermarket parts to unlock its full potential for slugs. It also comes with a moderator which is nice.
The tuning is a little more difficult for me to wrap my head around with the valve dwell adjustment and pneumatic hammer vs a traditional hammer spring, but once it's dialed in it's extremely consistent.
This should be my last airgun purchase for a nice long while, now that I've got my caliber bases covered with a .177 Avenge-X, the .22 Mora II, and two Avenge-XLs in .25 and .30. I was hoping the Avenge-XLs could be my long range slug guns, but they don't quite have the twist rate for the extra heavy for caliber and boat tailed slugs.
At 100 yards my .22 Mora is actually tied with my .30 Avenge-XL in energy due to just how aerodynamic boat tailed slugs are vs something like the .30 FX Hybrid slug my Avenge-XL is currently set up for.
Shot this guy with my .30 Avenge-XL off hand somewhere between 15-20 yards with the FX Hybrid slug. The slug him in the right shoulder/spine area and exited by the left hip. Accidentally shot through/skimmed the slug off the stub of an old branch he was hiding behind, but it still had more than enough power for the to put him down immediately.
Doesn't look like the slug expanded at all, probably due to the hollow point cavity getting crushed or filled up with wood. A .30 hybrid slug at typically does a lot more damage, especially to small game.
.30 cal 44.5 gr RMR SLAP aka FX Hybrid Slug at around 10 yards. They're going roughly 1030 fps at the muzzle. I thought the slug zipped right through him without expanding but I was proven wrong when I went to check him out. Chipmunks love to show up right in front of me when I'm using my big bores for some reason.
Really got to test out the capabilities of the HW77K with this chipmunk at the incredible range of a whole 15 feet. He popped up on a stump just about right in front of me while I was getting set up to do some plinking so I took him down. I was using some basic 9 grain Apolo domed pellets. Hit him in the shoulder through the heart/lungs and the pellet stopped under the skin near the hip.
Thanks to the people of r/Springers for the recommendation.
My initial thoughts/short review:
This is by far the highest quality and most accurate .177 springer I've ever owned. Other than the noise of firing and some very mild hold sensitivity, it's almost like shooting a PCP. I'm not much of a group shooter, especially with springers, but this gun makes it easy. In my second picture I aimed at a random pellet hole while zeroing and got an incredible 10 shot group smaller than a dime at 25 yards. That group was shot with some Crosman Premier Hollow Points straight from Walmart and a spare UTG Bugbuster I had sitting around. The consistency is also impressive, I'm getting single digit standard deviation in pellet velocity over the chronograph now that the gun is broken in a bit.
Fit and finish is very good. The main components of the rifle have a nice blued finish and there's no scratches, sharp edges or loose pieces anywhere. The special edition comes with a laminated stock that feels great in the hand and features some nice deep checkering that ensures you have a good grip on the rifle.
The shot cycle is very smooth for a springer, especially with the Vortek PG4 Kit. It's more of a low pitched dull thwap like a gas ram than a thwap and buzz that most of my springers make. There's maybe the slightest bit of residual spring vibration after the shot is over but it's not really worth discussing any further.
The gun is a little heavy, but it's well balanced so it isn't too difficult to shoulder and aim for a bit to take a shot. Power is pretty respectable at roughly 17 FPE with a Vortek PG4 kit installed. Cocking effort is noticeable, but not excessive or tiring like my Hatsan mod 130S can be. I've shot more than a hundred pellets from the HW77K in a session with no real fatigue or muscle soreness after.
The trigger is very crisp, consistent, and predictable, but was a bit heavy for my personal preference out of the box, but a minor tweak had it where I wanted it. This has one of the best triggers i've used in general whether it was on a springer, PCP, or actual firearm. I never would have guessed that it would be possible to put such get nice trigger on a spring air rifle of all things.
I have only a few minor complaints.
I'm not a big fan of how the safety functions. It's a standard safe on cocked safety, but you can only go from safe to fire once. You can't go back to safe if you choose not to fire or at least not easily. If you decide not to fire you can get the safety to come back on with a little bit of wiggling and pushing on red "ready to fire" the indicator, but that's clearly not intended. I'm not the biggest fan of either having to walk around with a loaded air rifle with relatively a light trigger off safe or firing the shot off and potentially spooking any nearby small game. My gun's automatic safety was also a bit sticky and didn't want to come on consistently, but I fixed that by stretching out the safety spring a bit to give it a bit more power and its been flawless since.
Loading can also be a bit of a pain on a long shooting session. Pushing a pellet into the breech many dozen times over a long shooting session can make my thumb a little sore. Theres just enough resistance to require a firm push to get a pellet fully seated into the breech. That force concentrated over the small area of a pellet skirt adds up over time. All of my break barrels will let you just plop a pellet into the breech and seat it with a very light push.
Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with the HW77K and it's sure to be a staple of many plinking, small game hunting, and pest control sessions in the future.
Hello. I've been looking to get a higher end springer sometime in the near future and I was looking for recommendations.
I've owned a number of lower end break barrels from Ruger, Umarex, Gamo, and Hatsan over the years. All of which worked well enough, but felt lacking in one or more ways. I've mostly moved on to PCPs, but I do enjoy shooting my springers every once in a while. I've been looking at Weihrauch, Beeman, Air Arms, and Diana for brands that have a reputation for high quality.
My preferences are as follows but not listed in any order of importance:
I would prefer an action type other than break barrel. This isn't a hard requirement , but I have several break barrels already and would like something different.
I would prefer something in the 15 or greater FPE range. I would like a bit of extra energy to do some hunting with.
I would like to have iron sights. I mostly shoot with optics but I like using irons as well.
I would like to stay at or under $1000 for the air rifle itself, but I am willing to raise my price range a bit if a suggestion catches my eye.
Spring piston only. I would like to be able to stockpile some spare parts and gas rams don't tend to fare well in long term storage.
I'm currently leaning towards the Diana 54 Airking Pro, but I am open to other suggestions.
.30 cal 68gr Patriot Javelin next to a .177 cal 12gr Apolo slug. Single loading the Apolos feels like I'm shooting grains of rice. Very angry grains of rice. My Avenge-X is shooting the Apolos at about 1030 FPS.
Here's a breakdown of my thoughts on personal progress in the game and how it relates to the need for an endgame as a day 1 player.
Level 1: Everything is shiny and new. You have a ton of stuff to work towards and a ton of stuff to learn. Your progression options are: the free Helldivers Mobilize warbond, an extra warbond of your choice if you paid for it when you bought the game, strategems, and all ship modules.
Level 25: Congradulations! You've unlocked all of the free strategems and you're a fully equipped helldiver now! You've probably also made decent progress in Helldivers Mobilize or completed the warbond you chose. You've also started completing ship modules and have one or two done.
Level 40: You have completed or are nearly done with Helldivers Mobilize + your first warbond especially if you moved up the difficulty levels in search of more samples per mission for ship modules. You've earned all the easy ship modules and progress towards them has slowed down a bit, but it's good to have a long term goal to work towards. You've also probably earned enough super credits to get your second warbond with the refund from Helldivers Mobilize.
Level 65-75: You're done with all ship modules and have at least tried all difficulties. It's good to have finally completed something that you've spent a long time working towards. Along the way you've accumulated enough super credits for another warbond or two through regular gameplay.
Level 80+: Your personal progression is now solely warbonds or weapon levelling(from warbonds). At this point you're just doing it for the love of the game. Your samples and requisition slips are maxed out and you donate them to the DSS only to cap out again in a few missions. You wish there was more to personally progress towards, but nothing has really been added for you to do personally if you don't want to mindlessly grind super credits to unlock warbonds
56.6% of players(if helldive.live is accurate) are level 80+ which is not a tiny minority looking for an endgame as Pilestedt stated in the recent AMA. More than half of all players are complete with all free progression. Outside of the rare faction update, all veteran players have to work towards is warbonds for personal progression. That's why I believe the the recent AMA has received so much backlash. Pilestedt pretty much confirmed that there's nothing new is coming any time soon for over HALF of all players. The last thing we got for personal progression was level five ship modules that are coming up on two years old now. AH aren't catering to the majority of their player base and I'm not sure they realize it.
I just got my .30 Avenge-XL and I'm testing out some slugs including the much hyped, but years delayed FX Halos. I tested them out on a Clear Ballistics rabbit and got some pretty impressive results. I'm shooting these at 1025 FPS at the muzzle and impact was at 25 yards. The slug fragmented immediately with only the base reaching 4" of penetration. These look pretty nasty for pests and smaller game. Only downside is the price at roughly $30 for 150. Probably won't be buying more of these because of the high price, but I do like trying out the new stuff on the market.