HW35 -V-Mach tuning

[Taff777]

I've never written a review before – so please be patient!! - and this is just early days as I just got my .22 HW35 back last Thursday from Lyn Lewington (recommended by Mr P at V-Mach and many others...).
It’s 30 years old and I haven’t used it for 20-odd yrs – but it’s been used by a family member over the last 6 years and he (who will remain nameless, Bruv) has not looked after it at all. My first concerns were when he said he thought the spring was broken..... So I got it back, sent it off for some tlc by the Venoman and now it’s awesome!! Lyn is a top bloke who – apart from converting my piston (to accept synthetic seal), tuning and re-springing with V-Mach – also checked for and remedied the slightly leaking brazed joint at the fore-end of the cylinder; tidied up rust patches on the barrel, overhauled the trigger unit (replacing a broken spring), cleaned the barrel and gave me a fairly detailed report on its performance with different pellets – all for little more than it cost to post!! I fitted my scope and tested (trying to zero) in my small (7m) indoor range; then took it out on Sunday to the local air-rifle range (Dinnington, Newcastle).
Well..... what can I say? It feels better than I ever remember it being – the only downside to it is me and my rustiness (haven’t been shooting in about 24 years). It is extremely smooth to fire with much less recoil from the spring action (at least – this is how it feels – less “boingy”) – but feeling very punchy indeed. Initial tests (indoors) gave fairly close groupings – spoiled only by my poor shooting (I guess I’ll not be taking it to the Olympics then....!!). Lyn had kindly sent me some samples of Air Arms Field (15.9 grains) and H&N FTT (14.8 grains) to try – so I decided to do some testing as I had some Prometheus Hunting too (9.00 grains). I tried AA Field to start – although I was adjusting the scope as I did so – you can see this in the groupings shown (yeah – I know they’re quite large – but I did say I was rusty!!). Then I tried the H&N, followed by the Prometheus. I was firing from the gun being rested on a large cushion (wife’s footrest actually) on a workbench and fired 5 shots at each of the 5 targets on one sheet. What was apparent was that as the pellet weight went down the group sizes seemed to get bigger. What was also clear was that Prometheus pellets need a lot of respect – even when using a pellet trap! My trap is not quite vertical and you can see in the photo where the metal centre pin of the pellet has rebounded back through the target – very scary actually! I did actually try a very simple penetration test by firing the side of an old Doc Marten boot. I had already shot at this using my CX4 (.177 CO2) using RWS Super-H-Points – and these had pierced one side of the leather. The AA and H&N both went through one side of the boot and pierced the second side (which is pretty good considering there was a gap of about 2 inches between the 2 sides); the Prometheus pierced both sides, leaving the plastic casing in the boot and the metal centre-pin went straight through the second side making a hole of about 5 mm deep in my backstop!!

Going out to the (25m?) range on Sunday was great – again the HW felt like it was packing more punch than ever before (at about 11.8 ftlbs according to Lyn). However, after a little while – I seemed to need to re-zero the scope more and more..... then I realised that the eye-relief was not how I’d set it up......hmmmmmm then I realised that the scope had crept back by about 3 inches! DOH!! I have a one piece mount but it has only one side screw to clamp the dovetails and the arrestor screws are too far forward to use the convenient arrestor holes drilled into the rear end of the cylinder – so I went to the local gunshop today and bought an arrestor block (Sportsmatch do one for £8) – I will fit this tonight and see how it goes from there. The problem is that as the scope moves back then the POI changes – and not necessarily in a predictable way either (sod’s law!) – so I can’t claim that I managed to shoot tiny groups at 25m – but at least I know why now (apart from being a crap shot, of course!! Lol). So, this is only a first stage review and needs some follow-up once I have tried again with a stationary scope(!) and had a bit more practice. I still managed to hit 15mm spinners at 25m (though not consistently!) – but I’m very optimistic to try the scope arrestor. One thing I noticed was that there was someone with a (.177 I think) pcp to the side of me – who seemed to be able to hit anything he wanted each time – but there was a significant difference to the “ting” of his pellets hitting metal plate targets and the solid “thwack” of my pellets thumping them! All in all, it feels very powerful, solid and consistent and I can’t wait to get a bit more practice in! The next step is to put a good few hundred (maybe even a couple of thousand) pellets through to let it bed in and settle down. Then I’ll have to get it chronoed to check its not over – but watch this space!!
If you've read this far - well done and thank you!!
Taff

[Relin]

Nice review mate, how much did it cost you if you dont mind me asking?

Got any piccies?

[Taff777]

Cheers - thought i might get a prize for the longest ever post in the world!!lol
It cost me £98 for bits from V-Mach - which included a piston conversion from leather to synthetic (fairly standard pricing i reckon as they do have an official price list - which i can post if need be. then also £3.50 for a new spring for the trigger - and for all the work which Lyn did - he only charged £35 - absolute bargain! i will get some piccies of the rifle - have to be later as im still at work at mo - but i will sort some out! (i do have a pic of my cx4 - although it's meant only as a fun pic.......!!


(darn lazy cats.....!!)

[Webby]

A real nice read ....and must say a very good review .....might have to get my HW77 to this guy to work his magic

thanks again

Dave

[The Robin]

Good review and a really good read bet your well happy with it

[shootfive]

A real nice read ....and must say a very good review .....might have to get my HW77 to this guy to work his magic

thanks again

Dave

Do it. A V-Mach HW77 is a thing of beauty.

[Ed J]

A real nice read ....and must say a very good review .....might have to get my HW77 to this guy to work his magic

thanks again

Dave

Do it yourself bud

You get the pleasure of tinkering and shooting

[1961nuffield]

Nice review, thanks for putting it up.


John

[erve]

Good to hear, my 95k is with Lyn at the moment.

How long did he have your rifle for? Hes only had mine a week, but i cant wait to get it back and shoot it!

[Taff777]

He had it a few weeks (about 4) - but this was because he had a holiday planned - so he was away for a couple of weeks. although, when it was finished he called me to say he had posted it on a Wed afternoon (about 4 pm) and it arrived at 8 am the next day! I'm sure you'll be delighted when you get it back!