Canadian Airgun Forum

Having had both the HW45 and the HW75 I can say I found the 75 easier to cock. A big difference between the two, other than one is a spring piston and the other a Single Stroke Pneumatic (SSP), is that the 45 cocks on the "up" stroke of the action while the 75 cocks on the downward stroke. The HW75 is a pleasure to shoot and as an SSP it is easier, much easier, to shoot for accuracy than the HW45, which, to put it charitably, is a challenge to shoot accurately.

If you find the P17/HW40 hard to pump, you probably will find the Webley Alecto hard to pump the 2nd & 3rd pump .

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René

Huh. So is the HW75 vastly different to the cocking compared to the HW40?

The HW40 was terrible to cock for me. I had trouble getting it to clamp down all the way and I was worried I'd catch some skin in there, even when trying to follow suggested methods by experienced users of the gun.

I don't know if the way I'm made but I found the HW45 at least 2-3 times easier to cock than the HW40. Now I'm confused!

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No scopes on any, just open sights:
- For the power: Norica Marvic 2.0 Luxe rifle (.22 cal)
- For the pleasure: Weihrauch HW30S Rifle (.22 cal)
- For the challenge: Weihrauch HW45 Black Star Pistol (.22 cal)

I think if you found the HW40 difficult, then the HW75 would not be the air pistol for you.

The Webley Alecto, which is also an SSP, would have a similar cocking action. With the up and down cocking action, with the downward stroke being the one that provides the compression, you would have the same experience. Many shooters can master the cocking action of HW40/75, Alecto, P17, Gamo Compact type of air pistols.

How about the Cometa Indian? If you want something easy to cock but still has some power it is hard to beat. You crank it more than cock it and you can hold the lever with thumb and one finger to do that. It is quite unique and all a bit unusual but loading is as easy as anything else once you get used to it.
It is very accurate too and not too expensive.
The only negative for me is that the trigger is not the best but you can live with it.

But the Cometa Indian is a spring powered air pistol like the HW45, isn't it?

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I'm breathing air, I'm shooting air…

So the love at first sight is over?
http://www.airgunforum.ca/forums/topic71300.html
I followed this topic and find this development very logical, I came to the same decision after one shooting session with my friend's HW45.
Only accurate guns are interesting, eh?

I want to share my experience, I have had HW40 and HW75 and both are sold because (for me, of course) they was good only for short shooting sessions, let say 10-25 shots after work. But even 60 shots match with HW75 become painful from cocking (while it was more accurate when most of my rifles that time).
So let see what we have
CO2 / PCP - you don't want
Overlever SSP - tough to cock
Springers - not accurate
Possible solution: Recoil-less springers. If you can find FWB65, FWB80, Diana 6G, Diana 10G
All those match pistols from the past, spring powered without recoil. But hard to find and cost more than HW75 new.

One more alternative what I have now is Gamo Compact. Same operation as Hw40 but not so hard to cock because it is less powerful, only 350 fps.
I never tried Alecto and it can be an option too in 0.22 (but man, it looks ugly to me, but it's only me)

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HW30s - HW50s - HW97k - HW45 - HW70 - FWB300

Yes, but not nearly as hold sensitive as the 45, yet easily as accurate, and I shoot my P-1s and Indians on a, pretty much, daily basis. I've been known to call an Indian the poor man's HW45. I also have a P-3 and an HW75. The cocking and accuracy is about the same, but the 75 has a slightly nicer trigger.
The weak point of the Cometa is the lack of vertical adjustment of the rear sight, yet they can be shimmed if it's shooting low. RC

Because the P-1/HW45 is such a fantastic pistol, it's well worth the effort to learn to shoot it well, and it's quite gratifying once you've got it. These two bits of info helped me considerably, and so, I'll pass them on to you. RC

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2011/05/ ... ol-part-3/

"I am right handed and I grip a pistol with my right hand. With all these groups my left hand was loosely wrapped around my right with the index finger supporting under the trigger guard". Todd Cooper, from his extensive online review here:
http://my.tbaytel.net/coopers/HW45Review/review.html

sorry that's not true the second pump is very easy still, and like I mentioned before that's all he will need for some indoor target shooting,
now the third pump is a bit more difficult and I would compare it pretty close to the P-17...which would equal the P-3 and HW-40

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"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"

It is, yes but I didn't see anything to say a springer was an issue. The main thing as far as I understood was cocking difficulty and the Indian is the easiest thing to cock I have ever handled, a 3-year old could do it...though that's not necessarily a good thing, just figuratively speaking and all that...

There's also the HW70 break barrel though I don't have any experience with that.

Personally, I would persevere with the HW45 since it's about the best pistol out there but that's just me (and RC - who knows a thing or two about pistols).

Some really good ideas / suggestions in here.

I still do like the HW45. There's nothing wrong with the gun; it's perfect. It's the shooter that's the problem and this shooter has little to no time to perfect his trigger/hold/etc discipline, so he's looking for an easy / enjoyable pistol.

I've tried. I've had it for several months and am well over 1000 pellets. Every article posted here with tips - I've re-read several times already and have tried. The pistol and I don't mesh, that's all.

As for what my next gun will be - still not sure. I feel like giving the HW75 a shot. It has a similar look and feel than the HW45 ( which I still love) and I guess I can try to give it a good try to master the cocking effort.

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No scopes on any, just open sights:
- For the power: Norica Marvic 2.0 Luxe rifle (.22 cal)
- For the pleasure: Weihrauch HW30S Rifle (.22 cal)
- For the challenge: Weihrauch HW45 Black Star Pistol (.22 cal)

Agreed. The first and 2nd pump on the Alecto is very easy. I also own a p-17 and it requires quite a bit more effort to cock than the Alecto on 2 pumps. The Alecto also has more power on two pumps than a HW75 or P17. If you want a do it all pistol, get an Alecto.

If I can get my hands on one, I might try it. I might e-mail Replica airguns and ask them when they're expecting more stock.

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No scopes on any, just open sights:
- For the power: Norica Marvic 2.0 Luxe rifle (.22 cal)
- For the pleasure: Weihrauch HW30S Rifle (.22 cal)
- For the challenge: Weihrauch HW45 Black Star Pistol (.22 cal)

Well, I just bought a HW75 from a forum user so let's hope I have more luck cocking this thing than the HW40. I've seen a few people mention they can do it for hours on end, so clearly there IS a method to do it efficiently and without exhausting the same muscles.

Once again thanks everyone for your advice! I might hold onto the HW45 - we'll see how it goes. It's such a joy to cock and shoot, I just can't hit anything lol. I'm not in a hurry to sell it, let's put it that way.

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No scopes on any, just open sights:
- For the power: Norica Marvic 2.0 Luxe rifle (.22 cal)
- For the pleasure: Weihrauch HW30S Rifle (.22 cal)
- For the challenge: Weihrauch HW45 Black Star Pistol (.22 cal)