Theo98 wrote:
TC,
Great 20yd shooting! Seems your P17 really likes the 8.44 JSB Exact's. Need to get some and try them with mine.
Curious if you owned the HW 40 while also having the P17? Do you find better accuracy with the HW 40 (due to it's lighter trigger)? I've wondered if there's anything to gain (with accuracy and performance) in moving from the P17 to say the P3 (equal to the HW 40)?
Ted
Hi Ted,
I still own the HW40 that I bought in early 1999. It's labelled as a Beeman P3. I'm pretty sure that the HW40/P3 just got to market a few months prior. I bought the P17 in early 2010.
The HW40 trigger is amazing. Mine releases at a crisp 15 oz. The HW40/P3 shoots about the same speed as the P17. My P17 might be 4 or 5fps faster but that can vary from pistol to pistol. My HW40 has seen well over 20,000 shots and still drives tacks at 10 yards.
My HW40 has a very slight accuracy edge over my P17. It's not enough to justify the price difference, IMO. Unfortunately, I haven't tested the HW40 beyond 20 yards. The HW40 enjoys a diet of the old Crosman Premier Light pellets but the quality control on these fell off so I went to the JSBs. The HW40 does almost as well with the JSBs and the difference is so slight that more testing would be needed to say they were not equal. Here is an old comparison that I did 7 years ago. My P17 trigger has greatly improved since the testing.
------------------------------------------Accuracy Test - HW40 vs. P17Testing accuracy was a bit of a challenge with the trigger pull differences. I did my best to give each pistol a fair chance when shooting from a rest. I mounted the same red dot sight when doing each test. A scope would have been more precise but I don't have any kicking around at the moment and I prefer red dots on my pistols. The POI shift only changed about 7/8" for windage and the same elevation when I moved the red dot from one pistol to the other.
The JSB Exact seemed to shoot well from both pistols so that is the pellet I selected. I could do the testing with 30 different pellets but that would probably take me all summer.
All groups are 5 shots each from 10 metres. For "Test #1" I shot 8 groups for each pistol and selected the best 5 groups.
Test #1
Beeman P17 = .33, .38, .32, .36, .37 - Ave = .35"
Weihrauch HW40 = .32, .29, .30, .33, .29 - Ave = .31"
Test #2
Beeman P17 = .33, .32, .40, .43 - Ave = .37"
Weihrauch HW40 = .38, .26, .33, .32 - Ave = .32"
For the second set of groups I actually shot a couple of extra groups with the P17 but threw them out because of flyers. The heavier trigger was likely a factor that effected my ability.
The difference in accuracy isn't huge but the HW40 does seem to be a bit more accurate. This could be due to the better feeling trigger on the HW40. I might do the tests over again once the P17 trigger improves. The trigger isn't bad right now but it's far from the crisp one pound pull of the HW40.
With a 9X scope, with adjustable objective, I was averaging .28" @10m with JSBs in the HW40. The Crosman Premier averaged .25" but my supply is low right now.