HW45

[hellier0437]

what sort of range do you shoot them at? is it always powerful enough to kill them first time?

thanks

[Evil Elvis]

Any where between 5-10 yards, and they all died instantly, we used hollow tips and promethius(with eye protection as the promethius were going straight through dragging guts out with them and richocheting).

I have shot woodys at ranges of up to 20 yards when i have been fisghing, shot a tree rat with ti too.

 

If you are going to shoot thta closely i can stress the important of eye protection, my friend shot one at a paper target at the end of my garden (80feet) , he missed, hit the wall of my shed and it came straight back and pierced his forhead!!! leaving a huge bruise, he was lucky and had his eye gear on, 1.5" lower and he would have lost his eye.

 

 

There are 2 17.5 inch rats and 1 18.5 inch rat in the picture, they all died first shot too. B)

[hellier0437]

thanks for the warning, is yours a .177 or .22, does the calibre really make a difference?

it's amazing that the pistol killed some of those huge rats.

thanks

[Evil Elvis]

Its a .22, i dont own any guns in .177.

 

For what you would pay for a hw45, if you seriously want to "go out" shouting, youd be better of buying a BSA supersport and a decent scope, theyd cost less and are far more versatile. I bought the hw45 for a specific purpose to kill rats, as was recommend to me by a pest control specialist the does it for a living.....and that was good enough for me!

[hellier0437]

that's what i'd get it for aswell, shooting the rats out of the kitchen window as they go to the chicken run, no more than 10yds. i have tried using the 12bore, .410, and even 9mm shotguns but after you fire one shot, they all hide for the next week!

[Theskyfox]

I usually do my shooting in a hide on farms. I basically keep the HW45 with me in the hide. Then when I down something....go up to it with HW45 in hand . I usually have a friend with me as a helper too, so carrying gear isn't a problem.

 

Oh and its very useful for those occasions where something (usually a pigeon) is stupid enough to land directly on the top of the hide above your head...because I can assure you its nearly impossible to aim your rifle straight up in such a low hide lol! (at least in mine anyway lol)...

 

-Andrew

[Vulcha]

is it any better than the hw45, also, does anyonehave any experience of the crosman and sheridan "high power" CO2 pistols?

thanks

 

I've got one in .20 cal, and its a real accurate, hard hitting pistol. I've had several bunnies with it. I carry it with me as my finishing off weapon, but I normally have my rifle on my shoulder and the pistol out when I'm in real close woods, or after rats in barns. They're good, but expensive because you have to replace the co2 cylinders.

[Ferret Master]

hellier,

 

If you have a rat problem and have enough room to use your shotguns I reccomend you get an air rifle. You could get a new BSA spring powered air rifle with open sights or a scope cheaper than the pistol. You would also be able to put a silencer on so it is quieter than the pistol. Another good reason is you would have so much more power with the rifle so could take rats at 35m if you wished and if your aim was slightly off you would stop it with a shot to the chest. You cannot do this with a pistol. Overall an air rifle would be better for your situation and you could also use it to devestating affect on other quarry as well. :blink:

 

I don't understand why people on here carry an air pistol hunting with them. :blink: If quarry is 'downed' surely it is either dead most of the time or if wounded why don't you finish it off with your hands? If it's a nasty creature like a squirrel or rat then another shot from the air rifle will suffice. I get the impression that people which take an additional pistol hunting with them alongside their air rifle in the fields for dispatch are all the gear but no idea people which just like the idea of being prepared rather than practical.

 

I'm not having a knock at people where a pistol would be a better alternative like sitting on the bank when fishing and the rats are by your feet or in your shed.

 

FM

[hellier0437]

I think that one advantage of using a pistol for dispatch is that at close range, the pellet, as it's going more slowly is more likely to deliver all of it's energy into the animal, whereas a rifle might go straight through.

[Ferret Master]

Well if it's going straight through if definitely has enough power. :blink: Or you could use flat head pellets which give all their energy to the quarry and don't penetrate as far.

 

FM :blink:

[hellier0437]

my point is that what you really want is a pellet that enters the animal, fully expands, and then has just enough energy to just break through the skin at the other side. i feel that as the power is dependant on the square of the velocity, a rifle pellet will be travelling four time faster than a pistol pellet at half the power. therefore the momentum of the rifle bullet will be four times greater (as momentum is dependant on the velocity and not the sqaure of the velocity) and so the pellet will lose less speed in going through the quarry, thus delivering less energy.

 

 

just my thoughts, i may be wrong

tom

[Evil Elvis]

Or you could use flat head pellets which give all their energy to the quarry and don't penetrate as far.

 

While were on penetration, i used promethius for the rats and they went through, bring out organs and guts. i tried flathead, they worked but got hit in the face several times by pellets after they had blasted the rat, the energy wacked the rat and my noggin, hence the repeated mention of eye protection!!!

[joekid]

22 caliber is great with the hw 45 with a simple good quality red dot sight ,,youl soon be hitting coke cans at 50 yards, theyre that good,, i would reccomend keeping shots on live quarry well below this as the short barrel gives only six foot pounds,, although eight was nt unheard of, just dont use the silencer the barrel points slightly upwards giving the pistol rather good range, but pellets caught on the inside lip and went west, great pistol.. got me thinking now

[Evil Elvis]

Theres a silencer available? :look:

[Scarpa]

I've taken a rabbit with a HW45. But it takes a hell of a lot of practice and you must limit your shots to under 10m. Hell of a challenge though