If I were buying a Weihrauch I’d get the HW50s. And some day I probably will.
I got a pair of Daisy 131’s, rebranded Gamo Expo, that I picked up at two different pawn shops for 25 bucks a piece. They do mostly what an HW30 would do, except with a shorter length of pull and some cost cutting construction. But about 40 years old and still shoot great. Nice click adjustable sights, good triggers, super easy to cock, very accurate but not real powerful. I added a recoil pad to increase the LOP on one, as well as a 4x32 scope. The nicer one I left stock with open sights.
For reason of their low power, like the R7 and HW30, I wouldn’t choose one for for my only airgun. About a 30 yard target gun is mostly what they’re good for.
But I busted them out last weekend for my niece and her husband and their 2 and 4 year olds to shoot. We set up some cans of various sizes and had a blast with them.
A more powerful option, and one that also won’t break the bank, is Daisy’s next step up from the 880. The 901. Easily scopeable. About on par with the power of the HW50s. And around $70 before scope. Add a Simmons 22Mag 3-9x32 and you got a decent plinker with the power and accuracy to shoot targets out to 40 or more yards and hunt small game or pests effectively out to that 30 yards or a bit more. All for less than $150 bucks including pretty decent scope and a few tins of ammo. I get the Winchester Domes .177 9.8 grain pellets from Tractor Supply for about $5 per 500.
The advantages of the Daisy 901 over the 880 is a better stock and a more adult oriented pump handle along with a factory stabilized barrel. This is what you want if you want inexpensive accuracy. Expect those nickel and dime, or quarter, sized groups, depending on skill, at 25 or 30 yards from a rest.
I don’t know about that Seneca. But a Sheridan Streak or a Benjamin 392/397 were not meant to be scoped. And they’re much harder to pump than a Daisy 880 or 901.
I have a couple of other cheap powerful springer that’ll do a number on steel cans out to 65 yards, and probably even further. Ones a plain Crosman Nitro Piston .22 ($50 pawn shop buy) which is pretty lightweight at about 6 pounds. It wears a Simmons 22 Mag 3-9x32 that I bought used.
And the other is a super accurate but longer and heavier Ruger Blackhawk Elite with adjustable trigger and a big honkin 4-12x40AO BSA Sweet 17 scope(also purchased used) in .177 caliber that’ll shoot close to 1” groups at 65 yards.
The Nitro Piston .22 might go 2 or 2.5 on a good day. And I’ve had no trouble with these upper mid power rifles tearing up inexpensive scopes.
The Ruger is actually a clone of the German air rifle Diana 34, but with the older T5 trigger.
And I’d wager that it’d shoot just as good. Though purists would argue different.
But I’d love to have an HW50S if I was a serious air gunner. Not as powerful as the two above, but more than enough to get you out to 35 or 40 yards, maybe 50, and easier to cock. And not so powerful that it’ll eat a scope.
The beauty of the springer is it’s fast to cock, fast and very easy to load, easy to mount a scope, and no additional accessories needed. Much more convenient to put a lot of lead down range than a pumper. And the 50 doesn’t have a lot of recoil that’d require a great deal of learning.
Still the pumper is easier to shoot than even the lowest powered springers. As is the PCP air rifles. Neither have any recoil. But I haven’t gotten serious enough to want to have to have a pump or tank or special high output compressor to consider a PCP. And the convenience of ease of loading along with me being too impatient and lazy to want to pump 8 or 15 times as opposed to cocking once, and accurate enough for me, leaves a mid powered springer / gas ram / nitro piston as my go to choice.
Except I have an easy to load open sight Crosman 1377 pump pistol that I shoot quite often. And just as often wish it was a 1322, as the 22 pellets are so much easier to handle. About $50 new and worth every penny. Very accurate and about as powerful as an HW30 rifle.
Last edited by DollarShort; 08/03/18.
