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HW98 running out of zero adjustment

grandadfatboy

grandadfatboy

Slightly Obsessed
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My shooting buddy John, has coveted my HW98 virtually since I go it, to the point where he has offered me a straight swap for Daystate Ranger a couple of times. Anyways, with the help of a group on faceache he managed to get himself a tuned .177 HW98 laminate stock with less than a tin of pellets through it.

He decided that he'd like the NS Target Master 4-16x44 scope that I have for sale, but we decided to zero and chrono with the Hawke Sport HD he had temporarily mounted on the rifle. Well it grouped, but the scope run out of elevation adjustment, shooting 3-4inches low and about an inch left.

No problem, we'll swap it for my NS complete with Sportsmatch one piece mounts, which was previously on my HW98. Sorted.

Nope! WTF! This combination grouped exactly the same as the Hawke scope, low and left and again ran out of up elevation. We double checked that the arrestor pin wasn't protruding too far and raising the back of the scope.

I quickly removed the Hawke Eclipse off of my S510 (fitted with Hawke scope rings) and we fitted it to the HW98. Slight zero adjustment required, but bang on target, pardon the pun, and hasn't missed a beat since. 🤔🤔

The following day, I fit the NS, with one piece mounts back to whence it came, my HW98. Had to back off all the previous elevation, and the rifle zeroed perfectly, and didn't miss a beat for the couple of hours I was plinking in the garden.

Any ideas what would cause the running out of elevation on two of the three scopes fitted? Why the last scope zeroed properly, and then held zero with no issues, and finally why the NS had issues on John's HW98, but not mine?
 
Buy quality scopes not chink copies,Bushnell used to make great scopes until they moved production to china,only scope still made is japan is the Elite but by now that may have changed to give them even more profit.
Even the bottom end model which sold new for around £50 was made in japan and I have one,still perfect.
The more needless gimmicks they add to scopes,the worse they get,lets face it most of us found open sights good enough in the old days and I dont think air rifles can be used at 300yds so what is the point,simple they add a new gimmick your mate buys one so you have to have one and each year another update comes along.I will stick with my 3x9x50 Bushnells and laugh at the people wasting their money each year.
I look back to the days of real hunting,we only usually used a fixed 6 power out to 300yds and some preferred to stick with open sights for deer etc.
used 6 power on a H&H 375 magnum rifle,wonder if any of the new scopes would last on such a beast,a similar Redfield was used a my 8x60 rifle and never had any problems..
 
sarfarm said:
Buy quality scopes not chink copies
Click to expand...
I've broken Hawke and NS scopes on FAC air rifles, so went for a Leapers on my HW85, which can stand up to the recoil. On sub-12 rifles though, Hawke and NS scopes should perform perfectly well.

It actually sounds more like the dovetail rail had an obstruction in it, which meant that the first two scopes' clamps weren't engaging the dovetail properly. Unless there was an obstruction in the dovetail, or the clamps didn't engage properly, then it's difficult to explain -- especially since the NS worked when back on the HW98. o_O
 
We pick up the story again, with John's HW wearing my Hawke Eclipse with a pair of Hawke rings and my HW98 wearing my NS Target Master with one piece Sportsmatch mount.

Leaving the scope rings/mounts attached to the respective rifles, we decided to just swap the scopes over. This did improve the zero on John's HW98/Target Master combo, but not completely. John was adamant he wanted the NS scope, so we needed to shim the rear scope mount to achieve zero, and once completed the rifle never missed another beat. 😎

Swapping the Eclipse onto my HW98, had much better results initially. Zero wasn't far off and quickly achieved for my 20 yard range. However, after putting around 30 pellets down range (no change of pellet) the zero started to wander, first left and then right. 🤔 Sadly by this time I was bloody cold and we decided to call it a day.

At my next opportunity I will test the zero again and if all is not well, I'll look out a pair of scope rings from my spares box, and swap them for the one piece mounts. What is puzzling me is the fact that Target Master/one piece Sportsmatch mounts were absolutely perfectly matched and well suited to my HW98, but all over the shop on John's. We could not see any difference in the scope rails on the two rifles, and would could detect no damage either. 🤔

Worse case scenario, I'll try all the 1" scopes I have with the one piece mounts in an attempt to discover whether the mount is the problem.
 
Same thing was happening with my old rifle and a hawke airmax. The cheap mounts i was using
meant that the image moving system could not find zero within one full rotation of the turrets
when starting with a centred crosshair. E. G. If you have to wind three full revs to get the pellet
on the horizontal crosshair, you'll not have much room left on the vertical plane before hitting
the curve of the lens. Think of the very old crosshair moving scopes, its still the same idea but you can't
see it happening. To centre the scope count the revs of turret from far left to far right, half it and wind back
that amount, then the same with up/down. If you can't zero in two revs something is wrong, change mounts
back for front, allen studs on opp sides, fit mount bottoms to rail first or last resort shims. As soon as i changed
to hawke mounts the scopes found zero within the two revs and kept it. They're on my son in laws hatsan now
and working fine.
 
I'm still here Manny, just been having a few problems lately but things looking up now after treating myself to a Daystate Wolverine B. I have been on here reading posts to keep me sane so thank you guys.
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Nice puffer @Heisenberg. That's the Daystate I would have too. Hope we are gonna see some groups with it in the near future.

My buddy has the Air Ranger, which is before all the electronic bleeping that drives me fecking bonkers. Anyways, the stock on his Ranger fits me very well, and is just as lovely to shoot thumbhole as thumb up. The trigger on his rifle is the best of any rifle I've shot, bar none. It is sublime, and John insists it's how it came from the factory. :thumbsup:
 
grandadfatboy said:
Anyways, the stock on his Ranger fits me very well, and is just as lovely to shoot thumbhole as thumb up. The trigger on his rifle is the best of any rifle I've shot, bar none. It is sublime, and John insists it's how it came from the factory. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
So whyowhyowhy didn't you swap your unloved HW98 for it, ya numpty?!? :eek: :D
 
I bought the Wolverine of a mate who has had it from new and hardly used it. The condition is mint and the Wolverine, even the latest ones, don't have the electronic gubbins. It's .177 and the shot count is very impressive. Not regulated but I don't fill it to the 250 bar max. From a 220 bar fill the power is very constant down to 90 bar. Never had a Daystate before but I have to say I'm very impressed, great fit and finish, lovely mechanical trigger and not pellet fusy.
 
Having returned the Falcon M18+ to my HW98 I decided to fit it with a higher set mounts, as the rubber scope caps supplied with the scope were starting to mark the blueing where the scope was so close to the barrel.

Didn't get to the range on Tuesday as planned, as I went and injured the slowly repairing left arm. To be honest I was warned not to overdo the physio exercises, but did I listen, Oh no, coz I need it for winking too. 🤣 Anyways, having swapped the scope rings today I thought I'd re-zero and lead the barrel ready for this Tuesdays range visit. 🤞
 
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