The .22 has some pressure issues which will get sorted once some bits and pieces from the UK arrive

It was originally doing OK however some discrepancies arose which I'm hoping a full strip and re lubrication, plus replacement seals, including the piston seal, should fix.   I hope, or it's off to Ron Young for a going over at his expert hands.  He, incidentally, sold the two HW90's 26 years ago, according to the stickers on both boxes.

The .25 now has the Hawke Vantage 6 -24 X 50 that came with the 97 from Kruzaroad and it suits that very well.

Pumped 150 rounds through it with that scope in Sportsmatch Dampa 30mm 1 piece rings earlier this evening after having put 200 other pellets through it with a non AO scope. I was going to leave the Hawke on the other .22 HW90, until the pressure issues stalled that process.  I have a NS Diamond Long Range 4 -16 x 50 coming that will go on that .22 once it's sorted pressure wise.

The best of the 5 pellets tried for the .25 were JSB Exact King Diabolo 25.39gn, which, once the barrel was appropriately leaded, started printing off some nice tight groups at 20m, with the last 3 being 1 holers and the very last being half of a 5mm bull dot.   The Hades at the same weight very pretty good, just simply not as good, but I'll try them again as they're pretty much the same POI, with a slight right shift at the same height, and they were the first of the JSB pellets through so didn't get the same leading in process the Exact's got.  I've still got 200 of them, so no harm in trying a few more, even if it's just for more practice with a rifle I'm enjoying immensely, and they're the same composition as the Exacts.

The recoil is real and something I've never felt in an air rifle in that way before, other than in the Magnum Gamos, but it's very different to those.  They're a slap  Not 1 ounce of muzzle flip, but more than 1oz of push back in to the shoulder, but very linear and calm.  

For that last group, there was a very Zen moment when I just simply knew what was happening and flowed through it, almost autonomously, and it really was no surprise to see the result as, with the scope dialled up, I could watch the pellets fly in to each others space.  I think 2500 pellets down range in 2 weeks is starting to make it all feel right, even though the HW97's Rekord and the HW's Elite trigger are quite different.  They both respond the same to careful control and both break very cleanly.  The 97 is still, as it should be, the more accurate.  Precision instruments.

Some moments of unadulterated bliss.  After 4 years of not shooting, preceded by shooting 5 or 6 times a week for the year before that, I was really missing it, and now I'm not doing it for a living it's taken on a different and far more joyous air.

Shooting for pleasure, not a paycheck, sure does change the dynamic.  And at $12 for an hour and a halfs entertainment, that's also extraordinary value.

So, everything is working like it should, the rifle has been fiddled till it's where it needs to be.  Every screw tightened right, the scope, rings and rail all Loctited in and it feels luscious.

I'll leave playing with pressures till the UK stuff gets here as the pump and attachments I'm currently using are not ideal, and once that stuff arrives I'll have a new excuse to tinker and trial all over again.

It's coming with me camping tomorrow for 3 days, so I'll get it sighted in at 50, range it for hold over and under from 80 to 20, and see if I can fluke a few hits on a pellet tin at a hundy, just for sh*t's and giggles.

Better pick up some more pellets on the way.  10,000 seemed like a lot.  Gunworks sent me a VIP card.

from reading all that you sound HAPPY Bro, that's great news.

You know many springers take 1500 pellets to break in, so could still be getting there, better and better with every shot.

Ron was trying to sell me on Hades but he knows im domed pellet unless its a polymag but he said they stop pukekos dead at 30m with chest shoots .22 so 30m might be what they're designed for . it's like crow magnums, lot of people buy them but they're sh*t pellets, good if accurate at a fixed close rage only. where as polymags, penetrate and dump all their energy and usually very accurate,

As long as the big .25 isnt rattling your teeth your good to keep going 

My first centrefire, given to me as a 13 year old, was a No4 Mark1 Canadian issue badly sporterised .303 with the brass trapdoor buttplate.  That rattled everything.  But I was about 35 kg then and built like a crayfish leg.

The .25 pushes, noticeably, more than the .22's but less than the Gamo .25 and I will persist.  Simple bloody joy to use.

I hope you're right about the break in as neither of those rifles was previously fired.  That'd be nice.

yeqh bro if brand new, 3 tins to run them in, thats standard practice, you get to a stage when it doensnt feel right, tamer, less recoil, good accuracy, so just keep relaxing and maxing the accuracy then you know it's all run in

I've run 3 tins through all my air rifles and see it happen over and over as it everything meshes together.  then you will be making the super shot and saying everyone , YOU NEED one of these.. I take it all with a grain of salt but it i know an airgun model is run in, using suitable pellets at suitable ranges in suitable temps I wil lwatch because they'res always a place for 44magnum or a hammer