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I purchased a .22 Cal Hammerli Pneuma from Airguns of Arizona and have been VERY pleased with the performance. Below is a target shot within a few days of getting the gun. This is 30 shots on a single charge at a distance of 38 yards. While not earth shattering, its very impressive for a gun that cost $300.00.  This was shot with Crosman Premiers at around 880 to 915 fps.

After shooting a few more days I thought I would try a few less shots to see how the group size went. Below is a group of 15 and then 5. This was shot at 38 yards also. The lower group of 5 shots includes 3 shots through the same hole.

I have taken the gun in the woods and it has not failed me when I did my part. As I write this I have a squirrel in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. I have been shooting at a little longer range to see if the zero changes and today I put 5 pellets throuh the same hole at a distance the scope tells me is 50 yards. (The 38 Yard measurement matches the scope exactly)

Anyway, if you are looking for a great value in a PCP, you should check the pneuma out before they are all gone. Also knowat as a HAtsan AT44.

11 Dec 2010

Just a followup. I have been shooting the gun for a couple of months now. No problems as far as operating at all other than the fill probe orings going bad. Probable close to 1000 rounds. I havent had time for any serious accuracy/velocity testing with different pellets but have notice the Crosman premiers and Benjamin Hollowpoints perform about the same. At a stepped of distance of 48 paces, I am getting 1" groups or smaller. There has been very little point of impact shift at all other than the 1st 2 or 3 shots on a full fill are often  way off.

I have been trying to get a few squirrels a week in afternoon hunts near dusk with little luck. I would get one, maybe two. And have lost a couple at dark. This a.m. I had the chance to be up before sunrise and get in the woods. 

I filled the pneuma up to about 180 bar, set it outside at around 5:30 to get used to the temperature (about 35 deg F), checked the zero (Had about 5 clicks windage adjustment.)

I got to the woods just before the sun came up. I was amazed at the noise of squirrels compared to what I had been hearing in the late afternoon. I sat down for about 5 minutes and realized I was in a bad spot. I could see 3 squirrels chasing up and down a tree about 35 yards away but there was too many limbs between me and them. 

I got closer and they took off but I sat down and waited. Within a couple of minutes another showed up at about 30 yards. I shot and he came down and hit the ground with a thud ground but was still moving. He was down the side of a hill so I hoped he was just rolling. A minute later another came about the same distance and came to the ground with a thud. I decided to retrieve the two shot but could only find the latter and he was hit low in the center of his neck. Probably me holding under too much for shooting up at an angle. The other one was no where to be found. I sat down for less than a minute and spotted a male and female on a tree about 20 yards from me. As I weighed the idea of shooting while they were making squirrels, I thought about how I do enjoy eating them and shot them both. The male was taken with a clean headshot then the female who never flinched when the male let go, stayed in the same place and received the same treatment.

I heard claws on bark not far off and waited a couple of minutes and a male showed nearly at he same spot and was dropped within a few feet of the two. It began to mist a little and I figured that was it.  I sat still for about 15 minutes just listening to the woods and from 50+ yards away saw 3 squirrels chasing each other and hoped they would come closer. They did and the 1st two walked the same path on a branch about 15 yards away and paused. The 1st one paused and was shot and fell. I had a pellet already in my hand ready to reload thinking the others would scatter. The second one came to the same spot and was shot in the head. The 3rd took off. It began to rain as he was running away and I decided he had a good idea. It was nice walking out with a load of squirrels. 

I have been slow cooking them in a cast iron skillet tightly covered overnight at about 230 Deg F. I place a layer of olive oil in the skillet, cut some sweet potatoes about 1/2" thick and cover the bottom of the skillet with the potatoes. I then season them with cayenne pepper and garlic and turn them belly up on the potatoes and fill them with grape juice. The meat stays moist and is pretty tasty for my likes. May not be for everybody. My wife likes em fried so that's probably the fate for these.

The view at 6:25 (Kinda Grainy from my Iphone)

11 June 2011

I had a pretty good fall this year squirrel hunting with my pneuma but after tinkering and punching paper I found that the gun shot most accurate with the least extreme spread at about 110 bar fill. At this fill I could get 15 shots at 54 yds in a single hole the size of a quarter with 1 or 2 flyers.This is at  around 835 for 15 shots with Wal Mart .22 Crosman HP's. 

I was really itching to try it out on the squirrels, so I bought a Tennessee Non Resident license. Tennesee has a spring season. Mississippi does not. I talked to a few guys I worked with, and a man there with about 20 acres said To come over and shoot away. At 1st they were plentiful on the ground and I took 10 or so on a few different 30 minute visits. All 40 to 50 yard shots in the open with squirrels on the ground. They became a little more scarce in the open but I could hear them all over in the denser areas.

On the last day of the season, I decided I would concentrate on the denser areas since things had slowed down in the open. From 6:30 to 8:30 I bagged 9. Most were high angle shots through the tree limbs at 20 to 30 yards. Many of the shots resulted in zero movement when the squirrel hit the ground.

Other than being a little heavy, the pneuma was great. I would love to get a regulator to increase the number of shots without a poi shift.

August 2011

I have 6 tins of Wal-Mart CPHP pellets through my Pneuma and probably 1000 rounds of RWS Superdome, RWS Hollow Points, Kodiak Match, and crow magnums. The only ones that would group decent (1 inch or less at 50 yards), were the CPHP's and Kodiak Match pellets. I did some chrony testing and found that at lower power I could get a few more accurate shots. I decided to settle on about 835 FPS. 

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a puff of air when I fired and losing air from the cylinder a little fast. I decided to take the gun apart to see if I could "Tune" anything. After some struggling on how to get it apart, I called Umarex for some help and  they got me on track. Here is what I did

1. Deburred the slots around the area the hammer slides in and burnished with some moly powder.
2. Polished the od of the striker/hammer and coated the edges that slide with a very thin layer of moly grease
3. Cleaned the ID of the hole in the striker where the spring is inserted using a wire brush.
4. Installed new orings on both sides of the transfer port.
5. Replaced the power adjustment screw with a longer one (heavier).
6. Pulled a brush followed by kroil soaked patches through the barrel.
7. Cleaned the hammer spring and coated with a light coat of moly grease.

After getting the gun back together I had to tweak the power adjusting screw to get back to the velocity I wanted. The overall firing behavior didn't seem to change any. I was able to get about 18 shots with a 10 FPS spread which is what I want for a morning of squirrel hunting.

Accuracy testing went well. One thing I thought that was neat was that after getting the gun back together, the gun was shooting 1/2" of the original POI at 50 yards. I got quite a few sub 3/4" groups that would have been 1/2" or less if it werent for a flyer. 

  I decided to compare a couple of large shot count groups with the pellets that seemed to perform closest in my 5 shot group tests. Using the same charge pressure (145 bar). I shot 20 shots at 50 yards with each pellet. The 7 shot group on the lower left was shot after the 20 shot group. Click on the thumbnail to see the target.

After a few more  tests over the chronograph, I adjusted my gun to shoot best with a 180 bar fill. I may turn it up to use more fill pressure but think I will wait for getting a regulator. The squirrel season in Tennessee starts this coming weekend. I am going to a get together opening morning to see he can get the most squirrels in a given amount of time. I hope to do well with an airgun. I can hunt a few places others cant. Today was the last day I had to check out the gun before hunting this upcoming weekend. We will be working 12s all week so won't have much time after work. I shot a series of four 5 shot groups. in each group 3 or more pellets would go through the same hole. It was very calm today so I walked the target stand out to 95 paces and put on a fresh target. Below is what I got. The center group was 15 shots and the bottom right was 5 shots.

I look forward to restricting the transfer port a little and turning up the spring tension to see if I can get a few more shots.

So far I really like the gun. Been a great deal and may buy another.

28 August 2011

A few shots at 75 Yards with different pellets. These were shot on one fill from left to right one shot each target then move to the next. The light was fading so I had to hurry. 

Click on the thumbnail.