New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

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45flint
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New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Thu Apr 14, 2016 4:55 pm

Just acquired a early .177 Hy-Score 800 in the box with all the papers and pellets. The box is not in great shape but the gun is about mint. From the box and the gun it looks to me to be late 1940s or very early 1950s. It was 400fps with RWS 7 grain .177 pellets. Thats the speed they advertised for these early models. Mine would have the metal piston rings.

Initial impressions:
Positives,
1. Very substantial gun made to last. Stamped metal is thick and nicely blued. Whole gun is blued steel like a firearm. No pot metal. Huge plus.
2. Lots of innovative features: barrel runs the entire length of the gun 10" (not the first but takes it to its logical conclusion), very cool camera type shutter to seal in the pellet, trigger design reduces the pull to 3 lb? Able to cock and dry fire trigger without cocking spring.
3. Generally gun looks like a firearm, is compact and feels right to hold and shoot. Spring jump is pretty natural and very quiet.

Negatives.
1. Sights not the best, crude ramp adjustment for elevation but nothing for windage. Pales in comparison to my Walther LP53
2. Trigger is not bad, breaks well, with not much effort but is not in the class of a target pistol.
3. The above negatives combine to make the gun not as easy to group as my favorite LP53. It feels that the gun is very accurate, but above tend to make it a great backyard plinker.

Love the gun, it was a awesome acquisition and these are such bargains in the used market, this was $125 on Gunbroker. They made so many, they say 100s of thousands. I found a very interesting paper written by the inventor outlining the development of this gun. He used four air guns in the process: the Webley and the Haenel 28 being two.

Pics to follow
Last edited by 45flint on Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:59 pm, edited 6 times in total.

45flint
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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:05 pm

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45flint
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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:12 pm

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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:15 pm

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Shutter open looking into rifling
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Certus
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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by Certus » Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:23 pm

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your Hyscore. The pistol looks to be in great condition with the box and paperwork adding to the interest as always.

I have a standard U.S. made 800 together with a cased UK variant of these pistols and would pretty much agree with your initial assessment of the pros and cons of the design. The rotary magazine pistols were certainly interesting and innovative, but in my experience it takes almost as long to use the system as it does to load individual pellets !

Regards

Brian

45flint
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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:03 pm

My biggest surprise was how well made and substantial the pistol is. When you look at pictures the bottom half, with the barrel pivot point looks like cheap stamped metal. In reality it very heavy blued metal, stamped but not cheap looking at all in person. The inventor used the Hanael 28 as one of his inspirations to come up with the design. You can see the influence in style and I think he did better it. Still looking for a Haenel 28 however!

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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:09 pm

I am getting two inch groups at best with the Hy-score. That's about par with what I have read but it just seems it should do better, given the long barrel and a trigger that isn't that bad. I have a theory lol. When you load you just drop the pellet in and close the port. I wonder if gravity leads to inconsistant pellet seating. I'm going to get out my Beeman pellet seater and see if I can seat it a little deeper consistently with it. Wonder where I put that thing. Lol Got to try to defend the reputation of Andrew Lawrence!
Last edited by 45flint on Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: New acquisition Hy-Score 800 - early model

Post by 45flint » Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:26 pm

Setting the pellet in the barrel made a big difference. Cut the grouping in half was getting one inch groups. Started getting some in the same hole. Eliminated the flyers I was getting before. Gravity seating, I think is a issue with this gun. Had to make my own seater from a Bic pen. You could feel it just push it in the barrel.

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