Break-barrel spring airguns offer a fun and affordable way to enjoy airgun shooting, and you can now pick up some absolute crackers for a couple of hundred pounds or less. The Hammerli Black Force 400 Combo kit, distributed in the UK by John Rothery Wholesale, is a brilliant example of the sort of value these great guns can offer. It has a recommended retail price of £119.95, and even comes supplied with a 3-9x40 telescopic sight and mounts.
This would make a great combo for beginners or someone looking for a low-priced setup that doesn’t have to be wrapped in cottonwool. At 111cm long, and tipping the scales at less than 2.5kg unscoped, it should be manageable for shooters of most sizes and ages. It also feels to be solidly constructed and is kind on the eye too.
The Hammerli Black Force 400 sits in an ambidextrous black synthetic stock, which feels very robust. There are large embossed panels of chequering in just the right place on both sides of the long forend and on the pistol grip, and the result is a very positive hold.
The slim pistol grip fitted my hand nicely and got me well set up for the trigger. The grip actually incorporates a screw-off end cap – this could be taken advantage of to store a pouch of pellets inside the cavity.
Stocks on affordable spring guns can sometimes have a frustratingly low cheekpiece, but the one on the Hammerli Black Force 400 has been well designed. The result is very good eye alignment with the supplied zoom scope and it’s also fine when using the open sights. The stock is finished with a vented soft rubber butt pad which helps to cushion the gentle kick from this airgun’s recoiling spring and piston firing cycle. The white spacer between the butt stock and the pad is very pleasing to the eye.
This Hammerli’s metalwork is finished to a decent standard for its price point, and I really like the fact that there is a rear QD stud and a front attachment point for sling fastening. Little touches like this take this airgun beyond my usual expectations for sub-£200 springers and, best of all, these are genuinely useful and not a simple sales gimmick.
Nice as it is to get a telescopic sight included with this combo, I like the fact that open sights are still fitted – and in this case it’s a set of bright fibre optics. The red front element is shielded by a tunnel to prevent it from being damaged by accidental bumps and the rear green element incorporates windage and elevation adjustment. Slacken off the relevant screws and it slides up and down a ramp for vertical adjustment and slides left and right for horizontal shift.
A dovetail rail with about 10cm of clamping space has been machined into the cylinder to facilitate the attachment of a telescopic sight. There is even a recoil plate at the rear, which the back mount can be butted against to prevent it from creeping
The UX branded scope is of a superior quality to what I would usually expect to find in a combo package for this price. Its 3-9x adjustable magnification offers just the right zoom range for a break-barrel springer.
The sight seems to be parallaxed at around 20m, which again is a good match for the gun’s capabilities, and it has a mil-dot reticle with aimpoints that can be used to compensate for the rise and fall of the pellet as it travels downrange. Twisting off the caps on the windage and elevation turrets reveals dials which can be adjusted with a screwdriver. Each click has a clear stop point, every click amounting to a quarter inch adjustment at 100 yards.
This airgun runs a spring-driven powerplant. It’s not fair to expect a remarkably slick cocking stroke on a rifle of this price, but the leverage provided by the Black Force 400’s 450mm helps to keep the required effort comparatively low. You need to keep your hand well back on the fore-end, though, as you risk pinching your fingers if it’s too far forward. The lockup at the end of the closing stroke feels reassuringly secure.
An automatic safety catch is set by the cocking stroke – and you can reset it by drawing the barrel down again. Nicely positioned at the rear of the cylinder, it pops out on the left and you just push it in when you’re ready to shoot.
This airgun’s two-stage trigger has a wide blade which is curved and has a grooved face. This non-adjustable trigger is quite heavy – not that you would want a very light trigger on an entry-level airgun that is likely to be used by youngsters and novices. It works well enough though, and the release point on the review gun became very predictable once I was accustomed to it. The first stage felt quite typical, coming to a very clear stop before the positive second stage break.
I was very impressed with the firing cycle. The movement of the spring and piston can often feel very clunky with lots of reverberation on cheaper spring guns. Squeeze through the trigger on the Hammerli Black Force 400 though, and the power delivery feels surprisingly fast and smooth.
The .22 calibre review gun delivered a muzzle energy of just over 10ft/lb. Shot to shot consistency actually remained within 7 feet per second over a string of ten shots, which is better than some guns costing twice the price can achieve.
It also has to be said that the Blackforce 400 produces accuracy that exceeds the norm for its modest price. Of course, it is important to have realistic expectations when it comes to entry-level gear but, shooting on the range with the support of a bench, I was generally achieving one-inch grouping at 20 metres. It opens up beyond that, but that is what I would expect from a basic spring-powered airgun.
To sum up, I think the Hammerli Black Force Combo kit is a great little break-barrel at a brilliant price. That fact that it comes with scope and mounts means you only have to add a tin of pellets to get cracking. It is a great backyard tin-toppler but it also churns out power close to the legal limit, and it is accurate enough for pest control if you’re sensible with your ranges. I would have loved something like this when I was starting out.
From: https://www.bisley-uk.com/
Manufacturer: Hammerli
Model: Black Force 400 Combo
Length: 1110mm (44in)
Weight: 2.5kg (5.5lb)
RRP: £119.95
