Suggestions for Club air pistols

[fcat]

Hi All,

we have some club air pistols for 10m stuff but I think we could use a couple more and I'd appreciate any recommendations, positive or negative.

Use would be mainly for intro's/guests and basic training

Should be reasonably accurate with acceptable trigger but would not normally be used for anything more serious than internal, low-key competition.

Should be fairly tough and/or easy to repair as bound to suffer a bit of rough handling

Either interchangeable L/R hand grips or ambidextrous grip

Not too heavy and small-medium grips to suit teenagers, ladies, etc.

Reasonably easy to operate.

As ever, we don't have lots of money (say £300'ish per pistol) and would cheerfully buy second hand.

regards
Nigel

[tufty]

Air Arms Alpha,they are fairly popular as club guns,come with a decent ambi grip,and not ridiculously expensive,a member at our club has an as new one for sale for £350, happy to put you in touch if your interested. Neale

[The Doctor]

Air Arms Alpha,they are fairly popular as club guns,come with a decent ambi grip,and not ridiculously expensive,a member at our club has an as new one for sale for £350, happy to put you in touch if your interested. Neale

I am sorry to shatter your illusions but the air arms alpha has to be the worst recommendation for a club gun - we have had one at the range for over two years that has been available for any one to use - most people have three shotsmand then go back to the fwb 60s we have - the alfa has shocking balance, a trigger akin to drawing a cheese string over damp concrete and is very hard to get it set to the 500 gram weight for ISSF and Nsra comps. The firing cycle is like a slighly fidgety rat in a tube, and the cocking system is about twenty years out of date - I have never seen one used in anger at a comp, which tells you a lot.

Personally, I would look at the basic hw40 - although it lacks the finess of a full-blown ten metre pistol, it is excellent at teaching the basics and can be used by juniors and adults alike. Other than that look out for secondhand tau's , FAS, and perhaps a good steyr lp1 - it all depends on budget at the end of the day,

Lee

[hwtyger]

Maybe Tau 7 Junior? VERY light, so also goo for kids etc, easy to cock, easy to repair, and you can choose it with ambi grip. Very accurate as well, and good trigger. Bought mine NEW from factory for 300 something euro's.
Otherwise, some kinda springer is always long lasting. But would avoid sidecockers. Not everyone, certainly kids, like the system.
Maybe breakbarrel?

[defblade]

I'd buy a few gamo compacts. They are handed, but cheap enough to buy 2 or 3 RHed, and 1 or 2 LHed. They are easy to pick up and shoot, a good shooter will be able to make one ragged hole with 5 shots - that'll be well above where they're starting.

We use them for all ages from about 10 years up. Some of the smallest children need help closing them on the compression stroke, but they'd have trouble with anything other than PCP/CO2.

[urban winter]

Rohm twinmaster? Maybe a bit expensive. Trigger not as good as a proper target pistol but good enough.

U.

[The Doctor]

Rohm twinmaster? Maybe a bit expensive. Trigger not as good as a proper target pistol but good enough.

U.

Again, on the similar lines of the Alfa - just not good enoough for how much they cost, and the trigger is awful even compared to something like the Compact or the Alecto - again it is a pistol that new club shooters tend to buy and quickly become disillusioned - I have benched two at the club and seen some shocking groups using a variety of pellets.

Lee

[h5djr]

Interesting, because at my club several members have Styer, FWB and a Morrini pistols and two have Rohm Twinmasters. We run a annual competition based on monthly averages and for the last two years it has been won by a chap using a Rohm Twinmaster. Which just goes to prove the most important part of any pistol is the hand which is holding it.

[hwtyger]

Nothing wrong with Rohms. They're about Tau quality. Trigger wise etc.
My Tau 7 jr is VERY hard to bench too. At VERYVERY pellet picky. My other Tau 7's bench quite easily. Usually bad grouping is due to the shooter (pellets wise for instance).Even benched. I can make my bench group twice as small íf I use the correct hold. It makes the groups 50% smaller than with other holds..
I can shoot in the 180's ex 200 with the Tau 7. Its all shooter, not the weapon.
ESPECIALLY at learners level. Havent met the 1 that outshoots a Tau or Rohm.
Ofcourse, every brand gun can have its monday morning models. I've seen new FWB, Hammerli's, etc going back to the factory with problems..
Wouldnt doubt about a Rohm. Triggers are less, but not important for learners. They're very consistant.
I didnt think of Gamo Compact etc. As they're illegal here, they slip my mind.

[fcat]

thanks for all the comments,very useful.

I'm going to try to look at an HW40 - it scores on price, light weight and ambi grip. I'll take a view on build quality, trigger,etc when I actually get to handle one.

A query from someone at the club about this type of pistol - a fair amount of pressure has to be applied to close the mechanism on the compression stroke and there seems to be a risk that much of that load will be applied on or close to the rear sight which could lead to damage or movement? Is this a problem with pistols of this design?

[Iain K D]

It's probably better to just apply the pressure directly on the overlever in front of the rearsight anyway (with the open palm of the hand, rather than gripping the overlever which risks nipping your fingers when it slams shut), what you lose in leverage you gain in having a flatter surface to press on, rather than the rearsight blade digging into your hand. The rearsight is all metal so if it were pressed accidentally it would probably come off better anyway.

One point to mention though is that new HW40s come with fibre-optic fore- and rear-sights, so presumably wouldn't be suitable as a club gun used for target shooting. So it would be either a s/h Weihrauch or the chinese made Beeman/Marksman brand version which still, I think, has plain iron sights. I've no experience of these (I do have an old style HW40) but I think they respond well to just a good clean out, service and re-lube.

Iain

[defblade]

A query from someone at the club about this type of pistol - a fair amount of pressure has to be applied to close the mechanism on the compression stroke and there seems to be a risk that much of that load will be applied on or close to the rear sight which could lead to damage or movement? Is this a problem with pistols of this design?

At the Scout shooting championships, we put around 700-800 people (mostly 10-18 years old) through 15 shots each on the pistol section, all using Compacts. We get maybe 3 complaints about sights over the weekend (and this year, at least one of those suited me perfectly, even if the guy moaning was out in the 3 ring at 7 o'clockish)..... and a lot of the younger Scouts are very hamfisted with them.

So I'd say, not really a problem.

[ashf9999]

thanks for all the comments,very useful.

I'm going to try to look at an HW40 - it scores on price, light weight and ambi grip. I'll take a view on build quality, trigger,etc when I actually get to handle one.

If you are tempted by the HW40, look at the Beeman P3 - in essence the same pistol, but usually slightly cheaper to buy. Gamo Compacts are indeed nice but aren't generally ambi with factory grips. Webley Nemesis isn't bad if you can find them in decent condition, but the grips are a bit 'slab-sided'.
(By the way, I bought a shop-demo AA Alfa fairly recently and have had no problems with the trigger quality ).

[Iain K D]

The Beeman P3 is the (Weihrauch-made) HW40, just re-branded for the US market.

The cheaper, chinese-made copy has been sold under the Marksman and Beeman brands as the 2004 and P17 at various times.

Another gun to consider as a light, ambidextrous starter is the Gamo PR45 - essentially the Compact with a simpler, non-adjustable, trigger and plain, slab-sided chequered plastic grips. It's perhaps a little easier to cock than the HW40 (the same can be said for the Compact), slightly quieter and with less flip on firing as well. The Gamo pistols seem, to me at least, to have a bit more noticeable slamming shut on the final cocking of them.

Iain

[mickson]

Lov 21 very accurate cheap & very light, designed as a trainer for young people...mike...