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Thread: Spring gun revival (again.....)

  1. #16
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    Im convinced the ressurgance is owing to the new tuning technology which completely transforms a springer ....either fitted as std. by say the Walther offerings, using a tuning house, or doing the tuning yourself if you have access to a lathe ....and finally Tinbum i spose.

    Typically, a bit of a boinger with annoying muzzle flip, a 95 can be tuned to be beautifully smooth and almost dead as regard recoil and twang...finished off with a moderate muzzle weight and ive out shot a few PCPs without all the parafinalia....but ive out shot that 95 with a Pro Sport and trounced it with my super tuned 34..
    Springers are getting better post manufacture and our knowledge constantly growing ....sleeveless pistons and exotic materials etc..

  2. #17
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    Die hard springer fan here, with hopefully many more years of springing ahead of me
    I agree with a lot of what has been said here, but mostly with the comment that springers are often tried and then replaced very quickly with a PCP because the accuracy is much more readily available.

    I've spoken to people who have said 'I had a Weihrauch it was s**t, got a Gamo PCP now instead, much better'. Bo**ocks!

    I shoot a lot of HFT now and I'm trying to get more people shooting springers. As part of this I'm going to be reviewing a whole load of springers next year. Testing loads of things including accuracy at 45 yards. Starting off with budget guns, and hopefully moving up in price/quality as funds or lending allows.
    I want to show that springers, even cheaper ones can be accurate if you learn them

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by cooper_dan View Post
    Die hard springer fan here, with hopefully many more years of springing ahead of me
    I agree with a lot of what has been said here, but mostly with the comment that springers are often tried and then replaced very quickly with a PCP because the accuracy is much more readily available.

    I've spoken to people who have said 'I had a Weihrauch it was s**t, got a Gamo PCP now instead, much better'. Bo**ocks!

    I shoot a lot of HFT now and I'm trying to get more people shooting springers. As part of this I'm going to be reviewing a whole load of springers next year. Testing loads of things including accuracy at 45 yards. Starting off with budget guns, and hopefully moving up in price/quality as funds or lending allows.
    I want to show that springers, even cheaper ones can be accurate if you learn them
    Great ...start with a Diana 34 ...see if you can match my 17 mm effort.....thats 50 yds

  4. #19
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    The one thing that boingers have over puffers is not in dispute is that they are self contained, also if you like nice looking guns the boingers always win (apart from the Spartan) and that as far as I know that is FAC around 20 ft/lbs and there are some FAC boingers that shoot at that power plus easy, anyway why would anyone want to shoot a pellet gun at more than 28/30 ft/lbs just move on to powder, also the more powerful puffers get the more ugly and they get even less self contained with a lower shot count

    If you want hunt and try to be as humane as you can with a airgun I suppose puffers are best, but for airgun fun its a boinger

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Amac View Post
    It would appear that spring powered rifles ..... I would be interested to hear your thoughts on why you think spring powered rifles appear to be making a deserved comeback.

    Andy
    I realise that for some the benefits of pcps cannot be ignored but for me, cost, ease of maintenance, degree of independence and long term reliability are big factors.

    Generally speaking a good quality boinger will cost significantly less to buy and maintain than a good quality pcp and bottle (or pump). For most people diy maintenance on a boinger is achievable. Diy on a pcp is not for everyone: and air bottle testing is certainly only for the few.

    With an oily rag, an occasion spring and a new seal I can happily shoot a springer for decades - and everything is under my control. If I follow my pcp gun manufacturers recommendations I will have to send it off for servicing every 3 years (£150-200 a pop plus postage plus rfd charges??). My air bottle goes off to someone else every 5 years for slightly less £70-£100?? Either way I am reliant on others and it costs more.

    In some ways it parallels stripping the engine on my ford in the 70’s to solve a problem compared with opening the bonnet / closing the bonnet and booking my car into a specialist today.

    I’ve also noticed something else. Some guys I know have a springer in the cupboard. They’ve had it for years and years. It works fine, they use it regularly and they have no intention of selling it. The same guys change their pcp every 2-3 years. One guy in particular changed every 3 years because as he put it “after three years the problems start”.

    I am sure there are many shooters out there who still own (and use) 20+ year old boingers. I wonder if many of today’s pcps will still be regularly used 20 years from now.

    Some folk will need, or demand, the advantages of a pcp. Those of us who are not so constrained, and just enjoy the sport for what it is, can afford to be a little more flexible.
    Last edited by Lumberjack; 17-12-2017 at 04:47 AM.
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  6. #21
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    Some fascinating thoughts chaps. It is a really good point about us having the ability to attempt our own repairs and tuning with our old faithful springers.

    My personal concern is that many younger shooters entering the sport are being spoilt by the easy available accuracy that comes with shooting a PCP. This is a great shame as many of the best shooting techniques are learned by novice shooters who, following some coaching and experience, learn to manage recoil properly when attempting to tame a springer.

    When I shoot my PCP target rifle, if I miss it is because I have either miss ranged or misjudged the wind, as I know that the gun is supremely capable. This of course also applies to shooting a springer, but the added techniques of proper hold, trigger control and follow through means that a successful shot is both harder to come by and more fulfilling when it comes off.

    I also think that those of us who attempted to tune our bikes and cars in the days when it was possible for the home mechanic not armed with an arsenal of computers to attempt such things as being a pertinent point. Most of us, even those with minimal practical experience, are able to strip down and attempt our own improvements with our spring guns. Sometimes, these "improvements"even work, and we are then able to pat ourselves on the back as we admire our efforts with a living gun that is now shooting even smoother with perhaps much less recoil.

    Whatever it is, there can be no doubt that owning, playing with and just shooting springers provides the owner with far more positive feedback than a PCP. I just hope that this general interest is passed onto later generations as well. My eldest son comments that he "served his time" with springers (which he did,) however, he has absolutely no interest whatsoever in shooting them now as he considers them not accurate enough for serious competition. I of course point out to him that there are hundreds of excellent shooters out there who are more than capable of using a springer to the same standards of accuracy as an expensive German PCP. His point is that why should he shoot a springer when a PCP is just so easy?

    I am not a brilliant shot, and if I end a competition within seven or eight shots of a winning score I am pleased with my own performance. I have very recently realised that I am now never going to match the performance of younger shooters. Therefore, I have decided that if I do shoot, it will be with a living gun that I enjoy trying to manage properly. I will be trying hard to encourage many more shooters to drag out their springers and to try and enjoy their shooting once again. My Anschutz target rifle is now lying unloved, and I cannot see me feeling the need to dust it down anytime soon.

    I would encourage anybody reading this who does not currently own a springer, or who has one lying dormant in a cupboard, buy one, give your old one a wipe down, grab a tin of its favourite pellets and give it a run out. I guarantee that you will enjoy it more, and the time spent shooting will pass even faster for you as you swiftly forget the monotone inevitability of shooting a PCP.

    Andy
    Member, the Feinwerkbau Sport appreciation Society (over 50's chapter)
    http://www.rivington-riflemen.eu/ Andy, from the North !

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Amac View Post
    It would appear that spring powered rifles are becoming even more popular than they were following the most recent revival about ten years ago.
    Can't remember springers ever not being popular...

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by rapidresponse1 View Post
    I love my 95k tuned in 22,in the right hands its as good as any pcp


    You keeping telling yourself that
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  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by clarky View Post
    Great ...start with a Diana 34 ...see if you can match my 17 mm effort.....thats 50 yds
    Diana 34 might not fit in the budget, would probably have to be on offer.... I'm testing new guns that will cost under £300 with a scope.

  10. #25
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    I totally agree that there has been a great resurgence in springers, I put this down to a few things. Number one, with the help of website like this and shooting the breeze, learning how to set up and shoot a springer has become much easier. The second is the cost, PCP's are crazy money, even a bog standard HW100 is nearly a grand with a scope on top, where as a TX200hc is half of that and finaly, it's the people.

    I shot PCP for 8 years and I realy enjoyed it, but after a while I started to become boared, I would come of the course and think about the shots I missed and not the ones I got and this is because if you own a top PCP, you should get most of the prone shots. With a boinger, you come off the course and you remember all the targets you hit and you especialy remember the ones you get that the PCP boys missed and that gives you ultimate bragging rights.

    I have had so much help in my journey from people like Nigel Wood, Rex Bennet, Neil Wakelin, Vince Holland and even Phill Russel and its the fraternaty of springer shooters that has ignited my love of shoooting again.

    If you don't own a boinger, go get one, they are great and the people who shoot them are a wonderful bunch.

    all the best

    Gary Chillingworth
    HFT Team England 2012 - 2013
    Incompetent writer for Airgunner
    UKAHFT, World and SiHFT Recoiling champ 2017

  11. #26
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    Boingers are just as popular as ever, well except maybe in my regions FT winter league where they seem to be dying out a little.

    One thing that always makes me giggle though.......Springers are tuned so that they'll shoot as close to a PCP as possible??
    Chairman Emley Moor F.T.C. 2023 - Misfits champ, HFT extreme champ, NEFTA hunter champ, Midlands Hunter champ, UKAHFT champ.
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  12. #27
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    I'm beginning to look at rifles much as I do watches. Quartz watches generally tell the time more accurately than mechanical watches, but I'd prefer a mechanical one over a quartz any day. They have a "soul".

    My rifle collection at the moment is about 50/50, springers/boingers. There is no PC on my wanted list. There are a lot of boingers still on it. More so the older stuff. Must be my age.

  13. #28
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    flyingfish is offline I may only have 5 but I have the best 5
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    I sent my BSA scorpion to be tuned. This left me with only a TX200 to shoot for a few weeks. I bet I did not put more than 2 tins through the scorpion before I sold it. Just found I had fallen in love with springers.
    Pete

  14. #29
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    I've just bought an AA S510 and although I love it and its an amazing bit of kit its definitely soul less compared to my springers. My first rifle was an HW35 twenty seven years ago when I was 15 and I've always loved them. I think as far as newcomers to the airgun world goes and the fact that PCP's dominate the market I think there will always be a percentage of people young or old that will demand the challenge of a springer. There's always pros and cons with everything in life and the self sufficiency and ease of maintenance of a springer is always going to be appealing.

  15. #30
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    Ive recently bought a TX and cant put it down, it my return to springers as a bet with some mates about our hft scores. I have not shot a springer for years and in 3 weeks Ive not put it down, my trusty rapid has started to gather dust in the locker

    I do now understand all you springer fans that say "everyone should own a springer".

    I'm having a go with this tx, no I cant hit everthing as well as I do with my rapids, so why is it so much FUN


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