It depends on the gun, whether air or powder.

My go-to rimfire back in the day was a Browning 52 Sporter, a Japanese-made copy of the classic and rare Winchester 52 Sporter. A long bench-rested range session after I got it had it printing five-shot groups of 0.45" - 1" at 50 yards with the ten or so types of ammunition I had on hand.

I can certainly see the merit of FAC air in the UK, alongside sub-12 and powder guns.

I agree with an earlier poster that the law is a bit odd in treating a 14 ft-lbs springer more stringently than a 3-shot semi-auto 12 bore.