My interest/thoughts on replica air pistols

[Rockhamster]

It always disappoints me when people dismiss the various replica air pistols as 'inaccurate'. It's not that surprising when you consider its a ball down a tube! However if shot at more realistic ranges there accurately is more than adequate for a little bit of training/fun.

By realistic I mean no more than six meters. What's the point in that? Defensive shooting is close up and dirty. Not looking for pin point precision but getting hits on a man sized silhouette target.

Use pellets, they are more accurate! I'm not convinced that, due to the low velocity and the short barrel any 'benefits' a pellet may have over a bb are minimal at best.

If used hard, pellet blow-back replicas can jam due to the round moving forward under recoil. The obvious answer is to use a non blow-back replica then? Well yes but the loss of functionality, replicating the real firearm, plus the need for the shooter to manage that recoil, however small, adds to the discipline.

The reason air pistols are inaccurate is that most 'learn' how to shoot from Hollywood or TV.

Understand and implement the fundamentals. Stance, grip, sight picture and trigger control. More akin to real firearms but if your shooting a replica then that makes sense. The final, magic, word is consistency.

[Antoni]

I like riding my 500cc single-cylinder crappily restored 1955 AJS just for the feel of it. It's far from perfect and by modern standards slow. It still handles better than me.

You make the point abt shooting a pistol for self defence. The accuracy necessary for that purpose is easily simulated by a BB gun. That's probably why reasonable quality BB guns exist on the world market. No point discussing pistol self defence here in the UK other than theoretically - but even then you can't simulate the noise and large recoil from a M1911 .45 auto and the resulting 'shock factor' of having fired it.

A smooth-bore BB gun is fun but in my experience they do not shoot better than me. In a hobby you get a degree of satisfaction based on what effort you've put in. I believe smooth-bore BBs will deliver little satisfaction once some effort has been put in. Others will disagree.

On the other hand, pure speed of shooting at suddenly appearing mechanically-presented large targets might even be fun with a repeating spudgun.

From slow motion video on youtube it can be seen that a blowback CO2 pistol dips down in the hand after firing. A fire-arm pistol most definitely kicks up, with or without a ported barrel. How does that prepare the novice shooter for double-tap or fast firing?

[DAR]

I like riding my 500cc single-cylinder crappily restored 1955 AJS just for the feel of it. It's far from perfect and by modern standards slow. It still handles better than me.

You make the point abt shooting a pistol for self defence. The accuracy necessary for that purpose is easily simulated by a BB gun. That's probably why reasonable quality BB guns exist on the world market. No point discussing pistol self defence here in the UK other than theoretically - but even then you can't simulate the noise and large recoil from a M1911 .45 auto and the resulting 'shock factor' of having fired it.

A smooth-bore BB gun is fun but in my experience they do not shoot better than me. In a hobby you get a degree of satisfaction based on what effort you've put in. I believe smooth-bore BBs will deliver little satisfaction once some effort has been put in. Others will disagree.

On the other hand, pure speed of shooting at suddenly appearing mechanically-presented large targets might even be fun with a repeating spudgun.

From slow motion video on youtube it can be seen that a blowback CO2 pistol dips down in the hand after firing. A fire-arm pistol most definitely kicks up, with or without a ported barrel. How does that prepare the novice shooter for double-tap or fast firing?

Not all dip down. My Sig Sauer P320 M17 Pellet has a slight kick up. It will also shoot sub 1” at 6 yards and 2” at 10 yards.
Please ignore the poor grip as it was only for the video.

https://youtu.be/vm8vHw0MhNw

[Antoni]

Not all dip down. My Sig Sauer P320 M17 Pellet has a slight kick up. It will also shoot sub 1” at 6 yards and 2” at 10 yards.
Please ignore the poor grip as it was only for the video.

Nice conservatory - or are they called orangearies now? Looks like the Sig-Sauer CO2 is a well balanced gun. The Gamo PT85 less so.

Back to the plot, accuracy and relevance of BB repeaters?

[tacfoley]

Nice conservatory - or are they called orangearies now? Looks like the Sig-Sauer CO2 is a well balanced gun. The Gamo PT85 less so.

Back to the plot, accuracy and relevance of BB repeaters?

Uh, 'fun'?

[Antoni]

Uh, 'fun'?

Fair point!

[evert]

However if shot at more realistic ranges there accurately is more than adequate for a little bit of training/fun.

......

Understand and implement the fundamentals. Stance, grip, sight picture and trigger control. More akin to real firearms but if your shooting a replica then that makes sense. The final, magic, word is consistency.

I shoot live firing service style pistols competitively, and have done so at a national level for some years. (Norway, still legal here) and have been looking for an indoor trainer for some time, but havent found any that have the required accuracy for what we do in competition.

I would consider 1" groupings at 10 meters an absolute minimum requirement, and most BB firing replicas I have tried struggle to group below 3" at 10 meters.