Which PCP 10m Pistol?

[tacfoley]

I watch a lot of shooting on Youtube, both rifle and pistol, and have learned over the years that no particular brand dominates.

At the level of sophistication and technical supremacy that you are talking about - AND the price range - £1500 - £2000+ - there is very little to chose apart from personal preference. They will ALL do exactly what the test card shows - put five pellets through one hole at 10m. If they didn't then they would never sell.

You need to pick them ALL up, and see how they feel to you. If you are going to the LRC then the staff there are usually very helpish in advising you - you might even find a Team GB shooter there at the time to offer an opinion. Unlike .22 rifle, where one brand, Anschutz, towers above all others, in pistols there is no such obvious winner.

I have a Steyr LP5 that was originally a Co2 model, and had it converted to air by Steyr-Waffen in York. I've tried most of the newer brands and models, even shot them, although not one of them was instantly available left-handed, which is my preferred shooting hand - I was a county shooter right-handed anyway. As noted, I bought it used, and the original owner was a leftie, so I was spared the expense of buying a new grip. Only the Steyr, at that time, had a grip that could be rotated around the vertical axis, so I stayed with my Steyr. It helps if you are a rightie, since LH grips fetch a hefty premium - those for mine are around £200 and that's a lot of pellets.

Talking about which, you'll also need to invest in a selection of weights and diameters. Even at my level, way down there, the difference between shooting 4.49 and 4.50 is definitely there the see on the card. Last time I went down there I bought thirty tins of my preferred brand/weight/diameter. Over the last year or so I've made serious inroads into that stockpile, for obvious reasons.

In addition to the Steyr, I have a number of vintage pistols - two LP53s, an Em-Ge LP3, an Original Model 6M and my beloved FAS 604 - the last two with rare leftie grips. The FAS likes the 4.49s, but all the others prefer 4.50, and show it. I use these pistols for a little light relief, but to my amazement, I found that the FAS, bought second-hand but mint in box for £150, performs the same as the Steyr.

Guess I'm getting old.

[LewisYorks]

I can vouch for the Evo10, it’s used in the Olympics and is a work of art.

Plus whilst most manufacturers moan when you work on your own gun Steyr encourage you to and the pistols and rifles are simple and easy to fix and maintain.

At least the target guns are.

Cheers

Lewis

[clipper]

Owned several pistols, and dipped in an out of 10m over the past 15 years, and very happy with my AP20, which will hopefully do more than push tin cans around my garden now covid restrictions are lifting

I am 99% sure than once you get up into match grade pistols it is more about fit and feel than anything else.. yes, I had an Steyr EV10E and the trigger was a thing of beauty, but the club I went at the time had LP5's and they were (in my hands) no better or worse. Pistol is an extremely demanding discipline, clamp a modern PCP pistol into a vice and they will create groups so tight that any deviations from perfect really are down to user

If money was easier I'm sure I'd be stood behind an FWB P8X... I picked one up to hold at Bisley and honestly have never picked up a pistol that felt so perfect, from grip size, shape, angle, trigger reach and position, sight picture, and the bore/barrel line is really low, it felt like pointing a finger and making pew pew noises