There are many good pistols.

Unfortunately, there are also many bad ones.

Equally unfortunately, a lot of those offered new now are not very good.

Some good ones (those still made are underlined):

Spring: BSA Scorpion. Diana/Original model 5 and 6 (particular favourites) and 10. FWB65/80. Gamo Center/Target. Webley Senior/Premier/Tempest/Hurricane. HW45, HW70.

SSP: Gamo PR15/PR45/Compact. FAS604. Daisy 717/747. HW40. Beeman P17. HW75.

Pump-ups (can be quiet on 1-2 pumps): Webley-Zoracki Alecto. Crosman 1377.