madoldlad- I see there's been many good suggestions!
All I would say is decide what you want to do- tin can mangling (always fun when you have no neighbours to worry about) or target shooting.
With the former any decent CO2 powered BB semi-auto will keep you very amused and can start a collection of fairly decent real steel replicas if that is your bag.
If target shooting then you need to decide if you want spring, CO2 or compressed air (SSP or PCP) power. I would suggest initially you start with something inherently accurate that is easy to use and relatively inexpensive. A Gamo Compact, a S/H FAS 604 or a S/H FWB 65 will be all you need- perhaps for ever (note that each pistol listed get progressively more expensive). All capable of excellent results if you do your thing!
A halfway house if you want something decently accurate, easy to use and hard hitting is my fun favourite- a Crosman 2240. If you get hooked on these don't just don't search out tuning and customising mods because you won't stop... Actually this is probably the one pistol above all I would keep if I could only have one...
Once these are mastered start looking at more challenging pistols like a HW45, Diana P5, even Webley overlevers. Calibre? Pure target pistols are only ever 177. Recoiling spring pistols can be 177 or 22. My personal choice is always 22 for these. I bought and sold a couple of 177 HW45's before trying 22, a revelation! Much smoother and forgiving hence a LOT more accurate- for me anyway.
I have had all the pistols noted in the previous posts and still own many (out of a collection of at least 40 pistols) Most of which I shoot in informal on-line competitions. There is many I would avoid like the plague but probably best I don't mention them as some have a following - you need to try as many as you can!
Reply With Quote