Spring Vs Pneumatic Vs CO2 what's your choice

[Levi Garrett]

Spring is stand alone, super when tuned
PCP, power , and lighter than the spring gun
Co2 , fun, and great for indoor , less noise.

All are as accurate, as the dollars paid for.
ease of use , the spring gun
ease of accurate shooting, pcp, and co2

 

[Pepperpopper]

I had a Sheridan blue streak that I gave away. The trigger was OK, the accuracy was good, and with the Williams peep it was easy to line up. The pellets are awesome. For a hunter, they are great, but I like to do a lot of shooting and really didn't like the pumping between shots.

"Ammo selection is pretty limited. Used to be just the Sheridan brand 20 cal pellets, now there are a few more. Not commonly stocked, whereas a guy looking for 177 or 22 cal pellets can get them in just about any small town."

That is true, but that quality of pellets wouldn't do me any good, so it is limited as far as that goes to serious suppliers.

My favorite power system was a Theoben gas ram. This is a spring gun, except the spring is a pneumatic piston, that was charge variable by pump if you wanted to go that route. Fast to reload if one is considering it a single shot, obviously not a repeater rate of fire, but I prefer single shots. Bad trigger though. Got it in London at Pax, so it had a silencer. Had to sell it coming back here. I think a great mid priced system would be a theoben gas ram in a field grade weapon with a decent trigger.

In spring guns I liked my FWB 124 and 300, the former didn't really have a good trigger. HW77 in .22 was also a good gun, possibly the best all around, though some would call it heavy.

Spring guns in this range are like archery, using a pre-charged is a whole other sport. I've never owned a pre-charged, but they surely do make sense and would open up other targets. Also these pre-pre-charged guns are very quiet, and allow hunting in legal near the neighbours situations that a gun that is more like a 22 would not.

Spring guns also have a whole aesthetic about them and a whole hobby of tuning them. Mostly these days I have too much to do, but on that basis something like a Theoben gas ram is the ultimate use it and forget it, no lubrication, charging bottles etc...

 

[mike 133]

Holy s@#t

I have 4 .22 PCP rifles, one PCP pistol and one springer. The springer never gets used. The PCP guns are as good as any powderburner I own and in some cases miles ahead in quality. My Sumatra is even so loud it requires hearing protection and shoots .22's at 1200fps. Zero recoil and accuracy beyond what even the best shooters could do offhand.

Only problem is they are a bit expensive. The air reservoirs vary in size from gun to gun but you can usually expect at least 30 really good shots (except for pistols, maybe 10) before you see a marked decline in performance. A hand pump or a scuba tank will remedy that situation in short order. I run two scuba tanks and have never used my hand pump. To scared of a heart attack.

These are my PCP guns. From top... down

Airforce Talon .22 (900fps)................. ... Pistol is a Falcon FN-W8 (490fps)
Falcon FN-19 .22 (850fps)
BSA Ultra .22 (825fps)
and finally "The BEAST"... my Sumatra .22 (It'll go through a 2x4 long ways) (1200 fps)

Impressive !!!!!!

 

[metoe]

Co2

 

[canadian hunter312]

pump

 

[lord-humungous]

I'll vote for springers. No need for endless CO2 powerlets, a tank for HPA or anything else to weigh down my shooting bag. They are every bit as accurate as the rest and for the most part, quietest indoors if you want to shoot in the basement or garage.

 

[SandRoad]

My TAU7 can re-filled from bulk CO2, I'm still working on my first 20lbs tank... Unless you are going from -30c to +30c and can't fire a shot or two before the match, 99% of the shooters wouldn't be able to notice a change in POI.

Just my 2 cents,

Mike.

+1 for CO2 provided it is from a bulk tank. Get about 100 shots per fill, no worry about getting HPA.

Springers are also great and we have several, but also have my eye on a PCP in 22, probably a Talon.