I know next to nothing about air pistols but last weekend a buddy brought a .177 cal. air pistol up to my cabin. We had a great time with it and I was very impressed with the accuracy. Now I'm interested in one as it seems to be a great way to target practice with low cost, low noise and low maintenance. I'm sorry I can't remember the brand but it was German made and spring activated with a lever to cock on the side. Do any of you practice with one? And if so what kinds do you like?

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I'm gonna grow fins.

Hi Loeman:

Did it look like this:

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If so, it's a FWB-65, a very fine, and expensive, air pistol. I've wanted one for years, but I just cannot afford one.

This is the best I can do, a HW-45:

HW45

It's more accurate than I am, and it's a lot of fun to shoot.

Regards,

Dave

I have an old "pump up" Benjamin .177 that I have had for 45 years or more. it still works but power is down a little. it is fun to shoot the steel darts through it

Crosman American Classic.
Inexpensive to buy and shoot.
Quiet.
Unbelievably accurate out to 50 yards.
Perfect for practicing sight alignment and trigger control.
And a whole lot of fun.

John

Last year I bought a Crosman 2240. I wanted something I could shoot indoors on a rainy day, and it works perfect for that. Offhand, at 10 yards (my indoor range distance), it'll group under an inch. It does have a pretty good snap to it, though, enough to the point of feeling it necessary to wear hearing protection while shooting indoors.

I had never liked the idea of CO2, but now I'm okay with it. I shop Amazon for that and pellets, and prices are reasonable.

One of the reasons I picked this model is because parts are easy to get. It can also be modded, but I don't see any need for that for myself.

Dave,

Thanks for your reply. Yep, that's it! It had the really comfy target grips with a swiveling wooden base. A third buddy and I were shooting the END of a beer can at about 18 yards and we were hitting the can EVERY time. And that's without either of us ever having shot it! I was very impressed. The owner said he sold a model 29 years ago for $450 and used the funds to buy this gun. So he says he traded a Model 29 for an air gun!

I'm definitely not in the market for this level of quality, but if I can get a good one with good accuracy for a reasonable amount, then I'm in.

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I'm gonna grow fins.

If you would be interested in an understudy for the S&W Model 41, the S&W Models 78G and 79G could fill the bill. They can still be found used. Since they've been out of print for over 30 years, the internal seals and O-rings might need to be replaced, but they should work well once this is done. These are CO2 guns in .22 and .177 caliber. This is a pic of my 79G (.177), with a Model 41 target pistol. I liked it so much I included a chapter on it and its .22 brother in my book 101 Classic Firearms. It would be worth a look if you can find one.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

A IZH 46M, Biakal. .177 single stroke pneumatic, is accurate enough for entry level Olympic shooting. Yes, I do practice with it and have a 10 meter range in my basement. Far more accurate than I am capable of any longer.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Well:
Here's one of my favorites!
Jim

The Beeman/Webley Tempest has pretty good mileage on it, chronos pretty solid 400fps with Crosman pointed pellets, good accuracy.

A IZH 46M, Biakal .177 ( real target piece) or a HW 45 Weihrauch in .22/.177/.20 similar to a 1911 (accurate, but better for practice for CF pistols)

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TOMBECK

Her's my Feinwerkbau 65. I bought it used (I don't think they make them anymore but I could be wrong), a few years ago from Ron Peterson's in Albuquerque, NM. Paid about $400 for it. It's a lot more accurate than I am, and is great pracice for slow fire. I can shoot from my laundry room to the other end of the garage, about 17 yards, more than the 10M Olympic distance. I have one of those Crossman backstops, a block of styrofoam about 8 inches on a side. Comfortable indoor practice, particularly when it's 100º out there.

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I just seen a few airguns on guns and ammo tv, colt revolvers.
While searching the web came across Dan wesson air guns. I like the black revolver with 8" barrel, not bad for price. pyrimid air .com

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Fear is the thief of dreams.

Those top barrel Webly's are my favorite. Daisy 717 or 747's are affordable and very accurate but low power. Daisy and Crosman revolvers are fairly rugged but the "semi autos" that are really revolvers inside have proven unreliable to me. Umarex makes a sweet $250 copy of a Smith.

My modest air pistol collection consists of an HW-45, a S&W Model 79G, and a Daisy Model 747:

AVANTI Triumph Model 747 | Daisy Outdoor Products

All are chambered in .177 caliber, and all are very accurate. The HW-45 is unique in that it is capable of firing at two different velocities - I think approx. 350 fps at the lower setting, and roughly double that at the higher setting. The workmanship of the piece is really quite good - I've seen firearms that couldn't compare to this air gun.

If informal target shooting is your intention, the Daisy 747 is a lot of fun, and quite affordable. The HW-45 though, would also offer the possibility of using it for small game and/or varmint shooting.

Regards,

Dave

Some years back a scribe for the Gun Digest, trying to say something new, coined the term 'Pneumo Nimrod". fortunatly it didn't last long.

These are the most fired and most fun. The Crosman was a present to my 8 y/o son (it was modified by shortening the barrel flush). The Webley is mine and has had a trigger upgrade and a factory tune. The kids is more powerful, more accurate, and easier to shoot, but the Webley is more fun and exhibits a practical level of accuracy.
20140905_000022_LLS by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr

This Gamo is the least entertaining but shoots incredibly accurately for its price and has a great trigger.


This is a fun, cheap, reliable repeater.

The adjustable sights were a must have feature for me, as the cheap CO2 guns almost never shoot to point of aim.

This is a load of fun and quite accurate. It's not particularly powerful but is the best tool for knocking down targets in a hurry.


This one was a takedown rifle that I decided to strip down, shorten, scope, and use as a pistol.

It is powerful and accurate and makes a good long range pistol and small game hunter.

Save for kids gun, they've all been around 15-20 years plus.

A couple of Beeman/Webley Hurricanes and one Tempest rattle the cans and mini silhouette targets around here.

I like the match grade compressed air pistols, like the Pardini K2s, Steyr LP1, feinwerkbau 44, etc.
I bet a lot of you guys would like the Steyr LP5 or LP50. Runs on compressed air and uses a 5 shot clip.
All of these are one hole accurate at 10 meters, and have great sights and adjustable triggers.
The compressed air pistols have largely superseded the older CO2 air pistols (Walther, FWB1, etc.) for match use.
I've shot all this stuff for years in competition.
A great air pistol will do wonders for your marksmanship if you put in the practice.

I have a Beeman Tempest too. Nice little gun. Don't cheap out on this purchase. Buy a nice one, and you will enjoy shooting it. Avoid co2 guns. They are a pain.

Not a pistol.... But, (2) Remington 77's. Great for starting my son and step son target shooting in backyard. Now my daughters are starting with them as well. Great for weekends, when Dad doesn't want to drive 30 miles to the range too.

Haven't messed with airguns in a while. Over all they are a pain. CO2 guns seem to have seal failures a lot. Spring piston ones have main piston seals go out. Had one rebuilt for $100 years ago. Didn't shoot it much and the seal went dry and needs a new one again. I would look at the Crossman pump guns. Beware of guns that say BB or pellet as most won't have rifled barrels. Shoot pellets only with a rifled barrel.

We have an airgun range set up in the back yard. Surprisingly the old Red Ryder BB guns get the most use. So easy to shoot, literally load on Sunday, and shoot all week. Wish they made a pistol with the same simplicity.

My favorite is Walther LP 53 in presentation case with accessories, no a very powerful pistol but the workmanship put lot of modern gun to shame.

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Have a FWB 65 with bbl weights, a later produced one with everything that comes with it new. Shoots great and is for sale. Paid 550 for it and would ship it to someone for that price. It's in great shape, shoot it regularly. Shoot a Daisy 777 also and don't need 2 of them, Larry

I have two FWB 65 and an FWB80, they are not just very accurate but also have a recoil dampening system. The piston has a steel ring and is virtually indestructable.
They are a real pleasure to shoot. I also have a Walther LP53 and the crude Polish copy, the Predom Lucznik, as well as some others.

The FWB 65 is my favourite.

The two I recommend most. One is the P17 Beeman pictured directly above my post. A single-stroke pneumatic with no recoil, and a flat awesome trigger for around $35. Similar price can get you the Umarex Browning Buckmark clone. A break-barrel spring-piston gun that is quite easy to cock, and also has an automatic safety in the 1911 pattern. It's trigger sucks, by comparison, but it can be worked-on. BOTH guns have fully adjustable sights, which is quite important.

As I wrote in a previous post, I have 2 crosman 38's, unfortunately both need new seals, but these have served me well for over 40 years.Vintage Air Pistol review: Crosman 38 revolvers | The Pistol Place

747 is nice but on a budget Crosman Classic hard to beat

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The FWB M65 MkII is a somewhat disturbing pistol to shoot. With most other pistols, if you practice a lot and use a rest and still have good vision, you can actually occasionally shoot as well as the pistol, or think that you have. However, the M65 is a true one-holer, elongated a few thousandths. Every deviation of your shot from the exact center of the target is something YOU did. Everything is YOUR fault. Almost nothing you do is right. It's like talking to a woman, only no one will commiserate with you.

Not a good pistol for married men.

I now have custody of three air pistols. I have one Feinwerkbau 65 with the sport grips that I bought a while back. I have another, that I will be selling for my father, as he moved to a retirement home. It has the adjustable grips. Although these two shoot extremely well, I love my Morini 162EI with electronic trigger and uses compressed air.

Steyr LP 10 .117 pistol and Steyr LG 110 HP .22 rifle. I sure like shooting these during the winter in the garage, but seem to usually grab a "powder burner" when I go to the backyard...

PM sent about FWB 65 purchase.

Beg to disagree.
I have a Crosman 2240 that is accurate, chronos 460 fps with .22 caliber pellets, and cost about $80.
Co2 cylinders last a good while and are cheap as well.

Sorry, should have said MINE are a pain. I'm sure there are good ones.

This is it

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I have this too! It is an amazingly accurate Gun for the price.

I love this gun. I just wish I could shoot more rounds. The constant pumping can be annoying and tiring after a while.

I had the original version as a kid in the 60s.The Model 130,along with it's rifle version,the 140..
Always wanted a new FWB 65.Missed the boat after they were discontinued.Not that much of a biggie-I was into Smith 41s by that time.
I also had a Webley Tempest.Couldn't hit a thing with it.
Had a Umarex Walther (88?) copy as well.

They make umarex s & w copy that is sold on Amazon. I was considering it until I read reviews about its loading magazine durability. I pump my gun 10 times and shoot all the way across my yard at cans. It's fun, and helps me work on fundamentals without having to pay $6 for a half hour of shooting.

I have a Diana LP8 .177 that is extremely accurate. It puts out 575 fps with 7.25gr pellets. I had another one that I did a lot of modifications on and had it shooting over 600 fps with that same pellet. It's a springer so no pumping, easy to shoot.

I have quite a few air pistols, CO2, spring-piston and pneumatic powered. My favorite for power and accuracy is the Beeman P-1, which I've owned since 1989. A single shot, over-lever high powered spring piston pistol capable of 1/3 to 1/2 inch ten shot groups at 10 meters, the P-1 is a great target and vermin pistol, but not a really fun plinker.

CO2 powered pistols shine as plinkers and informal target guns. Many good firearm replicas are avaialbe as CO2 BB or pellet pistols and revolvers. I have two blowback action 1911 BB pistols, a Colt SAA replica, a Dan Wesson .357 Replica, an older Crosman .357 "Python" replica, however my favorite and the most accurate of the replica guns is the Umarex/Smith & Wesson 586 pellet pistol.

The Umarex S&W 586 is an all metal, hefty revolver with a decent single action trigger and a superb double action! I bought mine as a 6 inch barrel version and added the 4 inch barrel assembly later. You get about 50 accurate shots from a C02 cylinder. The pistol isn't cheap at $279 to $299, but it is very well made and a great firearms trainer too.



Personally, I think the Umarex S&W 586 is more of a dead ringer for the S&W Model 17-8 10 shot .22 LR pistol. In fact if mine (pictured here) still had its ugly Hogue rubber grips and original aluminum cylinder, they would be hard to tell apart from any distance.

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

I have two, that I shoot often: The Crosman American Classic (about $59.) and the GAMO Compact (about $270.). For the money, the Crosman is fine. They are both pump-up .177 pellet guns. I shoot so often that replacing CO2 cartridges would be a costly pain in the neck. Both guns are VERY accurate. The GAMO (now being sold under the name Air Venturi) is considered a inexpensive Competition grade gun.
IMO, air guns beat dry firing to improve your "real pistol" scores.

Walther LP53 ,,very accurate, excellent sights.
Not a magnum by any standards, but never intended to be.
I enjoyed shooting mine,,maybe I'll get it back from permanent loan one day..

i have a webley tempest and a pair of these benjamin CO2's in .177 and .22

buy CO2 in bulk... i think like 40 to a box.. its not expensive and much more enjoyable to shoot.

i rarely will go thru more than 2 ..sometimes 3 cartidges in a sitting



also this baikal target..

I've always been intrigued by that Umarex 586.
Would be a great companion as most of my competition is with S&W revolvers.
Is that optic rail included, or is it an aftermarket item?

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

I've got the Weirauch HW45 as well as the RWS LP8. Both have a Vortex Razor red dot.

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You'll put your eye out.

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Not in jail.

My favorite air gun is a $40 plastic gun that shoots table salt. It's the Bug-A-Salt gun. It's a hoot! I first saw one at a restaurant in Moab, Utah. We were being bothered by many flies. Our waiter brought out a Bug-A-Salt gun, shot a fly, and left me the gun to defend my wife's dinner. When we returned from that road trip, I ordered my very own Bug-A-Salt gun and have had a ball blasting flies.



God bless,
Birdgun

I have a few also. Webley Tempest, Daisy 777, an old Hammerli, and a Tau 7 target pistol. I shoot the daisy the most. I have a 10 meter range set up in the shop, and when there are no cars on the lift, I get some quality practice time.