Springer & PCP Love

[DRAGON64]

"Cats & Dogs, Living Together... Mass Hysteria!!!"

So I started life as a pumper with the 1377/1322.  Then skipped right into PCP with a Benjamin Marauder.  I dabbled a couple times with a springer, only to chew up a scope, or have no patience with them due to accuracy issues (multiple issues, mostly related to the shooter), thus selling them off.  Well, now I find myself being drawn to the springer again, a TX200 MKIII in .177, and I cannot wait!  There are too many satisfied (100%) spring gun users out there, and I just need to find my groove...  I love my Marauder, it makes for a great project rifle, as I chase down the accuracy Gremlin(s).  But this TX200 has no accuracy issues, and is already tuned for field target (WFTF) and everything.

So how many of you have enough love in the safe for the PCP & The Springer?  I'm also curious as to how many springers went PCP, only to come back to the springer... or vice-versa, who went PCP to Springer and back...

This is an awesome sport/hobby we shoot in...and I feel like a whole new chapter is about to take off with this new acquisition.  The springers I had previously were no slouchers... They were an R9 in .22 and two Diana 34's.  Maybe I'm just not down with the break barrel air rifles(?)  Maybe under-lever is what I have needed all along.

Anyway, should the TX200 be as awesome as it is known to be, I plan to have lots of love in my safe for the spinger & PCP alike.

[bubba zanetti]

The TX and HW97K I have shot didn't seem hold sensitive at all.

I think its fair to say that when you drop the cash on either of those two AG's, when you shoot them you'll know where the extra money went

BZ

[dhc8guru]

I can't say that I would go back to a springer except for a TX 200. Probably one of the best Springers out there. I almost pulled the trigger on one. I talked myself out of it.  I am positive they are worth the money. Just at this point in my life and existing collection of air guns, its not in the cards. I have kind of found a groove with the guns I own and think that nothing else out there is really more exciting then what I own. I would like to sell my Air force Edge which is PCP. Great gun, its just one that doesn't make it in my daily shooting round. Too lazy to put it up for sale. LOL! I'm a CO2 fan and a majority of my guns are such. I wish more air guns were dual fuel like the Discovery.

[EMrider]

As you can see in my sig line, I am primarily a springer guy.

I love their simplicity, reliability and self contained nature.  For my plinking and hunting needs, they are plenty accurate too. 

There is a lot to appreciate with PCPs too, especially for hunting. But those I own are all the easily filled with a hand pump.

R

[Martis 1]

I keep hearing about the "TX200", but never paid any attention because I had resigned myself to only shooting my Disco.  That changed recently when I pulled apart my 1993 RWS 34 and lubed it up. Now it shoots so well I ordered a scope base for it and am going to scope it.  So...just to see what the fuss is all about, I looked at the TX200 on AG's site.  Wow!  That's one Purdy airgun!

[anuthabubba]

There are low, medium and high end offerings (with differences in quality within each grade) in PCP, springer, Co2 and (single or multi) pumper airguns.  It is not fair or reasonable to judge an entire classification of airgun powerplant from the limited use of a single low end example of any of them. Even less reasonable to compare a low end example of one to a high end example of another.

[Motorhead]

Both SHARE SPACE living together well.
While the spring guns get played with less than the PCPs do ... Both are unique enough to not replace one another.

[bubba zanetti]

If possible, try as many air guns as you are able. That is one nice thing about FT shoots, you get to see and try all kinds of shooting rigs, from middle to lower end to very high end equipment.

Its easy to forget that air gunning is a journey. You may love a certain platform, but seasons of life and other factors may push you into another platform you originally had no interest in as that is how life is and many of you have the on ground experience to back this statement up. It took FT shooting to get me to notice springers. I wasn't against them, but I didn't have a real high interest either.  Times change.

You also get to formulate a more well rounded, fuller opinion on this hobby/passion. I got to shoot a AA400s with a Sightron scope. WHOA! that may be the clearest and sharpest scope I have ever looked and shot through! The AO adjustment was so, so sensitive and dead on too. I would never know the fuss until I got to try a AG with one mounted on it.

Its just experiences like that where you get shaped into what you like, dislike, etc.

The longer I stay in this hobby/passion the more open minded I get so to speak.

BZ

[Rocker1]

I have been playing with air guns a very long time and as far as I know there is no known cure, some try to leave but in some way form or another they come back. Have seen them not log in for years and the urge hits them and away they go again.  David

[north country gal]

As to springers versus PCP, I do think you need to factor in the type of shooting you do and, as Yrok mentions, what level of each type of gun in question.

Our shooting is 100% target and we found that high end spring piston guns - once we learned how to shoot them - deliver as much accuracy as most PCPs and they do it without all the hassles of dealing with and maintaining an air supply. Then, too, there is an attraction that comes with shooting springers that we don't get with our PCPs (and we do have those, too.) We do like our PCPs, but knowing what we know, now, we could have done just as well not buying PCPs and the support system that goes with them. In other words, our PCPs don't see much use.

On the other hand, if I was to head back out and go hunting with air guns, as I did in my younger years (before there were PCPs), I wouldn't hesitate to take a PCP.  Don't think you can beat a PCP when you need the power, but want to keep gun weight down and so on. Yup, our Disco would have been just the ticket, back in the day.

[Teep]

Well I've gone full circle.  I started out with an FWB 127 in 1978.  Sold it and tried multi-pumps, CO2, HPA, and am now going back to spring piston only.  I love the R7 for just messing around and doing a lot of plinking and will add either a TX200 or HW97 for hunting.  I hope I am satisfied with this choice cause I just don't like messing with accessories to shoot in the field, try carrying HPA for 200 shots in an afternoon. 

[DRAGON64]

I love my PCP, and I shoot target with it as well.  Once the TX200 arrives, it to will be destined for target shooting (field target for both).  Pesting aside, I do not actively hunt, at least not yet, but feel that either rifle might support me well in such a venture.  Learning to shoot the springer could prove challenging for a spell, but I'm sure it will come with time.  Hopefully shooting at the sub 12 level, this rifle will not chew up a nice scope...  My R9 (in .22 cal) chewed up a Leapers 4-16 SWAT scope in no time (less than a tin), but it was also shooting at a higher level than the sub 12.

I won't see the rifle until Christmas day, by which time I will have 10-straight days of Christmas Holidays with which to get very cozy with the rifle... I nearly cannot wait!!!  My little Gammo squirrel is gonna need some attention when I get done with it.

[dhc8guru]

I'm sure the TX200 will spoil you. In the future don't ever try some cheap high powered synthetic stock Gamo or something else like it. One trigger pull and you'll throw it on the ground and run for your life. Believe me, I just shot my friends Gamo Big Cat. Its a rough experience.

[DRAGON64]

I'm sure the TX200 will spoil you. In the future don't ever try some cheap high powered synthetic stock Gamo or something else like it. One trigger pull and you'll throw it on the ground and run for your life. Believe me, I just shot my friends Gamo Big Cat. Its a rough experience.

My son has an underlever Gamo, and it is harsh and noisey.  He likes it somewhat, because it hits like a hammer, but I won't shoot it.

[GD Giles]

Probably my first post here was a declaration that I was done with springers and was seeking info on finding the right PCP for me. I've yet to get or even shoot a PCP but I have picked up another springer. I guess my draw to the springer is that it's what I shot when I was a kid and first fell in love with shooting. It's hard to let that go and it's a little gateway to recapturing the past. What's different this time around is I have left .177 behind and am loving moving ahead with .22 and eventually a .25 in probably both a springer and PCP. I know this from my guitar collection; you can only play one at a time and I've got some I've not played in years. I don't want a gun collection like that; I want few enough guns to consistently be shot and enjoyed. I'd rather wear them out enjoying them than keeping them around because one day I might shoot it.

[Sfttailrdr46]

  When I first got back into this sport about 3 years ago I started playing with an old metal receiver 880 that had been given to me  as a tip after a late night emergency no heat service call. Long story short it got me back to shooting targets again. Then the Gamo Whisper .177 CDT 4g Trigger and home tune hooked me back in 100% Then the D460 and another home tune. Next up the TX200  then a Pro Sport  and you can read my signature line for the rest. There are also a few in the mix that are not listed. Yes the AG's are addictive and the folks in here are only too happy to feed into it 

[DRAGON64]

When I first got back into this sport about 3 years ago I started playing with an old metal receiver 880 that had been given to me  as a tip after a late night emergency no heat service call. Long story short it got me back to shooting targets again. Then the Gamo Whisper .177 CDT 4g Trigger and home tune hooked me back in 100% Then the D460 and another home tune. Next up the TX200  then a Pro Sport  and you can read my signature line for the rest. There are also a few in the mix that are not listed. Yes the AG's are addictive and the folks in here are only too happy to feed into it 

They are addictive, and it looks as though you have spread the love across a number of calibers while includingv pumpers and PCP's in the mix... I like your selections.

Since the acquisition of the TX200 for Christmas is a done deal, I have been spending time looking for a nice piece of glass to go on it.  Since I plan to shoot HFT to start out, I'm leaning towards a fixed power scope.  I already have an AEON 8-32X50 for when I make the transition over to WFTF.  There just does not seem to be many options anymore for decent fixed power scopes... I can find the Hawke 10X, but I was hoping for the Falcon Mance fixed power scope.  Does not look like obe is available stateside... ah well, that is for a scope thread...

[Sfttailrdr46]

  Dragon that is also buying and selling a few that did not give me that warm fuzzy feeling when I held or shot them. The ones I still have now are the cream of my crop