Air riflle advice please,

[redial]

I am thinking of returning to the above.

Looking at top end springers for both plinking and field use or

 

Would it be worth having my old 1980's B' ham Vulcan revamped / tuned and

spend any cash saved on a quality scope.

Any advice please.

Thank you.

[Ultrastu]

FOR out right accuracy a tx 200 is very hard to beat .

[bruno22rf]

Listen to Ultrastu - pardon the pun but "bang on" advice

[Mr.C]

cheap hw77k in 22 in private sales.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Mr.C

[Ultrastu]

The compromise you will find with springers is that generally the heavier they are the easier they are to shoot accurately from a rested position . (All other things being equal ) but then that weight can effect your accuracy negatively in a standing or awkward position when hunting .

I have a very light bsa lightening .and med weight bsa lightening and a tx 200 all in .177

Off the bench the tx is the most accurate .followed by the heavier bsa.

But walking the woods and shooting rested on trees etc the heavier bsa takes it .ie I connect with the target more often .

But by contrast .if I take my light weight ,fast, short bsa xl tac into the barns for rats and ferrels its by far the better gun of the 3 .and the clinical accuracy of the tx isnt needed and its far to slow and heavy and hard to get on aim under pallets etc .

 

So your choice of gun can be determined by its use .

There are often many tx 200 s for sale as owners find their short comings .

A quality break barrel may be the best choice .

Think hw 95

Walther LG

And my fave the bsa lightening xl ( not the newer se )

[redial]

Thank you for that, just what I was looking for.

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, the reason why there are many TX200s for sale is people buy them on good advice and after a few weeks hacking around the fields with a 9llb lump for a few shots, yes they are a quality made spring air rifle, also i do not understand why people spend ££££££££££ on a scope when a £60/80 hawke is all thats required, Redial go and find a good second hand HW 95 K stick on a hawke vantage 3x9x40/50, decent mounts like hawke. and you will get change out of £300 , maybe enough for a TbT tune kit, IT WILL LAST YEARS LIKE YOUR VULCAN

Edited September 20, 2017 by oldypigeonpopper

[ditchman]

Im picking up my tatty old HW77 for rebuild thread today.............its over 30 years old and you can still get all the parts for it.........

[bruno22rf]

I bought a 95 about 5 years ago following ownership of several HW's but found the 95 a poor cousin to my previous 80 and 77 - got rid of it as soon as I could. Maybe I never had it long enough to "run in" but I would expect a product from such a well respected maker to be much better out of the box. TX200HC would be my choice or Prosport if you can get one at a good price - yes I am an AA dedicated fan but that's simply the result of 43 years of shooting Air Rifles and trying just about every other gun out there.

[timmytree]

I'm with bruno on this, I've tried various HWs belonging to friends and been totally underwhelmed, I've owned a Prosport for years and use it for everything. Yes its heavy for hunting but I don't shoot freehand anymore, I use shooting sticks wherever possible. If I'm likely to get freehand shots I use an S200 instead but I would far rather use the PS and sticks for the added accuracy.

Look out for a secondhand deal with a sensible scope, not too big or overly fancy and you'll have a rifle that can be stripped and fettled easily if you want to fiddle, will hold its value and last a lifetime.

The TX200 is equally as good in most peoples opinions but for me personally the PS handles a little better and looks better than anything else available.

[Guest]

I have recently been stunned by the performance of my 95K with Bisley LRGs (out to 45y). It is a bit heavy and kicks. Strange isn't it how experiences vary.

[Longbower]

2 x HW95K in .22 and .177. The .22 is the nicest to shoot though. My huge sausage fingers were way too big and usually too cold

to get pellets into the loading port on a underlever. but thats just me.

[das]

My HW77 Laminate is silly accurate and used only for target, but I would not want to carry it round all day, close to 10lbs with a 3x9-50 scope.

Love it though, built like a tank.

[pork chop]

cheap hw77k in 22 in private sales.

Seller sent me a pic earlier and it looks in very good nick

[Guest]

HWs have a couple of issues because they are made in Germany.

1) heavy which is good in one respect to take the tecoil. However Germans typically can only shoot on a range so they dont think about weight.

2) noisy safety selector - again not an issue if you only shoot on a range. The safety on my 95k can be heard 30y away on a still evening.

[Longbower]

DC , when hunting , put your thumb on one side of the safety plunger ,and your forefinger the other to soften the

action , it reduces it down to a whisper !

[oldypigeonpopper]

HWs have a couple of issues because they are made in Germany.

1) heavy which is good in one respect to take the tecoil. However Germans typically can only shoot on a range so they dont think about weight.

2) noisy safety selector - again not an issue if you only shoot on a range. The safety on my 95k can be heard 30y away on a still evening.

hello, take your safety selector out and polish it, take any tiny burrs off, replace with a bit of abbey rifle grease

[oldypigeonpopper]

I have recently been stunned by the performance of my 95K with Bisley LRGs (out to 45y). It is a bit heavy and kicks. Strange isn't it how experiences vary.

hello, the reason why air rifles kick as you put it is weight, a 95 K comes out at 6.8llb compared to a AA TX 200 9.04 llb then there is scope weight, if your 95 is standard it will be a lot smoother shooting adding a tuning kit hence less recoil, somebody mentioned the TbT kit was not good so check out a welsh willy one, if your not sure about this he a good chap to help you through the process, and you might find if not already using some shooting sticks might help, my 95K 177 liked the heavy HW pellets and 40 plus yards at 11.5 ft llb, easy to make shooting sticks, 2 x 5ft plastic covered garden 1/2inch poles from home base, cut a strip from old inner tube treble wrap and down about 4/6inch from top, a bit of string 1 ft from bottom to hold legs out, mine has a bespoke leather yoke

Edited September 22, 2017 by oldypigeonpopper

[Local lad]

Hi, looking for advise on buying a air rifle.

At present shoot 10m target but want to get back into pigeon, crow and rabbit shooting.

As you all know one shot with the shotgun and everything is gone and then another long wait.

 

So looking for advise on a PCP gun that is good for about 50m plus, fun to use in fields, woods etc.

[Walker570]

The compromise you will find with springers is that generally the heavier they are the easier they are to shoot accurately from a rested position . (All other things being equal ) but then that weight can effect your accuracy negatively in a standing or awkward position when hunting .

I have a very light bsa lightening .and med weight bsa lightening and a tx 200 all in .177

Off the bench the tx is the most accurate .followed by the heavier bsa.

But walking the woods and shooting rested on trees etc the heavier bsa takes it .ie I connect with the target more often .

But by contrast .if I take my light weight ,fast, short bsa xl tac into the barns for rats and ferrels its by far the better gun of the 3 .and the clinical accuracy of the tx isnt needed and its far to slow and heavy and hard to get on aim under pallets etc .

 

So your choice of gun can be determined by its use .

There are often many tx 200 s for sale as owners find their short comings .

A quality break barrel may be the best choice .

Think hw 95

Walther LG

And my fave the bsa lightening xl ( not the newer se )

Spot on advice from a fellow TX200 user. The TX200 is a superb piece of kit for static work, scary accurate and kills the likes of magpies body shot out to 45yrds no problem in 177. With it's accuracy it will also deal with squirrels and rabbits out to 30yrds maybe further on head shots. On those I limit myself to 30yrds to be certain.

 

If you wish to walk around even just a little bit or need to be able to get the gun quickly into awkward spots, then don't buy one. All of my TX200 shooting is from purpose built permanent hides/cabins covering known areas ..eg slurry pits and it is well capable from those positions.

[Local lad]

Thanks for the help. I would be wanting to move from field to field and walking about so was looking at bullpups but have no experience.

[manthing]

It's all relative.

I like a heavy springer and my 97k is just that, after about 10 years of faultless service it started to diesel so I got a service kit from tinbum tuning and literally just cleaned everything up and fitted the bits in the kit, iirc a top hat and a base washer for the spring. I was very pleased with the way it did shoot and the tidy up made it even better.

 

After checking it now appears the service kit is now the base tuning kit for some reason.

 

But back to the air gun advice, try as many as you can in as many calibers as you can, they certainly aren't a one size fits all. And with the best will in the world someone's opinion is just that. Good luck.