Springer vs PCP

[WNYBill]

I am sick of the money pit rabbit hole with PCP's. But I like the accuracy and no special scopes. I am a paper puncher and KYL's shooter.

So before I buy a compressor is there a springer that will compete with my .22 M-rod out to 50-75 yards, accuracy wise? Do I need a special scope, or will my Vortex Strike Eagle take the unusual recoil? Is there constant repair/maintenance like the PCP O-rings and etc? And the most important, how much is it going to cost. For simplicity, I want .22 cal.

Bill

 

[beerthief]

most any of the HW springers will do the job , HW 50 would be my first choice and HW35 would be 2nd OR a bit more money TX200 or HW97 in the 6 to 800 $$ range but people that demand field target or bench rest precision go for these last two .

think pcp+compressor VS tx200 or HW97

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

If you only a paper puncher then by all means go springer, that is what I would do.

To me the advantage in PCP is the power, ease of shooting, magazines, weight......and all that to me is tied to Hunting, but if my game was just puncing paper I definitely would not even consider PCPs

 

[beerthief]

OH ! you ask about maintenance , Make sure screws are tight every so often and a drop of oil @ hinge points once or twice a year .
mostly it is just grab gun and pellets and start shooting .

 

[Pale_Rider]

If you want a springer that shoots like a PCP with very little recoil, look no further than the RWS 54. Only downside for some people it is heavy. If you plan to walk around with your rifle or shoot offhand I’d get a tx200 hc or hw97.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I always here hand pump will do or hand pump friendly.. now like here today 91' 90% humidity dont see that friendly part working out well for a handful of shots.

$300 for so so compressor = near a nice referb r9 ( .22today listing $399 and couponds are good on them it seems).

The the hw/r's. Cock ,load ,shoot, repeat , and a 6$ 500 count tin of pellets. 24/7- 364. Maybe a seal and spring time to time along it's total life $60+/- ?

Ya, pcp must mean please continue paying..

 

[boscoebrea]

Get an R-9 or the HW95 or 97; check them out,no maintenance, just check screws . Make sure the scope is springer ok.
The HW-97 is great,the HW-95 is a little more compact.....they will have no problem being as accurate as what you got,though,you may have a harder time shooting them as accurately.

 

[AirShot]

Honestly. No such thing....I love and prefer springers, pcp is to much hassle, but.....for extreme accuracy at 75 yards and not requiring a special scope...nothing out there!! Especially un 22 cal. My best 22 springer was my custom tuned R1 in 22 cal. That rifle avh 830 fps with 14.3 pellets and could hold sub 3/4" groups at 50 yds. Very consistant with a fast lock time. As near to perfect as a springer can be, but you cant compare it to a non recoiling scuba powered rifle at 75 yards !!

 

[JDR]

My impression is PCPs have more maintenance. Read about leaks it is not if but when. Had to reseal pumpers twice but none on my old springer.

 

[EMrider]

“So before I buy a compressor is there a springer that will compete with my .22 M-rod out to 50-75 yards, accuracy wise?”

Nope, or at least none that I have tried. Although I own both, I grab the spring guns for 98% of my target shooting and hunting.

The PCP edge versus spring guns grows as distance increases, and IMHO is pretty material beyond 50 yards.

At distances of 5-30 yards, however, a good spring gun compares quite favorably.

R

 

[cjtamu]

If you want a springer that shoots like a PCP with very little recoil, look no further than the RWS 54. Only downside for some people it is heavy. If you plan to walk around with your rifle or shoot offhand I’d get a tx200 hc or hw97.

This. I have the RWS Diana 56T/H. Same gun, different stock and barrel shroud. Close to PCP as you’ll get, particularly in lack of recoil and the fact it doesn’t care how it’s held. Two bags, front bag, off hand, sticks, it doesn’t care. It’s a heckuva gun in stock trim. And there are tuning options available. I use an Accurized Diana ZR mount on mine. No worries about recoil killing your scope. Link below will show you what can be done with the platform. Although this was a very special 54 Steve worked on the principles apply to the normal guns as well.

Steve Herr's full tune of a 0.20" cal DIANA 54

More than 1 year in the making. Hope you enjoy! https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/the-020-cal-diana-54-project Keep well and shoot straight! HM

www.airgunnation.com

 

[JEFFPPC]

I am sick of the money pit rabbit hole with PCP's. But I like the accuracy and no special scopes. I am a paper puncher and KYL's shooter.

So before I buy a compressor is there a springer that will compete with my .22 M-rod out to 50-75 yards, accuracy wise? Do I need a special scope, or will my Vortex Strike Eagle take the unusual recoil? Is there constant repair/maintenance like the PCP O-rings and etc? And the most important, how much is it going to cost. For simplicity, I want .22 cal.

Bill

My Diana 54 in .22 would work for you. With Hectors tuner it has turned out to be the ticket outdoors. I have yet to shoot it in calm conditions but I do use wind flags. No problem under an inch at 50 yards. I shot it this week at 100. First 4 shots in 1.5. As I shot the 5th shot the it to right wind quit for a couple seconds. I hit right where I held, opened group to a bit over 3 inches. I think it will do 2 inches for sure. My firs 3 shots were about .75, nice tight triangle. I shot 4 shots today at 25 yards that stayed completely inside a .5 circle. At 25 it often shoots .25 for 5 shots etc. It was tuned by John Thomas from Pa. With 15.89 pellets it's at 760 fps. It has the ZR mount tuned by Hector with a 6x24 Hawke Sidewinder 30mm. Vortex says all their scopes are good for sprinters, I have spoken to them.

 

[muddydogz]

Another vote here for the diana 54 platform. And a good tune kit and it will feel like shooting a pcp. Heavy? yes, but grab it and a tin of pellets and youre good to go for the afternoon.

 

[Mycapt65]

I'm not sure about the big Diana's and I'm not familiar with the PCP mentioned in the OP. I do have a few of the fine Weihrachs mentioned including a 50, three 95s, a 97 and a R1. I have shot all of them at a local range beside PCPs. While some of my guns on their/my BEST day will do half inch at fifty, I'm NOT competitive with most people with PCPs. Most of the time my guns above are either side of one inch at fifty. That's on a fairly calm day. I won't shoot groups past fifty with them. It's disheartening.

While I'll never own a PCP because I don't care for the necessary support equipment and overall high cost, I'm not delusional enough to think my Weihrauch springers can match a half decent PCP at 50 yards plus. My many experiences at the range just won't allow it.

Perhaps the big Diana's can match a PCP. I know nothing about them.

For fun and reliability I believe a springer is the ticket. For easy accuracy and range I concede that PCPs have springers beat.

Good luck
Ron

 

[Sqwirl57]

I'm not sure about the big Diana's and I'm not familiar with the PCP mentioned in the OP. I do have a few of the fine Weihrachs mentioned including a 50, three 95s, a 97 and a R1. I have shot all of them at a local range beside PCPs. While some of my guns on their/my BEST day will do half inch at fifty, I'm NOT competitive with most people with PCPs. Most of the time my guns above are either side of one inch at fifty. That's on a fairly calm day. I won't shoot groups past fifty with them. It's disheartening.

While I'll never own a PCP because I don't care for the necessary support equipment and overall high cost, I'm not delusional enough to think my Weihrauch springers can match a half decent PCP at 50 yards plus. My many experiences at the range just won't allow it.

Perhaps the big Diana's can match a PCP. I know nothing about them.

For fun and reliability I believe a springer is the ticket. For easy accuracy and range I concede that PCPs have springers beat.

Good luck
Ron

Your Weihrauchs will keep up with an Avenger or a Marauder at 50yds. I see a lot of people posting 1/2" groups with theirs but I doubt thats their average. Having owned a Marauder and put the Avenger through its paces, neither did much better than an HW consistently. I think people like to cherry pick their best 5 shot groups and then claim its an MOA gun based on that.

As far as Diana goes, they're neat but also extremely finicky. Either of my 97s, TXs, or my LGU will outshoot the 54 most days. I have never shot a .22 TX200 that impressed me much. My .22 97K is lights out though. Most accurate and reliable springer I own. Mine has a PG4 and Vortek piston seal installed and puts out 17fpe with the H&N FTTs.

 

[WNYBill]

How do you tell if the springer is recoilless? Do you have to buy special scopes? Why are they harder to shoot accurately?

 

[Mycapt65]

Your Weihrauchs will keep up with an Avenger or a Marauder at 50yds. I see a lot of people posting 1/2" groups with theirs but I doubt thats their average. Having owned a Marauder and put the Avenger through its paces, neither did much better than an HW consistently. I think people like to cherry pick their best 5 shot groups and then claim its an MOA gun based on that.

As far as Diana goes, they're neat but also extremely finicky. Either of my 97s, TXs, or my LGU will outshoot the 54 most days. I have never shot a .22 TX200 that impressed me much. My .22 97K is lights out though. Most accurate and reliable springer I own. Mine has a PG4 and Vortek piston seal installed and puts out 17fpe with the H&N FTTs.

That's a strong 97 you got there. I wish my Weihrauchs averaged half inch at fifty yards (MOA). If you got that impression I'm sorry. It's more like 2MOA and that's with a good tin of pellets and calm winds.

I'm not a PCP guy so I don't know what models I'm looking at, at the range but most all of the guys there shoot better groups than I at 50 and certainly 100 if I dared try. Occasionally there's the new to shooting knucklehead with a new PCP and he's all over the place, but it's hard to be proud of besting that.

As far as cherry picking groups goes, that's a sad prolific practice across all shooting forums. It sets unrealistic accuracy expectations. Especially for new people who think they should expect those groups from their equipment, not realizing the groups they see on the net are one group out of a million, that a very experienced shooter shot once. With that many rounds down range that one cherry picked group could have been numerical luck. Worse is I highly suspect people lie about the actual distance as well.

I too post groups but I try to post the full page of them or at least a string of groups. I get it feels good to post your best group ever with that gun but I think it should come with that caption. Too many people live in their delusional internet world where their best becomes their average and they do more typing than shooting.

 

[Mycapt65]

How do you tell if the springer is recoilless? Do you have to buy special scopes? Why are they harder to shoot accurately?

Sent you a personal message. They call it a conversation here.

 

[Sqwirl57]

That's a strong 97 you got there. I wish my Weihrauchs averaged half inch at fifty yards (MOA). If you got that impression I'm sorry. It's more like 2MOA and that's with a good tin of pellets and calm winds.

You're misunderstanding me there. It doesn't average a half inch at all. Its realistically a 2 moa gun. It has broken 1/3" at 50 a few times and has posted more than its fair share of 1/2" groups but unfortunately not enough for me to brag about it. Both my Marauder and the Avenger I played with both averaged a very similar 2 MOA average at 50yds.

 

[Mycapt65]

You're misunderstanding me there. It doesn't average a half inch at all. Its realistically a 2 moa gun. It has broken 1/3" at 50 a few times and has posted more than its fair share of 1/2" groups but unfortunately not enough for me to brag about it. Both my Marauder and the Avenger I played with both averaged a very similar 2 MOA average at 50yds.

OK cool. I'm sorry I misunderstood your post. I consider 2 MOA pretty darn good for a springer.