Other Most overlooked feature?

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intrepidaf

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Mar 1, 2024
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When it comes to air pistols, what often-overlooked feature or design aspect do you believe has a significant impact on accuracy, handling, or even overall shootability*?

Whether it's the ergonomics of the grip, the quality of the sights, the type of sight mounting (dovetail, Picatinny, etc.), the use of a pellet magazine, storage in the handle, an adjustable trigger, match-grade barrels, recoil reduction systems, integrated silencers, CO2 efficiency, multi-shot capability, electronic triggers, or accessory rails. Or anything else that makes a big difference.

Additionally, in your experience, what initially overlooked features or design elements do you find become indispensable once experienced? Apart from grip ergonomics, sight quality, and propulsion mechanisms, what other aspects—such as trigger sensitivity, noise suppression, or ambidextrous design—do you believe significantly enhance the shooting experience?

I'd love to hear insights that elevate an air pistol from good to exceptional. I prefer my guns to outshoot me haha.

Fun fact: The Webley Tempest, a classic British air pistol introduced in the 1970s, was renowned for its smooth recoilless action, making it a favorite among shooters for its ease of use and accuracy. This pistol's unique design featured an integrated recoil buffer system, showcasing how attention to seemingly minor details can greatly enhance the shooting experience.
 
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for me it is trigger first, sights second and grips i guess but me hands has held so many different pistols they never complain much
and the part about the Tempest being smooth well that is horse feathers it is a harsh shooting little SOB
one of the best trigger a IZH 46M, one of the worst grips IZH 46M from the factory
 
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Airgun pistols have always lagged behind popularity among shooters primarily because the technology could not produce enough power and ability to shoot very many shots. That has now finally changed with the Huben GK1 with finally an air pistol that can shoot 800 FPS in mild power settings capable of many shots on a fill yet has the ability to increase the power to get over 1000 FPS when desired, all of that plus semi-auto and incredible accuracy. Since this is the first real game changer that has solved the missing features of air pistols... I am sure eventually others will catch up, otherwise they will not survive.
 
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intrepidaf said:
When it comes to air pistols, what often-overlooked feature or design aspect do you believe has a significant impact on accuracy, handling, or even overall shootability*?

Whether it's the ergonomics of the grip, the quality of the sights, the type of sight mounting (dovetail, Picatinny, etc.), the use of a pellet magazine, storage in the handle, an adjustable trigger, match-grade barrels, recoil reduction systems, integrated silencers, CO2 efficiency, multi-shot capability, electronic triggers, or accessory rails. Or anything else that makes a big difference.

Additionally, in your experience, what initially overlooked features or design elements do you find become indispensable once experienced? Apart from grip ergonomics, sight quality, and propulsion mechanisms, what other aspects—such as trigger sensitivity, noise suppression, or ambidextrous design—do you believe significantly enhance the shooting experience?

I'd love to hear insights that elevate an air pistol from good to exceptional. I prefer my guns to outshoot me haha.

Fun fact: The Webley Tempest, a classic British air pistol introduced in the 1970s, was renowned for its smooth recoilless action, making it a favorite among shooters for its ease of use and accuracy. This pistol's unique design featured an integrated recoil buffer system, showcasing how attention to seemingly minor details can greatly enhance the shooting experience.
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Your fun fact ....are you sure you mean the Tempest?
In reality one of the nicest shaped and most compact of designs, it unfortunately never matched its looks in performance.
As a Brit I spent half a lifetime tuning them for shooters. I think every kid had one at some point, or another in the 80s but it was a gun I never managed to improve by any significant margin.
It has a complex recoil with no damping suggested in your post.
The rear moving piston made the secondary recoil more difficult to control when compared to forward piston designs.
On paper one would suppose that this would be a better idea to help soak up recoil, but it created a nudge downward and to the right as the gun wants to pivot at the palm of the hand, which proves difficult to master.
Consequently, the Walther LP53 upward recoil , HW70, Diana derivatives and Gamo Center forward recoil all out shot it for accuracy by significant margins.
I improved smoothness, gained 20-30 fps here and there and experimented with a different Piston seal for a tad reduction in recoil but never fully got past this comical recoil issue ....sadly...
 
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Steveoo said:
Your fun fact ....are you sure you mean the Tempest?
In reality one of the nicest shaped and most compact of designs, it unfortunately never matched its looks in performance.
As a Brit I spent half a lifetime tuning them for shooters. I think every kid had one at some point, or another in the 80s but it was a gun I never managed to improve by any significant margin.
It has a complex recoil with no damping suggested in your post.
The rear moving piston made the secondary recoil more difficult to control when compared to forward piston designs.
On paper one would suppose that this would be a better idea to help soak up recoil, but it created a nudge downward and to the right as the gun wants to pivot at the palm of the hand, which proves difficult to master.
Consequently, the Walther LP53 upward recoil , HW70, Diana derivatives and Gamo Center forward recoil all out shot it for accuracy by significant margins.
I improved smoothness, gained 20-30 fps here and there and experimented with a different Piston seal for a tad reduction in recoil but never fully got past this comical recoil issue ....sadly...
Click to expand...
I totally agree with the above comments on the Tempest, could not master my 0.22 model or the 0.22 Hurricane I had later. Neither could I shoot the 0.22 Senior, but I can shoot my 0.177 all-steel Premier 'D' very well.
Is it the calibre (caliber 😉) and the shorter lock-time making the difference? If I ever get to try a Tempest or Hurricane in 0.177, that might answer it.
 
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well, theres 2 camps, one is full power/hunting type and the other is reproduction/felt experience .. that said and talking about the reproduction type, the barra 1911 i have has a 'hop up' adjustment allowing the tuning of where the bb tends to go, also the co2/valve being in the drop-out mags is super cool and adds to the already good blowback realism..
 
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Modski66 said:
I totally agree with the above comments on the Tempest, could not master my 0.22 model or the 0.22 Hurricane I had later. Neither could I shoot the 0.22 Senior, but I can shoot my 0.177 all-steel Premier 'D' very well.
Is it the calibre (caliber 😉) and the shorter lock-time making the difference? If I ever get to try a Tempest or Hurricane in 0.177,
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Good question.
With all pistols .177 does get out of the gun quicker. Despite the .22 feeling nicer, due to the better cushioning of air it provides, the .177 still outshoots by getting out of the gun quicker regardless of nicer shooting feel.
The Premier also has a ridiculously heavy piston (for a pistol) where it's entire front section beyond the sear position is solid steel which slows the gun a touch (the least powerful of all the variants) but it's weight helps to kill any secondary bounce. Throw in an adjustable trigger and it's usually the Premier which wins any Webley versus Webley shoot offs.....
With one specimen I did lighten the piston down, gaining some velocity but lost some accuracy...
 
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Scrench said:
If you don't mind the weight of an Izzy 46 or 46M, and don't want to chisel away at the grip, a Rink grip works wonders. I got a small for my medium hand so I could fill in whatever gaps I wanted with J&B QuickWood.
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Got one of those from Pyramid with the red black laminated grips. First thing a piece on that bottom shelf snapped off, then the cocking lever. Epoxy and a couple of small pins took care of it, but I never liked them, so got a set of Rink grips.
I also got a IZH 46m with the beech grips. I started modifying on the left side where my fingers wrapped around, I played with them several weeks removing and sculpting a little at a time realizing once the wood was gone It could not be replaced. I got them to fit so they are very comfortable, DId all of that plus rounding and blending all sharp corners/edges.
 
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Enlighting chat.I would rather shoot pistols than rifles,a good trigger comes first,I say because I must concentrate more and a sloppy trigger confuses my pull.I have had accurate pistols with lousy triggers, I fixed the triggers and all was so much better. Good open sights are hard to have. Yesterday I was shooting some of my pistols,they all have fairly good sights;the one thing I noticed was the rear sight "slit" was too wide on all of them, the better you get the more you noticed this.My PCP pistols all have pistol scopes.
Now the fit+grips,the better the fit to hand the easier it is to shoot.
I think for me feel of the pistol is very important, even more so than the sights;I say this because a lot of pistols are not accurate enough to utilize good sights, and I am shooting more by feel, kind of like bowling,you get the feel of the pistol ,aim and see if you get lucky,of course, this takes much practice;Or better yet just get a known accurate pistol with good trigger and sights:LOL:
 
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Balance is #1 in my book. #2 is ergonomics. #3 is trigger. A good barrel is a requirement. Not optional.

Balance can be adjusted or modified by several means. Barrel length, barrel weight (or weight savings), barrel attachments, heavier or lighter grips. Usually a lighter hammer helps, though have to mindful of tune and power output. Sight size, weight, and positioning have a significant impact.

Added weight often stabilizes, but if added disproportionately, can end up being a side or downgrade rather than an upgrade in performance.

A well balanced pistol can increase consistent accuracy by many orders of magnitude. As well as vastly improve ease of consistent accuracy.

Also, fwiw, I am very happy with any pistol so long as it shoots around or above 600fps in 22 cal. 650 plus in .177, comically my only .25 cal pistol shoots jsb kings at 925fps in a 9" barrel 🤣 it's not a Huben, though I would trade it for one 🤣
 
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