Tesro TS22/TS32 - popularity

[Brian James]

I generally don't fall into the trap of what’s popular type of questions, but I'm genuinely curious to know how popular the Tesro TS22 and TS32 is now that the product line is several years old. Based on reading previous threads, there were issues with earlier versions, but that is common amongst new pistol designs.

There doesn’t appear to be a lot of shooters using them internationally, but does it have a strong domestic presence in Germany?

The few times I’ve had a chance to shoot their air pistols, I’ve been impressed with their performance.

Thanks,

Brian

[Neon21]

does it have a strong domestic presence in Germany?

no it doesn't..
90% of the shooters use the GSP and would never change to anything else.
I hardly found 2 german reviews of owners in the net and never seen this gun in real live..

I only read several times about broken firing pins, but that's biased

[Tycho]

I've seen a few in Switzerland, but here it's fairly expensive, and while it's very well made, the issues with the early versions and the extremely fast model changes have somewhat damaged its image. And almost every one I've seen in action had its share of problems, things like rear sights falling of do not improve street credibility... If it were a Matchguns, we'd see a few hundred posts about it here.

[jipe]

I've seen a few in Switzerland, but here it's fairly expensive, and while it's very well made, the issues with the early versions and the extremely fast model changes have somewhat damaged its image. And almost every one I've seen in action had its share of problems, things like rear sights falling of do not improve street credibility... If it were a Matchguns, we'd see a few hundred posts about it here.

Lots op people are interested by the Matchgun so lots of comments, but nobody is interested by the Tesro !

Indeed very few users, lots of problems with the two first versions and very expensive update toward TS22-3 for the owners of the TS22 and TS22-2 (yes, Tesro asks money to correct the design errors of the two first versions).

Few Tesro AP too, bought mainly by beginners in shooting that don't know what to buy and try to sell it after some times to switch to something else. Cartridge leaks are very common with Tesro AP. It is a problem since the introduction of the first models that Tesro never solved.

[Neon21]

(yes, Tesro asks money to correct the design errors of the two first versions).

If that's also valid in Germany, Tesro died for me - that's a no go.
Matchguns also have much failures and design errors but Morini himself and the german distributor changed the trigger units at the E-Versions for every weapon free of charge..

[Dr. Jim]

In my time doing equipment control, I've only seen two Tesro pistols. One was at the Master's Games in Edmonton 2005 in the hands of a German competitor and he had several malfunctions, almost rebuilding the damper mechanism between strings. The other was an AP in the hands of a junior lady at last years National matches.

Dr jim

[David M]

Of all the pistols I have ever owned in 35 years, the Tesro's are the only ones that I have scrapped and surrended to the Police for destruction.
The lack of support from the factory to both the importer and the shooters has killed them in Australia.

[JamesH]

Its a shame, because in terms of ergonomics/geometry it looks very good.

And being really a 'modernised' GSP it ought to be fine.

[jipe]

Duplicated post due to submit bug !

[jipe]

Honestly, I don't see any reason to buy a Tesro pistol and I wonder what people buying a Tesro expect from those pistols (excepted having something that very few other people have, I often see people who don't want to buy an LP10 because too many other shooters have one), that they cannot have from well known, proven brands like Pardini, Steyr (for AP), Morini, FWB...

Their AP are a derivative of the Walther LP300 with a bad grip (the Tesro importer in France advises any customer and propose to buy the pistol with a Rink grip) and without real benefit compared to the LP300 and they have many problems with the cartridges (I must say that for the cartridge leaks, they usually replace them under warranty).

The TS22 had so many problems and I never saw any TS32 (I wonder if it really exists). I don't know if it is a real derivative of the GSP, but the GSP is very reliable, no malfunction nor failure (the only slightly weak point is the firing pin but it is cheap and easy to replace) and for a standard pistol the first. most important quality is reliability because the pistol can be the best at shooting if there are malfunctions, you are anyway out.

[Tycho]

Yup, friend of mine has a TS32 that actually works, but that one was practically handbuilt by the factory...

[tesro]

Hi to all,

I'm Daniel, marketing manager of TESRO Germany.

I just browsed these posts and I thought I should get involved to this just bring in some facts to answer the questions here:

There doesn’t appear to be a lot of shooters using them internationally, but does it have a strong domestic presence in Germany?

It depend how you define strong. Either strong in selling numbers of new weapons or strong on the absolute market share. You have to see that the total number of new .22 weapons in Germany is pretty small as our regulations to get new ones are relatively high, but for the size and the age of the company we are selling a quite good number of them. To have a strong position in absolute market share we are just too young. We are now selling .22 for about 9 years. The GSP (I just use it because it is named pretty often here) is on the market since 45 years, so they do have healthy margin in selling time.

Lots op people are interested by the Matchgun so lots of comments, but nobody is interested by the Tesro !

I respect your personal point of view about my company but if we just look on facts there are probably some people that are interested in Tesro.

Indeed very few users, lots of problems with the two first versions and very expensive update toward TS22-3 for the owners of the TS22 and TS22-2 (yes, Tesro asks money to correct the design errors of the two first versions).

I think also here is some misinformation on facts. Here are just some informative numbers about the TS22 versions. The TS22-3 has been released 2007. The main reason to do the change from Version 2 to 3 has been the fact, that for rapid fire pistol the caliber changed from .22 short to .22 l.r., so we wanted our pistol to be a rapid fire pistol and a rapid fire pistol do have different needs then all other pistols for .22 disciplines do have. If a customer did now have a problem on a TS22-2 model we always get in communication with that person. And we make him always two offers, either to choose to get his TS22-2 version repaired as a regular job or we offer him to upgrade his TS22-2 into a TS22-3 to have a complete different bolt (different in weight, design, handling), different barrel ramp design. Depending on the initial situation of the TS22-2 the prices are a bit in variation but always have been something around the part prices + some basic work time. We always thought that this is a fair deal to the customers as they get an upgrade in their pistol and even in the value of the gun. So there is no taking money for doing a correction of something that was wrong. You still get TS22-2 bolts, housings, barrels, etc.

One was at the Master's Games in Edmonton 2005 in the hands of a German competitor and he had several malfunctions, almost rebuilding the damper mechanism between strings. The other was an AP in the hands of a junior lady at last year’s National matches.

The damper mechanism has only be used in TS22-1 and very early TS22-2. We recommend all our customers not to use them because the ammunitions become more and more low in power (what is not a bad thing at all) but the damper mechanism has been designed for more powerful ammunitions. Now we just let that damper out and using different spring (they are a bit harder and will have enough damping for actual ammunitions without additional dampers). All models from 1-3 can use them.

Of all the pistols I have ever owned in 35 years, the Tesro's are the only ones that I have scrapped and surrended to the Police for destruction.
The lack of support from the factory to both the importer and the shooters has killed them in Australia.

That is very hard to hear. I know that our first Australian importer quit business and did the sells over a third company I don't even know. So I only could do the support in Australia direct, what I did and still doing. For example a trigger unit just left the company to Sidney this Monday.

And being really a 'modernised' GSP it ought to be fine.

No the pistol does not have anything to do with the GSP.

Their AP are a derivative of the Walther LP300 with a bad grip

If you don't like the grip, OK, your personal point of view. But the pistol is no derivative of any pistol. To see that there can't be a direct link to the LP300 just take a look on the pistols pressure regulators (the heart of an air gun) as you can see at the LP300 the regulator sits as a separate part behind the pressure tank. Our regulator is an internal one in the system; this makes a different way of how the pistol works itself.

the Tesro importer in France advises any customer and propose to buy the pistol with a Rink grip

It is true, he is also the general importer for Rink and I think he makes his customers a good deal with a complete package, as far as I know he also offers the pistol with two cylinders. We only sell them with one.

and without real benefit compared to the LP300 and they have many problems with the cartridges

cartridges are always a story for itself. We now are selling air pistols for about 11 years. I do have customers that have their cylinder now for 11 years without any problem and I have other customers that have a problem after a while if using it. Very often (not always) the problems are homemade. Often when I get a leaking cylinder I open it and the inside of the cylinder looks like a battlefield, because people used air which is either wet or oily or dirty. All this stuff can ruin your seal inside the cylinder. I won't say that is always that way but quite often. The costs for repairing it is around 3€ in parts so we often do it covered by service. If there is a bigger damage on cylinder itself, caused by wet and oily air, we charge up to 25€.

The TS22 had so many problems and I never saw any TS32 (I wonder if it really exists).

Talking about problems on a .22 pistol will definitely go beyond the scope of this discussion. But one thing to that. you have to see that new pistols are more like sport cars. They do need a bit more of care and support of the shooter as pistols used to need years ago. This is a tribute to having a very high accurateness and so on.
The TS32 does exist. Of course .32 is a very very rare used caliber. Mainly it used by military CISM shooting and if you take a look at some national teams (also the France one) there are pistols.

Yup, friend of mine has a TS32 that actually works, but that one was practically handbuilt by the factory...

TS32 are just produced on order, there is no real stock for it.


-----

So I hope I could bring in my point of view. I do not want to use this forum a promotion, I just want to bring in a different kind of view on things.

If anybody has additional question and want them to get answered by me, feel free to write me here or my mail address.

Best regards

Daniel Römer

[David M]

Here's how good the Tesro .32 was....
Precision ..... 297
Rapidfire......10 then malfunction.

I was one of the origional Australian shooters and after 2 cracked .22 slides, an upgrade to series (2 that I paid for) then another cracked slide.
Multiple firing pins, rebound springs, slide guide pins and trigger bars all broken I got the pistol finally working and shot very well.
Then the .32 shattered at a major competition and some time later the .22 top cracked full length in the spring holes.
All the parts I had to buy with no factory support and a big quote to fix from Daniel to fix, I scrapped both pistols.
Series one and two were development pistols and we were the guinea pigs.
Tesro cost me over $5000 dollars and a lot of heartache.
I have stayed quiet for a long time..... but Tesro you have stuffed up big time and I doubt you will ever regain a good name with the shooters in this country.

[tesro]

Dear David,

I'm really sorry to hear all this, I know that the "Australian Story" not have been the best, what was caused by severl mistakes on several positions. But I do not whant to put other persons as an excuse in front of me / TESRO.


At the Moment I don't know this case personal and so I cant say anything about it. But I will try to get in this case.

best regards

Daniel

[jipe]

I already heard the story "people used air which is either wet or oily or dirty" that causes the cartridges leaks.

The problem is that people do the same with the cartridges of the other AP brands and there are very few leaks with the cartridges of those brands.

Maybe Tesro should find another supplier for their cartridges, for instance the one that makes cartridges for Steyr or FWB or ... ?[/u]

[fverhoeven]

Hi,
I first saw a Tesro .22 on a small gun show at a gun shop for the opening of their shooting range (about 2002).
At that time I shot a Hammerli SP20 that helped me win Dutch championships.
The TS22 attracted my because of the feel of the gun, light weight, adjustment of the grip angle (one angle only, no 3D) and switchable front sight. My shooting buddy (GSP) asked for a shooting test and the gun shop arranged that a few weeks later. He bought the -1 version. He stills owns it, has had troubles bus all were solved. He is still very happy with the gun and the service of Tesro.
I decided to start shooting .32 for center fire and gave myself the choice buy a .32 set for the SP20 or buy a Tesro TS22 with a TS32 set (rejecting the Wather SSP for being .22 only and having a lesser feel to it).
After shooting with the TS22 and TS32 of my shooting buddy and adjusting the trigger group I decided to go for the Tesro (2007, I am a slow decider), a choice I have not regretted.
Yes, there have been troubles:
- broken firing pin (self-replaced with a spare)
- Slide catch notch broken out (repaired by Tesro)
There had been trouble’s with the Hammerli SP20 also (sent back to Switzerland). With the Tesro I won about 8 Dutch championships in Rapid fire, Center fire, Standard Pistol, Sport Pistol (nationally for men also) and “Meesterkaart” (40 rounds Precision) .22 and center.
Are they popular?
Starting shooters have a choice between a new Tesro or a 4 hand GSP (and other 4 hand pistols revolvers).
GSP shooters have the choice between a new(er) GSP and a different brand.
Top shooters seem to stick to what they have.
Tesro’s are not sold a lot, less completion for me.
For the good order: I am not sponsored by Tesro, I pay for my pistol, my spare parts and for service I request. I am not charged for a cup of coffee and the time Tesro uses to answer to my questions or give advice.

Frits

[jipe]

Hi,
I first saw a Tesro .22 on a small gun show at a gun shop for the opening of their shooting range (about 2002).
At that time I shot a Hammerli SP20 that helped me win Dutch championships.
The TS22 attracted my because of the feel of the gun, light weight, adjustment of the grip angle (one angle only, no 3D) and switchable front sight. My shooting buddy (GSP) asked for a shooting test and the gun shop arranged that a few weeks later. He bought the -1 version. He stills owns it, has had troubles bus all were solved. He is still very happy with the gun and the service of Tesro.
I decided to start shooting .32 for center fire and gave myself the choice buy a .32 set for the SP20 or buy a Tesro TS22 with a TS32 set (rejecting the Wather SSP for being .22 only and having a lesser feel to it).
After shooting with the TS22 and TS32 of my shooting buddy and adjusting the trigger group I decided to go for the Tesro (2007, I am a slow decider), a choice I have not regretted.
Yes, there have been troubles:
- broken firing pin (self-replaced with a spare)
- Slide catch notch broken out (repaired by Tesro)
There had been trouble’s with the Hammerli SP20 also (sent back to Switzerland). With the Tesro I won about 8 Dutch championships in Rapid fire, Center fire, Standard Pistol, Sport Pistol (nationally for men also) and “Meesterkaart” (40 rounds Precision) .22 and center.
Are they popular?
Starting shooters have a choice between a new Tesro or a 4 hand GSP (and other 4 hand pistols revolvers).
GSP shooters have the choice between a new(er) GSP and a different brand.
Top shooters seem to stick to what they have.
Tesro’s are not sold a lot, less completion for me.
For the good order: I am not sponsored by Tesro, I pay for my pistol, my spare parts and for service I request. I am not charged for a cup of coffee and the time Tesro uses to answer to my questions or give advice.

Frits

Why are you only mentioning/considering pistols from Walther/Umarex and Tesro and not Pardini, FWB, Morini, Matchgun ?

[gn303]

Reading these comments, I suppose I'm the lucky one. I bought a Tesro 22-2 that had been used for tests for a magazine article. It had shot some 500 rounds. I haven't had any problems with it, but must admit the it is sensible for the ammo. Only RWS and CCI will work without problems. I had GSP and Hammerlï 280 (both in .22 and .32). But found the GSP too top heavy. The Hammerlï constantly shot the first shot too high. I've learned from the forum the this seems to be quite common in the earlier 280-series. Back to Tesro: I shoot their AP as well and it is in my opinion one of the best AP's with mechanical trigger. But, indeed their is a problem with the factory service. Maybe this is one of the reasons we don't see them very often in the international matches. The Belgian importer was not very efficient and the factory itself doesn't handle individual shooters. Luckily in a small country you can quickly go to a gun shop 'abroad'.
My 2 cents.
Regards.
Guy

[tesro]

Hi Guy,

it is true that my Belgium importer is out of busniess as far as I know since some months. We are looking at the moment for a new one that will cover the service on our pistols and rifles.

If you need service you or any other customer can always request spare parts or service directly from me.

best regards

Daniel

[gn303]

Thank you Daniel! I will pass the word.
Regards,
Guy