Finding a Unicorn

[spektr]

Lots of posts here seem to revolve around "starter" air pistols.
Perhaps a new view is needed.........

If the person wants to shoot with any seriousness, I suggest there arent any.

If we boil down the hunt for the pistol, we see that the requestors usually want top line performance on a restricted budget. Thats the crux of most questions I see here. Some of us suggest lesser performing pistols on price point. I used to be in that camp. I now see that as a trap. Guns built to a price point will disappoint because they are less capable. It is completely irrelevant that mere mortals cant shoot well enough to get everything out of whatever they shoot.......

Pointing people to well loved solid used equipment makes more sense as long as the gun is supported... Tank age is not meaningfull to a lot of people and where it is, its fixable at a reasonable cost....

Lately Ive acquired a few vintage CO2 match pistols because I love shooting them. There are lots of wonderful finds to be made searching for safe queens and most were suprisingly affordable..... And guess what, they all outshoot me..... Im not going to say CO2 is the path forward, but it is A path. I suspect there are quite a few pcp safe queens out there needing to be shot more.....

Go find them

[Green_Canoe]

Good idea but...

A newbie is probably more likely to be afraid to get into old technology because they don't know the resources available to keep old iron running. I don't see the old CO2 guns up for sale very often. In general the guns for our sport aren't traded at very high volumes and info on older guns is somewhat limited. If you want something in particular you can expect to wait months until you find one for sale.

In my case for example (I consider myself somewhat a newbie) I'm looking at getting a CO2 rifle because it fits my budget better than a PCP rifle but I'm already set up with a SCUBA tank and I have no experience with CO2 so I'm a little hesitant to make my move.

[Azmodan]

a starter pistol is intended for 2 cases: 1) an enthusiast wants to pick up the sport but doesn;t want to pay for a top of the line gun before knowing if he enjoys/is good at it; 2) a junior starts practicing the sport at a club or something similar

for these cases, the requirements are the same: 1) an anatomic grip (at least a palm shelf), 2) target sights (at least with rear sight that is elevation adjustable) 3) decent trigger (2 stage). for juniors, a 4th requirement is to not be too heavy

the price is of course the crux here, and a reasonable price would be under 500$/€.

these criteria are met by only a few new guns: Gamo Compact, FAS 6004 and maybe IZH-64M (but that is too heavy for juniors). Second hand guns are plenty in the US and Germany (and maybe the rest of western EU) and a very valid option, but they are scarce to non-existent in the rest of the world.

i started with an Artemis CP1, but only the sights were ok. the trigger was single stage and the grip was not anatomical. i upgraded to a second hand Feinwerkbau 100 in just a couple of months (but that was a real happy find for my condition/country).

what i would personally like, it would be an airsoft target pistol - but that is because in my country, for airpistols you need a gun license while for airsoft you do not

[spektr]

Like this?

https://www.moaitoys.com/shop/index.php ... -blue.html

[robjob]

Like this?

https://www.moaitoys.com/shop/index.php ... -blue.html

That would be an airsoft BB pistol...

[spektr]

exactly, his last sentence was that in his country he would love an airsoft pistol since they were unregulated.....

Its cool isnt it...

[Azmodan]

Like this?

https://www.moaitoys.com/shop/index.php ... -blue.html

yeah. i'd buy something like that if i could find it at a decent price (~200$)