Free Pistols: Pardini, Toz, or Morini?

[Mark]

I just shot free pistol for the first time with a borrowed Toz and loved it. I'm interested in buying a free pistol but unsure of which to get. At the match I got to handle a Morini and also the Pardini (with a Rink grip).
The Toz 35M I used had what looked like the standard grip...I thought the grip stunk. And the trigger felt heavy (maybe 1 lb.?), but maybe that could be adjusted out. The gun itself felt fairly heavy too.
The Morini trigger was great, and I liked the easy dryfiring...just turn the battery on it pull the trigger. The standard grip was okay.
The Pardini trigger was also good. I thought it felt almost as good as the Morini, except the trigger shoe felt a little funny. It had a Rink grip on it...I LOVED this grip! It felt very small in my hand, with a distinctive rectangular character. Also, the stippling seemed very pronounced; it felt very secure. Also, the gun felt fairly light compared to the others, which I liked.
I'm assuming all of these are accurate enough to be competitive. That said, are there any quirks (positive or negative) that I should know about any of these guns that might sway me one way or the other on them?
Anyone have a used free pistol for sale? (especially anyone in Texas?)
.45809.0

[Bob Riegl]

The TOZ is apparently the choice of thousands by the way I follow the event. It is a great gun, but requires a lot of tuning and tweaking. Yes the original grips are clunky, but they are designed that way in order to carve them to your preference. There is a lot of initial adjusting to be done, but one attempt with the gun for a "novice" doesn't cut the mustard with me. This is an unforgiving event and the gun itself doesn't tolerate the slightest of shooting errors. I have no experience with the Pardini---but with TOZ, Hammerli and Morini I have more than a passing acquaintance. TOZ was not my favorite for all the afformentioned reasons----I currently shoot a Hammerli 160 Special and have shot the Morini 84E, extensively. If I wasn't truly satisfied with the Hammerli I would give the Morini the place of Honor. If you can find a distributor for the Hammerli (a.k.a Morini MG-5) FP-10 (new trigger version) it seems to be a comer. All in all it's a crap shoot with Free Pistols you buy one and shoot it, try to come to grips (pun intended) with it and be prepared to practise with this gun almost to the exclusion of others. The benefits are many, as your trigger control, patience and shot planning will be honed to a fine degree and will improve all of your other shooting venues. IMHO
.45810.45809

[Paul Benneche]

See the used Toz on this site at:
http://www.pilkguns.com/usedguns.htm
peb-at-virginia.edu.45812.45809

[Paul Benneche]

See the used Toz on this site at:
http://www.pilkguns.com/usedguns.htm
peb-at-virginia.edu.45813.45809

[Mark]

Saw it (thanks), but that's not really answering my question.
: See the used Toz on this site at:
: http://www.pilkguns.com/usedguns.htm

.45826.45812

[mako]

<center><img src="http://images4.fotki.com/v42/photos/4/4 ... "></center>

makofoto-at-earthlink.net.45830.45809

[Mark.]

Glad to see you're taking an interest in free pistol - we need more interest in this sport or it will fade away in favour of all the "action" shooting games that require far less self-discipline and work to master.
As for pistols, I shoot a Morini CM84E, a Hammerli 150, and a TOZ35. I also have experience with the Hammerli FP-10. Of the four, the Morini wins in the trigger department. The others simply don't compare. As for mechanical reliability, all of these pistols are just fine - provided that you get a "new" style trigger unit if purchasing the FP-10. But if you break one of them, be prepared to pay big $$ for parts, and to wait for them to arrive. That's why I have so many of them - so I've always got a pistol I can shoot if one of them happens to roll over and die on me.
Sights on the TOZ leave much to be desired; they're pretty crude. The Morini can be purchased with a muzzle compensator which is a nice add-on, and the Hammerli FP-10 sports probably the finest compensator in the business, straight from the factory. The Hammerli FP-10 has the best method of grip angle adjustment, which is very much like that of the Steyr air pistols. None of the other pistols I've mentioned have adjustable grip angles (save for adding and removing material from the grip).
As mentioned by others before me, free pistols really are a crap shoot. Buy one, and shoot it. And when you're done shooting it, shoot it some more. After several thousand rounds you'll start to be able to feel confident with the pistol, and your scores will slowly climb. All the pistols will shoot sub-10-ring groups, so there is no real accuracy difference between them. The real test of a free pistol is getting one that you can shoot well. If Free Pistol were easy, it wouldn't be an Olympic sport!

Cheers,
Mark.

.45840.45809

[Lee Fisher]

You may also want to consider an older Hammerli 150...I have one which I've been shooting for years. I've had two Toz's - one was a stock gun, and the other had been converted to a side-cocker by Don Nygord. The stock gun's grips sucked as you experienced, and I also thought the gun was too heavy. The Nygord side-cocker was really sweet, but I ultimately decided to keep the 150 as it just suited me better, especially after I realized that I could remove the forearm paddle to reduce the pistol's weight and improve its balance (at least for me). The trigger on the Toz is perhaps the better of the two, and the trigger blade offers much more adjustment than the 150. However, when it comes to workmanship, there is no comparison between the two, the Hammerli is a jewel.
hlf_jr-at-hotmail.com.45852.45809