Why do you still shoot springers?

I went from springers to pcp’s and now back to only springers.

And with pcp’s i went the route to the top notch guns. For example the fx impact. That is very nice and fascinating gun in all of it’s technical stuff but it got boring to me.

To me springers makes every shot ”count” because the shot to shot takes more time and effort than to just dump an fx impact’s magazine. And you have to get off the scope and reposition yourself after each shot.

I now have aa pro sport and hw97k and they are lifetime keepers.

By the way are the magazine feeding systems going to ever find their way in the decent springers? Or is it gonna be a ”gamo thing”? Magazine systems could get more people to springer maybe?
 
Last edited:
By the way are the magazine feeding systems going to ever find their way in the decent springers? Or is it gonna be a ”gamo thing”? Magazine systems could get more people to springer maybe?
To me, magazines in springers, especially in breakbarrel guns, fall seriously short since you need to break the barrel and cock the gun between each shot, anyway, and breakbarrel guns are the quickest and easiest to load manually, anyway. A sidelever gun with a magazine would make a little more sense, being stealthier to cock than a breakbarrel, while also easier to fumble when loading. Alas, the days of quality manufacturers innovating with their springer designs are past us.

Simplicity and straightforwardness are the strongest points of springers, and magazines work against that. Magazines also bring an added layer of uncertainty to the shooting. Even my FX's magazine sometimes (rarely) misfeeds, which would spoil a hunting shot of a lifetime if it happened then.
 
Last edited:
There is no debate here. Both types have place in my line up.

My HW30 and HW95 are wonderful. The 95 came with several learning curves , but it has become a cold shot confidence gun. The hard part is keeping me trained on how to shoot it.

The HW30, masterpiece.

In the pcp world I have the whole Prod family.
4 guns from 5fpe to 20. Light and handy, 3 of 4 have Walther barrels. Must have guns for my limited tinkering.

Then there is my AAs500, I rank it the same as my HW30. Very different but just as perfect.

If I am going to spend an afternoon target shooting it will be with the springers.

For out of town chipmunk safaris I take both a pcp and a springer.

Air power is where it’s at for fun.
 
Reading this thread is just fueling my appetite for MY first springer.

Let me take that back...
I have a Webly Tempest pistol I purchased back in the 1980s. So, I suppose that it technically meets the definition of spring gun.

I have my sights set on a HW-35E .177 as my first springer RIFLE. Now I just have to find one.
I was originally looking at the Diana side-lever/fixed-barrel approach to avoid "barrel-droop" and potential breech-lock/barrel-droop issues of break-barrel rifles, then I read here in an AGN post about the breech-lock design of the HW35, that was the way to go. (the old Webly Tempest breech-lock is problematic)

Planning to install a quality aperture rear sight rather than a scope, I don't see the need for one. I have powder-burners for 100-300 yards.
If I bought a Diana 48 I would get it in .22 as in my opinion its too powerful for 177 however the HW97 under lever is perfect. Just my opinion;)
 
Reliability and dependability are among the most important features of a weapon system, to me. I can't find that in PCP's, so I use springers for 90% of my airgunning time.

Even when your PCP is working as intended, you need to count the shots, which erodes the trust I have in the system: "Did I stay on top of the actual number?". My unregulated pffft gun (an FX T12) will only shoot well for a couple dozen shots in the sweet spot, then it's fill-up time. For comparison, my tuned springers shoot 10 000 consecutive pellets with consistency. The shot count issue of the PCP cannot leave my head, so with them, I can forget about a relaxing, zoned in afternoon spent flinging lead and improving skills.

I fill my sole PCP with a hand pump, so filling the gun every two, at most three dozen shots is a serious break out of the shooting zone. Kinda like if you were reading an immersive novel, and went to pound a heavy bag in mid-chapter.

Outside a life with a pump, you are seriously hitched to the modern world with a PCP, which I hate. You better live close to a city with fill-up services.

Even with my limited exposure to PCP's, I've learned these guns and their pumps eventually leak, and it can happen any time.

A huge pro-springer feature to me is the fact that a complete newbie can get a complete, detailed educatíon about springer fixing, tuning and troubleshooting from these online springer forums (I frequent 5 of them).

Learning a metric ton about my springers from just searching the forums and from asking questions that were typically quickly and thoroughly answered, it was a starkly different and daunting experience when my FX needed fixing. It was hard work to get even the most basic information about PCP dismantling and rebuilding. 220 bars inside the gun at rest is a potentially lethal situation and the liabilities freak people out, I think. At any rate, it was hush-hush and send it in for repairs, which I did. I've never needed to send my springers in to get them fixed.

BryanH illustrated very well early in this mega-thread how PCP's can fall short in unexpected ways, needing constant babying and monitoring to actually perform, whereas a quality springer is a gun you can toss in your already packed up car and spend a troublefree, carefree 1 000 pellet weekend in your chosen location, wherever that may be.

I prefer iron sights over scopes, for many reasons. I also prefer wood stocks, steel actions and traditional styling. All these push me towards springers.

I have always preferred things that have proven their worth over a long while. Many of my springers are guns that were designed decades to generations ago and stayed in production equally long. After 30+ years of gun X in widespread use, the pros and cons of the design, its strong points and wear points, have been found out and worked out. I like that, buying said gun X. It's like a warm blanket surrounding the purchase decision, and really about reliability, again.
 
Last edited:
springers are simple, grab it out of the closet, chuck a pellet in it and shoot, return to closet, thats it lol .. but pcp adds a higher dimension of accuracy, power, and stealth/silence at the expense of needing more prep and support ..depends what your doing and how serious it is if you 'have to' make a decision .. pcps have a huge advantage for serious pesting, but any fine gun can be pleasurable to own and operate, hell i got a 400$ full auto electric bb gun that looks and shoots awesome i like to play with lol

20240418_075510.jpg
 
Last edited:
If I bought a Diana 48 I would get it in .22 as in my opinion its too powerful for 177 however the HW97 under lever is perfect. Just my opinion;)
I have my HW97 tuned to 11.6 FPE and now thinking i should have had it tuned at 10,? 4 or 6? wonderful shooter.
 
I like the quiet nature of airguns. I have moderators on the more powerful ones. I am limited to 50yd due my yard layout. Neighbors are not too close, but I still dont want to draw attention. Its strictly pumpers & springers for me. Anything more powerful will potentially damage something on the other side of my fence. I have a Gamo over 26fpe that requires a beefy backstop, but its fairly quiet w/whisper potato it came with. When the CO2 pistols come out, it gets a bit loud though. PCP's are too easy to shoot accurately, in my opinion. The springers are a challenge every time, and I get a good workout as a plus.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito
I’m shooting both all the time:) I switch between my impact for spinners at 100yrd and my HW30s for spinners at 50yrds.

What I did to the Impact however is install a single shot loader and that has elevated my enjoyment in plinking. The advantage of springers over pcp’s is that you tend to make every shot count, and installing the single shot in my pcp has transferred that philosophy:)

It is imo way more rewarding to hit spinners with the HW30s however, I will always keep shooting that lovely springer. The impact is a bit soulless in a way, fun to explore and try different projectiles and distances but it gets dull sometimes:)
 
For me mastering the springer especially a magnum makes you a better all round shooter.
I will never get rid of them they're self-contained and would do well in a survival situation for small game. I still have and use my first one I bought over 20 years ago. BSA lightning in 177 rebuilt and tuned by David Slade.
 
Even though I have 5 PCPs I probably still shoot my springers more often. It's simple, just grab some pellets or slugs when it comes to my hatsan 125 sniper, walk out on the front porch and bang I'm shooting. I'm pretty much limited to 30 yards shooting off the porch so a PCP isn't needed. I do have a 100 yard shooting range down in my meadow but most times I'm to busy to use it.