Springer or PCP rifle shooting.

If You want to stay with springers for their lower cost and self sufficient nature (no support equipment needed) then up grading to a high quality model will do a lot for your satisfaction. An Air arms TX200 mk3 is my choice. There are many good ones from German company's like Weihrauch, RWS the higher end Beemans.
They are just more refined designs than the inexpensive ones. So many people buy a $169. gun and can't understand why it can't keep up with the 6-$800. guns.

PCP's are easier to shoot no doubt about it. And more powerful, come in larger calibers and usually more accurate. But the cost can be MUCH higher to get into. Especially if you want the higher end stuff.

Forest Pete
I had to move to PCP because I can't seem to get good enough with spring or gas piston. Heaven knows I tried and tried.
I know it is me ... I just can't really do what I want with them. I respect those that can.... I had a Benjamin Trail .22 and could not keep my groups into 1 inch all the time at 25 yards.... drove me nuts. Then bought a under lever ... no luck there either...
So if you are good with springs... why switch... 
PCP opened a whole new world to me.... Expensive (Yes) Worth it (Yes)

Yes, springers are now and always will be more difficult to shoot than PCP(s); it’s the nature of the beast. I’ve had some very affordable Crosman and some more expensive Benjamin springers that worked just fine, but when I bought the Air Arms TX200 MkIII it was like night and day. The TX200 has a fantastic trigger and it is nowhere near as hold sensitive as less expensive springers. Killing mice and chipmunks at 20-25yds is routine. I can’t say that about the Crosman and Benjamin that I’ve owned. Having sung the praises of the TX200, shooting it as compared to shooting a PCP is the difference between night and day. A PCP makes off hand shots at longer distances much easier. You may find this video interesting. This gentlemen owned the TX200 and compares it to shooting a PCP.

If you want a tx200 or pro sport by air arms pyramidair.com sells them and Airguns of Arizona sells all the weihrauch springers made in Germany. Those are some of the high end springers available and if you really want accuracy and smoothness you can buy a tuning kit or have someone tune in for you, but I say wait until you have shot it before tuning. I also love springers and am saving up for a quality one myself. 

Having owned quite the stable of airguns over last 8 years (15 pcp and atlest 20 springer) i found that i no doubt was a pcp shooter at har ( i like to be challenged by wind and range , not my equipment)
simply because i could not do good enough with a springer or atleast be consistent enough with them ... even with a slightly tuned air arms tx200 mk3 or prosport i could not expect touching pellets at 35 meters every time ! (and the" why aint i getting groups with my 100-300 dollar gun" question is very obvious to me ... they are not target guns , they are plinkers or hunters , simpley put.)

after a big miss buy as my first pcp 7 years ago (cheap ish) i found out what you generaly need , to get good groups , is high end equipment !! its that easy
you simply get what you pay for (most times anyhow)

tho laately .. something that realy has put my mind into wondering mode is the walther lgu that my wife got me ... it has phenomenal accuracy ! so good so that it rivals many of the mid range pcp`s i have had out to about 80 yards with the right pellet  

general rule tho
springers : you get what you pay for and tuning makes life allot easyer + practice practice practice
pcp : you get what you pay for and a well working regulator is worth its weight in .... gold ?

ForestPete

I used to use a Benjamin Hand Pump for PCP... but I shoot so much that pumping drove me nuts.
I learn to rebuild the hand pump for pennies.... but oh my.. its a workout for a 60 year old...and gets old.
So with great hesitation I bought a ShoeBox compressor and built my own Adjustable fill station.. 
This changed my whole world of air gunning.... so much more fun now... I can't get enough...
and oh my was it worth every penny. I did not want to spend the money... but now I wish I had done it sooner...

I greatly respect the guys that use springers and gas piston, but I am not good enough.. I have to live with that.
but I have to say the Diana 54 King always catches my eye..

If you really like the challenge of springers, but are looking for greater POI repeatably you need to move upscale. A Walther LGV or Walther LGU offer decent barrels, good workmanship, the latest design which I define as looking at what works in other guns and incorporating it, and a reasonably good trigger. Prices are competitive with HW and the TX. Moreover, some swear that neither the LGV or LGU need to be tuned. I however, had my .177 LGV tuned and upgraded it with the optional "Tuning Trigger" from Walther. I installed the tuning trigger in my .177 LGU and will be sending it out for a tune shortly. It probably does not need the tune but it is my bench rest (BR) match gun and i want it as refined as possible.

Note I also shoot PCPs in competitive BR matches at 25 meters (occasionally) and 100 meters regularly. Twenty-five meter matches with my PCP get boring. I'm not saying I do a great job with a PCP, I'm just saying I get bored about half way through each card. I'm too busy to get bored however, when I shoot my LGU in a BR competition. Basically, the greater spring gun challenge is more fun for me and the challenge of shooting against 2, 3 or 4 other spring gunners in a BR match can't be beat.

Best wishes.

The other Mark B.

"ForestPete"Other_Mark thanks for the examples and after looking at the examples people gave me I'm stuck between the Walther LGU and the TX200, but I do want to try a wide variety of things. One of the things I notice about the PCP rifles is that the shooter looks completely comfortable with the gun as they are shooting it from normally uncomfortable stances, yes I know stands and gun rests help with aiming, but how about the ones that don't have those on hand and go with the normal shooting positions.

I do agree having a rifle that is pin dot accurate at 25 yards would be boring in competition or in general after a while.

Click to expand...

No one ever got fired for buying IBM computers over Honeywell, NCR, Sperry or DEC (gulp, I'm dating myself) and you probably can't go wrong with a TX. The reason I bring this up is that I've been trying to get spare LGU parts (piston seal, breech seal and spring) to have on hand "just in case" for the last three months. I call Umarex every month and they tell me 1.) not in stock and 2.) check back in another month. In all honesty, I might have gone with a TX over the LGU, had I known that there was a parts issue, . Then again I might have gone with the LGU assuming spare parts would be available before they were actually needed. I shot both the TX and the Watlher side by side and liked the LGU better.

I also shoot an FWB 300 spring gun with match sights offhand at 10 meters every couple of weeks. My club started with air pistols only but now it seems to be a 50/50 ratio of air rifles to air pistols.

The FWB is a "heavy" match gun from the 70s and 80s, but the weight just seems to help me do a better job. Interestingly enough, I have a horrible time shooting both my PCPs and Walther springers offhand because of the optical scopes. At 6x (the lowest I can turn down my scopes), I can't get a steady sight picture when shooting off hand which means pellets go everywhere but the intended POI. Suffice to say,in my case, I don't think PCP versus sprigner is the issue and I need to do a lot of practice offhand with a scope .

Best wishes.

The other Mark B.

Pete, get to a match! Best thing you can do, you'll learn SO much in a day it will shock you. Folks are happy to let you try what they have, might just find a face to face deal? I drive a couple hundered miles one way for FT shoots, well worth the drive!
Maybe try BAGA. There happens to be a post from at least one of there recent shoots, "I" would suggest contacting the poster and chating, just might be someone with ever airgun you ever want to try even closer to you.
Get to a match!
An excellent TX200 could be found for $450ish and it would change your pleasure lever instantly.
Yes pcp rigs are easier to use well. Try a few of those at a match.
http://airgunnation.dev/topic/baga-field-target-match-results-may-16-2015/

John