What are your thoughts on replicas?

If replicas are your thing, hey, whatever. Have fun with that. I don't care for them, personally. I think they reinforce the notion that airguns are merely toy versions of real guns, instead of the fine precision shooting instruments they can be in their own right. I only own one airgun, and I don't even know how many firearms. 12? 15? The air rifle isn't a toy to me. It's the right tool for a specific set of circumstances. It's the only one that I can shoot safely in my back yard in the city. And it's not trying to pretend like it's one of the others. These are only my opinions, of course I'm not telling anyone else what they should or shouldn't do. If it puts a smile on your face and doesn't hurt anyone else, rock on.

I view it the other way around. Most CO2 airgun pistols look and feel like plastic toys. Many airsoft guns, particularly the more expensive replicas, are solidly built and are true to scale. If you want to practice real firearm drills, nothing beats an airsoft gas blowback pistol or rifle for training and realism. I have a number of pellet pistols and while a few are respectable, nearly all of them feel cheap to me. Not to say it can’t be fun to own and shoot them, and I am just ranking the various schemes in terms of my personal choice (powder, airsoft, pellet/BB). I do put the PCP pistols in a different class because they can’t be replica and are for precision shooters. 

I like my Umarex/Colt replicas. I have the SAA/SS plated one with 5.5" barrel, with silver .177 pellet cartridges. About the same size as .357 one guy said. Fits the the .45lc holster that takes 4.75-5.5" barrel snugly at any rate. And the John Wayne, " The Shootist" SAA with 4.75" barrel, weathered. Has his signature on the back strap and numbered 333 of 600. I got the faux ivory grips for the 5.5" and the JW Shootist pistol came with them. I did three videos experimenting with the best way to antique them. I have yet to repair the backstop and shoot them. I have the concealed carry belt from Midway USA, and the LH quick-draw 19th century repro holster and RH cross-draw holster for the Shootist pistol.







I like the fact that they are very close to the same weight as the originals. Only about 2ozs lighter on average. And made from the blueprints patented in 1871. And they use cartridges instead of some meatball system internally. I now even have the whole outfit of 19th century western cloths, boots and all (11.5EW) I still need to get pics of the whole thing.

Very nice unionrdr!

Saw this on FB and reminded me of the point I was trying to make in this thread.

Thanks Addy. The JW Shootist pistol looks more like the prop guns used in his last movie, The Shootist. I did a couple videos on how to antique the grips. The leather dye thinned with rubbing alcohol and covered with Tru-Oil looks the best on the Umarex/Colt faux ivory grips, I think? Anyway, here they are in the 19th century holsters...

Same as my thoughts on NotDogs and Tofurky. I mean even in the case of their use to train with in lieu of the real thing, it seems that they'd be training in bad habits. Although I love my airsoft MP5SD.

I bought 3 or 4 of the first replicas to become available. I shot each a few times then put them aside, hoping the next one would give me satisfaction.. None did. I have thought about my experience with replicas and I think one reason I am unimpressed is the low performance level. My old bulk fill Crosman CO2 pistols far exceed them and are more accurate. Another reason is that once you have put 50 rounds through a real Colt .45 auto the replica seems trivial. Yes, I know they are different experiences, but the emotion prevails.

I bought the Crosman/Game Face Stinger P311 6mm Airsoft to shoot bugs that get into the man cave. Just for shucks-n-giggles. Great fun. But at close range of a couple yards, it shoots a hair high & to the left. I've been using the white 6mm BB's. They seem to be color-coded by weight?





This desert eagle from the Philippines doesn't shoot as well nor hit quite as hard as the P311. The Crosman feels better in the hand too.



I also tried Blondie's snakes on the SS SAA for a look-see;

 

I am only 8 months into the sport and have a few. My first were a Dan Wesson 2.5 revolver and a Colt Peace Maker to shoot at dart boards with darts, with my two boys.

Then I got a Sig P226. All metal, and had good reviews. It has a really cool way of loading the co2s, using a lever to press them in. It was available with a 3 year warranty too! Weighs a little more than the center fire 2.5 lbs, and I have found it not to be accurate over 8 yards, but, it suits my needs perfectly and fell in love with it and shoot it every day.

I just got a my Sig MPX with an HPA set up with a nice compressor last Sunday and that will join the P226 in daily transition drills. Nothing but good things to say about the Sig MPX HPA after 300 rounds on Sunday. This pistol is the way to go for drills. Another Sig with good reviews. All metal besides the hand gard and grip. Best thing is its hpa, convertible....No throwing money away on disposable co2s. And such a joy to shoot.

I also just received the German reproduction full auto MP40, for the kids to replicate the carnival games of shooting out the star. We tried it out and it jammed. One of the two cylinders didn't puncture and we were using Copperheads/ not reccomend by Umerex. So, I'll have to wait a few days to try it again with the right ammo but for the little bit of time it did work, my kids loved it.

I like replicas. Being able to train in my backyard, for less than 5% of what a center fire gun costs to shoot, scratches that it. 

I also see how full auto ingites a passion with my kids involvement into the sport. 

In your mp40,use the black diamond bb’s.And you have to stagger them when loading the magazine.The silver bbs work fine too just remember to load in zigzags and it won’t jam.

Thanks. I ordered the silver Daisys. Hopefully that works better. Why dont the copper ones work? And did you have a problem with tapping both air co2s? 

No problems with co2 piercing just go kinda slow,when you hear the first one pierce keep going until you hear the second one.That’s how I do anyway.The copper bbs might work I just never tried them.Try them again if you haven’t tried with the magazine loaded correctly.They HAVE TO BE zigzagging all the way through and sometimes it takes a minute to get them right.Even one bb can throw it off.

Guess I'll resurrect this thread. I have two CCO2 repliguns. Mine are the JW wweathered 1911 and the Dan Wesson 715 pellet revolver. I like the blowback realism of the 1911 and the fact that the controls operate the same as my High Power firearm. Well, except for the grip safety, but that's pretty moot. Let's me get some cheap trigger time and practice. Aluminum can accuracy is good enough for point shooting. 

Now, the Dan Wesson is something else. The 1911 was an okay all metal replica. Works well for what I bought it for. But it is a bb gun. The DW 715 pellet modelis one hunk of metal! It's as heavy as the Ruger Speed Six that I own. The simulated Hogue grips are actually backed with metal. No cheap feeling there. I can load up speed strip with the replica bullets and run drills. Unfortunately I received this just prior to the cold weather. Only out on a few "get acquainted " outings. Meaning can plinking. But with the rifled barrel pellet version, I think I can stretch the range a bit more than the 1911.



For cheap trigger time, I'm a fan of the repliguns. 

I just bought another of the Umarex/Colt SAA's with 5.5" barrel. The same black grips as last time in rifled barrel .177 pellet. Gotta get another pair of faux ivory grips to antique so they both match. I like the heft of them @ 2lbs 1oz. More comfortable in the hand than the Crosman 357-6 Colt Python replica from 1991. Longer reach on that one. With 10-shot rotary mag for the .177 pellets from the newer vigilante version.

I like replicas, especially Old West replicas. I like the Schofield No.3 in particular, but I admit it's mostly for its historical style, as I can't say it operates better than anything else. The Colts are nice that way too. Most (if not all) of the Old West replicas shoot only .177 however, and so the "low power" aspect mentioned by several people above seems to be the norm. 

I keep hoping to find ways to do some of the following things (while of course remaining within the law in my own locale), but have not tried any such tunings or mods yet: (1) Replace a 7.5" barrel with a somewhat longer barrel, to try to achieve just a little more fps (if that's even possible); and (2) Consider substituting in a rifled barrel instead of a smooth bore, although I don't know what it would really buy me within 15 or 20 yards; and (3) Perhaps see about converting a .177 replica pellet revolver to a .22, which I have heard of other folks doing, but I don't know how one would go about it, or who to ask. Maybe there are tinkerers who hire out to do such mods. My goal might be to get just a little more realistic feel--perhaps a little more distance while still being able to put a dent in a tin can. (Nothing dangerous or illegal of course.) 

Somehow I'm drawn to the Old West "real" look and feel. It's nothing more than a hobby after all, so aesthetics matter as much as anything else. (My PCP rifle I chose in part because it resembles a "real" rifle more than it does a laser tag toy. Of course it performs very well too, but then it's a rifle so it's going to have a little inherent practicality to it.) It's not that I'm afraid of "real" revolvers, as I could easily find a 22LR somewhere, it's more that restrictions get worse and more draconian by the year, and with them the opportunities to launch a few projectiles now and then...making air revolvers that much easier to enjoy by comparison. 

Santa put a Barra Schofield No. 3 Revolver in my stocking this year. I've only gone through 4 co2s so far, but I love it! 

It puts most BBs into about 3" at 21ft. It doesn't sound wimpy when shooting but I have no way to check fps. 

Next is a Dan Wesson.

Sounds great RustyNut! Congrats. I guess I should have left "a pony" off my list to the fat red man. 

Hi, new guy here. I'm not a complete noob to airgunning but I've just been getting into the replicas in the last four or five months and was looking for a good place to discuss them. This thread, though old, looked like a good place to start. 

I've bought five replica guns and have just ordered three more, and pre-ordered three more new models that won't be out until after the first of the year (fingers crossed). I didn't buy the replicas expecting to hunt with them, or use them for serious competition, just for convenient practice in the basement. (Ten years ago I was at the "real gun" range at least once a week weather permitting; today, due to various factors, a range trip is more of a chore than a fun outing and I often go months, even years, without burning powder.) I have not been disappointed in the least with the performance of these guns. 

Two in particular have impressed me with their performance and their fidelity to reality, the (Umarex) Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911, and the (Air Venturi) Springfield Armory M1 carbine. Both guns are EXACTLY like shooting the real things right up to the microsecond when the hammer falls. Even the trigger pulls are near-identical to my real ones. Both have entirely adequate accuracy to perform defensive drills at 7-10 yards, which is exactly what I got them for. I'm looking forward to a lot of happy and useful shooting with all of them. 

I bought a Gletcher BB Tokarev replica hoping to practice shooting my real Tokarev. The Tokarev trigger is not great, but the Gletcher trigger is AWFUL - nothing like the real thing. Not at all useful for practice. I also bought a Gletcher Nagant pellet revolver replica. It is a lot of fun to shoot, but a pain to load the dummy cartridges and it loses all gas in a day. I much prefer the Umarex style circular magazines..