Daisy 617X

Ok, it doen't look as realistic as the more expensive Umarex (Beretta, Colt, Walther) pistols and it is made of plastic, not metal. The wingnut that you use to hold the CO2 cannister in place is also not as cool as the magazine type slides on some of the other pistols, but it still is the pistol of choise for me. Now you probably wonder why... Well, this pistol does not leak CO2 like most of the others. The power and accuracy is also better than most of the other fancier looking CO2 pistols. Powered by CO2, the 617X launches BBs about 485 fps and pellets about 425 fps. Only bad thing about it is you may have to take turns shooting the gun, because everyone who sees it will want to shoot it, too. The checkered, ambidextrous grip makes this a natural shooter for everyone. If you like semi auto action, and the flexibility of shooting either pellets or BBs, then the 617X is the thing to get!

HW40 PCA

My latest and greatest toy!!! You just can't compare this to any of the CO2 pistols. Power is not very high, it only reaches about 410ft/s with RWS Geco's (chronied), but don't let that fool you, it is still more than enough to have fun. To put it in perspective... if it was made by Gamo, they would have claimed 600ft/s (they normally over estimate by 150-200ft/s). But, to get back to the HW40... this pistol is accurate. I would say it is just as accurate as any rifle with similar power. The HW 40 PCA is a single-stroke pneumatic, which means it requires just one cocking stroke of the overlever. The adjustable trigger is better than you will find on most rifles.Unlike many other pistols, the HW 40 is made of quality materials. It has a rifled steel barrel, all critical mechanisms are made of ordnance steel, while the exterior shell is made of tough, durable polymers. The ambidextrous design are convenient no matter what style of shooting you enjoy. It also has a rail, so you can fit a scope or red dot sight. To give you an idea of how much fun this rifle is... I have a few very good rifles and a CO2 multishot pistol, but lately most of my shooting was done with the HW40. Here is a picture of my HW40 with a fitted Beamshot laser.

HW77 / HW77K

After owning many rifles and testing numerous others, I finally decided to settle on the HW77K as my personal all-rounder. It is very similar to the HW97, with the biggest difference of not having a fixed silencer. The cheeckpiece on the stock is also not as high as the one on the HW97. I just prefer the more classic look of the rifle compared to the almost high tech look of the 97. It comes with all the bells and wistles... Rekord trigger, German engineering, very good open sights, etc. The finish of the wood and metal is superb and the accuracy is simply awesome. For those who wondered, it is just as good as the HW97K.

HW97KL (.20)

Wow, what a gun!!! It looks prettier than anything else out there, and the accuracy is simply mind blowing. I shot a feral pigeon at about 70m and a rock pigeon even further.... all one shot kills. One of the guys shot a 10mm, 5 shot grouping at 50m with H&N FTT pellets. Don't bother using any other pellets in .20 for this rifle, they just don't work. Only fault I could find with the HW97K is the weight. It is heavy, but don't worry, you get used to it. I were so impressed with it I forgot to chory the rifle.What I can tell you is that it was not that fast, but who cares... look at the results!!!

Hatsan 125

The rifle is huge. it doesn't even fit on the back seat of a small car. It takes a pro wresler to cock it and when you fire it, all hell breaks loose. People run for cover, you get hit by the scope that was torn of the rails... and that is only the first shot. The more you use it the worse it gets. It chronied at almost 1700 ft/s with light pellets and was still doing way over 1000 with Barracuda Heavies. Impresive....NOT. Hitting a target at 15m seemed almost impossible. After about 100 sho ts I was afraid that the rifle was goingto fall apart, and it did. This is by far the worst rifle you can ever buy.

BSA Lightning Tactical FAC
It is love at first sight. It is simply the most comfortable and one of the best looking rifles I have ever owned. The trigger is great and the stock in not a hollow piece of plastic like the ones on the Hatsan and Gamo rifle. It feels solid... even better than a wooden stock. The rifle is very powerfull. It will chrony close to a 1000 ft/s with normal pellets. If it was a Gamo they would have claimed about 1200 ft/s. The problem is that the rifle is just not designed for this power. It broke a heap of very good scopes, and after a few hundred shots, the best anyone could do with it was an 11cm grouping at 10m. To put it in perspective, my Supersport did a similar sized grouping at 70m. I think the rifle will be brilliant when fitted with a 12 ft/lbs spring, but in FAC it is pretty useless.

B2 Hunter
A tuned and modified version of the normal Chinese B2. The trigger and shooting mechanism is smoother than a stock standard B2, the accuracy is also a bit better. However, it is still just a backyard plinker, and not suitable for hunting. Reach about 550 fps with medium weight pellets.

B2
A cheap starting rifle. Not very accurate and very unreliable. Should reach about 500 fps with medium weight pellets, although the manufacturer claims much more.

BSA Meteor
Very accurate and reliable. Light weight and hard hitting. This gun will last for a lifetime. Althoug the manufcaturer claims about 750 ft/s I have never seen one chrony more than 590 ft/s. Back to the accuracy.... the last 2 I tested were shooting ragged one hole groupings at 15m

BSA Supersport FAC
Very accurate and reliable. Light weight and hard hitting. I got a 11cm grouping at 70m, and were able to hit empty shotgun shells between 40 and 50m. With care this gun will last for many years. It chronied at 897.3 fps with Gamo Pro hunter pellets. Strong scope mounts and an air gun rated scope is a must due to the recoil. The only fault I could find with this rifle is the plastic sights that comes standard with the rifle. After about 10000 shots and a lot of careless handling, I replaced the spring with a smaller, weaker one, the power dropped to about 820 ft/s, but with a noticible increase in accuracy.

Daisy Red Rider (BB-gun)
This is the best known BB-gun around. It is pretty accurate at about 10m. Probably the best buy if you want to teach a small kid to shoot. It holds a whole bunch of BB's in a container in the barrel. Cocking is easy and it is more fun to shoot than you would think.

Gamo CFX
A nice looking, light weight, hard hitter (about 870 fps). It is accurate and sturdy. Unfortunately the weak point of the rifle is the springs that seem to break at regular 2000 shot intervals. The worst part by far is fact that the rifle is very loud, it has a horrible trigger, pellets are very difficult to load, and the rifle takes about 1200-1500 shots to break in. That only give you about 500 good shots before you have replace the sping and start all over again.

Gamo CFX Royal
Exactly the same as the the CFX, but is fitted with a beautifull wooden stock instead of a synthetic one. The wooden stock absorbs more recoil than the synthetic stock of the CFX. This rifle is very accurate and a bit quieter than the CFX, but unfortunately it has all the same problems as the rest of the Gamo's... unreliable spring, bad trigger, etc.

Gamo Shadow 1000 & RSV
The specs on the gun is about the same as the CFX, but it is a break barrel instead of an underlever rifle. We have tried this rifle at our range without much success. The accuracy was definately not what we expected and unfortunately it has all the same problems as the rest of the Gamo's... very loud, unreliable spring, bad trigger, etc.

Griffon Bullpup
500 fps, Side lever cocking mechanism. Not very accurate. It has a 15 shot magazine, but can only take match pellets. The gun is fun to shoot, but unfortunately is not very reliable and don't last long. There are no open sights on this rifle, so a scope or laser sight, normally included with the rifle, is a must. Useless for hunting, but makes nice backyard plinker. Due to the bad design, you can easily loose a finger while loading it, so be very carefull.

Mendoza RM-65 (BB-gun)
This is not the best BB-gun on the market. Accuracy and power is only good for about 7m. The construction is sturdy, but unfortunately the cocking lever is made of plastic and will probably be the first thing to break. It takes about 20 BB's, and is fun to shoot. Smaller kids will love it. Power is good enough to make a dent in a cooldrink can at about 10m. Hitting the can is a different story...

QB36-2
By far the best of the cheaper rifles you can buy. Powerfull enough for hunting pests and extremely accurate. Solidly built, it can hold its own with guns that cost a lot more. Reaches about 850 fps with average weight pellets. Hitting a 5cm target at 70m proved to be no problem. Bad point however is the plastic spring guide that breaks easily.

QB78/79
These rifles are powered by CO2 and have been around for ages. They are extremely accurate, although not very powerfull (about 650 fps). You will not find a more accurate rifle for the price. Sometimes it seems hard to mis a target. My 10 year old son could shoot 5 pellets through a bottel cap at 10m using the standard open sights. They can be tuned and modified to be a lot more powerfull, without costing you an arm and a leg. Once you shoot with one, you will want it for yourself, and once you bought it, you will wonder why it took you so long to do so.

Random Pellet Test (with BSA Supersport @ 20m):

The Skenco, Prometeus and TS10's suck!!! Ok, at least they did in the BSA. I can't even call it a grouping. Looked more like random shots with my eyes closed.

The Gamo's (match, magnum, hunter) were almost the same, but the Pro Hunter's gave the tightest grouping. So as far as Gamo pellets go, my choice is definitely the Pro Hunter or the Pro Magnum.

But here is the biggest surprise. The most accurate pellet by far was the Dynamic P1. It was almost too easy to shoot one hole groupings. I thought I totally missed the target after the second shot, but at closer inspection I realized the hole looked slightly different after every shot. Definitely my best grouping ever, just a pity that they are a bit to light for the rifle.

Gamo Expander test (with BSA Supersport @ 15m):

I tested them at 15m, shooting at a 12mm pine board.

Accuracy: Very good, maybe even better than the Pro Hunters, but I'm not sure how they will perform at longer ranges.

Expansion: Totally overrated. They didn't expand any more than any other domed pellet. The front was a little bit flatter, but not really what you would expect from a pellet called Expander.

Various Cheap Pellets tested at the range.

Arlatz "Bull", Shark, Apolo: Totally crap. These pellets are all very inconsistant and inaccurate.

Whatever pellets you buy, don't bother with APOLO. On the box it says the calibre is approximately 4.5mm. It says "approximately" because the manufacturer wasn't sure of the size either. Some pellets don't fit into the barrel at all and some fall right through. This is without a doubt the worst pellets you can buy.

I took about 20 pellets out of the box and found these among them...
They are brand new, but look like old used pellets!!!