what decent pistol for target on a budget

[Gonson]

A friend has got an HW40 and I had a chance to give it a go. I was really impressed. It’s light and easy to shoot. He has currently got a VectorOptics red dot on it. It was a lot more accurate than I thought it would be, in reality it’s a lot more accurate than I am. For 10m target shooting I use a Snowpeak PP30 PCP pistol. It’s at the budget end of the dedicated target guns but I get on well with it. Ive also got an HW 45 and 75. I only recently took up the hobby and like everyone else wondered what gun to get. Having been on the forum for a while I’ve soon discovered that you can never get away with only one pistol!

 

[drex]

I just got a gamo compact recently and its great. Trigger mod was very easy to do, and I'm non handy.

only issue i've had - it tears up targets, doesn't punch holes in them.

 

[Inca]

That could be either your target or pellet, unlikely to be your pistol. Best recommendation I can give is an NSRA target and a wad cutter pellet such as Econ ll. Of course you could already be doing this in which case give me a stiff ignoring.

 

[Modski66]

Breech seal not tight up to the valve body?

 

[yana]

Tau 7

 

[Lone-wolf]

I did sort this and Daughter loves it i felt a 2240 was gonna be best compromise other than being .22 so when this got offered a very nice price she jumped at it a 2240 in .177 with some nice upgrades and it shoots well clocking 4.6 ft lb with wasps (not best choice of pellet) but it has a hawke red dot that works pretty good

 

[Sgibbar]

Check out the Holts sealed bids August auction there is a lot on the FWB C10 for CO2, a FWB P30 for early PCP and a lot of Diana mod 6’s 10’s and others, go to airguns and then go to the end and work back to avoid all the long pokey stuff

 

[Sgibbar]

Tau 7

Always a good choice usually turn up fairly regularly

 

[Martz]

2x Lov21's and some earplugs.

 

[mike8]

Check out the Holts sealed bids August auction there is a lot on the FWB C10 for CO2, a FWB P30 for early PCP and a lot of Diana mod 6’s 10’s and others, go to airguns and then go to the end and work back to avoid all the long pokey stuff

What do these usually go for on that site? It says 50-100 for a diana for example. Is 100 then usually what they go for or is it usually much higher?

 

[Oldtime]

Im starting to think she would be best getting a Crossman 2240 and spending on some custom bits like pistol scope and wood grips maybe get the trigger tuned up

Ok.. The 2240 is the best "proper" air pistol out there, BUT, the trigger is truly terrible, and you would have a terrible job getting the bits to make a proper job of sorting the trigger..

I think the vastly better 1701P is still available, but very expensive by all accounts..

 

[Sgibbar]

What do these usually go for on that site? It says 50-100 for a diana for example. Is 100 then usually what they go for or is it usually much higher?

Kind of depends, check out past sales, best way of doing that is a google search for the pistol your looking for plus holts and that usually puts up what’s been for sale, do use the total price calculator, basically do your homework on them, what will fail ? How much will the re seal kit cost, can you do it yourself. If you can’t collect their postage can be a bit steep, unless there is an AGF member nearby who would be able to drop in and collect for you and post on.

 

[drex]

That could be either your target or pellet, unlikely to be your pistol. Best recommendation I can give is an NSRA target and a wad cutter pellet such as Econ ll. Of course you could already be doing this in which case give me a stiff ignoring.

I've tried Eley and two types of gamo so far, but they've just shredded everything. This is with NRSA targets thhough. Gonna try and get a 'selection pack' to try but had heard econ II were a good choice.

 

[Modski66]

My choice would be Meisterkugeln 7gr. The lighter the pellet, the higher the fps and the cleaner the holes in the card.
If you are getting tears in proper target card, I think your velocity is going to be in the region of 300 to 350 fps.
Have you put any silicone oil on the piston seal? Not sure if there is a way to do it on the Gamo, but my FAS 604 has a little hole on the top of the cylinder.

 

[Inca]

Strange, I’ve never had anything ‘shred’ a NSRA target and ive put a lot of different pellets into them when i first started. As @Modski66 kind of infers above, have you put your compact over a crono to see what it’s giving.

 

[drex]

heres one of the better ones, it usually has some with big flaps torn into the holes. I haven't chrono'd it, but range and country did on dispatch and its apparently fine.

 

[Steve Gray]

Try Kruger targets, got mine off eBay spot on for the Compact

 

[JacquesC]

heres one of the better ones, it usually has some with big flaps torn into the holes. I haven't chrono'd it, but range and country did on dispatch and its apparently fine.View attachment 1018447

This is quite acceptable for a low powered pistol like the Gamo Compact. (around 3 Joules)
Your pellets are not tumbling and the score is easily readable .
Tears usually happen with longer fibre paper like printouts on ordinary paper or/and with pellets that tumble through lack of power on target.

 

[Adam77K]

heres one of the better ones, it usually has some with big flaps torn into the holes. I haven't chrono'd it, but range and country did on dispatch and its apparently fine.View attachment 1018447

I think that is about the best you're going to get from a Compact. You really need >400 fps and ideally 450 with good wadcutter pellets to punch nice clean holes in those targets. It's also important to make sure the pellets hit the target straight on and not at an angle, but that target looks like this isn't the issue.

400 fps is about 2.5 fpe with 7 grain pellets like R10 and I think the Compact delivers about 2 fpe maybe a smidge more if seals are good.

I've heard of a mod you can do with hot melt glue to reduce the lost volume in the cylinder, boosting the peak pressure. This can up fps slightly. Disclaimer: I've never done this or owned a compact to do it on, so take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Adam77K]

Might not be a popular view, but I'd advise against an HW40/Beeman P17

I had the HW

Cheap and nasty, all plastic, toy like, didn't feel like a 'proper' airgun, incredibly soulless, very boring, wouldn't make 2 ft/lb and couldn't spin a spinner, even though it was accurate and had a great trigger

It just wasn't something I felt was a 'proper' gun in my collection and I wasn't sad to see it go

Kinda a mix between a toy, a pi$$ poor replica and an air pistol

Definitely - in my opinion - not worthy of the HW marque and she might find it extremely awkward to cock it too

I'm going to disagree. Yes it's plastic fantastic, and fairly low powered, though it should easily make 2 fpe even a smidge more.
The main reason though is it has a great trigger which, IMHO, is 90% of what a good pistol for offhand target shooting needs.

When I first shot one, if I hadn't already owned a HW75, I'd have gone straight out and bought one.

I did sort this and Daughter loves it i felt a 2240 was gonna be best compromise other than being .22 so when this got offered a very nice price she jumped at it a 2240 in .177 with some nice upgrades and it shoots well clocking 4.6 ft lb with wasps (not best choice of pellet) but it has a hawke red dot that works pretty good

I'm glad you're sorted now. I'd personally not have recommended the 2240, but a ready modded one in .177 isn't a bad choice. I do stand by my thoughts about the trigger though. But if you can find one, a great mod is the 1701P trigger and grip assembly. It's a proper multi adjustable 2 stage match trigger. I have one on my 1377.

It's almost a drop in replacement, but you do also need to factor in that it needs a different hammer though.