TargetTalk

Greetings, I am in a Air Pistol dilemna. I am currectly in the sping piston pistol camp using a Beeman hw70 and P1. I think they are to tempermental to hold correctly. I am looking at the Crosman 2300, Camo Compact, or Daisy 747. I don't want to spend the money for a Izh-Baikal unless they are that much better for my uses. I will mainly use for 10Meter target, pest control, plinkling. [/b]

If you are target shooting they (IZH) are that much better. The others are really more toys for plinking.

I offer this comment as one who has had a Beeman P1 for quite a while, possibly the first one sold in Kentucky. I put stock "custom" finger groove grips on it and have had a lot of fun with it.

A couple of weeks ago I bought an IZH 46M just to see what a 10M AP might be like. I have never used a world-class 10M AP, so judge my comments accordingly. The grips definitely need work, but there is plenty of wood to work with. The trigger is very adjustable, much more easily than the P1, and it also has an overtravel stop that the P1 does not. I have been shooting paper with the IZH ("Izzy" to it's friends) every evening and have been really impressed at how much my shooting has improved. It has also made quite clear how bad it really is.

Last night, after shooting the Izzy for a while I sent a few rounds through the P1 and my first impression was that something was very,very wrong. The muzzle jumped all over the place, the trigger feel was was barbaric, and I couldn't get a consistent hold on my custom grips. After a few more rounds, I got it back on target and realized that the gun had not changed but I had been spoiled by the Izzy.

Note that the Izzy is set up for target. It has no safety and it's big - about 4-1/2" longer than the P1. It appears to be a 10M pistol that has made compromises for economy but not to suit other uses like pest control or plinking. Personally, I am going to keep both and learn to shoot both and not expect one gun to do it all. YMMV.

Roger

Some mail order outfit is selling Gamo Compacts for $150 right now; It's much easier to shoot than any non-FWB springer.

Trigger is a little mushy IIRC.

The IZH is head and shoulders above ANY of these more affordable guns.
They're 95% or more of guns costing 3-4X as much.
But 3-5X better than ANYTHING costing less.
Comparable guns in shootability at non astronomical prices include the TAU-7 and pretty much nothing else.

The IZH is the biggest bang for the buck in all airgun categories, rifles included!!

Thanks and Merry Christmas to everyone for your ideas.