Spring, gas ram, PCP, CO2 and match air rifles

The first four are named after their power source, the fifth after the sport whose rules decide what it may be. The garden, on this page, means one where the law lets you shoot at home, with a safe backstop behind the target and eye protection on (Weihrauch).

You cock most spring rifles by breaking the barrel downward or with a lever under or beside it; Weihrauch, for one, sorts its spring rifles into break-barrel and underlever models. Cocking compresses a coil spring behind a piston. When you pull the trigger, the spring drives the piston forward, the piston compresses the air in front of it, and that air pushes the pellet out (Air Arms; Umarex).

Keep one hand on the barrel or lever while you cock and load, never pull the trigger while it is open, and never fire a spring rifle without a pellet in it (Weihrauch).

The spring and piston are heavy parts moving fast, so the rifle moves as the shot goes off. Air Arms notes that spring rifles typically recoil more than gas-ram or PCP rifles. Feinwerkbau once built a patented recoil mechanism into its match rifles: the Model 150 of 1962, it says, was the first recoilless match air rifle with a fixed barrel.

Each shot comes from the same spring, so the rifle repeats itself, but only if you do. Umarex says a spring rifle “can feel less forgiving to someone who is inconsistent with hold or follow-through”. Hold it lightly and the same way every time, and stay on the sights until the pellet has landed.

Nothing to fill and nothing to buy but pellets: it is the classic garden rifle.

A gas ram is a spring-piston rifle in which a sealed gas strut does the coil spring’s job. You cock it the same way, and a piston still compresses the air that pushes the pellet (Air Arms; Umarex). Weihrauch describes its HW 90 as a gas-piston rifle with an integrated system to reduce recoil.

Air Arms describes the result as consistent power, reduced vibration and a smoother shot than a coil spring gives. Umarex adds that the shot cycle is still piston-driven, and that a gas ram does not remove the need for technique. Field target counts it as a springer: a rifle powered by “a large spring/gas ram and piston” (WFTF Competition Rules 8.5).

Shoot a spring rifle and a gas ram side by side before you choose: the difference is in the feel, and only you can judge it.

A PCP keeps compressed air in a cylinder or reservoir on the rifle (Air Arms), and each pull of the trigger opens a valve that lets some of it out behind the pellet. You fill it before you shoot, from a hand pump, an electric compressor or a high-pressure bottle (Umarex). The pressures are high: Weihrauch’s HW 100 X-S takes 250 bar, Walther’s LG400 300 or 200 bar, and Anschütz’s cylinders 200 bar.

Fill a cylinder only to the maximum pressure marked on it, with oil-free, dry air, and stop using it once it leaks, is damaged or passes the age its maker sets (Feinwerkbau: 10 years).

Much depends on whether it has a regulator. Without one, the power generally rises to a peak as the pressure falls, then drops off until you refill, and the point of impact moves with it. A regulator feeds the firing valve from a chamber held at a constant pressure, so the power stays the same as long as the cylinder stays above that pressure (Daystate). Anschütz gives its rifles’ working pressure as 60 bar, and about 250 to 280 shots from its full-size cylinder filled to 200 bar.

With no heavy piston moving, a PCP has minimal recoil (Air Arms); Weihrauch calls the shot of its HW 100 X-S recoil-free. Many PCPs, such as that rifle, are repeaters: it holds 14 pellets. A 10 m match rifle may not be one under ISSF rules: it must be single-shot.

A PCP suits field target. In the garden it works too, but decide how you will fill it before you decide on the rifle.

A CO2 rifle runs on carbon dioxide from a small cartridge: when you pull the trigger, some of the gas is released behind the pellet (Air Arms). There is no spring to cock for power. Feinwerkbau’s CO2 match rifles of 1987 needed far less cocking force than its pre-compressed-air rifles, because only the trigger mechanism was cocked.

The catch is temperature. The pressure in the cartridge changes with it, and Air Arms lists that sensitivity, along with a limited number of shots per cartridge, as the type’s drawbacks. From 1995 Feinwerkbau moved its match rifles to compressed air, which, in its own words, was largely insensitive to temperature fluctuations in contrast to CO2.

Keep CO2 capsules out of direct sun and out of the car, and do not store the rifle with a capsule in it: Walther’s instructions for its 88 g capsules set a maximum of 48.9 °C (120 °F) and warn that a capsule can explode.

For relaxed garden shooting it is easy company. Check where it hits when the weather turns.

Match rifles have used most of the systems on this page: Feinwerkbau’s own history includes the Model 150 (1962), CO2 (1987) and compressed air (1995). Today Feinwerkbau’s 800 X and Walther’s LG400 run their air through a pressure reducer.

What a 10 m rifle may be is set by the ISSF Rifle Rules, equipment rules for ISSF matches, not the law where you live:

Power

Any type of compressed air or gas rifle that meets the rules’ measurements table and the air-rifle restrictions.ISSF Rifle Rules 7.4.4

Single shot

Only single-shot rifles, loaded by hand before each shot.ISSF Rifle Rules 7.4.1.1

Weight

At most 5.5 kg, weighed with sights and all accessories.ISSF Rifle Rules 7.4.4.2 (M), 7.7.5

Trigger

Any trigger weight, but no set trigger.ISSF Rifle Rules 7.4.4.2 (L), 7.7.5

Sights

No telescope or other sight that magnifies; a single corrective lens may be attached to the rear sight.ISSF Rifle Rules 7.4.1.6

In your hands, that adds up to a different rifle from a garden one. The pressure reducer gives every shot the same push, and no heavy piston lurches forward as it fires. The stock adjusts to your body: on Feinwerkbau’s 800 X, for one, the length of pull alone runs from 308 to 390 mm. And you aim through a rear aperture and a front sight, never a scope.

The card it is shot at, with its rings, scoring and course of fire, has a page of its own. The rules also cap the rifle’s power and require the mark of an F in a pentagon; the ceiling, what it means and whether more would help are in Air rifle power explained.

Field target is shot outdoors at metal silhouettes that fall when hit, at distances you judge yourself. The world federation’s rules, which it urges its national bodies to use too, set out the rifle. Like the ISSF’s, they are rules for matches, not the law where you live:

Rifles

PCP or springer, with a muzzle energy of no more than 12 ft-lb (16.3 joules).WFTF Competition Rules 1.1.1

Categories

World Championships are shot in two categories, PCP and Springer.WFTF Competition Rules 4.2.1

Sights

Any sighting system except a laser sight, and no range finder, built in or separate.WFTF Competition Rules 1.3

Targets

Metal “fall when hit” silhouettes, between 9 and 50 metres from the firing line.WFTF Competition Rules 2.3.1, 2.5.1

So a PCP and a springer both have a place, with a scope if you want one. Ask a field target club to let you try both before you buy either.

• Paper targets in the garden: a spring or gas-ram rifle needs nothing but pellets and teaches you to hold still. A CO2 rifle is easier on the arms, at the cost of cartridges and cold days.
• Field target: a PCP or a springer.
• The 10 m range: a single-shot match rifle on compressed air. Ask your club whether it lends rifles before you buy one.
• Not sure yet: a good spring rifle and paper targets will show you whether precision is what you enjoy.

What you may own, from what age, and where you may shoot it is set by the law where you live. The pistols come in the same kinds, with a single-stroke pneumatic in place of the gas ram; they are in Types of air pistols.

When you know which kind you want, Choosing your first air rifle covers what to decide before you buy.

Is a PCP more accurate than a spring rifle?

Not by itself. A PCP barely moves when it fires, and with a regulator it gives the same power shot after shot, so it is easier to shoot well. A springer held the same way every time can group tightly too.

Can I shoot 10 m with my garden rifle?

For practice, yes, wherever you may shoot it: paper at 10 metres shows you exactly how steady you are. For a match under ISSF rules, the rifle must among other things be single-shot and loaded by hand, stay under the rules’ power ceiling and carry the mark of an F in a pentagon. These are match rules; what you may own and shoot is set by the law where you live.

Do I need a diving bottle to fill a PCP?

No. A PCP can be filled from a hand pump, an electric compressor or a high-pressure bottle. Check the pressure marked on your rifle’s cylinder before you buy the filling gear.