Spring, CO2, PCP, single-stroke and match air pistols

The garden, on this page, means one where the law lets you shoot at home, with a trap rated for the pistol behind the target; the 10 m range means a club’s, on the ISSF 10 m air pistol card.

When you cock a spring pistol you compress the spring, Air Arms explains in its guide to air pistols; pull the trigger and the piston is released, drives forward into the compression chamber and compresses the air there before the pellet is fired. The spring’s release creates a small recoil impulse and vibration at the moment of firing, it says, which can make consistency harder for a newer shooter; Daisy’s glossary is blunter and calls the forward kick, caused by the piston hitting the front of the chamber, aggressive and powerful. Umarex adds the other cost: most spring pistols must be cocked by hand before each shot.

What a spring pistol gives in return is power without a capsule or a cylinder. Weihrauch calls its HW 45 one of the most powerful air pistols on the market, with two power levels to choose between and no pumping, and lists it at 125 m/s on the first level and 170 m/s on the second in .177, at 1.15 kg. Whether that power helps you on a card, and what the energy figures mean, is in Air rifle and air pistol power.

A CO2 pistol runs on small pre-filled cartridges of carbon dioxide, typically 12 g capsules that fit inside the grip or body, Air Arms says. Daisy explains what happens inside: the CO2 boils from a liquid to a gas as the gun is charged, and it is the gas that propels the pellet. There is nothing to cock for power, and Umarex’s comparison puts the recoil at very low.

The catch is in the physics of that boiling. Umarex’s manual for its Legends P08 CO2 pistol spells it out: fast consecutive shooting may produce a decrease of temperature in the gun and the capsule, which can result in lower projectile velocities and may even lower the gas pressure enough that the pistol will not fire; during rapid fire the muzzle velocity of each shot diminishes, which can affect accuracy and gives fewer shots per capsule; the condition is especially apparent in cold weather and is avoided by allowing more time between shots. The sign on the card, the manual says, is a shot that hits lower than it would with a full capsule. Daisy gives the figure: CO2 produces about 500 psi at 0 °C and 1 000 psi at 29 °C. And the pressure also declines gradually as a cartridge empties, Umarex adds, with small variations in velocity.

That is why Feinwerkbau left it. Its own history has its C10 of 1988 metering the gas shot by shot through an intermediate chamber, its C55 of 1993 modified as the C55P in 2000 with a pressure reducer so that it could run on compressed air, and its match rifles on air from 1995, which in Feinwerkbau’s words was largely insensitive to temperature fluctuations, in contrast to CO2. Keep capsules out of the sun and the car, and do not store the pistol with one in it: Walther’s instructions for its capsules set a ceiling of 48.9 °C.

A single-stroke pneumatic pistol needs no external air source, Air Arms says, because each shot is powered by one manual compression stroke, and these designs are often very accurate. You open a lever, close it, and the air for the next shot is compressed in the pistol; there is no spring to kick and no capsule to cool.

It is the budget route to the 10 m range. Weihrauch sells its HW 75 as absolutely recoilless, an all-round training pistol with a dry-firing mechanism and a two-stage match trigger, and its HW 40 PCA as recoilless at an entry-level price, with a consistent velocity of 122 m/s and, in its words, ready for 10 m target shooting. Feinwerkbau’s match pistols of the late 1980s and 1990s were built this way too: its Model 100 of 1988 was its first pre-compressed-air pistol with an under-cocking lever, with a finely adjustable match trigger and a switch to dry firing, and the Model 102 compressed the air in two steps, halving the cocking force. They turn up used.

A PCP pistol carries its air in a cylinder you fill before you shoot. PCP is the preferred system for competitive and accuracy-focused shooting, Air Arms says, because it produces very consistent power output from shot to shot; it calls PCPs the most consistent of the three action types, with very little recoil and stable performance across a full cylinder, and Umarex’s table has them nearly recoil-free. The cylinder is filled, Air Arms says, from a hand pump, a compressor or a tank.

The makers’ manuals give the numbers. Feinwerkbau’s P8X keeps its pre-compressed air in a detachable, refillable cylinder beneath the barrel, filled to at most 200 bar at room temperature, for about 160 shots; Walther’s LP500 is a single-shot pistol that uses compressed air only, its carbon-aluminium cylinder approved to 200 bar and screwed onto the pressure reducer, for 150 shots by its product page; Morini’s CM 162EI, by its maker’s account the first compressed-air pistol with interchangeable 200 bar cylinders and a ball-bearing electronic trigger, gets 200. What the regulator does, Morini says, is maintain a constant air pressure so that each shot is fired with the same force and velocity. A sporting PCP pistol such as Weihrauch’s HW 44 has the same parts, a built-in cartridge, a gauge, quick-fill equipment and a regulator, for 105 shots a fill in .177 on its low-power version.

What a 10 m match pistol may be is set by the ISSF Pistol Rules, equipment rules for ISSF matches rather than the law where you live, and they are short:

Which pistols

Any 4.5 mm (.177) compressed air, CO2 or pneumatic air pistol that conforms to the pistol specification table and configuration drawing may be used.ISSF Pistol Rules 8.4.3.5, ISSF Rule Book, Edition 2025 (Second Print 07/2026), effective 1 July 2026

The table

At most 1 500 g; a trigger pull of at least 500 g; the pistol with all accessories must fit a box of 420 × 200 × 50 mm; loaded with one pellet only; ported barrels and perforated barrel attachments are allowed.ISSF Pistol Rules 8.12

No stabilising device

Any device, mechanism or system that actively reduces, slows or minimises the pistol’s oscillations or movements before the shot is released is prohibited.ISSF Pistol Rules 8.4.1.4

So a spring, CO2 or single-stroke pistol may be shot in a match if it fits the table; what the makers build for it is a compressed-air pistol with four things. A regulator, or pressure reducer, which Feinwerkbau calls maintenance-free and says ensures consistently high performance. An absorber at the shot: Feinwerkbau’s, with a patented operating principle, effectively reduces recoil, Walther lists an absorber and a compensator in the LP500’s basic equipment, Steyr’s evo 10 has its patented stabiliser from the LP 10 and three barrel vents that steady the pistol as the shot is released, and Morini’s compensator reduces recoil and muzzle lift through its 28 air vents. A trigger set to the rule’s 500 g, mechanical or, on Morini’s and as an option on Walther’s, electronic. And a dry-fire mechanism: on the P8X the firing pin is operated by the trigger without the valve opening, so that the trigger feels the same and the release is audible; on the Steyr the trigger characteristics are realistic and no air escapes.

The figures the makers state: Feinwerkbau’s P8X at about 0.95 kg and 145 to 155 m/s, Walther’s LP500 at 930 g, Steyr’s evo 10 at 968 g, Morini’s CM 162EI at 150 m/s; Feinwerkbau, Walther and Steyr each list a 500 g trigger, Morini an adjustable two-stage one. The card they are shot at, its rings and course of fire, is the ISSF 10 m air pistol target page’s; the grip that comes with them is fitted to your hand in Fitting an air pistol grip, and the kit around them is in 10 m air pistol equipment.

For garden plinking, informal target shooting at short range in a private outdoor space, Air Arms says a CO2 or spring pistol works well, and Umarex places CO2 pistols in recreational shooting, training replicas and backyard plinking; Daisy sells its CO2 and spring pistols for backyard practice. What you may own and where you may shoot it is set by the law where you live.

For indoor target shooting at 10 m, the standard format of air pistol competition and an Olympic discipline, as Air Arms puts it, the consistent kinds win: a single-stroke pneumatic to learn on, a compressed-air match pistol when you stay. Umarex says the same of PCP, widely used for precision target shooting, and the federation’s rule asks only that the pistol fit its table. How to start at a club before you own any of them is in How to start shooting 10 m air pistol.

CO2 or PCP for target shooting?

PCP. Air Arms calls it the most consistent of the action types and the preferred system for competitive shooting, while CO2 pressure falls as the capsule cools or empties, which Umarex’s manual says lowers velocity shot by shot in rapid fire and in cold weather. Feinwerkbau moved its match guns from CO2 to compressed air, the rifles from 1995 and the pistol by 2000, for that reason.

Does a spring air pistol recoil?

Yes. The spring’s release creates a small recoil impulse and vibration at the moment of firing, Air Arms says, and Daisy describes the forward kick as the piston hits the front of its chamber. CO2 pistols have very low recoil, single-stroke and PCP pistols next to none.

Why does my CO2 pistol drop in velocity?

Because the capsule cools. Fast consecutive shots cool the gun and the capsule, Umarex’s manual says, lowering velocity and sometimes the pressure itself; it is worse in cold weather and is avoided by allowing more time between shots. The pressure also declines as the capsule empties; on the card the pellets land lower.