IZH Baikal 60

Before I formed an opinion about the IZH 53M, I was intrigued by the IZH 60 rifle and I decided to try one.  This rifle also had good reviews, so it seemed like a safe investment.

There is a repeater version of the IZH 60 - the IZH 61 - which uses a 5 shot clip, but I decided to go with the one shot IZH 60 because the clip operation of the 61 model was reported to be a bit finicky.

Operation

The IZH 60 is a spring piston rifle, but while most spring piston rifles use a break barrel mechanism, this Baikal model uses a side lever. This side lever is normally locked against the rifle body and needs to first be released by pressing a rod under its handle - this releases the lever, which can now be pulled to compress the spring - this movement will also release the bolt, exposing the breech for loading a pellet. Once the spring is cocked, the lever can be brought back along the side of the rifle to be locked. Not getting the side lever locked will prevent the bolt action from staying closed, so you need to push the lever against the rifle body to engage its lock. Next step is to load a pellet into the breech and close the bolt - the gun is now ready to fire; like the 53M, it has no safety.

I was confused at first by which steps are required to operate this rifle, so I will repeat them again:

1. Unlock the side lever by pressing the rod under its handle
2. Pull back the side lever to compress the spring (the bolt will open automatically)
3. Bring back the side lever, making sure to get it locked
4. Place a pellet into the breech
5. Close the bolt action - the rifle is ready to fire

The lever action is very easy and comfortable - it is only the pushing of the bolt to release the lever that can get a bit hard on the tip of the fingers, but I got used to it after a while.

Package and Build

Like the IZH 53M, the IZH 60 came in a cardboard box sealed in thick plastic. The rifle is wrapped in a piece of special paper that appears to be lightly oiled. The other contents are the manual, a cleaning rod, and a few spare pieces (a seal, a washer, and a small spring) that are wrapped in a tiny piece of paper and are attached by a small staple to the packaging of the cleaning rod - this small package is very easy to miss, so look out for it. I have not yet figured out where the spare pieces can be used, but it is nice to see them included.

BTW, additional spare parts can be found separately. Spare main springs can be purchased - these seem to have the same coiling as the spares for the IZH 53M pistol, but they are slightly shorter. However, one of the spares I acquired for the IZH 53M is exactly the same length as the spares for the IZH 60! I believe a spring from the IZH 53M could very well work in the IZH 60, but it would produce slightly less power, if it is of the shorter variety.

The Baikal model 60 is built from a combination of metal and plastic. Like in the case of model 53M, all pieces under stress are built out of metal. The trigger piece is plastic, but the trigger mechanism is metal. I have no concern about the durability of this rifle. Furthermore, the plastic used here is of higher quality than the one used for the stock of the IZH 53M - it has no blemishes and is very nicely textured. The rifle barrel is metal forged, as all Baikal barrels appear to be. The lever seemed a bit frail - it is basically a thin metallic U frame - but I do not see any signs that it cannot fulfill its job.

At 33" long, the IZH 60 is also one of the shortest adult rifles available on the market. I liked its style in pictures and in real life it looks even better. Both the pistol grip and the forward grip are nicely shaped and very comfortable to hold.

There is one big problem and it took me a while to notice it and to get certain that I am not imagining things: the barrel is not mounted parallel to the stock - it is slanted towards the right. This is an assembly issue and based on other reviews complaining about the rifle shooting to the right, I suspect that this is a general manufacturing issue.

A couple more issues are related to the shape of the rod that needs to be pushed to release the side lever and to the shape of the bolt handle. The side lever release rod is a bit harsh on the fingers - a flatter surface would help there. The bolt handle is too thin and is lacking the classical round end. I got used with both these aspects after a while, but they are worth mentioning.

Adjustable settings

The two main adjustable settings are the rear sight and the shoulder stock length.

The rear sight can be adjusted for both elevation and windage. Elevation can be adjusted very conveniently and precisely by rotating a wheel, but windage adjustment is less elegant and requires loosening two screws to move the sight laterally.

The degree of freedom for the windage adjustment is insufficient to allow compensating for the degree of barrel slant - I have it set all the way to the left and the rifle still shoots a bit to the right. The rear sight also has a weird design: there is a fixed post on the rifle that has two elongated holes through which two screws go into the moving sight piece. The holes in the fixed post determine the degree of adjustment of the sight piece and they cannot be enlarged further. If the elongated holes would have been on the sight piece and the screws would have went into the post piece, I could have built a new sight piece easily, but as it is, I need to not only drill holes into a replacement sight but I also need to get them threaded for the size of the screws.

Adjusting the stock is very easy - loosen a screw at the bottom of the stock and then pull the stock back. If you want more length, you need to completely remove the screw, pull out the stock, and then move the piece into which the screw engages into a second slot away from the gun, then screw the stock back against that - this will give you an extra inch over the factory setting. I pulled the stock all the way back at the first setting and that works great for me - it is nice to know that it can still go either way.

Performance

The IZH 60 is a very accurate rifle and, as a result, I use it as the standard against which I judge other airguns. This rifle is also rather silent, just like its relative, the IZH 53M pistol. Power is excellent for target shooting, maybe even a bit too strong for that. However, among airgun rifles, the IZH 60 probably has the lowest power, so keep my previous comment in the context of target shooting. There are pistols that have more power than this rifle (the Crosman 1377C is one of them), but they also require more force (to pump or to compress the spring piston), so when it comes to target shooting, my Gamo pellet trap feels the difference.

The sights work very well (with some caveats I mentioned earlier) - the distance between the front and rear sights also helps with accuracy. The trigger is crisp - it has little travel, requires an adequate amount of force, and then breaks quickly - I might criticize it a bit on a pistol, but it feels right for a rifle that is easier to hold steady. So far, I did not see the degradation in performance that I noticed in the IZH 53M trigger.

There is nothing not to like about the performance of the IZH 60 - this is a very well designed rifle.

Conclusion

What I like the most about the IZH 60 is how reliable its accuracy is. Together with the Crosman 1377C, this is one of my most reliable airguns. The style of the rifle also makes it very attractive and pleasant to use.

The only significant negative is the assembly quality, which for my sample resulted in a barrel that is slanted against the stock of the rifle. But even this drawback does not remove much from my enjoyment of this nice rifle.

IZH Baikal 53M

When researching alternatives to CO2 airguns, I found out about the Crosman 1377C, but also about the IZH 53M. "IZH" comes from Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, a Russian factory that also produced firearms like the Makarov pistol; Baikal is the brand under which this factory is manufacturing airguns.

Model 53M is a spring pistol that has suffered some changes over the years. The version that is currently available is very different from the one depicted in the Blue Book of Airguns. I understand that plastic replaced some metal components, but I have never seen the original model other than in pictures.

I decided to try this pistol because it was inexpensive and promised to be of a sturdy build. Users also claimed that it was very accurate and a great 10m target shooting pistol.

Operation

The IZH 53M is a break barrel pistol, which means that its barrel also represents the lever that is used to compress its spring. The pistol consists of a barrel that sits in front of a cylinder that holds the spring. The trigger mechanism sits under the spring cylinder and a large set of plastic grips attaches to it. By pulling down on the barrel, the spring is cocked. A pellet can now be introduced in the rear end of the barrel before straightening it out. Once that is done, pressing the trigger will fire the pistol - there is no safety mechanism, other than the one that prevents firing the gun while the barrel is bent. Very simple operation.

Cocking the Baikal requires very little effort. Firing it, however, is the tricky part, as you will have to deal with the kick of the spring that first jerks the pistol forward, then backward. The artillery hold is recommended for such airguns.

Package and Build

The IZH 53M came into a cardboard box, including instructions and a metal cleaning rod, in addition to the pistol itself. The box was sealed in a very thick plastic bag that felt very Russian in style.

This is a Russian pistol indeed. Everything feels very solid, although a bit unrefined. The barrel is metal forged, which is supposed to be a costly process that results in more accurate barrels - this operation is usually too expensive, but Russian manufacturing costs appear to still be low enough to make it economically feasible. The grip, front sight, and a few other parts are made of plastic, but none of them is under any kind of stress, so they will probably last as much, if not more, than the metal parts.

The large plastic body of this Baikal pistol looks a bit industrial and could use a bit more refinement. However, this is just the looks - its shape is very comfortable to hold.

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that this pistol is very long. I could not even find an inexpensive case to hold it. I picked a 2 pistol pillared Plano case, only to find out that the Baikal could only fit inside by breaking its barrel without actually compressing its spring. Despite its large size, the 53M is quite light - this is because other than the barrel, all metal parts sit right above the grip.

The long size is a direct result of the break barrel mechanism. Using the barrel to compress the spring requires the barrel and the spring cylinder to be in line, which means that despite the overall length, the gun still gets to have a shorter barrel than a pneumatic gun like the Crosman 1377C, where the barrel and the air piston cylinder are overlapping. All break barrel pistols will be long like this.

One last point - despite its large size, the 53M is not heavy and it is easy to hold steady - until you press the trigger.

Adjustable settings

The only adjustable setting for the IZH 53M is the rear sight, which can be adjusted for both elevation and windage. The adjustments are made via knobs that can be rotated. In theory, this should allow for fine adjustments, but in practice, the operation of these knobs was rather bumpy - I had to work them back and forth a bit to smooth out their operation.

Performance

The operation of the IZH 53M is very quiet and the power is very good - this gun can cut very distinct holes in paper targets. Speaking of which, 400fps seems to me to be the speed at which neat round holes are being cut reliably in target paper.

Aside from the finicky aspect of adjusting them, I really liked the size of the iron sights

Initially, I shot the Baikal all over the place, until I managed to sight it in so I can at least hit the target reliably. At one point, I got a very promising group where 8 out of 10 shots were very close to each other. But I never managed to get such a result again! I am not sure what the problem was - either the performance degraded or, as I was getting better with other pistols, I got worse with this one. I simply could not get reliable results - the spring movement was jerking the pistol too much in my hand and none of the grips I tried actually worked. Of course, I also tried the artillery hold, but it did not produce much improvement.

To top it off, after a while, performance clearly degraded in one area - the trigger. Initially, the trigger was rather stiff, with little travel and a sudden break - not unlike that of the Crosman 1377C. But after a couple hundred shots, the trigger started getting mushy - it could be depressed a bit with no effort and then it would just break - sometimes with a bit of resistance, sometimes without. Without any safety, this was a bit scary.

In the end, I just threw away this gun - using it was aggravating, a waste of pellets, and even felt a bit dangerous once the trigger started acting up.

Conclusion

I did not like the IZH 53M. Perhaps I did not figure out how to use it well, but I tried and I just did not like the experience. The gun seemed very accurate if you can handle the spring movement, but that is trickier than you might think because, unlike a firearm's kickback, the jerking of the gun happens while the pellet is still travelling inside the barrel. As I discovered nicer airguns, I just could not see much use for the Baikal 53M, so I ended up getting rid of it. This is the worst airgun that I used so far and it has cured me from using any other spring piston pistol, though I realize that some are much better.

Crosman 1377C American Classic

Sometimes, I just want to practice a few shots and be done with it. With the Beretta 92FS I have to go through many targets to exhaust a CO2 powerlet, so I started looking at pneumatic and spring piston airguns. The Crosman 1377C was both held in high regard and available at an affordable price, so I had to give it a try. This airgun is available with brown or black plastic grips and I picked the black version, which is listed as PC77 Pumpmaster Classic on Crosman's site - there is no difference between them other than the color of the grips.

Operation

The "classic" aspect of this airgun's name comes from its design originating with Crosman model 105, which was manufactured between 1947 and 1953. So this design has been around for some time and the fact that it is still sold today is a testament to its quality.

The 1377C consists of a long barrel sitting over the compression cylinder with the pump masking as the forward grip. The manual states that the pistol should be pumped at least 3 times and no more than 10 times. Pumping it less than 3 times could lead to a pellet getting stuck in the barrel (although I did an experiment and even one pump will work, but with little force); pumping it more than 10 times will not increase the shot power and might damage the pistol's seals, so it is best avoided. For target shooting, I started with the minimum 3 pumps, but now I use 4 pumps, to get cleaner holes punched in the paper target. With 3-4 pumps, the Crosman pistol is also very silent.

Pumping the 1377C is very easy if you do not attempt to go for all the 10 pumps. Pumping will get progressively harder, but it is relatively effortless for the 4 pumps I go with now. The last couple of pumps in a 10 pump set are getting very hard; also, the pistol will make more noise at these settings.

The pistol has a safety bolt behind the trigger, which can be pushed on the left side to engage and on the right side to disengage.

After pumping the gun, you need to expose the breech and cock the trigger by pulling the bolt action back. Note that the bolt can slide back forward after this operation, if you tilt the gun, so you will want to keep it back while you load the pellet. Loading a pellet is a bit finicky - the problem is that the breech has a small step, so you cannot simply drop the pellet on it, you need to lift its tip a bit, so it gets into the barrel. Some pellets are easier to load than others. Once the pellet is properly seated, you can push the bolt and lock it. You should do this with little force, to make sure that you do not bend the pellet, if it is improperly seated. Once this is done, the gun is ready to shoot - aim, push the safety bolt out of the way, and then just pull the trigger.

Package and Build

Given its low cost, the American Classic comes with no case - just a plastic packaging that needs to be cut to remove the gun and manual out of it. I do not understand why they had to roll the manual in this package - I had to roll it the opposite way, in an attempt to straighten it out. Anyway, the only things you will need out of the packaging are the pistol and its manual.

The 1377C is made of metal and plastic. The frame of the pistol is metal, but the grips and the handle of the pump are plastic, as well as the receiver portion and the front sight. The rear sight is made of metal and is held in place by a screw - reversing it offers the option of switching between straight iron sights and a peep sight. Of special note is the bolt, which is made of brass and looks and handles very nicely. I do not mind plastic, as long as it is used in the right places and Crosman uses it in the right places here - I do not see anything likely to break soon in this assembly.

I should mention here that soon after I acquired the 1377C, I also purchased the 1399 shoulder stock that can be used with it, as well as with other Crosman airguns that share the same grips. This shoulder stock is made entirely of plastic and can be installed easily, by unscrewing the original grips, sliding it over the grip frame, and screwing it using the original grip screws. I have no criticisms for the build of this shoulder stock - it works exactly as intended; I was initially worried about whether its length would be suitable for an adult, but it turned out to be just the right length.

Adjustable settings

The only setting that can be adjusted is the rear sight. The rear sight consists of a metallic piece that is held into place by a screw. By loosening the screw, the sight piece can be raised or lowered to adjust elevation and can also be tilted left or right to adjust windage. By removing the screw, turning the sight upside down, and reattaching it with the screw, we get to use the peep sight. All this seems rather hard to adjust precisely, but in practice, on my gun, I only had to adjust it a bit for windage and it worked great from the first adjustment.

I recommend trying the peep sight first - I just find it more enjoyable to use than the standard iron sights post system.

Performance

The American Classic really delivers in the accuracy department. Put simply, it is one of the most accurate guns I have. It shoots well in factory setup (after sighting in), and mounting the 1399 shoulder stock will boost accuracy further by improving how well you can hold steady this long pistol. You can get very tight groups reliably with the 1377C/1399 combo - better than with any CO2 gun that I own.

Pumping the Crosman 4 times for target shooting is easy and the pistol works silently at this power setting - the sound of the pellet hitting the target will eclipse the sound of the pistol itself - the long barrel is probably also helping here, as the air gets to expand before the pellet gets out.

The only place where I would like to see improvement is the trigger. The 1377C trigger has little travel, is rather hard, and breaks rather unexpectedly. It is not as bad as it sounds, but I wish this gun had adjustable trigger settings. Crosman may want to consider producing a slightly higher end version with such a feature.

Maintenance is rather simple - use Pellgunoil on the pump joints and on the piston head. Work the oil in by using the pump without actually pumping any air - just start closing it until you feel resistance, open it, and then repeat this a few times while the oil works its way around.

Conclusion

The 1377C fully deserves its nickname of "American Classic". It is a very nice, simple and effective design that provides great accuracy for a very reasonable price. With varying power from the multi pump mechanism, this gun is also very versatile. The only thing I would change about it is the trigger - I would really like a lighter trigger, or even better - an adjustable one. There are very few airguns that offer such accuracy within this price range, so this is an easy choice.

CO2 airguns

I decided to write this post so I can collect some general information about CO2 airguns in one place, rather than spreading it across several reviews.

The advantages of a CO2 mechanism are that it takes little space, it operates with few moving parts, and provides enough power for several dozen shots. The main drawback is that once you load a CO2 powerlet, you need to expend it, because storing the pistol with it will damage the seal; also, CO2 airguns are noisier than spring piston or pneumatic airguns.

The small size of the CO2 mechanism makes it the best solution for powering firearm pistol replicas, as the 12g powerlet can easily fit inside the grip of a pistol.

When it comes to maintenance, the most important thing is to oil the tip of the powerlet with a special oil like the Crosman Pellgunoil - this will protect the seal from the cold CO2. Other moving parts need to be oiled sparingly, as needed. This makes CO2 airguns very easy to maintain and very robust as well.

Umarex Beretta 92FS

The Umarex Beretta 92FS was my first pellet airgun. I picked it up because it seemed a safe choice based on all the online reviews I read about it. In this review, you will see how this turned out.

The manufacturer of the 92FS - Umarex - is currently the leading maker of pellet guns that are firearm replicas. They also make airsoft and BB replicas, but in those areas they have strong competition from Taiwanese, Japanese, and Chinese manufacturers. The 92FS is made in Germany and is a replica of the Beretta 92FS firearm, which has replaced the Colt 1911 A1 as the standard sidearm of US Armed Forces (Umarex also produces a Colt 1911 A1 pellet gun replica).

Operation

This airgun gets its power from a 12g CO2 powerlet.

The Beretta 92FS firearm is a semi automatic pistol that operates on short recoil. When such a gun is fired, its slide moves back, the spent shell is ejected, and then, during the return movement of the slide, a new cartridge is loaded from the magazine. Some airsoft and BB guns simulate this operation using gas from their power source to push the slide back while a new BB ball is loaded from the magazine. But while BB balls can be fed from a magazine, it is much more complicated to do so with pellets; though it is possible: I just read about BACS, which involves compressed air cartridges, and such a system would do the trick, but it would also be very cumbersome to use - not just for loading the cartridges with pellets, but for retrieving them after each shot. So Umarex sacrificed some realism and instead designed a revolver mechanism so tiny that it fits within the slide of their pistol replicas. The immediate impact is that if you are looking for a replica with a moving slide, you will be better served by an airsoft or a BB replica, because pellet replicas are all operating as revolvers. The revolver mechanism on all Umarex pistols is exposed by pressing a lever on the left side of the frame - that lever will release forward the portion of the slide containing the airgun's barrel - you can now drop one of the provided clips inside and then push back the slide to shut it - the clip is effectively a revolver cylinder. This loading operation is one major difference from the operation of the firearm. The tiny size of the clip is also the reason why the Umarex pistol replicas are limited to 8 pellets per clip. On the other hand, these clips are standard and they can be used on all their pistol replicas. When loading a clip, no special alignment needs to be ensured other than the facing of the clip - flat side forward, ratchet side backwards. Loading/unloading a clip is a very easy operation - the only caveat is that you need to keep the gun straight, otherwise it is easy for the tiny clip to roll out of the slide and fall down.

The other major difference compared to the firearm appears in the trigger operation. The 92FS model is a double action/single action (DA/SA) gun, where the first trigger pull is double action (DA), but then the following ones are all single action (SA), until the magazine is spent or the pistol is uncocked. As the SA operation is enabled by the short recoil mechanism, this aspect cannot be reproduced by the replica. Instead, the trigger of the airgun can either work DA or it can work SA if you cock the hammer first - just like a revolver.

The safety works just as the one on the firearm and I always keep it on when loading and unloading a pellet clip. Like the grip, the safety is ambidextrous, with a lever on both sides of the frame. However, I find it easier and smoother to operate the safety by pulling or pushing on both levers at the same time. Speaking of safety, I also never keep a clip inside the gun when loading and unloading a CO2 powerlet.

For installing a CO2 cylinder, the right grip of the pistol needs to be removed by pressing the magazine release button on the left grip. What looks like the bottom of the magazine is actually a plastic lever that needs to be opened before continuing, as it will provide more space for the cylinder to fit in. Next, unscrew the large brass screw at the bottom of the grip, by rotating it clockwise (from front to rear). Now, the cylinder can be inserted and I always put a drop of Crosman Pellgunoil on its tip before doing so, to protect the seal and extend its life. Slide in the powerlet with its tip first and let it rest in the grip. Now you can tighten that brass screw by turning it in the opposite direction - you are just supposed to tighten the cylinder, not to pierce it, so do not exert any force here - just stop once the screw encounters resistance. Check that the cylinder does not move inside the grip and then you can snap the plastic bottom shut - that is what will pierce the cylinder. You can now place the right grip back - you can actually do this before piercing the cylinder, if you like. Now the gun is powered and you can load a clip as described earlier. Do not pull the plastic bottom open until you are done using the powerlet - doing so will release the remaining gas, after which you can remove the grip and unscrew the brass screw to let the powerlet fall out of place. The powerlet cylinder will be very cold, so avoid touching it.

It is very helpful to watch someone else go through these steps. Luckily, you can do that by watching video reviews on YouTube. For example, here's one I watched before ordering the gun.

I have seen some users complaining that loading a CO2 powerlet is hard. It is not. The mechanism that Umarex employs here is very simple and effective and does not require any special effort or dexterity.

Package and build

The Beretta comes in a plastic case padded with foam, with inserts cut for the gun and the two clips that come with it. Additionally, you can remove foam to reveal inserts for a pellet box and a CO2 powerlet. There is also a small key that is needed for adjusting the rear sights. A manual, a warranty card, safety rules, and a brochure showing other Umarex products complete the package. It is a nice package but I wish that the plastic case was of better quality - its locks do not stay close and there is space gawking open under the handle - a Plano case is much better built and I would have replaced this case with one if it wasn't for the nice Beretta logo and the nicely cut inserts.

Umarex offers both black and nickel versions of this gun with either plastic or wood grips. There is no functional difference between them - the price differences only reflect the different materials used.

The gun itself is made of metal with very few exceptions. The only non-metal parts other than the grips are the grip lever used for piercing the CO2 cylinder and the front and rear sights. The metal build gives the Beretta a good weight - it is heavier than it looks.

The grip of the gun feels very wide - I am not sure if that is the case with the original firearm as well, but it feels different from other guns I held.

Given the price of this airgun, a few aspects were disappointing, although none of them affected its operation:

• The interior metal part of the right grip had rust traces to the point that it would leave rust marks on the grip metal to which it would attach. I used 3-IN-ONE oil to clean that piece of metal in two sessions and now it looks clean and shiny - note that I did not use that oil for any other purpose than cleaning this rust.
• The front sight is a bit loose - it does not affect functionality, but it is easy to notice that it is not rigid. I don't think it will ever break, but I wish it was made of metal and was one piece with the slide.
• The right lever of the safety is attached via a screw that was a bit loose on my copy. I tightened it slightly but it loosened again after more use. I now tightened it even better and I hope it stays that way. Again, no functional impact, just not what I expected from a quality assembly.
• There is also a screw at the tip of the gun, just under the muzzle. That screw was also loose on my gun, got tightened a bit, then got loose again, and now I tightened it better - I hope it lasts. This screw under the muzzle is important because it allows removing the slide and cleaning it on the inside. Which leads to another small issue:
• The slide did not have much lubricant on it and I didn't like how it worked after a couple hundred shots, especially as the gun was getting cooler from firing shots in succession, so I decided to take it off and apply some Slip 2000 Gun Lube. When I removed the slide, which also holds the barrel, I noticed that there were two more screws securing the barrel in place. Those were also not tightly screwed for some reason.
• The inner part of the nickel grip frame and that of the nickel slide have some stains on them - I have no idea what caused them and whether they are the result of the manufacturing process or an issue with my copy of the gun.
• The hammer is made of black metal, but after hitting the valve pin or the safety for hundreds of times, it lost some of its black surface and started revealing the original silver color of its alloy. I do not understand why it was not made of the same material as the barrel on the nickel version that I have.

Again, all these issues were minor and none affected functionality, but I did not expect them.

Since I mentioned oiling the gun, here is one more tip: when opening the slide to load a clip, you can notice a seal around the end of the barrel - I also wiped that with a drop of Pellgunoil when I oiled the gun. Just opening the slide allows access to this seal and I plan to apply Pellgunoil on it whenever it starts to look dry.

Adjustable settings

The only thing you can adjust on the 92FS is the rear sight, and that can only be adjusted for windage, not for elevation. To adjust the sight, you need to use the provided key to loosen the sight screw, after which you can shift the sight to the desired position, and then secure it by tightening its screw again. This is not a precision operation, but it actually worked out pretty well and I did not have to fiddle much with it to get it where I wanted.

As a side note, I had to adjust the sights on all the airguns I used so far - even on those supposedly tested at the factory!

Performance

I was surprised by how long the Beretta 92FS could go on a single CO2 powerlet. In one session, I fired around 120 shots (pausing between clip changes to let the gun warm up) and I only stopped because I was concerned about the pressure dropping suddenly and getting a pellet stuck in the barrel. I do not recommend attempting to replicate this feat though - these days I do not shoot more than 60-80 shots on a single powerlet, depending on ambient temperature. The reason for this is that the power of the shots slowly decreases with each subsequent one and after about 40 shots, the decrease in speed means that the pellets no longer cut clean holes in the target. It appears that you can shoot 80 shots safely, if you want to go on using the powerlet, but beyond that, I would be very careful with how the performance changes from shot to shot, to avoid a stuck pellet. For reference, I use Crosman powerlets - I understand that the volume of gas varies a bit across manufacturers.

I mentioned that the power decreases slowly with each shot. This gun will be particularly powerful (and I feel it is less accurate too) on the first clip - it will be louder and will also release some CO2 with each shot, but after the first clip, both these issues will disappear. I have seen similar behavior in other CO2 airguns, so there is nothing special here. As you keep shooting, if you aim consistently, you may be able to notice that groups slide down about an inch for 80 shots, but this will happen gradually.

The trigger operation is very smooth in both DA and SA mode. Cocking the hammer is also very smooth. Everything feels right in this area.

The iron sights work well. I had some trouble using them at the beginning, but that was due both to my lack of experience and to poor illumination of my targets.

The Beretta 92FS is probably a very accurate gun if fired in a vise, but being a firearm replica, it is more difficult to shoot accurately than an airgun designed for target competition and I feel that the variable CO2 power may provide another challenge.

My best group from the Beretta is about 0.25in wider than the tightest groups that I get from other guns, which is ok, but when I look at consistency, I also get much more variation in the size of the 92FS groups. I think there are several factors at play here:

• the CO2 power source introduces too much power variation across 10 shots
• the pistols that give me better results have lighter triggers
• the smaller length of the Beretta compared to a regular target pistol makes its iron sights less accurate
• the shorter barrel may also affect accuracy, although this effect may be minimal for distances under 10m

The Beretta shoots really well, but it was designed as a replica, not as a competition pistol, and that shows in my results. But if I compare it to other CO2 pistols whose design is based on firearms, the 92FS can hold its own against the best of them.

Conclusion

This was a long review and I tried to cover a lot of details, but now is the time to put them all in perspective. Is this a nice airgun or not?

Well, I like it a lot. I like the 92FS style and I like the sturdy build. I nitpicked on some aspects, but this was just because I had very high expectations from German manufacturing; however, none of those aspects prevented me from enjoying this airgun. The only thing that I would change about it is the front sight - I would make that be one piece with the slide. The trigger and the hammer operate very smoothly and the gun is accurate enough to have fun with a target.

I expect that this gun will last a lifetime given its components, with proper care of its seals. It is a nice airgun to collect too. It is not my favorite gun when accuracy matters, but it is an airgun that I enjoy using while the CO2 lasts.

Updates

--- 2013/02/20 ---

I continued testing the Beretta and I once managed to get a very tight group that reinforced my feeling that this pistol can be very accurate. I then remembered reading a comment about a gun being more accurate in double action than in single action, so I decided to try DA again and my groups improved immediately! The DA has a much longer pull and requires considerably more force than the SA, but I guess that makes me hold the gun better because my results were consistently better.

My copy of the 92FS shoots a bit high. I was trying to adjust for that and I ended up with worse results, so now I just aim for the center and I try to get tight groups. It would have been really nice to have an elevation adjustment - I guess this would be another aspect I would change about this pistol.

I earlier mentioned the screws that loosened - well, today I had to tighten the screw at the end of the barrel again. It got loose and I could hear the spring inside vibrating when opening the slide.

And I noticed again that the Beretta is less noisy than other CO2 airguns after the first clip - this is very nice behavior.

--- 2013/04/13 ---

I am starting to get more reliable groups from this Beretta in SA mode. I am also aiming, as the manual suggested, just below the bullseye of my Gamo paper targets - that makes the shots go to the center. Looks like all Umarex pistols have the sights set this way (the Walther PPQ and the Colt 1911 A1 are the same) and since there is no sight elevation adjustment, one needs to get used to it. The trigger might have become smoother as well after all the use it got. One last thing that I noticed is that the gun no longer impresses me as being overpowered and noisier on the first clip - use of CO2 seems more even - this is either due to break in or to the weather warming up. All in all, I continue to be happy with this purchase.

Reviewing approach

I have been thinking about how to structure my reviews. I initially considered rating airguns in a number of areas and then I spent some time thinking about which areas I should pick. But after a while I decided to drop this entire idea, as it tends to simplify results as much as it summarizes them, and in the end it would just allow comparisons that do not make sense. Instead, I decided to just describe each airgun and the experience of using it.

As I am not an accomplished target shooter, I will talk about accuracy in relative terms, by comparing the results I get with different guns rather than providing group size information, which tells more about my skills than about the capability of the airguns themselves. My reference airgun so far is the IZH-60 rifle, with which I get tight groups consistently.

All my target shooting is done standing up, using both hands, no external support, and the airgun's iron sights. I fire ten shots at a Gamo target and I collect the best result from each gun, so I can compare their potential. Doing this over many sessions also helps me eliminate the effect of bad ones during which my arms or eyes were tired.

An important feature of an airgun is its reliability - this, however, will take years to test - I will simply update each review if problems develop in time. This is one of those areas where I think this blog will provide special value - browsing other online reviews I either saw people having problems with newly purchased airguns or being very happy with them - I rarely saw users talking about how their gun broke a year after they purchased it. Many of the online reviews are also misleading, to the point where I often wonder if they were written by manufacturers. I have no connection to any airgun manufacturer, distributor, or seller, so my experience is simply that of a regular customer. One of the drawbacks of this, however, is that, as a regular customer, I will only be able to test one sample of each airgun. It could very well happen that I get unlucky (or lucky) with a purchase - the only thing I can do is to point out that my experience seems to differ from that of other reviewers.

And this being said, the next post will be the first review!

About this blog

I recently decided to pick target shooting as a new hobby. I considered slings, bows, crossbows, airguns, and firearms. Each have their merits, but looking at size, convenience, cost, and safety, I decided to go with airguns. A new choice followed up according to the different ammunition used by airguns - this was a choice among airsoft, paintball, BB, and pellet guns. However, this one was a much easier choice, because the most suitable option for target shooting are pellet guns with their rifled barrels.

Once I made this choice, I started exploring the world of pellet guns. I will share on this blog what I find out, in the hope that it will help others to make smart decisions and to save time and money by leveraging my experience. In this post, I'll start by providing an overview of the choices available within the category of pellet guns.

Before we start, let me go over the basic rules of safety when handling airguns, which are the same as the rules for firearms:

1. Don't be stupid! (*)
2. Airguns are not toys
3. Always handle airguns as if they are loaded and ready to shoot
4. Always keep airguns pointed in a safe direction
5. Do not place the finger over the trigger unless you are ready to shoot
6. Always be aware of what is behind the target and what you may hit if you miss the target
7. Use the airgun's safety if it has one, but don't expect it to work - it is an additional measure, not a way to break the above rules
8. Read an airgun's manual before you start using it

(*) This rule cannot be printed by manufacturers, but here it is in all its glory.

These are common sense rules and following them will ensure that you will develop good habits of handling a gun and that you will thus avoid stupid accidents. So don't be stupid! The first symptom of being stupid is when you think you cannot be. So check yourself and be safe.

Pellet guns can be divided in several categories according to how they are powered. The name airgun is actually a bit misleading because not all of them use air - some use gas, so gasgun would have been a more appropriate generic term, but that's the way the vocabulary evolves, so we'll stick to its evolution and use "airguns" regardless of the nature of the gas used for projectile propulsion.

The main categories of airgun power sources are the following:

Pneumatic

Gas is compressed in a reservoir and each shot uses a portion of it to propel a pellet through the barrel. There are a few sub-categories here:

• using compressed air
• using a special pump (pcp - pre-crompressed pneumatic)
• using a pump integrated in the gun
• using a single pumping action (single pump pneumatic)
• using multiple pumping actions (multi pump pneumatic)
• using compressed gas
• taken from a larger gas reservoir (pcp - pre-compressed pneumatic)

Gas powerlet - CO2

These work like the airguns using compressed gas, except the steel reservoir is disposable and is purchased already charged. CO2 is the gas of choice for these guns. In general, handguns use 12g CO2 powerlets, while rifles use the larger 88g CO2 powerlets (some still use 12g ones).

Spring piston

Spring piston guns get their power from a spring that is compressed. When the spring is released, it pushes a piston that suddenly compresses air behind the pellet forcing it down the barrel.

Gas piston

The gas piston system is promoted as a better alternative to a spring piston. The role of the spring is taken by nitrogen getting compressed in a special chamber.

Each of these power sources has advantages and disadvantages. With reservoirs containing compressed gas for multiple shots (pcp/CO2), the challenge is one of using the same amount of gas for each shot - in practice, the power tends to decrease with each subsequent shot. Also, holding the reservoir under pressure for a longer period of time can stress the seals, so that needs to be avoided - with powerlets, one has to be used within a couple of days after it is pierced, while pcp reservoirs can just be decompressed. Single pump pneumatic guns can require a lot of force to pump for that single shot, while multi pump pneumatics offer more flexibility in controlling the power of a shot, but take more time to pump. Piston guns are easier to pump, but the movement of the piston provides a kick that makes it more challenging to shoot accurately. To avoid spring damage, spring pistons cannot be left compressed for long - gas pistons don't have this problem, but they are expensive to fix if they fail.

The power of each mechanism varies as well. Piston mechanisms can vary from low to high power. PCPs provide average to high power. CO2s provide low to average power. For target shooting, one just needs enough power to cut clean holes in the paper targets - 400-500 fps with caliber .177 pellets can do this job very well. BTW, caliber .177 is the best suited caliber for target shooting and it is the most common caliber; the next more common is caliber .22, after which everything else is used in just a few guns. And since we're talking pellets, the most appropriate pellet for target shooting is the wadcutter model - these are the main pellets that I will be using.

In time, I will probably explore all these mechanisms to get first hand experience with each of them. I will also provide updates on how well each gun mechanism holds up over time.