First of all, let me say this was the best section I could think of to post this in. While an air pistol, it is a pistol, and semiautomatic. Should a mod decide there is a better place for this, feel welcome to move it there.
I just picked up one of these yesterday, and I went in the backyard and tried it out a little while ago. This is the product I'm talking about:
http://www.crosman.com/site/listing/1178
It is a semi-auto CO2 bb pistol, but this one actually has a blow back slide like on a real semi-auto pistol, a particularly cool idea. I purchased this with the intent of having a way to practice grip/squeeze/recoil control while being able to do this in the back yard (which is something I couldn't do with a .22).
Price
~$70. A bit steep, though I have seen thousand dollar air rifles, though they were match rifles.
Appearance
The pistol is flat black and has plastic grips. If it were not for the screw at the bottom, it would look like a real PPK from a distance of 5ft or so. It has a fake PPK safety on the slide--it doesn't move in the slightest bit. The hammer appears to be plastic, and I cannot tell what the trigger is made of. There is a fair amount of stamping on the slide, mostly the usual CYA disclamer on all air guns, but also the Walther logo, Made in Japan, and what could either be a serial number or a model number (couldn't find a model # on the site, so not sure)
Feel
The pistol is mostly metal, though it is probably aluminum. It's either not steel or the strangest steel alloy I've ever encountered because it will not attract a magnet (I checked, the magnet is in fact still magnetic). The website claims that the barrel is made of steel, though I cannot confirm this because there is a shroud of plastic around the barrel (I can see a small amount of metal looking from the end) and the magnet will not attract. The pistol does have quite a bit of heft (1lb according to the site), and does actually feel, for the most part, like a normal pistol (albiet lighter). I'm not 100% sure, but it probably recoils about like a .22 pistol--which was suprising for an air pistol. The trigger is very light, but smooth. The safety is very awkward, if you are right handed, it will be under your trigger finger. It appears that the safety works by not holding the trigger in place (which it doesn't), but instead by moving a small part out of the way so that the trigger cannot trip the sear/hammer. The mag catch feels normal. The back of the grip has a sharp edge, and the recoil can make it cut into your hand--ask me how I know...
Oomph!
Per the website, it can push bbs up to 295fps. I don't know for sure if it can or not, but sometimes it put nice round holes in the soda cans without the slightest disturbance to surrounding material, and other times it put a hole with a big dent around it. Should take out a squirrel or bird at close range.
Accuracy
Pretty good up until about 5 yards. After that, well, not so good. I was nailing the soda cans fairly consistantly at roughly 5 yards, at ~6 it was more random, and at ~10 I was hitting maybe three or four times per magazine. I did check to make sure it was in fact the pistol and not me by getting out another bb gun that I knew I used to shoot well (been over 1 year). I did not have a problem with it--I nailed the cans consistantly when my hands weren't shaking the significantly lighter pistol (not something I had trouble with on the heavy "PPK"). The "PPK" seemed to shoot sometimes to the right and down, sometimes to the right and up, and sometimes dead on. Maybe a 4" "circle" or so at ~10yds. If there was any wind worth anything, I couldn't feel it.
Other stuff
The magazine does have a bolt hold open for when all bbs are expended. I believe I shot 8 full magazines before having pressure related problems (won't fully cycle when it gets too low), so that's about 120 shots. It did seem on a couple of occasions that a bb would drop out of the barrel prematurely--though twice out of 120 shots isn't too bad. There is slight bit of wiggle in the slide, also the spring(s) in the slide are not particularly strong, so you cannot use a regular holster with this, as it will try to push the slide back about a 1/4".
My Opinion
Neatness factor: 10/10
Feel: 9/10 (coulda done without that weird safety and sharp edge)
Shootablility: 10/10 (quite fun!)
Accuracy: 5/10
Cost: 3/10 (I expect more considering I can get a new CO2 pistol for ~$25, and I got a good one at a fun-show for $10)
Overall feeling: :ehsmile:
If you'd like to teach someone the basics of how to work a semi before handing them a real pistol, this would be a pretty decent way to aquaint them with the feel and let them know what to expect.
I hope this helps out anyone who is considering picking up one of these.
I just picked up one of these yesterday, and I went in the backyard and tried it out a little while ago. This is the product I'm talking about:
http://www.crosman.com/site/listing/1178
It is a semi-auto CO2 bb pistol, but this one actually has a blow back slide like on a real semi-auto pistol, a particularly cool idea. I purchased this with the intent of having a way to practice grip/squeeze/recoil control while being able to do this in the back yard (which is something I couldn't do with a .22).
Price
~$70. A bit steep, though I have seen thousand dollar air rifles, though they were match rifles.
Appearance
The pistol is flat black and has plastic grips. If it were not for the screw at the bottom, it would look like a real PPK from a distance of 5ft or so. It has a fake PPK safety on the slide--it doesn't move in the slightest bit. The hammer appears to be plastic, and I cannot tell what the trigger is made of. There is a fair amount of stamping on the slide, mostly the usual CYA disclamer on all air guns, but also the Walther logo, Made in Japan, and what could either be a serial number or a model number (couldn't find a model # on the site, so not sure)
Feel
The pistol is mostly metal, though it is probably aluminum. It's either not steel or the strangest steel alloy I've ever encountered because it will not attract a magnet (I checked, the magnet is in fact still magnetic). The website claims that the barrel is made of steel, though I cannot confirm this because there is a shroud of plastic around the barrel (I can see a small amount of metal looking from the end) and the magnet will not attract. The pistol does have quite a bit of heft (1lb according to the site), and does actually feel, for the most part, like a normal pistol (albiet lighter). I'm not 100% sure, but it probably recoils about like a .22 pistol--which was suprising for an air pistol. The trigger is very light, but smooth. The safety is very awkward, if you are right handed, it will be under your trigger finger. It appears that the safety works by not holding the trigger in place (which it doesn't), but instead by moving a small part out of the way so that the trigger cannot trip the sear/hammer. The mag catch feels normal. The back of the grip has a sharp edge, and the recoil can make it cut into your hand--ask me how I know...
Oomph!
Per the website, it can push bbs up to 295fps. I don't know for sure if it can or not, but sometimes it put nice round holes in the soda cans without the slightest disturbance to surrounding material, and other times it put a hole with a big dent around it. Should take out a squirrel or bird at close range.
Accuracy
Pretty good up until about 5 yards. After that, well, not so good. I was nailing the soda cans fairly consistantly at roughly 5 yards, at ~6 it was more random, and at ~10 I was hitting maybe three or four times per magazine. I did check to make sure it was in fact the pistol and not me by getting out another bb gun that I knew I used to shoot well (been over 1 year). I did not have a problem with it--I nailed the cans consistantly when my hands weren't shaking the significantly lighter pistol (not something I had trouble with on the heavy "PPK"). The "PPK" seemed to shoot sometimes to the right and down, sometimes to the right and up, and sometimes dead on. Maybe a 4" "circle" or so at ~10yds. If there was any wind worth anything, I couldn't feel it.
Other stuff
The magazine does have a bolt hold open for when all bbs are expended. I believe I shot 8 full magazines before having pressure related problems (won't fully cycle when it gets too low), so that's about 120 shots. It did seem on a couple of occasions that a bb would drop out of the barrel prematurely--though twice out of 120 shots isn't too bad. There is slight bit of wiggle in the slide, also the spring(s) in the slide are not particularly strong, so you cannot use a regular holster with this, as it will try to push the slide back about a 1/4".
My Opinion
Neatness factor: 10/10
Feel: 9/10 (coulda done without that weird safety and sharp edge)
Shootablility: 10/10 (quite fun!)
Accuracy: 5/10
Cost: 3/10 (I expect more considering I can get a new CO2 pistol for ~$25, and I got a good one at a fun-show for $10)
Overall feeling: :ehsmile:
If you'd like to teach someone the basics of how to work a semi before handing them a real pistol, this would be a pretty decent way to aquaint them with the feel and let them know what to expect.
I hope this helps out anyone who is considering picking up one of these.