Which airgun, in your experience, has been the most reliable?

I'm interested in those long-term/high pellet count experiences.

For example, when Paul Cray was shooting a TX200 in competition, he was putting 15 thousand pellets through his gun each year, but he was also having it rebuilt once a year as well.

So, what has been your experience with an airgun that you've had for a long time and put a lot of pellets through without failure?

Jock Elliott
Airgun writer,
correspondent, Precision Shooting Magazine
author, "Elliott on Airguns"
http://sites.google.com/site/elliottonairguns/
airgun blog:https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/blog.html

Diana 48 in .177.I can't give you a round count,and the gun wasn't tuned,but it made 17 years without disassembly or work of any kind and could have kept going nearly indefinitely.Steady diet of H&N match(accuracy),and various heavy pellets for the hunt.An absolute model of reliability,accuracy and heavy power.

"Service "springs" from gratitude".

Jock Elliott
Airgun writer,
correspondent, Precision Shooting Magazine
author, "Elliott on Airguns"
http://sites.google.com/site/elliottonairguns/
airgun blog:https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/blog.html

I bought my HW80 new, around 15 years ago, changed spring 2 times, everything still looks like new inside the gun, no sign of wear after many thousands shots.

hw80 or R1 would get my vote

You were lucky or I wasn't. My .177 cal mod.48 has needed a new spring about every 3000 rounds. My .177 cal mod 34 has been going for well over 10,000 rounds at almost the same fps. as when new.
Gary

My 48's spring also broke under 3000. The replacement spring is fine though, but I've not put another 3k rounds through it yet.

might,I suspect, be that I always shot heavy pellets through it. Mine was a .22 cal. I used 21 gr. Kodiacs almost exclusivly with 18 gr Crow-mags as an occasional change.

Never had a problem with it. My silver streak was passed down to me by my grandpa, and although I did have to reseal it when I got it, it has never given me a problem after the reseal. It is not a beautiful gun, it has dings and scratches all over the place, but it works flawlessly.

My 20 year old RWS 5G. It's the only gun I have where I stopped recording the number of shots.



Jim Y.

Like a Slavia 631 perhaps. MY Slavia is still shoots very well (and is very accurate) and I have had it for 37 years. Hundreds of thousands of rounds fired.

If you need better power for rabbits etc., I have a tuned rws34 that I bought for the "long run."

Not a lot to go wrong with them. If stored with a couple pumps they seem to last forever...

a Benji/Dan will out last any other airgun out there. No spring or seal to change if up kept with normal oilings and pumps stored in the gun when not shooting. You see more older benji/Dans out there on the classifieds than any other guns.

"Every gun makes it's own tune"

Blondie - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

What he said

but I've owned many at least that old that clearly had never been apart, and still worked fine.I have one that has been shooting great 20 years after it's first rebuild.

Tuned in 1998, I'm sure well over 12,000 rounds and still kicking

Still going strong and to me the best field rifle ever produced.

for an R1 Santa Rosa .20 original pristine and untoched internally and an RWS 34 TO1 which has only had its bent not broken main spring replaced. I couldn't count how many pellet tins through both but there have been many over the year. A future Diehard would have to be the RWS Hammerli 850 AirMagnum.

there have been reports here of FWBs with over 200k shots through them. evidently they had sourced quality springs at the time. then the rapids don't seem to have breakables.
i'd like to hear from theoben, bsa, and other pcp users who have no-break guns.

small caliber joy

Also, if a gun was tuned, it would be good to know if the spring was replaced, if it is a springer.

Jock Elliott
Airgun writer,
correspondent, Precision Shooting Magazine
author, "Elliott on Airguns"
http://sites.google.com/site/elliottonairguns/
airgun blog:https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/blog.html

My Fwb124D manufactured in 1979 still has its original factory spring, only the piston seal has been replaced. It shoots a 7.0gr pellet at 820fps, just like when it was new.

Best Regards,
Sixto

About 7 years and about 4000 pellets no leaks zip for maintenance just wipe down with WD40

The Diana 27 is never stressed. The mainsprings seem to last forever. The leather seals will last over 100 years of lubed occasionally. Even the leather breech seal will last a long time if lubed. I guess the Diana 27 would get my vote.

David Enoch

I would have to agree with David. When dissassembled for what I believe to be the first time since 1972, The leather seal still looked like new even tho none of the other owners had lubed the gun. Original lubes were dry and caked. Yet it still managed to discharge a pellet in a proud and enviable manner. The original spring was still true and full of life. Now that it has been serviced it is my favorite shooter.
Four thumbs up for the Diana 27.
Chris

The venerable FWB 601 is (IMHO)one of the most reliable and robust air rifles ever made. For example, a young Cuba lady won the 2003 Pan American Games shooting a well-used FWB 601 like this one beating all the "latest and greatest" match air rifles. The entire Feinwerkbau 600 Series are bullet-proof in their unique sign to CNC a block of aluminum into a precise trigger box/breech/valving system. In Germany, FWB 601's have been used for over 20 years firing tens-of-thousands of shots with nothing more then a dab of white grease on the cocking linkage. But this "long and strong' FWB capability is part of the firms legacy ... after all the FWB 300 pistons seal (a ring) is good for 350,00 firing cycles.

SP: unreliable

Thanks Dan

I have only had mine for 2 years but it has over 11,200 shots through it and not a single problem. It has been shot in hot 100 degree and cold 0 degree weather as well as rain and snow with no problems with function or accuracy. The only maintenance I have done is keeping the tophat clean and oiling the breech o-rings. It has had no tuning at all.

My Benjamin 312? Bought new, way back when, and I just put a new seal in it two days ago. COUNTLESS pellets through the barrel. Plus some wooden dowel "darts" and some bits of nails that I cut up to make pellets when I was young, stupid-er, and couldn't afford to buy more or even drive, for that matter. I can still hit a golf ball at forty yards with open sights with that rifle.

I have had mine over 4 years with thousands of shots thru it and the only thing I have had a problem is with the the cocking knob, it stripped the threads inthe breech. Went on the Talon Forum and used JB Weld as advised and haven't had any issues since. I have had Webleys, HW's, Benjis, Crosmans, and kinds of airguns over the past 35 years and the Condor is the only one that does not worry me because it is just so dead simple in design. With cheap parts readily available if you get the urge to tinker as these guns do require some simple tuning to provide the best in accuracy and 100 yard power.

I do lots of pesting that requires me to hike in so I have 2 buttstock tanks and a handpump for when I am too far from my Jeep. And since I am not held hostage by parts suppliers from overseas with high parts costs that are complex, I will stay with something made in the good Ol USA and keep my money onshore at least I am helping keep some jobs here!!!!

Randy a happy .22/.25 longterm Condor owner shooting something made here!

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it is rugged and simple and performs well ...dont have much experience with many other pcps but my AF has never had a sick day ///////

We have had springers, PCPs, and MSP designs all suggested as reliable airguns. That makes me think that with a few airgun specific replacement parts, most airguns are very reliable. That's pretty cool.

David Enoch

Based on age and usage it goes to my Sheridan BlueStreak .20 from 1977 on its 3rd set of seals. I think reliability is based on how one also takes care of their AG and how much it is shot.

Most good quality airguns are reliable. Sure you will need to replace seals and springs at some point but that is not a maunfacturing defect, it is normal wear and tear.
I had my Shamal .177 PCP for over 20 years and no telling how many pellets and it never had one single problem. Now I sold it eariler this year and I took it apart and changed O-rings etc and to just check it out. It did not have any leaks or any problems I just wanted to make sure it was 100% inside and out.

Bruce Dodson
AireTex Compressors
(214)402-5574 Mobile
(817)633-5505 Office
www.airetex.com

One of the only high volume airguns ever produced with that kind of tune. If left unused for long periods, the lube tended to gum up, but the laser springs seem unbreakable and the seals are probably the best to ever go on a semi-factory gun (one of mine is still shooting hard after 20 years - never been opened up, still has factory spring and seals, and shoots above spec). If you got a laserized R1 AW, I'd say your gun is near indestructible (and I'd like to buy it from you..._.

Bought it maybe10 years ago. I hava a maccari kit and seal waiting to replace the original internals, but the R-9 looks to shoot better every time I pulled out. The velocity drooped maybe 40 fps, but is very consistent and the shooting cycle is very very smoth. It`s topped with an old Bushy sportview 3-9X32 AO on sportsmatch mounts, and I can drop a pigeon at 50 yards easily.

 

Saludos

Heriberto

It has never even occured to me to keep up with how many pellets I shoot in a particular gun. When I go shooting, I usually bring several and pull from the same tins for all the guns. I guess if you shot only one airgun at a time, you could keep a count of pellet tins.

David Enoch

Quite a few of these rifles from the '20's and '30's are still lobbing lead down range. My late '40's 102 is still chuggin' along quite nicely, thankaverahmuch.

My Dad's old Red Ryder he got as a kid in the late '40's is still keepin' the strays out of his yard!

Sharp ACE. I haven't kept track of pellet count, but my ACE .22 has taken a lot of grackles and a lesser number of gophers over the past ten years or so. I'd claim a lot more pigeons...but killing them is illegal here. The old ACE has never had any need for repair, although I've torn it down once just to inspect and clean (which it didn't really need). It still consistently and dependably spits out 14.3gr CP's at 625 fps. I've had to reseal Benji, Sheridan, and Crosman pumpers (and a couple of springers)...but never the ACE. And, it's seen a lot more action than the rest. The design and manufacturing/material quality of the ACE are..IMHO...pretty impressive. Got many springers, pumpers, and CO2's (no PCP's)...but the ACE is what I go to when I need "for sure" dependability for field use. And, it looks pretty good, too...

I DID replace the original plastic trigger shoe with an alloy shoe fabricated from a modified after-market Innova alloy trigger (thanks Iyonk), only because the original plastic shoe didn't measure up to the quality of the rest of the ACE.

.

The most dependable, trouble free airgun in my personal experience is a .22 Theoben Scirocco Gran Prix that I purchased used (almost new) at the 1988 FT Nationals in Indianapolis. It has countless thousands of shots through it and is still going strong. After burning through a couple of seals trying to see how much power I could get out of it, I set it at 750 fps with H&H Trophy pellets. This was before Bob Holz created Premiers and I switched over to 14.3 gr. CPs soon after they came out as they were more accurate and put out 760 fps without adding more air.
David Slade and I took it apart last year and except for a few drops of moisture from the pump, it was just fine. We replaced the piston seal, breach seal and O-ring that goes around the schrader valve since it was already apart, and it shot the same 760 fps with CPs after we put it back together.
So, for over 20 years this rifle has served me well as my first FT rifle and later as the go to hunter and plinker.