You may recall TTAG’s SHOT Show picture of Pyramid Air’s PR person Elise Venditti. You might want to click here to refresh your memory. If you’re looking to refresh your shooting skills, well, we don’t have to tell you that popular caliber ammo is still as scarce as a coherent foreign policy in the District of Columbia. And even when you can find gun food, it ain’t cheap. That being the case, we’ve struck up a new relationship with air gun gurus extraordinaire, Pyramid Air. That means our scribes will be turning their hyper-critical eyes toward air- and CO2-powered wonderguns like this beautiful little Walther PPK (295 fps, retail price: a whopping $59.95). You can get an awful lot of valuable practice in with one of these babies – and do it in your basement or back yard. Oh, and it’s also a great, safer way to indoctrinate a noob in the tenets of the Four Rules of Gun Safety. So watch this space in the weeks ahead to see what the best reviewers in the bidness think of these gas-powered fun guns.

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35 COMMENTS

  1. Looks like you guys are messing with the website layout again. FWIW, the experience on iPad is worse than ever now.

    • Go to the bottom and select desktop. When the page reloads, double tap anywhere on the left.

      It sucks bulls’ horns, but at least it works.

      • I’m looking at it on my Note 2 (Droid platform), and it is horrendous. I have to be here on my PC to even comment on other comments. The original layout was fine, but you guys are getting too “creative” without proper testing. Please work out the bugs before you publish a new layout.

      • Q: How many web designers does it take to change a lightbulb in the field?

        A: “The light in my office works fine.”

  3. Airsoft is a great way to get back yard trigger time and have a lot of fun. I bought a KWA 1911 about 6 months ago and am enjoying the heck out of it. All metal, same operation, weight and feel as the real thing and very accurate out to about 30 feet. My advise if you’re interested in this, don’t waste your money on the cheap BB toys. Get a good quality airsoft pistol or rifle.

    • I’ve been looking at one of those! about $100 or so, yeah? How do you like it, does it make for a decent drill gun, etc etc? I’d love to get some shooter feedback, all the airsoft reviews on it are good, but most those guys don’t own a real one to compare it to.

      • About $175 and yeah it’s a very good drill gun. I have a Springfield 1911 and the feel and weight is right. The operation is very close except for the recoil of course and the light trigger. I’ve put about 4000 rounds through it with no problems.

  4. Really… TTAA The Truth About Airsoft….

    Just when I thought knives were mission creepy enough, you go and double down.

  6. Unfortunately, those of us that live within city limits in many places don’t even have the option to shoot at home. All firearms, bows, airguns, slingshots, etc are illegal to discharge. Your chances of getting caught are low, but not worth the risk.

    • Yes, as a major CYA, I wouldn’t suggest recommending people shoot a pellet gun in their back yard w/out consulting their local laws or realizing it may not be legal. While Federal law doesn’t define these as firearms, I think it’s fair to say that most cities specifically ban the ‘discharge’ of most things that shoot a projectile, including air guns and sling shots and whatever else. No gunpowder needed to be a “firearm” in these cases.

      I think this was the subject of a TTAG post a little while ago when a guy got on his city’s armed offender (or something like that) list due to shooting a pellet gun.

      • My city specifically allows airguns and bows and the shooting of pest animals with them provided the projectiles don’t leave your property.

      • In New Jersey launching any object with a machine is a no no. If you throw rocks you are probably in a grey area. I wouldn’t chew a pop tart into the shape of a gun.

    • Shoot indoors, if you can. Or take your chances on a potential slap on the hand if caught (assuming the Cop is a dick who will see harm in a tiny BB/Pellet pistol firing at targets with a backstop safety).

  7. A think it’s a good idea. I’ve owned a Gamo “Varrmit Hunter” for a few years. I enjoy shooting it just as much as I do my firearms…and I am able to get target practice in my back yard.

    I look forward to seeing some .22 caliber reviews. Hm, I wonder, would a air rifle be sufficient to set off a tannerite rimfire target? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQA-EWOXqBc

  8. Rambeast – With a little set up you can shoot in your garage or even a spare bedroom………depending on the tolerance level of your wife of course.

    • I don’t have the wife problem, but the neighbors can be just as bad. =) I guess when I next go house/apartment hunting, I’ll keep an eye out for large rooms, and garages.

  9. I just picked up the WE copy of the XDM…damn near identical form factor and with green gas and the reciprocating slide, it’s a good experience. You just need to scale your targets from the distance you would normally shoot at to the new distance.

    Check BAM airsoft on youtube. They even have an airsoft texas star. This is how I plan to roll in the garage this winter or sooner if I run out of 22LR. I reload my own 40’s so I’ve not gone dry during the great panic.

  10. Have them send you a KWA Full Metal M226 PTP NS2 Airsoft Gun (I purchased it from them). Same manual of arms as a real P226 including working decocker. Same weight, same sights and fits in same holsters and has a rail. Has nice blowback action and 300fps with green gas.

    This is what I use in gun classes that I teach before taking them to range.

  11. So… Since were drifting all over, why are Gatling guns NFA items?

    They have no trigger at all, so do not shoot multiple times per trigger pull…

    I was thinking it might be interesting to buy a crate of Mosins for use as raw “materiel,” and to go to freakin’ town.

    Inquiring minds want to know.

      • The crank does count as a trigger, but it takes 60 degrees of rotation for each individual shot to go off, so that’s not fully automatic. If you’re building one though you’d want to be extremely careful that it cannot continue spinning after the crank is released. Even one shot fired without deliberate action is bad news if the ATF finds out about it.

  12. Kind of ironic, I just bought a Crosman CO2 pistol Saturday. Didn’t realize they could be fun plinking in the back yard. 10 bucks for 15 CO2 cart, 10 bucks 2400 BB’s.

    The thing is actually almost as loud as my 22 rifle. It has a little recoil. Keeps you in practice and actually hits about 450 FPS. 20 shots per mag. It will go thru an alum can at 25 feet.

  13. CO2 guns usually are of lesser quality, hence less cost, and you don’t really save anything in the hassle or cash department due to the CO2 canisters you have to buy. As said above a KWA pistol, especially the “Professional Training Pistol” line are a better value. They sit at around $160 each but you can use propane or green gas, and often you have a couple mags worth of gas in each magazine fill up. KWA, as well as some other companies like WE, have been working on gas blow back rifles now and have some pretty good features such as locking the bolt on an empty mag.

    I wouldn’t scoff at Airsoft too much. For plinking it’s cheap, for teaching newbies it’s invaluable, and it’s a far cheaper and simpler method of force-on-force training. Airsoft helps people transition to real firearms as well, especially those that can’t afford or legally own real firearms, especially pistols, yet. It’s an important part of growing a positive gun culture. Like everything there’s a variety of uses and levels of seriousness, but that doesn’t mean Airsoft is not a valuable learning and recreation tool.

  14. It’s a gateway drug. I started with BB and pellet guns as a kid, have the same PPK mentioned, as well as a FWB603 (look it up!). During the winter, I can shoot into a trap in the basement at 10 meters distance w/o disturbing anyone else in the house. Great when you can’t get to range, and a godsend when the great ammo drought was fully underway. Triggers aren’t usually the same as bang weapons, but the breathing, point-of-aim, and other disciplines are all similar. BTW, the FWB 603 gives me 0.1″ groups at 10 meters with my 58-year-old eyes and limbs supporting it offhand. Good, cheap (except for the 603) fun!

    • FWB stands for FeinWerkBau which means Fine Work Company.
      I used their guns for years. Very reliable and accurate.

  15. A friend of mine had a daisy VL caseless .22 in I think 1968 I t was interesting I think daisy bought it back from him the next year when they stopped making the ammo for it. I recall it as a fun little rifle for backyard plinking

    45 years later and even with the very high cost brass no one has yet built and sold an economic caseless cartridge fire arm. ( since the pre civil war volcanic pistol was also caseless as was the Dreise needle gun I guess I should append modern to that)(also the H&K G11 of the 1990s but that was also a project that never saw full production)
    The point still stands brass cases are expensive and by now we should have available caseless ammo

  16. My experience with air guns is they are not terribly accurate (the projectile doesn’t really go where you aim) and they’re not terribly consistent (the projectile doesn’t always go to the same place). I’ll be interested to see if these reviews can prove my experiences wrong.

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