by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
BB’s TX200 Mark III
Let’s look at the power and velocity of my TX200 Mark III. You must bear in mind that my rifle is 13 years old and has been thoroughly broken-in. A new rifle will be much slower for the first thousand shots, or so.
Loading
Several readers mentioned how difficult it is to load the TX200 and other spring guns that have sliding compression chambers. I don’t find it difficult at all, and it’s not the size of your fingers that’s at fault. It’s your approach to loading. To load the TX, the muzzle needs to be pointed up. Not straight up, but close to it. The base of the pellet is then held between the thumb and index finger as it’s inserted into the loading port (not the breech, yet — just the loading port). I find the loading port is more than large enough for most hands.
Once you get the pellet inside the loading port, you need to use some technique. The trick to loading any airgun with a sliding compression chamber is to not try to insert the pellet directly into the breech on the first try. Instead, let the pellet connect with the breech face sideways, then move it around with thumb pressure until you feel the head pop into the breech. That helps straighten out the pellet so it can then be pushed into the barrel. Obviously, domed pellets load the easiest this way and wadcutters are the hardest. It takes a minute to read how to do it and about 2 seconds to actually do it!
Loading this way is not done by sight, but by feel. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll load the rifle so fast that you’ll forget about how “hard” it’s supposed to be. Then, it won’t bother you if the scope’s objective bell hangs over the loading port because you’ll be doing everything by feel.
Cocking effort
I measured the effort needed to cock my rifle. For most of the underlever’s stroke it took 32 lbs. of force, but there was one spike that rose to 34 lbs. near the first click of the sliding chamber catch.
Velocity test
The first pellet I tested was the 7.9-grain Crosman Premier lite. The specs say this rifle has 930 f.p.s. velocity; but with these Premiers lites, my rifle averaged 963 f.p.s. The low was 958 and the high was 970 f.p.s. My TX200 has always liked Premier lites, so I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise…but it does.
At the average velocity, this pellet produces 16.27 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. As I recall, it was launching this pellet at around 875 f.p.s. when it was brand new, so this is quite an increase. The total velocity spread with this pellet was 12 f.p.s., which is pretty tight for a springer.
Next up were the Beeman Kodiak Hollowpoints. These weigh 10.34 grains and qualify as heavyweights in .177 caliber. They averaged 818 f.p.s. for 10 shots, with a low of 810 and a high of 836 f.p.s. That’s a 26 f.p.s spread, which is a little on the high side for a spring gun in good condition.
At the average velocity, the Kodiak Hollowpoint produced 15.37 foot-pounds of muzzle energy. I noticed that the heads of these pellets fit the chamber very tight, so I’m writing a note to myself to try them in the Fast Deer rifle the next time I test it.
The last pellet I tested was the Predator Polymag. At 8 grains, it weighs close to what the Premier lite weighs, but the Polymag is a pure lead pellet with a plastic tip, so the performance should be different. Many shooters feel this is a very accurate pellets, so I thought it would be good to test it in a rifle that’s known to be accurate.
Predators averages 916 f.p.s. in the TX200, but the velocity spread was large. It ranged from a low of 887 to a high of 936 f.p.s. That’s a total of 49 f.p.s. The second-slowest shot went 909 f.p.s., by the way. That would have tightened the spread to 27 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the Polymag puts out 14.91 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
Trigger-pull
I adjusted the TX trigger many years ago. So many years, in fact, that I don’t remember when I did it. The 2-stage trigger now releases at 9 oz. on my electronic scale. Since the first-stage take-up is more than 7 of those ounces, this trigger feels really light!
Summary
That’s the performance of my TX200 Mark III. If any of you own newer Mark IIIs and have chronographs, I’d appreciate hearing how fast your guns shoot.
The next step will be to mount a scope on the rifle and sight it in. I think I’m going to slow down the report and document that procedure very carefully, so newer readers have a reference on mounting a scope and sighting-in. That will make Part 4 the first accuracy test.
B.B.,
I bought my TX from PA when they sold ‘used’ guns, so I don’t really know how many shots were fired before my stewardship. It looked like it had never been out of the box, and certainly no scope had been mounted. Anyway, I can tell you after very few shots to get scope numbers, and maybe two matches, so maybe 150 shots, it shot 7.87 JSB’s at 915 fps. That lasted two or three more matches before the original breech seals failed. I guess this rifle is one of the troubled. Jim Maccari to the rescue!
-h
Hank
That is a shame. A gun of this cost and reputation should not be blasting apart its breech seals. I too had problems fairly early on, but they were due to my own meddling, and no fault of the rifle. Did you change anything besides the breech seals while you were at it? It bears mentioning how incredibly easy it is to work on this rifle should the need arise. NO SPRING COMPRESSOR REQUIRED despite the considerable power. /blog/2010/02/disassembling-and-assembling-a-tx200/
Despite some early problems, the gun has become my favorite air rifle. I am hoping you have had a similar experience.
I would be very interested to hear your field target tales.
SL,
Originally I ordered only Jim’s standard breech seals, but they too only lasted a few hundred shots. Someone during a match asked how come the gun kicked so badly. He was right, but it happened so slowly, I didn’t really notice. I did notice many of my shots missing at 6 o’clock! Technically, you could say the gun was experiencing a partial dry fire. Well sometimes it shot ok, sometimes not. I decided to replace the seals (I ordered two sets) between lanes, during the match. I had all the tools in my lane cart, it took very little time, and the gun shot pretty close to point of aim when I was done. My squad partners were most understanding. Sadly, those seals (in this gun) also had a limited lifespan, so I ordered Jim’s harder ‘Tough Core’ seals and his awesome tool steel cocking shoe. After a bit of dinking around, and two separate 12 fpe kits, these seals have been perfect.
-h
Hank,
Thank you for your report. I’m sorry about your breech seal, but those cone-shaped seals can be too thick and can split quickly, as a result.
B.B.
B.B.,
My seals never split, they just crushed to the point that they couldn’t push back and seal up. One of the reasons I picked this gun was the aftermarket support from ARH and others. It was a little frustrating at the time, and I did contemplate competing with other guns. Cooler heads prevailed, although I have spent time with a vintage HW77 and really like it. It is a different gun to hold and shoot, but not less accurate.
-h
hankmcrae,
They used to take used guns in trade or just buy them outright, but they stopped doing that a long, long time ago. For quite some time now (at least since 2006, which is when I started doing work for them), they’ve sold guns as used if they simply opened the box and took it out for photography.
A couple years ago, they created a new category of guns that included remanufactured (brought back up to original specs by the mfr), refurbished (returned by a customer or simply used for photography…gun may or may not have been shot) and open box (box was opened, gun may have been handled but was never been shot).
All the guns in the these 3 categories are discounted from the new-gun prices. I’ve often wondered why people looking for deals don’t glom onto these discounted guns. They still come with the 30-day money-back guarantee as the new guns and the full manufacturer’s warranty. There are some real bargains! They also discount accessories that aren’t new.
Edith
Edith,
I always look at the reman/referb/open box list before all other sales or specials going on. There are always great deals, although sometimes you must be very quick to make up your mind, as other people know about this list too! The reman/referb is a little confusing to me, as initially I think they mean the same thing. I have to read your description of each know which is which.
-h
hankmcrae,
I agree that it’s not as straightforward as it could be. But, we had too many customers who thought they were getting guns that had been owned by someone else for years and that this section was nothing more than a digital airgun show. So, Pyramyd AIR came up with the different names and what each means.
Edith
One of the reasons I don’t bother with the open box and refurbs on PA is simply because most of what is there is airsoft which has zero interest to me. It’s either that or the guns are trash like the all plastic M4-177 which I have 2 m-417’s I can’t sell and don’t use. I’m kind of disillusioned with Crosman, or the guns are still way above what is in my monthly budget even open box. As much as I’d like a nice big bore pcp I have to save up a few months. By the time I have the money the one I want is gone. So I just save up for the one I want, it might as well be new.
I feel it must be fate that you decided to test the Air Arms TX200 111 again. I have been wanting this gun ever since I got into airguns seriously about 5 years ago. Because we have an under 500fps law in Canada, I have been out of luck until now. One of the major on-line stores has brought in 10 under 500fps.TX200’s to test the demand. The only reason I balk at buying one now, is because I was told because they use a lighter spring, the performance will suffer. I own 8 Weihrauchs of various designations, all under the 500fps. limit. They all shoot sub 1 inch groups out to 20 meters. I can’t see why the TX200 would perform differently then a de-tuned HW97. Could you, B.B., or someone tell me If they know of any reason the TX200 would not perform the same as my HW97’s? I don’t know how Air Arms achieved the sub 500fps limit. I am assuming they used a weaker spring rating like Weihrauch uses. One day our esteemed politicians will see the folly of their actions, and stop calling an airgun a fire arm. I hope you guys and gals in countries that have no airgun law, keep your politicians answerable for their actions. Somehow, we in Canada, were lulled into letting their foot in the door, and now they have set up house.
Ciao Titus
Titus,
They won’t use a weaker mainspring, because owners could replace the spring and get power back, and the UK feels that makes the gun a full-powered gun from the beginning. They will probably de-stroke the gun to get rid of the power. That’s much harder to overcome.
I have owned one HW 97 and shot several others and I think the TX 200 is head and tales ahead of that rifle. But I have read many owner reports on the HW that say just the opposite.
I also liked the HW 77 better than the HW 97, but the TC 200 beat the HW 77, as well.
Just my opinion.
B.B.
Titus
Ah yes, the proverbial slippery slope. Most of the abominations that are foisted on supposedly free people happen in this fashion. Increments. The early steps involve seemingly common sense regulations on rights that most of the populace aren’t even exercising anyway. So while a marginalized minority of the population object, everyone else continues concentrating on “American Honey Boo Boo Kardashian Idols Dance With The Real Housewife R&B Teen Mom Divas Whom Have Talent” or whatever crappy TV show as a diversion.
When the mouth breathers finally wake up, it is too late.
Howdy Slinger,
Rainbow Sheeples.
Wear your tin foil helmet (can’t get hurt w/a helmet on) & shoot/ride safe.
Beaz
Hi Titus,
I also live in Canada and I am very new to air guns and shooting in general, about 2-3month new :).
I already applied for PAL just due to the fact that I felt in love with AA TX200, and it was just by looking at it :). Maybe it sounds stupid and naive, but how can you not like this – it looks like a perfection.
Remember “The fifth element” movie? “She is perfect…” 🙂
My point – apply for PAL wile you still can legally. It took me just one day course to attend and then another one morning to pass the tests, and now I mailed all the forms and waiting for the license to come.
Thanks,
Ariel
Hello Ariel
Welcome to the wonderful world of airguns. You couldn’t have picked a better place to learn all you need to know about this sport. Weather you choose to plink at cans, shoot the centre out of a paper target, or do a bit of hunting, this blog has all bases covered. In what part of our fair domain do you reside?
Pertaining to me getting a PAL, you, CBSD, Slinging Lead, and /Dave have given me plenty food for thought. You guys have a persuasive argument when you talk about getting a PAL to let the government understand we are a united front, and come election day, we will hold certain people’s feet to the flames. A politician must realize he/she works for us and will be held accountable for their actions. This is a big reason our respective systems are still intact after 150 Can./240 U.S.A. years. My main reason for not getting a PAL, are the extensive background checks. The RCMP can pay a visit to my unsuspecting neighbors, and cause a lot of needless stress. I am lucky as my neighbours on both sides know I shoot airguns, and in fact have airguns of their own. I cringe at the thought of being investigated. Whether I have or have not anything to hide, is not the issue. I begin to loose interest when questions become too personal. Because I used to hunt pheasant, ducks, and geese with my Dad when I was a young 16, should be held as a factor also. We lost a lot of our freedom when certain folk who despise guns of any description, took a knee jerk reaction to events of the day, and ram rodded a law by parliamentary vote with virtually zero debate. The Montreal Poly Technique shooting of a dozen women was a tragedy of immense proportions. However, that was almost 30 years ago. As long as we continue refusing to address the mental illness problems in society, these events will repeat themselves. We see this phenomena unfold just south of the border as well. I would ask all civil servants to stop playing politics with people’s lives.
I’m off my little soap box now. Thanks for a great place to vent frustration, B.B. and Edith.
Ciao Titus
Ariel,
The crazy thing is the rifle feels better than it looks. The roll-over on the cheek rest, the incredably perfect palm swell on the grip, the reach to the trigger…
I really could go on and on. Oh ya, the nice little click when the sear catches, even the safety feels perfect. The TX really will spoil you.
-h
Do you have your PAL Titus? (assuming from all your sub 500 guns you don’t)
It is very important in my opinion that every shooter in Canada obtain their PAL even if they don’t ever intend of purchasing a powerful airgun or powderburner.
One of the reasons that the U.S. has the gun laws they do is that politicians know that gun owners ‘down there’ are a voting force to be reckoned with (thanks NRA and others).
Here in Canada the only way Harper, Trudeau and the others know we’re here is by looking at how many PAL’s are issued.
I too worry that our future gun rights may be in jeopardy in Canada…primarily because many politicians consider us a minor fringe element. If every airgun owner and black powder shooter (black powder doesn’t need a license) applied for their PAL’s tomorrow they’d realize they can’t continue to treat us as non-existant.
I’ll chime in here to, Titus.
If you don’t have one, get your PAL! And to any other Canadian on this blog, the same advise. Even if you never plan on using it! The reason I say this is that enough people got their CCW permits here in the states that the politicians had to take notice of the rapid rise in the numbers of CCW’s issued. They realised that out wasn’t “just the hated NRA”, but a lot of normal people wanted to carry. I think the same principle will slowly work there too.
/Dave
Man! This phone cannot spell worth a darn!
I asked the very same question on the last part of the report! It seem appealing, doesn’t it.
I guess the only way to find out will be to buy one!
I’m also hesitant about the PAL thing, I know it would be better for the community but like you the process really turn me off.
J-F
BB I use the technique you talked about above to load my Diana 54 Air King and believe it or not the AirForce Talon SS I got awhile back also. Works great.
And It seems to me this is going to be a spring gun that will be added to my collection. Now I like the fps numbers its shooting.
Accuracy next. I hope the gun will make it out to the 50 yard mark. I can see my Hawke 2.5-10×44 AO 1/2 mil-dot Varmint scope on the gun now.
And Ciaco Titus I feel sorry for the people that live places that wont allow the full power versions of the guns available. And yes the politicians are always looking for away to sneak something by.
GF1,
Actually the next report will be mounting a scope and sighting-in. I’m going to take this report slower than most, because the TX 200 is a pivotal air rifle.
B.B.
Howdy Mr. BB, THANX! With apologies ta the rest of the gang who have forgotten more about airgunnin’ than I’ll ever know. Your one foot in front of the other approach on this report is a godsend to me. Can’t shoot along w/ya due to a couple challenges (can now scratch ride in a firetruck off my bucket list) but this is exactly + more than what I need. Thanx ya’ll, shoot/ride safe
Beaz
Yep I read that above BB about the scope next. And that is a good idea about the scope this time.
And ok then the accuracy test. And I can still see my Hawke scope sitting on the gun. 🙂
GF1
Be careful loading your pellets. I have had them drop back out even though I thought they were tight enough to stay put. Some times they fall clear, other times they fall into the breech area and stay there. Ever hear a 48 dry fire ? Gets your attention.
Some times I pick up two pellets at a time without knowing it when shooting .177. One loads, and the other falls into the breech area. This is gonna cause a problem too.
twotalon
TT
I have dropped a pellet in my 54 but I got it out before I shot. But yep I sure would hate to mess a gun up because of that.
99% of my shooting is at a range five minutes from my house that has a VERY strict rule against lifting the muzzle above horizontal ( the only exception is for loading tube magazine rifles and unloading revolvers ) because it’s in the middle of a densely populated suburb. And even though the firing line is under steel plates that a .177 could not possibly penetrate, I got dinged once for loading my TX200 like B.B. describes.
So I load and cock with the butt in the crook of my shoulder, pointed down. For maybe the first 100 shots it was a PITA and I thought I’d never be able to get it loaded smoothly. Soon after I realized that I was loading totally blind without a hitch. Eventually my muscle memory managed to make it a completely effortless operation for most pellets.
For what it’s worth, CP 7.9 pellets are the ones that are the worst to load – very tight in the breech, and not terribly impressive groups. I’ve tried a bunch of others and have the best groups at 25+ years with AA Field 4.51 & 4.52 heads ( both seem to shoot the same ). I picked up a tin of JSB Exact Express just to compare because many people have said their TX200’s like them, and they’re like a shotgun pattern in mine.
A few days ago, a blog reader asked about the Crosman 852 pellet trap
and if it was okay if you shot steel BBs into it. I recall when that trap went live and replaced the 850 trap, which was rated as a pellet & BB trap.
I asked our tech department to check the packaging and the back of the 852 trap, and there is no mention of BBs or being suitable for anything but pellets.
If you need a trap that can accept either steel BBs or lead pellets,
the Leapers trap is the way to go.
You can also use the Winchester airgun pellet & BB cube.
Edith
Hi Edith,
Nice blogsite. yeah I think the bb trap cannot hold pointed pellets. I’m a kinda DIY guy, so I made mine using plywood with enough thickness and I used some rags and other stuff inside to help stop the pellet.
Jeff
I made some sort of a box with handle. I placed slit on the corners to hold a paper target (if i’ll shoot paper). Really nice hobby. shooting air rifles 🙂
Jeff
I get absolutely the best groups with CP lights out of my TX 200. Other domed pellets have worked well but no reason to go with anything else. I tried CP heavy pellets once and the spring made a terrible noise and stopped using them.
Velocity with CP lights was quite a bit higher out of the box than BB reports. I was in the 940-960 fps range, but spring broke within the first 2,000 shots. New Macarri spring did exactly what BB said. Started off slow around 900 fps an is now around 930 fps.
POI shifts after about 30 shots, for about 10 shots, and then comes back to original. Never been able to figure out why, but I presume it has to do with either the spring, or me. Note that I am talking about tenths of an inch at 20-30 yd.
TE
TE
This may have something to do with the spring walking in a circle, changing vibration patterns.
When I first got my 97K it was terribly noisy. As I shot, the noise would subside, then after reaching the minimum vibration level it would start getting slowly worse again. Up and down over and over again. I did not look at what it was doing on target. Simply observing this constant noise rollercoaster.
twotalon
twotalon,
this is a very interesting hypothesis and consistent with observation. Is there any way to mitigate that other than using tar?
TE
TE
I don’t think that tar will do much good if this is the problem.
I would maybe try polishing the ends of the spring as smooth as possible, taking care to polish off any sharp corners or edges at the ends of the spring. Then apply a bit of moly on the ends and on any washers or guides on either end of the installation.
Might help or might not . You could give it a try if you want.
twotalon
twotalon,
polish as in using a Dremel tool? or by hand?
I will certainly try it, thanks
TE
TE
I use a fine sharpening stone (like for knives) to do the ends (flat parts). Takes some rubbing on some of them.
The ends of the spring where it was cut off get the Dremel, but not with a grinding stone. I use a polishing stone that has a very fine texture. Same size as a cutting disk, but thicker. Leaves a super smooth finish.
twotalon
BB,
when you are testing accuracy, could you please rest the TX 200 on sandbags at or near the end of the forearm? I have noticed that resting it that way I get the best accuracy off sandbags. I do get much better groups resting on the palm of my hand though regardless of position.
Thank you
TE
TE,
Yes, I plan to shoot the TX 200 directly resting on a bag. I will do that after I have a baseline with the artillery hold.
B.B.
I sent my TX back a few months ago. After about 10 shots the arm that connects to the cocking arm came lose at the rear. It would cock no more. Apparently this was common for a few months. They had some QC issues. Sent it back and bought a s510 carbine instead. Best airgun purchase I ever made!
I have a bit of a different loading technique with my TF99. Much like what RichM described above. I shoot righty and I cock with my left hand with the butt tucked under my right armpit with the barrel pointed level or down a little. Then transfer the cocking arm to my right hand and pick up a pellet with my left. The barrel is now pointing downward in front of me. With the pellet between my thumb and forefinger of my left hand and the nose of the pellet pointed across my palm, I insert it with the pinky finger of my hand pointed away toward the muzzle in the same pellet-tilted way that BB does to find the hole and then roll my thumb across the skirt to seat it in the chamber. Finish cocking the gun and back to shooting.
I developed this on my own after reading about the dangers of sliding chamber finger and thumb amputations. Life without thumbs is not something I want to contemplate… At no time during this process is the cocking lever ever out of my hand and the butt is solidly squeezed under my right armpit.
/Dave
I hadn’t thought of the first stage of a double-stage trigger having any pull weight worth mentioning. But here it sounds like the first stage at 7 ounces is heaver than the second stage at 2 ounces. How could that be. On my high school rifle team, the wife of the head coach and assistant coach in her own right was supposed to be a member of some national team. Her leather jacket was certainly colorful in red, white, and blue with various logos. But loud as the jacket was, she was silent in proportion. Anyway, it was the main coach who said that the trigger on her extremely tricked out rifle was adjusted down to 2 ounces, equivalent to your TX200’s second stage. But maybe her 2 ounces was measured from contact with the finger.
Kevin, that is some horrendous footage. Glad you’re okay. For your friend, I’m so curious to know how his gun collection made out. It’s situations like this that make me think about those canisters sold on CheaperThanDirt that allow you to bury your guns for safekeeping.
B.B., I know you’re a fan of open sights, but here is how I’m figuring their decreased performance compared to scopes at distance. I’m starting with the notion that a gun’s accuracy is determined by how well you aim it, not its intrinsic accuracy. Next I’m using an analogy of Jeff Cooper’s range-probable error concept whereby accuracy does not decrease in linear fashion as the distance increases. The accuracy decreases faster than that for a whole bunch of reasons. Now we know that no iron sights are going to equal the image you get in a good scope. That is just the John Henry principle at work. So as distance increases, could it be that the little errors in image that you get for iron sights relative to a scope increase in the same non-linear way that Jeff Cooper ascribes to guns so that your accuracy falls off faster than it would with a scope? (Note that this makes Nancy Tompkins’ 5 inch groups at 1000 yards with iron sights practically superhuman!)
Last night I had my first session shooting my Walther Nighthawk with H&N match pistol pellets which I restocked, and they were fabulous. This is the only pellet I can shoot in that gun without a horrendously heavy trigger pull. Trouble is these pellets are $13.50 per 500 introducing a significantly higher expense than I had counted on with this very recreational part of my shooting. At 2.5 cents per shot it’s still not that bad. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has the name of other action pistol type pellet guns, blowback or revolver, that is not so picky with pellets.
Maybe this bracing session of action shooting is why I had the most vivid possible dream last night of having a conversation with B.B. while he was attired in a dress-blue uniform. It turned out that he is actually a Navy Seal admiral in disguise, and he took a number of calls on his cellphone in that capacity. Everything else–the stint in the army and the gun writing–was all a disguise. At the end of the dream, I vowed never to ever spill the secret, but look at me now. 🙂
Matt61
Matt,
It is a bit difficult to understand how a second stage can be lighter than the first. It really isn’t, but it does feel that way.
How it works is, the first stage is 7 ounces. Once the trigger stops at stage 2, that is how much force has been expended to get there. Now it feels like you are pulling nothing, because the trigger is stopped at the second stage. In truth, you are still pulling 7 ounces — that hasn’t gone away. So, when I say that stage 2 takes 2 additional ounces of pull, what that means is the force goes up from 7 ounces to 9 ounces. But to the shooter, it only feels like 2 ounces, because the first 7 ounces were forgotten when the second stage was reached.
And 7 ounces is like no resistance at all. You can barely feel it.
This is the way triggers on 10-meter target pistols work. By regulation they have to break at 500 grams or more. That’s just over 18 ounces. But most shooters load 450-480 of those grams into stage 1, so stage 2 feels like nothing at all. You actually have to train with a trigger set up this way to be able to reliably feel the second stage. That’s where a lot of dry-firing comes in handy. And yet the trigger that’s set up this way will still pick up a 500-gram weight without firing.
B.B.
Matt,
I know Scott is swamped with many important issues right now so I haven’t asked him specifically about his toys.
I’ve only exchanged one email with him and that was to find out if he and his wife were ok. There home was swept off the foundation and is downstream in many pieces over many miles and I assume the guns went with it.
Shame since he had many fine guns. limited edition Daystate grand prix, several AZ rapids with all the goodies, FX elite, magnificent glass like sightron siii’s, leupold comps, etc. Won’t be easy to replace most of his stuff since he’s left handed.
kevin
I was just able to watch this… Absolutely heart breaking. I wasn’t affected by this flood either, but my thoughts and prayers for all those that were.
/Dave
I just wanted to mention that the Air Arms:
– TX 200 MK III
– TX 200 HC (Hunter Carbine)
– Pro Sport
…are basically the same gun. That is what the representatives from Air Arms told me at IWA 2013.
The main spring, barrel length and the quality of the barrel are exactly the same on all three air guns. The difference is that the Hunter Carbine has a shorter shroud, shorter under-lever and the muzzle is threaded (to accept a silencer which is legal here in Europe). The stock is a bit different on the three rifles. All guns are under-levers, but the Pro Sport has the under-lever hidden in the wooden stock.
I have shot the MK III and the Pro Sport and both feels great. I feel that the shorter HC has a better balance and is more handy when hunting in the bush of the three air rifles. The MK III is a bit front/muzzle heavy, but that makes probably the MK III a better shooter. I love the design of the Pro Sport by the way.
Eddie
Eddie,
The 3 guns do share many of the same powerplant components, but they are far from being essentially the same gun. The Hunter Carbine has a too0shot barrel that allows the piston to slam forward with too much of a jar, and the cocking lever it too short, adding 10 pounds to the effort. The Pro Sport has poor cocking linkage geometry that also raises the cocking effort.
Only the straight TX is smooth with a light cocking effort.
B.B.
Hi Tom,
I have a TX200 MK III that I recently did chronograph tests on several pellets. How can I attach an Excel file to a post?
Short answer: You Don’t.
Longer answer: You can cut&paste from the spreadsheet, but that will lose column alignment (might be better to export it as a CSV file and cut&paste /that/ — it would allow readers to cut&paste from the page into a text file and import back to Excel). OR…
You obtain web-space of your own, post the file there, and just provide an HTTP link to your web site.
Yesterday while trying different pellets I pulled out the chronograph and these are the results out of my brand new TX200 HC.I shot 10 round strings from each pellet to get these averages.
Crossman premier heavies 10.5 grn 803fps
Crossman premier ultra mag 10.5 grn 803 fps
JSB Exact heavies 10.34 grn 813 fps
H&N FT Trophy 8.64 grn 867fps
Crossman Premier hollow points 7.9 grn 941 fps
Keith,
Thank you for that data. Apparently your Hunter Carbine came out of the box hot!
B.B.
Hi B.B.
I’ve been testing lately my CZ200 12ft lb .22 rifle, I zeroed mine @ 30yards, have you done any pellet test for this rifle? Not if others will have same results as mine..
BTW, if I may ask, goin back to the charging equipment, why did you quit on pumps and switched to dive bottles?
Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff,
Try JSB Exact Jumbo 15.9-grain pellets. As for the pump, I’m 66 and I guess I don’t like to work so hard all the time.
B.B.
Hi B.B.
Yeah I tried that one, but weird as most of the people say about JSB’s this one gave me scattered groups at 30 yards. I think the 18 grain JSB’s will do good but for a 12 ft/lb rifle I think it’s heavy… I used pointed crosmans hunting pellets 14.3 grains. and I got pellet within pellet at 30 yards, for 50 yards, I got dead center hit 3 mil holdover at my sweet spot 120 to 130 BAR. I just find it weird that I see few people claim accuracy in using crosman hunting pointeds..
Jeff
Jeff
Round nose/domed usually will shoot the best (good brands). Some people drive themselves nuts trying to get them to shoot certain pellets when they won’t for some reason. Some rifles will do the best with pellets that most people find to be poor . It’s the individual rifle that you are dealing with. Some have odd tastes. Don’t worry about what most people use. Try anything you want, but go with what the rifle likes best .
The Exacts are always a good place to start, but they don’t always work. Be careful of differences between different tins of pellets. There can be a lot of variation. One tin may shoot great, while the next tin just don’t cut it. Can happen with any kind. Always good to find more than one kind that works good .
twotalon
Agree with you twotalon. Others say I should try domed AA pellets. But I’d go with what works best with my rifle, besides the hunting pointed of crosman packs a devastating penetration power.
Thanks!
Jeff