Page 4 - IZH 53M Air Reviews

I like the solid, simple construction. The balance is good.

I would change the sights. Like other reviewers, I could not get shots in the bullseye with any adjustment of the iron sights. Daisy 7.5 grain flatnose pellets typically hit 4 inches (10 cm) high. Following another reviewer's suggestion, I cut small notches in the edge of the plastic butt pad to permit access to the dovetail mount, removed the rear sight, and replaced it with a Daisy 7809 point sight.

It's not clear where to get replacement parts like a barrel seal. Get a cleaning kit with a soft aluminum cleaning rod instead of using the steel rod included with the gun

Great pistol, unbelievable value and quality for the price. I owned one back in Russia and it took all of the abuse from me for 11 years. Recently wend back to Russia to check on my parents and guess what boys in the neighborhood still using my pistol. It's like 20+ years of service.

Pistol shoots high. You would have to adjust rear sight to the lowest possible setting and aim a little bit lower then desirable point of impact. Or just remove the rear sight and install Daisy red dot sight (I believe it's like $12 here on Pyramid Air), will work very well.

One of very few items this days that is not made in China ...

I spent time taking a hard look at this spring pistol before buying, reading reviews here and online. There's not a lot of information out there. However, I was thrilled to open the box and find a quality air pistol. For $55, you are getting a real gun. At this price point, I have yet to see an air pistol that doesn't feel like a toy. I own a Saiga 7.62 mm rifle, also made by Izhmash, and this has the same rugged utilitarian build quality. I opted to pay an extra $10 for the "10 for 10" service from Pyramid, 10 shots through the chronograph and basic inspection for fear of the dreaded sighting issue talked about below. At 25 feet I do have the sights adjusted low, but not all the way down. I still have two notched of play in downward rear sight adjustment. And, living in the northeast, I can shoot this pistol all year without running into temperature issues that would effect co2 performance. Great little pistol, great design object, and it's made by Izhmash. At this price, you can't really go wrong. I'm really happy with it.

At this price, nothing.

Still in the break in period, only 70 pellets through the gun. Looking to see what kind of groups I can get once broken in. My freehand shooting is not great, haven't bench rested it yet. Using match pellets only in this one. Great service at Pyramid, Erika set me up with a pellet matched to this particular air pistol, and is very knowledgeable. H & N Finale Match for targets, along with a Beeman pellet for just plinking around.

Great gun

Better sights

Price, performance, built like a Russian Tank

Nothing

This thing is fun to shoot. If you run out of elevation adjustment you just need a heavier pellet or more distance between you and the target. Great destroyer of empty soda cans; makes recycling fun again

Price.It's a real bargain for under 60.00. Good accuracy,pretty well made,easy to cock.fun to shoot

Needs a safety of some kind.The trigger when set according to factory recommendation is very light.You better be ready to shoot if this gun is cocked because if you touch the trigger it could go off.I am reluctant to let my grandson shoot this with out me hovering right over him because the trigger is so light and has no safety.A lot of reviewers have said the sight will not adjust enough to put the pellets on target.They are right they won't.I filed the front sight to allow it to rise up higher.I rotated the rear leaf sight so it would be lower and it still shoots 3"+ high at 10 meters.I am going to put a red dot sight on it.That will be more fun anyway.

This gun even with its flaws is a great deal.I would buy it again.

Extremely affordable performance. Rear sight adjustments - Excellent little pistol fun to shoot good for plinking or 10m minor issues (See Change) 1000 pellets later still going strong. Exceptional value for the $$. Highly recommend to anyone that likes springers. I also have the 46m which is another sweet product from our Russian brethren. Highly recommend both!

Rear notch too wide for my taste. Shoots high even with 1911 hold. Drilled a 4-40 and tapped for a set screw in the front sight behind the pivot point and then took of about 4mm off the bottom of the front sight back end now I can adjust the front sight height as needed added a little Loctite and Viola! - Trigger adjustment screw needed to be straightened and re-tightened to make contact with the trigger. Having owned German springers, I found one particularly annoying aspect, once fully broken open barrel swings free, doesn't lock open.... drives me crazy but such a fun pistol I can live with it.

Love this pistol. Have owned other German pistols and while granted the fit and finish is not quite as good, the performance is great considering the price. This pistol hits hard I'd like to see the chrono results. ALSO hold sensitive. If you've never shot a springer and wondering if you'll like it this is a great little pistol to start with or as a 2nd, or 3rd or 4th. Pyramyd Air your customer service is great Thanks Sandra!

very accurate, easy to cock, great value for the price

it could be a little lighter, could use a more ergonomic grip

this gun has a rather heavy recoil, so you must either compensate for this or adopt a non-traditional grip style to handle it. however once you get the recoil under control, this gun is more than capable of quarter size groups at 10 meters one downside i found with this gun is that you must disassemble the gun in order to remove the rear sights, however, i found that cutting 2 small groves in the plastic end cap will solve this problem.

I love the price and it is well built, I have the RWS and the Browning... I enjoy shooting this one, it is much easier to cock and seems to be better balanced than the RWS and the Browning.. ..

Maybe a little bit more power..

Day-Glo sights would be a very nice upgrade that I would be willing to pay for.. I am not sure if they offer an after market sight... I placed a bright pink sticker on my front sight to help the "sight allignment" ... It is very accurate .. I use it mainly for shooting minnows in a ditch behind my back yard... If I was going to shoot any "small game" I would most defanitely reach for the .22 Browning.. But If Im just plinking for an hour or two at a time Im ultimately reaching for the IZH 53 .. I have no regrets with this pistol I have shot it over a few thousand times and it operates just as good as they day I got it... If this pistol were to break today, I would purchase another within an hour of it breaking.. Pyramid Air has also been great to deal with..

Easy to load . trigger is nice!! easy to hit tin cans for my boys and wife ten yards!

safety on it would be nice !

I like it. so i order one more. i'm useing 7.9 gr crosman premier @335fps. The boys,wife and I are haveing fun ! Be safe and have fun !

Typically well made by IZH. Operates smoothly, very easy to cock. Excellent trigger. I would say accuracy maybe one step below match pistols---but still surprisingly good. I have 10 air pistols, Sheridan, Crosman, Umarex, Baikal MP654K......the 53M is the most accurate of them all by a fair margin. I am getting good groups at up to 20 yards. Pretty fair velocity also. Very comfortable grip and very nice weight balance, at least for me. Great sights too--mine doesn't shoot high like some other reviews.

Maybe a little more velocity and definitely a .22 model! I suppose also, the scope dovetail should be longer for more flexibility in mounting dots/scopes, but really this is the first pistol I own where I am not anxious to change the sights.

Great gun for a great price.

This gun is cheap to buy and provides hours of fun. This is my first springer hand gun and I have found it very challenging to learn how to shoot. I suppose it would be a bore if it was bullseye every shoot out of the box. Watching Tom Gaylord's video on how to hold any pistol was a tremendous help on getting those groups small. Many people report this gun shooting high and mine did as well, but that was all due to my hold. Watch Tom's video and that problem will go away. This gun is so easy to use you will go through a tin very quickly. I have put about 1500 rounds through mine and I have no issues. The gun is also very quite allowing me to shoot in my home 25ft range any time and not disturb anybody.

Allow the rear site to come off easily to mount other things. A safety would have been nice since the trigger is so crisp

I have tried many pellets and the one I have the best results with are Daisy Flat nose. That is great because it makes the gun much cheaper to shoot with all day, The gun will shoot high from the recoil of the spring, so be sure to check out the video/article on PyramydAir on How to hold any Pistol and that problem will be gone. My gun is very hold sensitive, it doesn't like a lot of you touching it. So get your hold down and practice it and the accuracy of this gun will surprise you. The trigger is very crisp and there is no safety so keep your finger away from that trigger until you are ready to shoot. This gun is awesome, have some patience with it and try a variety of pellets until you get one that groups well.

This gun is well construced and easy to use. I can shoot it for hours. It is very quite so it is good for indoor use and in the backyard with fussy neighbors. The sights on it are real nice. Very accurate and seems to like just about any pellet I put in it.

This gun shoots very high and almost made this gun the most inaccurate gun I have. I did find a solution to that problem. Making the front sight adjustable would be the best thing to change on this gun.

As I said before this gun shoots very high. My solution was to use 10.5 grain pellets. This dropped the shot a lot. All I needed to do was adjust my rear sight to shot a bit higher now and I'm dead on. Still enough velocity to penetrate the cardboard box. I am going to try out 9grain pellets and see if that will work out as well so I can regain some velocity. THIS GUN SHOOTS HIGH.

Accuracy at 10 meters Quarter Size Shot Groups Real Quality for the Price , Nice Balance. A very nice Target Pistol.

Nothing.

The Only Pellet that worked for me is the Daisy Flat Nose. All other pellets were all over the Board.

Accurate & Inexpensive to Shoot.

Removable front sight would be nice. It is not needed with the scope mounted.

SET TRIGGER: With the barrel 'cracked' pull the trigger and release before closing the action. This sets the trigger to be much lighter and crisper.

Price. Seems well constructed. Son loves it but I'm leary to let him go out alone with it as he's still a beginner and this gun has no safety.

Needs a safety. I bought this for my son and have preached and preached gun safety only to get this gun and it has no safety. WTH?

No safety on this gun.

price, decent accuracy, easy to use. this gun is a great value for the price. a really good starter air pistol for someone and a lot of fun for the experienced air gun shooter.

the sights could be a little better. but then so could my eyes. for the price however, I don't think changes could be made without making the gun more expensive.

nothing I can think of the IZH53 is just a great value and a lot of fun.

Very nice design. Good weighting and pretty stable accuracy

Add more space to adjust front/end sights. Many people reports high shooting. Can confirm it is true for most of pellet types.

great trigger, easy to cock, single pump.

this gun seems to have some issues that have not been raised in other reviews, so it may be an anomaly or a different batch. that said i found the breech to freely bored as some pellets just sort of fall in about 1/4 inch and others the tip is secure but the skirt is unsupported. also the recoil is intense for the amount of power this pistol has.

this pistol is very touchy. it is picky about pellets and your hold. i would not call this a target pistol for sure, but i find it a good trainer gun, accurate enough to shoot fairly well, but it will really let you know when you are shooting sloppy.

Very happy with the accuracy so far. I've shot at least 100 rounds at a 5" square target, standing, from about 20 feet away and every single shot is within a little inch and a half circle. Some 10 shot groups at 20' were nickel-sized. Finish on the metal is very nice as well, barrel and compression tube are deeply blued. Cocking is very easy, noise when firing is minimal. Rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation.

The sights need some kind of white dots on them, it is easy enough to do that yourself to your liking. As others have said it does shoot high at 15-20 feet so I guess the rear sight could use a little more adjustment. The trigger is not as smooth as it is in a typical firearm, but it's fine for the money. Little more velocity.

I own 3 handguns and I will definitely get valuable practice from this airgun. Mine did not come with a spare spring as others have said they got.