Page 5 - IZH 53M Air Reviews

i have only shot just received this gun and fired it under 100 times so read this as a first impression review. i like the balance and ergonomics, and the feather light cocking effort. and the trigger is superb for such an inexpensive gun.

recoil, it seems like this gun puts more energy into making the muzzle jump than it does into the pellet, maybe it should be a bit weightier to absorb some of the recoil. it also seems like the barrel is rather free bored, some pellets just drop into the breach.

right now i would say this pistol is a harsh mistress, it seems capable of some accuracy but you will really have to earn it. i have yet to find a way to make it group well at all, but i just got it and spring pistons are not my favorite power plant. I have done some experiments resting the gun, and changing the hold shifts the point of impact by about 5 inches @ about 10 yards. for me 10 shot groups have been forming up to be about 1/2 inches wide and 3 or 4 inches high. i normally get sub inch groups from my stock crossman 1377 so these results are pretty poor for a "target pistol". this would be a frustrating pistol for a beginner to be sure.

I am a NRA pistol instructor however this is my first air pistol. a fun pistol, with good accuracy for the money.

white outline on the rear and front blade

Great price only $49. Very easy to cock so it makes a nice training pistol for a newcomer or all day plinker. Fairly quiet and not much recoil for a springer. Comes with a spare spring which is thoughtful. Overall a solid design, decent trigger (given the price of the gun), fairly accurate with the rifled hammer forged barrel doing it's job well. The rear sight is removable which gives you a 2.5" grooved rail for a scope mount, but Pyramyd says the gun needs to be disassembled to mount a scope. Haven't taken the sight off myself so can't comment on that.

I wish it was more powerful; would like to see at least 425-450 fps out of it. It does not have a safety so be careful if training with kids.

I own several Baikal products and they are all great guns for the money.

Getting crazy, I know, this is my THIRD review of this pistol, so look below for Things I Liked. (Still love the rear sight)

Things I DID change: tuned trigger, fixed front sight.

This addresses the front sight issue. I had the same problem (shooting high, no matter what) as a lot of people commenting on this gun online here and other forums. The fix was simple. I drifted out the pin holding the front sight and removed the entire front sight lever. Using a Dremel or a file (I used a file), take some material off the back of the base of the sight lever. Without alteration, only the very very very-end of the lever touches the sight assembly, so if you file that corner off, you quickly raise the front of the lever when reassembled. I spent about 45 minutes, taking off a couple hundredths of an inch at a time and checking to see how it was shooting. It's an easy fix. Post below this one mentions DRY FIRING. Don't dry fire your spring piston guns. Ever. Of course the "recoil" is surprisingly harsh, the piston is slamming into the front of the compression tube because you don't have any pellet in the bore to offer resistance. Sheesh!

See below, this is an addition to my last review.

Shoots high, front sight needs to be raised a little. This can be accomplished by removing the sight blade and filing the base of the rear of the blade. Basically makes it rotate through a slightly longer arc, raises the sight post, lowers POI. Will try this later this weekend.

I took my 53M apart last night. It's really easy to get the trigger parts out. Polished the contact points on the trigger piece (behind and within the blade) and the sear lever with a rubber polishing disk on my Dremel, cotton buffing disk, then a little 60% Moly. Also took a lot of the travel out with the adjustment screw. Now my trigger pull is 19 ounces and really smooth, took me all of 30 minutes, and only needed the Dremel and a screwdriver. This is turning out to be a great bargain! Shoots about as accurate as my Webley Tempest, but a bit weaker. I got 390 FPS out of Gamo Match wadcutters, though, with 1-inch groups off-hand at 12 meters. Not a match gun, but a great plinker.

Ergonomics are great; easy to cock; decent power and good accuracy. Sights are nicer than I expected, rear is adj for windage and elevation with little thumb-knobs (wish they used this sight on the bullpup!). I didn't think this would hit very hard, but it has a nice punch at 20M. "Coke-can-accuracy" out to 40M. Front sight is spring-loaded so it doesn't stab the palm of your hand. Comes with extra spring, breech and piston seals, great manual.

Trigger feels "gritty" when pulled, lots of creep and heavy. Hard to adjust trigger, and only adjustment is pre-travel.

Really super easy to cock. Firing action is pretty smooth, no twang in mine, if I can tune the trigger, it has potential to be a tack-driver. Compression tube is deeply blued, barrel is naked metal, but looks good. Nice, serviceable, rugged pistol. This would make an outstanding carbine, if anyone bodges up a stock. Grips are HUGE. If you've got big hands (I don't) and are looking for a good fit...here you go. This is a BIG pistol.

fun for the $.....seems to be fairly accurate, decent trigger,good ergromic (?)grip. collapsing front sight doesn't hurt your palm when cocking.

power, way under powered...grooves need to be lengthened to accept red dot bases.(BKL 253) looks like it would work w/ Tasco Pro Point but is a pricey mount

mine seems to be "free bored" in the pellet chamber ? Crossman Premier domed pellets fit snugly, Crossman Pointed can be inserted 3/16" or so and the skirts seem undersized by comparison. as I said it is low on power, maybe could kill a small mouse at very close range ?

everything , easy to sight , cocks easy , shoots mant different brands and kinds of pellets accuratly

nothing , love this gun and I own many

i read the reviews and was not sure about buying do to aal the stuff about the rear sights , mine is very acurate with a lot of sight adjutment left , put a pellet through a old bic lighter at 50 ft , just learn to adjust for the spring kick is all , dead on everytime

The price is nice. Accurate.

Drill a hole for the trigger adjustment screw.

Don't let the nature of the spring gun fool you. Because the spring pushes off from the rear of the housing, it causes some kick. ( just like the real deal). Keep this in mind and you soon learn that it shoot high because your wrist is "breaking". Grab the thing just in front of the trigger guard with your other hand to hold the front from jumping and you will start to hit like a pro!

Well built, easy to handle, very low price

better rear sights

When new it shot H &N 10.6 grain 5 to six inchs high with sights low as would go at 10 meters. Have put about 300 shots and can now use Rws hobbies and basics. Still a bit high at 33 feet, but comes in dead on at 15 yards. Soda cans to 20 and some hits at 25 yards. Keep shooting and let it get broke in. As a springer may not make a good 10 meter target pistol, but for shatter blasters, pop cans, and general plinking this is very well worth the bucks. Shoots as well as my P5 magnum, just not as powerful or as loud making it a very good backyard shooter.

Fit and finish. Easy to cock. Trigger is nice. I really like the fact that it DOESN'T have a safety, and therefore doesn't set the safety for each shot. It is quite accurate, except for the sights

The sights suck... it hits way to high even when the adjustment is bottomed out (yes, i adjusted the correct way) I added a 6mm white bead to the top of the front sight and it helped, but still high at 22yds. The rear sight grove should be longer for scope/red dot type sight. It seems a bit weak, but i didn't try it over a chrono.

Good value for the price. Lots of fun for plinking. Don't expect it to hit where the sights are aimed.

The price makes this a real value. Has a rifled barrel and adjustable sights. The gun is beastly big but reasonably well balanced. The grip is stippled and is easy to hold, good angle, and great sight picture. The sights are adjustable without tools, and the receiver is grooved - it might be able to be fit with a red dot. It has enough beef that if you wanted to machine the grooves further, you could. Reasonably accurate at 30 feet, but it's a springer and has to be held lightly. Would probably frustrate a kid.

Extend the grooves on the spring cylinder to allow a red dot sight or scope to be placed further down the gun. Color the front blade sight for better visibility - I plan to paint mine.

Chrony gave 344 fps average, standard deviation 12.32 [81 degress F, 60% RH]. Make a great hammer if you don't have one! But it fits the bill for cheap sighting practice in the back yard.

long barrel, and definatly a nice trigger. And i REALLY liked the "depressable" front sight, nice touch and practical.

The sights are completly usless, I read other reviews and couldnt belive what they were saying so I bought this air gun anyways, WHOA they were right the sights can NOT reach the travel of the pellet!! I couldnt belive it !even with the elevation adjusted ALL the way the sights on my gun did not even come CLOSE to the pellet at 25 feet!!! And when I say "not close" I mean about 1-2 inches away at 25 feet!!! Also I must admit I was disapointed with the power if you shoot a orange at 25 feet (although accurate) it will somtimes bounce right off the orange instead of penetrating it!!!

I had no other choice but to return the gun or remove the sights, Well i only paid about 50.00 dollars for the gun and didnt want to spend the money to ship it back. I removed the rear sight and replaced it with a cheap $20.00 laser sight and I was QUITE SURPRISED at the accuraccy??? It is right on at 25 feet witha little practice (if you are used to sprigers, I own many)

Low price for an easy loading little plunker

One can only imagine a crusty old Russian saying "no safety! if you don't want to shoot, don't load!"

Trigger's adjust is less than simple, which can be off-putting; it's quick, almost too quick. Nonetheless, a little practice and you'll get reasonable accuracy at 30-40 ft.

The way it fits my hand. The ease of cocking the pistol. Great value. Good accuracy for the money.

Add a safety. Improve the quality of the rear sight, although it was easy to sight in.

I am new to the use of air pistols/rifles. Purchased this as an entry level pistol for daily indoor practice in hopes it would improve my marksmanship while saving money. So far it is doing just that. At some point I'll upgrade to a more accurate pistol, but for now it is fine. Happy I bought it.