Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 6

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Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 6

The gun you didn’t expect: Select-Fire Barra 009

By Dennis Adler

This was the least anticipated blowback action CO2 model of 2020 because absolutely no one expected it,oreven anticipated that Umarex and Glock would build a G18 select-fire pistol. And they would have been right, because they didn’t. This cinematic spy gun, (about the only time you ever see a G18 is in movies), comes from a company that was also “living in the shadows” to borrow a line from James Bond films, and appeared more focused on Old West guns, particularly the S&W Schofield. But Barra was (and still is) also driving headlong into not only modern handguns, but unusual ones at that. They came in out of left field late this year with their version of a Glock 18, a gun that was barely on anyone’s radar until the opening scenes in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall. Before that, no one had seen a G18 in a movie since The Matrix Reloaded in 2003, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, also in 2003. Glock rarely sells them to anyone outside military, law enforcement, and government agencies. It’s not even on the Glock USA website, but it was a gun that air pistol enthusiasts really wanted. More about that later…    read more

Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 5

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Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 5

The Shadow 2 Knows

By Dennis Adler

If you’re wondering how this year’s top gun competition is going to play out, I am too. The choices are few, but every one has been a gem of a gun in one way or another, whether a brand new design, like the Chiappa Rhino, or one of multiple updates to earlier guns like the Barra Schofield Wells Fargo, or the subject of this article, the improved ASG CZ 75 SP-01 Shadow, updated to match the centerfire Shadow 2 target model. Is it a better gun than the SP-01 Shadow? That was what seemed to be the case in the initial Airgun Experience review with the Shadow 2’s adjustable rear sight being the single most important advantage over the earlier model. The rest is aesthetics, important, but not a groundbreaking improvement over its stylish SP-01 Shadow predecessor. read more

Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 4

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Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 4

The improved Sig M17 with optics deserves a shot

By Dennis Adler

I know I said this would be throwing a ringer into the mix but with rebooted Schofields and Peacemakersit seems a little hypocritical to block the Sig Sauer M17 ASP with Sig Air reflex sight from this year’s somewhat limited competition, especially when the most accurate pellet-firing pistol so far is a 5-inch smoothbore Single Action revolver!

I know I said I wasn’t going to do this but with so few new CO2 pistols this year, and a couple of them variations of exciting models, the Sig Air low profile reflex sight added to the M17 ASP virtually creates a new gun. If Sig Air had put this out as a complete gun instead of making the sight a separate piece to add on to an existing gun we would have easily accepted it as a new 2020 model!

If you have the M17 ASP and don’t have the Sig Air reflex sight it is a game changer for this otherwise not overly accurate blowback action CO2 pistol. The M17 was never intended to be a target pistol just one capable of getting hits in center mass on a silhouette target, and it has proven very good at that, even from 15 yards out. The addition of the Sig Air red dot reflex sight gave the M17 the added accuracy that could not be readily achieved with its fixed sights, so this is like the Airgun Builder Peacemakers; you have to put it together. Unlike getting a complete custom Single Action from Pyramyd Air though, you have to do the assembly yourself as I outlined it in the October 2020 Airgun Experience articles on the M17. read more

2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 3

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2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 3

Timeless wheels

By Dennis Adler

The third contender for this year’s top gun title is not a gun but rather a new concept for airguns. This year marked the launch of Pyramyd Air’s Airgun Builder for the Umarex Colt Peacemaker. Now I know you’re saying, how can a gun that has been around for five years be in contention for 2020’s Replica Air Pistol of the Year? Every time a manufacturer makes a change or upgrade to a CO2 model we look at it as a new gun, the introduction of the 7-1/2 inch Umarex Colt Peacemaker on the heels of the 5-1/2 inch, for example, or when the rifled barrel was added; another new gun to be considered. With this year’s implementation of the Colt Peacemaker Airgun Builder, the guns are new again in an even broader sense, because you can have it built the way you want.  read more

2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 2

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2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 2

Hexagonal wheels

By Dennis Adler

It was a given that the new Chiappa Rhino would be a serious contender for 2020’s Replica Air Pistol of the Year. How serious? About as serious as an African Rhino charging in your direction! Now, I don’t know what that is like but I had a friend back in my Guns & Ammo days who had just such an experience and as many years later as it was when he told me the story the experience was indelibly etched in his memory right down to the smallest detail. It was a photo safari and he told the photographer not to use the motor drive Nikon (they were very noisy back then). But he did, the Rhino heard it, eyesight is awful but hearing is off the charts, and the beast turned in their direction, saw some blurry objects and charged them. Fortunately they were far enough away that the Rhino lost interest after the first 100 feet or so. A close call just the same, so, yeah, the Chiappa Charging Rhino is a serious contender for this year’s top gun title. It might not win but it could come awful close! read more

2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 1

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2020 Replica Air Pistol of the Year Part 1

Big wheels

By Dennis Adler

With revolvers making up a part of the new guns for 2020 I have decided to make a few changes to the comparisons and points system from previous years beginning with last year’s single extra point for field stripping, since revolvers can’t be field stripped like a semi-auto. Secondly, since two guns in this year’s comparisons have adjustable rear sights, in order for the comparison’s to be more equal, adjustable sights will also be an extra point, so if any guns end up in a tie, one may get an extra point or two to decide the winner. read more

Replica Air Pistol of the Year past winners

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Replica Air Pistol of the Year past winners

The top guns from 2017, 2018, and 2019

By Dennis Adler

Back in 2017 I made a favorite pick of new airguns and started what would become the Replica Air Pistolof the Year competition. The air pistols that have won top honors over the past three years are all still being manufactured and are just as worthy of the top gun honors today, in fact, none of them have been surpassed thus far. Building a new CO2 model that can meet or beat the design, handling, performance and accuracy of earlier airguns that earned the Replica Air Pistol of the Year title is never easy, and each successive winner since 2017 has raised the bar. The competition in 2017, 2018, and 2019 was pretty tough because there were a lot of exciting new models, some based on earlier designs (2015 models), that were improved upon and a few that made the jump from BB guns to pellet guns and further expanding the competition for one model to rise to the top. read more