IZH 53M Air pistol

Hi all. Got the gun this morning. VERY FIRST SHOT the rear sight went sailing across to the other side of the room where the cat was watching from. He brought it back to me... he thought we were playing FETCH again, which he will do ALL DAY and wear my arm out! Any who, nothing was BROKEN, it just was NOT fastened down the way it should of been. Again, nothing broke, but I tell ya', the rear sight is one lousy piece of... well, you know. It has WAY too much wiggle, so it will not HOLD the centering. I truly believe that if this pistol had a decent REAR sight, it would be a tack driver at 20 feet or less. Using some thin plastic shims, I got the thing to not wiggle so much, and I was getting nickle sized patters at 10 meters, and at 20 feet, one-on-top-of-the-other... WAY NICE! Oh, the cocking is GREAT... no effort for me. Umm_ oh, I love the way the trigger breaks for me. I must of lucked out_ very little creep if any... and so short to the back wall, then SNAP - GLASS!

I would of given five stars across except for that darn rear sight. But, once sighted in where you want it, if you can tighten it up without ruining the centering, then you WILL get tight groups out to 10 meters or so, and at 20 feet - - FAH-GET-AH-BAUGHT-IT!!! Yea, except for that sight, FIVE STARS.

YES THERE IS SOMETHING YOU MUST REMEMBER! Before that first shot, be sure the rear sight is tightened securely. The one screw on the BACK of the rear sight tightens to keep the WINDAGE section from flying out. It sort of acts like a SET-SCREW, but I do not believe it is hardened like a real set-screw, for the purpose of holding something secure would be. So be sure not to torque it too much. Oh, you will see what LOOKS like a small hex screw going up into the rear of the elevation adjustment. That is a SPRING meant to give you the little clicks when adjusting elevation.

Quality construction, easy to cock, manageable trigger. Low enough velocity for indoor use.

Adjustable trigger

Buy one while you can.

The accuracy, weight, and overall quality are excellent for the price. It's easy to cock, and is well balanced. The rear sight has extremely fine detents, so getting a perfect center is easy.

I think the trigger design on this pistol needs an adjusting screw. The length of the first stage pull is very long and uneven. At times it would move almost effortlessly, and at other times it was rough.

It is important to remove the action from the stock and clean and lube everything. It looks like the factory sets these up for long term storage. All the grease should be removed and the proper oils used. The bore needs to be cleaned as well. After doing that this pistol performs well. Mine is extremely accurate because I polished the trigger sear, and installed an adjuster. It is possible to get a true hair trigger on this gun. I am able to adjust it for a perfect release. I have read other reviews that complain about the sights. Any problems with them are remedied by cleaning and lubing.

Accuracy, trigger and easy to cock

Sights and power

The rear sight windage adjustment froze and is now impossible to move. Good thing it froze at the right windage. At 25' it's easy to shoot a .75" group. My gun had a very smooth trigger from the start.

A tank of a pistol. Not heavy at all but of an earlier era as far as looks. Pretty good trigger, other companies can learn from this one. Good sights! Fine accuracy for the price. 10m is about it on distance.

Dovetail for scope or red dot.

You can make a plate out of "L" shaped aluminum and mount a scope base via the side, mine works very well. Very little recoil/noise-a basement friendly pistol for sure. These Russian guns are fun to shoot!

Nice heft and ergnomics. Decent trigger that should smooth out even more with use. Pretty well made for a Russian airgun.

The stock rear sight is adequate at best. It's useable out of the box but feels like it could be easily damaged.

Surprisingly accurate for its price point. Put a Williams aperture sight on it if you want to drive tacks.

Not much. The grip was fairly comfortable but then I'm not that picky.

The trigger. The front sight. The rear sight. Izhmash quality control personnel. The front sight is a naked, vertical blade which makes cocking a bit tough. Also, it's got to be vulnerable to damage. The rear sight wouldn't stay at the position I set. After each shot I had to thumb it back up to the position I'd set. The trigger was somewhere over five pounds to break with no adjustment. It patterned like a shotgun. I'm not going to the Olympics but I can hold the "8" ring pretty well and, on a good day, the "10" ring. With the IZH-53M I put the third ding on my basement door. The first two occurred about thirty-five years ago when I started shooting and missed the trap completely. Reading some of the other reviews other people have had a very different experience then I. I'm guessing Izhmash's quality control consists of cocking the pistol, loading a pellet, pulling the trigger and confirming the pellet came out the muzzle. Under those circumstances some buyers are going to get lucky and some aren't. I didn't but for sixty-five dollars I'm not terribly disappointed.

I bought this for fun target shooting in my basement. For the price and intent, it would be hard to beat. Mine arrived in perfect condition with no issues whatsoever. It's very easy to cock and I find it pretty accurate at 10 meters. It is also very quiet. Perfect for the basement. I have only had it for less than a month and I haven't tried it at longer distances, but...I didn't buy it for that purpose anyway. I have no issues with the trigger. I find it light, smooth and very predictable. No disappointment with this one at all.

The only thing I would like is dovetails for the option of testing a red dot on it.

Something to note is there is NO safety. Not a problem for me but they could be a problem for some. Again for the price, it's hard to beat.

I really like this pistol, the price, solid construction, trigger and accuracy make it a good deal. I have been looking for a good starter target pistol and after much thought and research, bouncing around in a $40 to $200 budget, I decided on the 53M. Built like a tank and finished like one too. That's OK as it didn't take much to smooth things out. Right out of the box it's great for the money and there's great potential sleeping in this pistol.

Tractor Factory #4 (tee-hee) should lube it up for performace not just storage before shipping. I'd like to see IZH bring back the trigger adjustment screw as there's a nice 2-stage trigger all ready and waiting in there. An option between the current grip and the old match style grip would be nice. I can't help but feel the pistol would be a better 10m pistol with a more agressive grip. This is all small stuff and easily fixed.

There's much concern about the lack of a safety but this pistol belongs on an organized and well run firing line. In a competition situation a safety is just one more thing to cause trouble and cost points. MHO. Out of the box it did shoot very much to the left (well it is the product of left wing Marxist stooges, right?) but after proper lube and a trigger job it shoots more middle of the road. A little Germanic finish work and Prussian discpline and this pistol will make sweet music!

Price, simplicity, quietness,balance, robust construction, accuracy, velocity, rear sight.

At this price, nothing. I expected it would need tuning to perform to its potential.

After initial firing and rear sight adjustment, I disassembled the gun and polished the bearing surfaces of the trigger/sear group, disassembled and lubricated the rear sight, and lubed all internal parts. The trigger pull went from very rough to a light 2-stage pull with crisp and consistent letoff - a world of improvement. It is really enjoyable to shoot now.