My favorite deck gun
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:24 pm
No not a deck gun the Navy uses, I'm talking an airgun that I use to shoot from our raised deck down at the steel reactive targets below at 30 yards in our backyard airgun range. Although we have a dedicated 30 yard and 50 yard station at ground level, complete with shooting benches, I actually do a lot of shooting off our deck, just outside our sliding kitchen door. At the end of an active day outdoors, I like to unwind with a little airgun shooting. Nothing fancy, just grab a gun and some pellets and step out into the deck for some relaxing shooting fun.
Now you might think that any airgun would work for this shooting. Not so. I'm kind of fussy about my deck guns. At the end of a busy day mountain biking or working on my trails or working in the garden or the yard, the last thing I want do is lug a big heavy airgun out on the deck to shoot. You can also forget those hard to cock springers with noticeable recoil. Same for classic pumps. Who wants to do all that pumping when it's time to relax?
On the other hand, those light power fun shooters don't cut it, either. When shooting down at my steel reactive targets at 30 yards, my CO2 guns, my light springers like the HW30 or my 500 fps target PCPs like the CZ200T just don't develop enough energy to work those active targets. Now and then, I can get a target to flip, but these 6-8 fpe guns don't have enough energy to reset the targets. Having to get up and walk down the deck and out to 30 yards to reset targets by hand is not good deck gun shooting protocol!
Nope, the perfect deck gun will be in that needed 11 to 12 fpe class, but it will be light and it will be easy to shoot. For a springer, I like my HW50 and shoot it quite a bit. I like my CZ200S more, though. It's the perfect deck gun. It's light, has a great trigger, no recoil and with its 12 fpe, those reactive targets don't stand a chance. One easy to pump fill gives me a full 70 shots and that's enough for two or three of these short end of the day shooting sessions.
My perfect deck gun, the CZ 200S Sporter. Wears a Hawke Airmac 3-9 scope.
Now you might think that any airgun would work for this shooting. Not so. I'm kind of fussy about my deck guns. At the end of a busy day mountain biking or working on my trails or working in the garden or the yard, the last thing I want do is lug a big heavy airgun out on the deck to shoot. You can also forget those hard to cock springers with noticeable recoil. Same for classic pumps. Who wants to do all that pumping when it's time to relax?
On the other hand, those light power fun shooters don't cut it, either. When shooting down at my steel reactive targets at 30 yards, my CO2 guns, my light springers like the HW30 or my 500 fps target PCPs like the CZ200T just don't develop enough energy to work those active targets. Now and then, I can get a target to flip, but these 6-8 fpe guns don't have enough energy to reset the targets. Having to get up and walk down the deck and out to 30 yards to reset targets by hand is not good deck gun shooting protocol!
Nope, the perfect deck gun will be in that needed 11 to 12 fpe class, but it will be light and it will be easy to shoot. For a springer, I like my HW50 and shoot it quite a bit. I like my CZ200S more, though. It's the perfect deck gun. It's light, has a great trigger, no recoil and with its 12 fpe, those reactive targets don't stand a chance. One easy to pump fill gives me a full 70 shots and that's enough for two or three of these short end of the day shooting sessions.
My perfect deck gun, the CZ 200S Sporter. Wears a Hawke Airmac 3-9 scope.