CO2 air pistol accuracy at 30 yards

[North Country Gal]

First, let's distinguish the type of pistol you would shoot at 30 yards. This does NOT include the most popular class of CO2 pistols, namely, the CO2 replicas of famous centerfire revolvers and pistols. I have one of these, too, in this "Dan Wesson" CO2 revolver. It is fun to shoot and I do enjoy it, but I shoot it up close at 10 yards or so. It has more than enough accuracy for target work at this distance. Even managed to put a red dot on it.



Okay, that's not the right tool for the job. For serious precision and distance work using a CO2 pistol, though, you need to step up to a target/silhouette class pistol like my Crosman 2300S (S for silhouette). It is a serious CO2 target pistol with a Lothar Walther (meaning target grade) barrel, good trigger and top notch Williams adjustable open sights. I've had this for some time and use it mostly indoors during the winter, but when the temps are right, it's a good choice for outdoor shooting, too.


In air pistol silhouette, you shoot at 1/10th scale chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams offhand (offhand only). It works out like this:
Chickens - approximately 1” tall by 1” wide at 10 yds
Pigs - approximately 1.5” tall by 2” wide at 12.5 yds
Turkeys - approximately 2” tall by 1.5” wide at 15 yds
Rams - approximately 2” tall by 3” wide at 18 yds
There are ten targets of each animal, for forty total.

Note that the longest shot is the ram at 18 yards, shooting offhand. Today, I was shooting at 30 yards, off a rest, using a 2-7x AO Hawke riflescope for accuracy testing. That's the ram used in air gun silhouette.


Yes, the Crosman 2300S has more than enough accuracy for pistol silhouette. It's not as accurate as my HW44 PCP, but it's no slouch. It's a very consistent 1" group shooter at 30 yards and that's more than enough accuracy for serious competition work (and at a much nicer price than going PCP).

[Sir Henry]

Fantastic shooting. What is the eye relief on that Hawke?

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Gene. It's a riflescope so basically 3.5" to 4" or thereabouts. I got into the habit of using riflescopes for offhand shooting back in my silhouette days. Using rifle scopes on mild kicking cartridges was what most competitors were using on their specialty handguns, such as Contenders and Exemplars and so on. Very specialized technique with a learning curve, but extremely effective. There is a recoil limit, of course. For me, I could just barely handle the recoil of a 223 using a riflescope, but some folks went much heavier.

As I mentioned, I have been using riflescopes for accuracy testing on all of these air pistols. Will probably drop down to something smaller and lighter for continued use, though.

[Sir Henry]

Thanks, Gene. It's a riflescope so basically 3.5" to 4" or thereabouts. I got into the habit of using riflescopes for offhand shooting back in my silhouette days. Using rifle scopes on mild kicking cartridges was what most competitors were using on their specialty handguns, such as Contenders and Exemplars and so on. Very specialized technique with a learning curve, but extremely effective. There is a recoil limit, of course. For me, I could just barely handle the recoil of a 223 using a riflescope, but some folks went much heavier.

As I mentioned, I have been using riflescopes for accuracy testing on all of these air pistols. Will probably drop down to something smaller and lighter for continued use, though.

Do you take a side stance and shoot opposite arm?

[North Country Gal]

Yes, in silhouette it used to be called the taco hold because you take a side position with the scoped handgun and grab the scope like a taco with your offhand and let the gun dangle below. Scope magnification could sometimes run very high, even though you are shooting offhand. Do a search on silhouette taco hold.

[Sir Henry]

Yes, in silhouette it used to be called the taco hold because you take a side position with the scoped handgun and grab the scope like a taco with your offhand and let the gun dangle below. Scope magnification could sometimes run very high, even though you are shooting offhand. Do a search on silhouette taco hold.

Will do. I was imagining it being braced from the bottom with the offhand.

[daytime dave]

I almost ordered one of those Crosmans a few years ago. That is very nice accuracy you are getting with that airgun.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Dave. It's about as nice as it gets if you are looking for a CO2 target pistol. The scope mount I added, but it comes with an excellent target grade Williams rear sight of you don't want to use a scope.

[rickhem]

There are still quite a few Olympic quality air pistols in circulation that run on CO2, but those are bulk fill and you need a fire extinguisher size tank to refill them. They fell out of favor due to the variability of pressures that the CO2 would give, but they're every bit as accurate as the current PCP variations currently in use. You can get some fantastic deals on those pistols, but you also need to get the things needed to refill them.
All my CO2 rifles and pistols use the commonly available 12 gram bulbs, like yours, but mine are not even close to the same league as yours.

[North Country Gal]

True, the Crosman 2300S that I was shooting is a very specific target build and not a typical CO2 air gun. I was also careful to wait for a day with the temps in the 70s and will wait for another day in the 70s for outdoor shooting.

For fun shooting and relaxing, I do have that DW CO2 and also an old 60s vintage Crosman 150, 22 cal that I still shoot, now and then. Yeah, PCP is great and state of the art high tech, but I sill get a kick out of shooting the old stuff.

This is the Crosman 150. It's an oldie, but a goodie. It still shoots well, but it is surprisingly loud.