Happy face, Air Arms TX200HC

[North Country Gal]

I did warn everyone that I'm an airgun nut, so here goes.

My indoor airgun shooting season is well underway and part of setting it up is to re-sight some of my 50 yard air rifles to 10 meters for occasional indoor work because I make it a point of not letting any of my airguns sit all winter long without being shot. This beautiful Air Arms TX200 HC (Hunter Carbine) under lever spring piston 177 air rifle is really more powerful than needed for 10 meter shooting, but, like all Air Arms rifles, it's a pleasure to shoot at any distance. (By the way, all my 10 meter work is offhand and I do prefer a scope for offhand shooting, in this case a Bushnell Trophy 4-12x AO set at 4x.)


Got done sighting it in then was about 7 shots into my usual 10 shot group when I noticed I was shooting a happy face with the curve of shots making a mouth. Managed to add one more to the mouth, then shot the last two to make the eyes. Didn't quite get the eyes far enough apart, but, hey, I'm no Annie Oakley.

(Labeled this wrong - 10 meters not 10 yards.


Yup, happy face on the shooter, too.

[Sir Henry]

Love the Monte Carlo stock on that rifle. Is the tube feed on the rifle just for looks? This is a single shot isn't it? Great shootin'!

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Sir Henry.

I should have explained that a bit better. This is a single shot air rifle, powered by a compressed spring which pushes against a piston which, in turn, compresses a charge of air in front of it and that's what pushes the pellet. That tube under the barrel is actually the cocking lever that compresses the spring and it also serves to open the breech for loading, hence the under-lever designation. On this model with its shortened lever, the cocking effort is pretty stout, so I have to brace the gun on something and use two hands. Most under-levers are quite manageable even for an old gal like me, though.



As to power, this gun is capable of 900fps with a typical 8 grain 177 pellet. Also, very accurate. On a calm day, in the hands of someone who knows how to handle the unique recoil of this type of gun (me), have done many half inch to one inch 5 shot groups at 50 yards. Air Arms guns are made in England and are of the highest quality, throughout. Not cheap, though. Expect to pay as much as one of your Henry Big Boy rifles (am currently looking at those, by the way.)

Here's a sample of what it can do at 50 yards.

[Deadwood Dutch]

Very nice air gun and I am glad that you enjoy them so much. I enjoy reading your post because I am really not familiar with them, very interesting, thanks!

[Sir Henry]

Thanks for the reply NCG. That group at 50 yards is amazing. Shooting air guns sure teaches you about follow through.

[CT_Shooter]

Those are two very impressive targets. It's beginning to become clear why Sir Henry and Daytime Dave wanted you to have a special title.

Thanks for the range report, the rifle review, and for demonstrating how accurate it is in the hands of an experienced shooter.

[North Country Gal]

Thank-you so much, guys. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Bish1309]

Cool gun. Love the scope.

[Henry88]

What a beautiful airgun, but a Bushnell Trophy is holding up to a Springer?

Those things are scope killers. May I ask how many shots you've taken with the Trophy?

BTW, I have a Bushnell Banner from the 80's and a New Bushnell Custom, and they are both Great Scopes. I recently read that Bushnell makes Simmons which makes sense as they are an excellent budget scope as well.

Edit to add: OK so I went to the Bushnell website and they say it's designed for "High-power, variable scope for high-performance centerfire rifles and break-barrel airguns."

Interesting...........

[North Country Gal]

No problem, but, yes, you're right, you have to be very careful on getting scopes on these piston guns that are rated to take that kind of recoil. Not all scopes are, even some expensive scopes aren't. Plus, even airgun rated scopes can fail, so you always have to be on the alert. As for this Trophy, over a thousand shots, now. The other important feature on an airgun scope, regardless of type of airgun, is an AO to eliminate parallax, because parallax is a big issue at these short airgun ranges.

[Sir Henry]

That pesky parallax, someone should make a law against it. Modern optics seems to be a lot more forgiving than the vintage stuff.

[Les]

The TX200's are excellent air rifles. I have a HW97K, which is the Weihrauch equivalent of the TX200.

[North Country Gal]

To be sure, Gene. I also love those vintage optics the way you do, but the advances in technology make even todays cheap stuff look pretty good by comparison.

Les, don't get me started on HWs. Actually shoot them more, including a couple 97Ks, than the Air Arms stuff. More on those, another time.

[bandit1250]

If it says Air Arms on it that pretty much means quality and accuracy. Looks like it does fine at 50yds. and the way you can shoot you will get everything it has to offer in accuracy out of it.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks. Those AAs are such sweet shooters. Also have the standard MKIII and, my favorite, the ProSport. Nothing else quite like it.

[Henry88]

No problem, but, yes, you're right, you have to be very careful on getting scopes on these piston guns that are rated to take that kind of recoil. Not all scopes are, even some expensive scopes aren't. Plus, even airgun rated scopes can fail, so you always have to be on the alert. As for this Trophy, over a thousand shots, now. The other important feature on an airgun scope, regardless of type of airgun, is an AO to eliminate parallax, because parallax is a big issue at these short airgun ranges.

Yeah I could have gotten a nikon prostaff 3-9x40 for $99 on black Friday, but no AO. BTW, I read where Leupold will preset the parallax to any distance you want. That might be OK if you always shoot the exact same distance. I do backyard stuff so I need the AO.

[daytime dave]

That is a very nice air rifle. The wood detail is striking. Do you find that the fixed barrel is a little more accurate?

Nice smiley face too.

[tractortad]

Wow - that is a nice looking/shooting air rifle. Just when I thought this Henry thing is getting to be expensive - now there are these things to consider. I always thought of airguns to be like my son's Daisy Red Rider, but this is a whole new ball game....

[Sir Henry]

Wow - that is a nice looking/shooting air rifle. Just when I thought this Henry thing is getting to be expensive - now there are these things to consider. I always thought of airguns to be like my son's Daisy Red Rider, but this is a whole new ball game....

You can spend $30 or $3,000 on an air gun. I have several in the $300 range and of course my Red Ryder.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks again, guys.

Gene, an AO really is a must for AG shooting because parallax is much more pronounced at airgun ranges. Much less so way out at centerfire rifle distances beyond a couple hundred yards. For instance, a big game scope factory focused at 150 yards has almost negligible parallax at 500. On the other hand, going from 10 yards just to 50 yards you will have considerable parallax.

Dave, a break barrel spring piston gun, which more folks have seen, can be every bit as accurate as these under-lever guns IF (and that is a big IF) you maintain the same level of quality. My break barrel Weihrauch's (HWs) are such guns. The advantage of these under-levers is that they allow for a more compact design and with the receiver and barrel fixed in place, you're assured that when you mount a scope on the receiver, it will be pointing in the same direction as the barrel. Every great once in awhile with a break barrel gun, the receiver where the scope goes and the barrel are not pointing the same. Can be fixed, though.

Tractor, as Gene mentions, it CAN be expensive as far as the investment the guns, but it DOESN'T have to be. My Daisy 953 rifle at $100 will compete, nicely, with this gun up close at 10 meters. A traditional pump up like a Benjamin 397/392 or a vintage Sheridan Blue Streak (my favorite) can do it out to 50 yards. (Have scoped 397s that will do under an inch at 50 with the right pellets.) These can be had for $200 or less by shopping around. Even a Crosman 760 you can buy at Wal Mart is capable of good groups.

The biggest cost savings is in the ammo. Pellets can run less than a penny apiece to a a penny and a half for the higher grade stuff. Given that most AGs are single shots, it can take a LONG time to run through a tin of pellets. Another big plus is that, even during the worst of the ammo shortages, there was NEVER a shortage of pellets.

Add to all this the fact that you can shoot right at home, even indoors, and you have a very practical, affordable and doable shooting system.