Like most airgun shooters, I started out with a spring powered airgun, a Webley Vulcan to be precise, and the fun of shooting these guns has to be experienced to be appreciated. Admittedly, the kick caused by the action of the spring and piston makes it a little harder to achieve the kind of accuracy that many of us take for granted with PCPs but, once you get the hang of letting the gun recoil consistently on every shot, a surprising degree of accuracy can be achieved. And it's a whole lot more satisfying when you're using a gun with a bit of life in it compared with the comparatively 'dead' firing cycle of a PCP. It's also a real novelty not to be constantly keeping an eye on air reserves in readiness for the next fill-up with a pump or diver's bottle.
Once I'd got my hand back in with some practice on the garden range, I was confident enough to take the Weihrauch out hunting - though I did have to accept that my effective range was somewhat less than when using a springer. I'll do my best to give a more comprehensive account of a hunting session with the springer in one of my articles in Airgun Shooter magazine soon.
