Is a Spring the Thing?

Gary Chillingworth sets out on a quest to compare springers with PCPs.

Those of you who are unfortunate enough to know me, or who read my illiterate drivel most months, will know that my relationship with all things that spring is not a great one. Yes, it is true that I own a very nice TX200HC and that I have had some success with it, but I have always been happier with a PCP (precharged pneumatic) in my hands, to be honest. The thing is, though, over the last few years I have started to notice a trend in the world of shooting. From looking at the scores at various competitions, I notice that the PCP crew have stayed fairly stagnant in what they score, however, it is now not uncommon to see top spring gun shooters, like former World PCP champion, Vince Holland, Top Nice guy, Neil Wakelin, or Former Miss World, Rex Bennett, not only match the PCP shooters, but beat them too, in some cases.

The most recent was the aforementioned Vince Holland who at the UKAHFT Gathering, used his tuned TX200HC in a CS1000 stock and shocked the field by coming in with a 77 out of 80. The top PCP score was James McLachlan with a 76, and shooters like Richard Woods, who won the National Open title, could only manage a 72. Now, if this were just a one off, I would put it down to someone having a brilliant day, but it seems to be happening more and more often. So the question is, what is going on in the world of spring guns?

Level playing field

Is it now the case that spring technology has come to a point where a well set up springer can compete with a PCP, or could it be the case that in certain weather conditions, a springer may even have an advantage? So, for my own peace of mind, and with the hope of finding out some useful information, I thought it would be a good idea to look into this phenomenon a little deeper.