I took 7 pistols out the other day for a test fire range day. I was shooting predominantly from 20 feet away at a cardboard box target and a dual steel spinner. I won’t go into that many specifics on each one, but would like to use the following categories to break down my first impressions of the following blowback BB pistols:
Most Accurate
Most Disappointing
Most Fun
Most Surprising
Most Underwhelming
Most Liked
Most Disliked
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Glock 17 Gen3
Springfield 1911
CZ 75 TAC
H&K VP9
Baba Yaga 1911
Glock 19X Gen5
Taurus PT92
1. Most Accurate: CZ 75 TAC – With its target gun pedigree, thin cycling blowback slide and 2.6lb overall weight, it wasn’t too surprising that this pistol shot so accurately. I was expecting more recoil due to the pistols heavy weight but in contrast, that weight actually mitigates a lot of recoil, allowing for better, continued and more precise target acquisition.
2. Most Disappointing: Baba Yaga 1911 – I only managed to shoot one mag with this pistol due to some magazine design grievances which were giving me issues I had not foreseen. Namely the CO2 aspect of the mag. The pistol shot accurately and the fiber optic sights were great while shooting in the midday sun.
3. Most Fun: Springfield 1911 – This pistol just simply makes you grin…the forceful blowback recoil it administers is fantastic. Although obviously not as loud…you’d swear you were shooting a .22lr pistol. The pistol shot reasonably accurately, once you learned to employ some recoil management discipline.
4. Most Surprising: Glock 17 - As my first time shooting a Glock type pistol, I was pleasantly surprised with its accuracy, powerful blowback and hard hitting BB punch. The longevity of the each CO2 was great too as I was averaging 4 mags per canister. I also really like the Umarex mag design on these as they are very easy to load both CO2 and BB’s.
5. Most Underwhelming: Taurus PT92 – Although being a convincing replica in both looks and feel, the PT92 left me unsatisfied. It shot quite low, and with minimal recoil from the blowback. Honestly, I was expecting more from the performance side of this pistol. The full auto feature sent BB’s streaming towards the target….but the fun is short lived as while doing so, you hear the CO2 quickly and progressively lose steam.
6. Most Liked: Glock 19X – This pistol as a whole, felt great in the hand, shot accurately and was easy and quick to reload both CO2 and BBs. It’s blowback recoil was satisfying and it seemed to fire an infinite amount of BBs before the canister depleted. I also like that my Glock 17 takes the same mag so I was able to pop the mag in either pistol while using the same canister.
7. Most Disliked: H&K VP9 – This result shocked me. I love H&K stuff, and this pistol has a great replica quality to it along with having a palm swell on the grip that is legitimately molded to the shape of the human hand. I felt the blowback recoil to be weak feeling and cheap sounding. The accuracy was poor as well, almost giving the appearance of shooting indiscriminately resulting in me not having the ability to lock onto a single target for any consistent repeated hits.
