The brits have been limited to 12 FPE for their air rifles for some time now, unless one wants to put the rifle on one's firearms license. So they've gotten good at building excellent air rifles within that framework. Then they started exporting to the U.S. where "anything goes" in most places as far as air powered rifles are concerned, so they tried to "improve" their rifles for this market. Well, if one's only punching paper and knocking over Field Target targets, one has no real need for oodles of power and accuracy is king anyway. A while back an order was placed with Jim Maccari of Air Rifle Headquarters and he sent me one of his 12 FPE level kits for the ProSport. It's been a hectic year, but yesterday I needed a break so out came the factory spring, spring guide and top hat and in went the Maccari kit along with Maccari lubes. It's not been chronographed yet, but the shot cycle is much more pleasant now and the cocking stroke is smoother and a tad bit lighter. Off hand shooting shows that yours truly needs to tighten up the nut that holds the rifle. Leaning against the door jamb indicates this rifle REALLY wants to shoot now!

This isn't your grandpa's BB gun...

Granted, distance is only 10 meters (roughly) and shooting from a braced against the door jamb position (not the steadiest), but this isn't too shabby. These are shots 46-50 after the spring change.

Forgive my ignorance but what's the 'steering wheel' on the side of the scope?

That is a Leapers/UTG 3-12X44 SWAT scope. SWAT = "Side Wheel parallax Adjustment Turret" They sell various versions of it, starting with a longer, heavier one with wire reticle, then a compact version with wire reticle and finally the one on this rifle with an etched glass reticle. For target work the fine etched glass reticle is nice. These scopes stand up to the reverse recoil of the spring powered air rifle just fine. They may not be the finest scope in the world, but have given me good service for what I do. Anyway, the wheel allows you to adjust the parallax quickly to bring the target into sharp focus. One can rig up a tape around them with range markings and a pointer on the scope mount that will allow you to use it for range estimation. In theory at least. I've not done enough field shooting with it yet to get a feel for that part, but the wheel makes it easier to bring into focus and that's why I've got it. Some folks have developed some fairly elaborate "comma" shaped wheels for fine tuning their target ranging at longer distances.

Kind of makes me ashamed of my old Daisy "Red Ryder".

The Red Ryder's quite a fun machine in its own right.

Makes sense. I couldn't imagine it was for rapid and large windage adjustments!

....an English Market gun, that is to say it is set up to run at 12 foot pounds. It is a pcp rifle, and on the side of the stock is a small adjustment valve that allows one to vary the pressure according to the weight of the pellets being used. By the way, this one happens to be a .22 caliber rifle.

This adjustment valve is quite necessary as the English police are in the habit of carrying a muzzle-mounted chronograph in their vehicle. If you are observed using your rifle, you are subject to having a its power level checked (without warrant), and woe to you if it is even a smidge over the limit. Fellows with spring operated guns typically set them up for 12 pounds using the lightest pellet available, so that the use of anything heavier will not bring it over the limit. If you tune the rifle to achieve the limit using a heavy pellet, you are sure to be over if switching to lighter weights.

My reason for purchasing a rifle set up that way was to gain the adjustment valve, as full power American Market rifles lack that useful feature. I had the internals tweaked by Airguns of Pomona (?) so my overall power level was raised, but even then it is less than a full power gun. By using the adjuster, I'm able to fire about 100 times at the lowest setting, and about a dozen times at the highest.

Guess where I obtain the most accuracy?

Otony

The PCP's are sweet rifles, for sure. A friend here has one as well and the 500 series are fairly popular, especially in the Made For Field Target garb. How do you fill yours? My one PCP is a Benjamin Discovery, but have my sights set on a Hatsan AT44W QE. The AirArms would be nice, but the price to play is too high down here.

......one of the rifle coaches at our local high school. It is a public school with a rifle team that has produced some great competitors.

They have a proper compressor for filling scuba tanks, so.......

I actually own two pcp guns, the second is a Crosman 1720T .177 pistol, that I fitted with a stock. It makes for a very handy little carbine. I'm going to have it revalved for a bit more power, as it is shooting at about 750fps. I'd like to get that up a tad more, maybe around 900fps, but it is stunningly accurate right now.

I built an English pub style bell target, which forces you to shoot through a hole to ring a bell. The Crosman will do this easily at 10 meters IF the shooter can do his part. Since you are threading a .177 pellet through a hole that is a bit over .3125 (5/16 washer) a steady hold is paramount. You know if you've done it by the "ding" of the bell.

Otony

Sweet! There's something about reactive targets, getting feedback from toppling, spinning or ringing, that makes shooting a whole lot of fun. Having access to a compressor makes PCP a lot more fun than pumping. Those 1720T's are sweet shooting "pistols". Most folks I know of that have them have gone the carbine route instead of handgonne.