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Thread: Air Arms TX200 a one year review

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Air Arms TX200 a one year review

    I have owned my rifle for about a year, and in that time I have put over 5000 rounds through it.

    First off the rifle will come to you in a well thought out box. The gun will, or should be safe from damage but be sure to inspect it. The fit and finish of the rifle will or should be second to none.

    The TX200 has an 11mm dovetail built in to the receiver with a scope stop built into it to mount a scope. No “iron sights” are included with the gun. And to be honest you won't want them.


    The TX is a heavy gun, with the sling, and scope it is right at 11 pounds with a walnut stock. The cocking effort is said to be about 38 pounds I would say that should be close. It is not hard to cock but it is a pull. Loading the TX is done with your thumb. After a lot of shooting expect a sore thumb. When cocking the TX you must make sure it is fully cocked. If it is not the gun will not close. If your having trouble with this make sure the gun is FULLY cocked.

    The trigger is pure magic. I have shot a lot of rifles. I have shot several air rifles. The TX200 has the best trigger of any gun I have ever shot, It is euphoric ha ha ha. No honestly the trigger is amazing. The recoil impulse is VERY mild. In fact it is so smooth right out of the box it is scary.

    You can expect to get about 675 FPS out of a 14.66 gr H&N FTT pellet. Mine is a .22 cal and it likes the 5.54 the best but all three sizes shoot very, very well. After 2000 rounds mine has settled down to 664 to 668 FPS.




    Does the TX have enough power to kill with? YES!!!! I have been using mine this spring to hunt squirrels, doves, starlings, and Rock Chucks. The chucks are big some are 10 to 12 pounds. At the time of this writing I have killed a total of 250 Rock Chucks. Ya, but what kind of yardage? Well glad you asked. If I can get under 60 yards any chuck I aim at is in trouble. That said I have killed several in the 70 to 75 yard mark, and have fully penetrated side to side through the lungs on a smaller 2 to 3 pound chucks. The gun is accurate enough to head shoot out to 70 yards with my scope if a guy does his part. My rifle is putting out right at 14.2 foot pounds of energy at 668 FPS. That seems pretty light in the loafers compared to the hot and smoking 1400 FPS rifles. Yep it is, and I feel confident in the gun and pellet to take game out as far as the scope has mil lines. That extra speed just makes the gun harder to shoot and control. I can already blow through them at 668 FPS why do I need to blow through them faster? Then there is the old, if it is faster then you don't have as much hold over as much on long shots. I guess that is so, but if your using a scope with mil lines or dots sight them in and shoot with a dead hold not a hold over. While there might be the magic break barrel somewhere that shoots 1400 FPS and can shoot a dime sized group at 30 yards most wont. Not even close! The average TX200 on the other hand will and can shoot that group providing the shooter does his part. The group in this picture is a 50 yard group.




    Noise, how loud are they? Well the TX has a silencer but to be perfectly honest the gun is on the loud side. The spring was a bit on the twangy side when I fist started to shoot it. Since then it has settled down a lot. The one thing that it does not have is the CRACK that the super sonic guns have.




    My shooting experience with the TX200.

    I got a UTG 4-12x44 compact to put on it and sighted it in to 30 yards. Well the compact didn't have enough scope length to give me comfortable eye relief. I tried a longer model the same power. Again I was not happy and felt that the gun was capable of more. So after talking with the factory many times I got a Vortex Crossfire II 6-18x44 AO. This scope has mil lines on the side wires and the bottom wire. I wish the scope had more mil lines. The more the better I say. I also wish the top wire had lines. It is just a wire and I have no hold under reference for tree top squirrels.




    The first thing I did was sight the scope in for 30 yards on the first time the pellet crosses the crosshair.

    I struggled to hit anything at any yardage except 30 yards it was dead on. I now have 20 yards on the main crosshair. 30 yards on the first mil line. 45 yards on the second line. 60 yards on the third line. Then on the bottom wire where it goes from fat to thin, that is 70 yards.

    When I sighted it in for that the gun just seemed to hit everything I shot at. Windage is still an issue. The wind blows every day in Southern Idaho. That is something a guy has to learn. But there are ways to give your self a better edge. Like if you have a left to right wind. Wait for the chuck to face to the right. Then hold behind the shoulder. You either hit the lungs, Neck, or head depending on how strong with the wind is. Doping the wind is a learned skill.




    Slings! Well I added a sling to my gun to make it more manageable for carrying. The sling stud I use is for a Marlin 1894 357 mag. I wrapped the lever with a couple wraps of electricians tape to protect the cocking arm. You have to mount it forward enough to keep the swivel from hitting the stock. Also it most not interfere with the cocking lever going to full cock position. Drilling the stock must be done. There are some butt plates that can be put on to attach the sling to but the truth is I got the gun to hunt with. I need the sling and drilling is the cheapest and easiest route. My leather sling I have is WIDE. At the widest point the sling is 3” wide. I LOVE this. I had it custom made for me by a friend. The wide sling protects the stock when I rest it on rocks, or the truck. The leather has taken a beating but the stock hasn’t.



    The one problem I did have mounting the sling this way was the cocking rod came loose over time of carrying it slung on my shoulder. The circled spot is where it came loose.





    I just kept wiggling it and soon it came off. I put some permatex retaining compound on it and let it set a couple days. Problem solved.




    Has anything else went wrong with the gun in a year?
    Well the only thing I had to replace was a breach seal. That is over 5000 rounds and only a seal. That is not bad at all.



    One of the things that tipped the scales for me personally was a you tube video that showed how easy it is to rebuild the TX200. It is the simplest of all the guns to take apart and put back together. The fact that the gun is the #1 spring rifle in the sport of Field Target shooting. It is super easy to rebuild that was what made me go with the TX200.

    https://youtu.be/fg2U78vl67I


    What do I not like about the gun?

    I guess first off it is heavy. Next it is expensive. By the time you put a good mount like the BKL and a good scope you are looking at a LARGE chunk of change. VERY LARGE. Another thing I don't like is the stock. WHAT??? Well let me say, the stock is pretty. The wood is beautiful and the lines are elegant. That said, the wood is very porous. If I have a couple days beard growth my whiskers get stuck in the holes in the wood. That can be uncomfortable. The comb of the stock is quite sharp, and the stock is not ambidextrous. I figure at some point I will change the stock a bit and give it a wet sanded TruOil finish.




    Rebuttal

    One of the things that make the gun so easy to shoot is the extra weight. And in my 53 years on earth never have I ever bought something cheap and had it be worth a ****. The fact is you pay for what you get. That said just because you pay a high price for something doesn't make it the best. Do your home work on high end air guns. The TX200 is at the top.




    When I got back into air gunning a couple years ago I never dreamed I would be where I am today. When I was buying semi accurate break barreled guns, and I thought they were accurate enough. Never would I have believed that my rifle would open the doors to unbelievable opportunities to hunt private land that is locked up to other types of guns. The farmers just don't want bullets flying all over the farm and loud banging. Never would I have dreamed that I would have an air rifle that would shoot groups smaller than a quarter at 50 yards.



    There are probably other brands that come close to the potential that the TX200 has. I can think of several that I would love to play with. But the winners of the Field Target shoots are almost always TX200. They have been made almost exactly the same way for over 30 years. When a Manufacture keeps the same model for that long it is a good one.

    The only regret I have with it was I should have bought it first. Then I would not have bought the others.

  2. #2
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    Nice write up. Keep saying one of these days but like everyone else there are a lot of things going on.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    My TX200 is a walnut stocked .177 and my experience mirrors yours, prolly the best springer made and I have a HW97 and a HW95, which are close. Pretty hard to talk about Gamos when you're shooting a TX.

  4. #4
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    Great write up and nice to see a review of an air rifle on a USA site, especially a UK air rifle. IMO it's the best spring gun bar none.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Very nice writeup on a very fine rifle. I would have one myself, but I chose Theoben Classic in .20 before I held the TX200. Boight that Theoben 25 years ago, and like your TX200, it will be with me till the end.
    “You don’t practice until you get it right. You practice until you can’t get it wrong.” Jason Elam, All-Pro kicker, Denver Broncos

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by UKShootist View Post
    Great write up and nice to see a review of an air rifle on a USA site, especially a UK air rifle. IMO it's the best spring gun bar none.
    I have had a .177 TX-200 for about five years now. Got it to cull the varmints that like to eat my house. Boy, mine fits the bill! I got coaching on the choice of air rifle or I would have never known to choose AirArms. I am glad I did. WOW - Very accurate and the bonus is it is fun to shoot. My son and I will have offhand matches at 25 meters at 1/2 inch bull shoot-n-see targets. That is a nice way to spend 45 minutes with him.

    The horses are too close to chance shooting a 22 around the house. It looks like the 22 version hits with about 80% more energy than my .177 but I find I still get 'in and out' penetration on the big fox squirrels. It is plenty of gun for the job intended. The 7-8 grain pellets common to .177 fly at about 750 to 800 FPS depending. The dome points are good all-round accurate in mine out to 35 yards on varmints.

    BTW - I agree, nice write-up Ron, Thanks.
    Chill Wills

  7. #7
    Boolit Master 35 shooter's Avatar
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    Great write up on a year’s experience with your tx. I’ve been following your results with it since you first reported on it.
    I’ve been especially interested in your hunting results since i’m Shooting about the same FPS. and fpe with my 392.
    We don’t have the chucks here in the south, but we’re overrun with red and grey squirrels lol.
    I was glad to see the comparable velocity and pellet weight has worked so well for you on the much larger chucks you have there....gives me more confidence in my own rifle.

    Really enjoyed the write up!

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Here is a video I just made with my TX200 shooting fox squirrels.

    https://youtu.be/ALLzf180tJ8

  9. #9
    Boolit Master 35 shooter's Avatar
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    Fine shooting. That had to have been a fun day.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    It was awesome

  11. #11
    Boolit Master HARRYMPOPE's Avatar
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    Here is my 4th TX200,a .22 hunter carbine walnut .ive not shot my .22rf rifles at varmints or much of anything since going to quality air guns.i love my TX as much as you do.and my hw97k .177 next to it ain't bad either!
    ya I'm the same age as you Ron I sure wish I had discovered high end air guns when I was younger.
    Attachment 234200
    Last edited by HARRYMPOPE; 01-18-2019 at 12:55 AM.
    Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by HARRYMPOPE View Post
    Here is my 4th TX200,a .22 hunter carbine walnut .ive not shot my .22rf rifles at varmints or much of anything since going to quality air guns.i love my TX as much as you do.and my hw97k .177 next to it ain't bad either!
    ya I'm the same age as you Ron I sure wish I had discovered high end air guns when I was younger.
    Attachment 234200
    I know right! My son got me back into air rifles and when I saw how bad a 300 dollar Crosman Trail NP2 was, well I knew if I wanted to continue in the sport I was NOT going to waste any more money on Cr@p guns. Yours look very nice.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master HARRYMPOPE's Avatar
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    I hadn't done anything more than sighting in that new TX Hunter carbine at 10m. I took it out at lunch time and paced off 53 steps. out of the truck window over a towel with cheap Crosman pellets it was shooting inch groups very consistently.
    These rifles are absolutely amazing.

    Ron I had a couple of match airguns I used to practice with when I was younger and I never took airguns very seriously Beyond 10 yards or just plinking in the backyard. The friend of mine gave me a Crosman Nitro piston of some sort that I got frustrated with so I started reading joined a couple of forms next thing you know I've got six or eight German and British guns and that's all I shot for about 3 to 4 years. I had a range set up back out of my shop I could shoot out to 80 yards and light so I could shoot all night. I was going through three to four thousand pellets a month it got psychotic.
    Now that I'm divorced the ex has my property I don't shoot my airguns as much as I want.I just found a little place off by a Farm and the guy lets me shoot so now I'm shooting to three days a week at lunch. And going crazy with airguns again!

    In fact I'm heading out there right now....
    Last edited by HARRYMPOPE; 01-19-2019 at 12:21 PM.
    Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries

  14. #14
    Boolit Master HARRYMPOPE's Avatar
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    Well I went out to 80 yards to see what would happen. Point of impact dropped about a foot from a 50-yard zero it was a bit windy but these are the two groups I got. Not entirely unhappy. I did shoot a 10 shot Group after this and eight of them were in an inch and a half but one was left an inch and when was right a bunxh because the wind was really unpredictable. I'm probably on the Ragged edge of distance for small varmints with this setup.Attachment 234298

    Attachment 234299
    Attachment 234300
    Last edited by HARRYMPOPE; 01-19-2019 at 02:07 PM.
    Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Looks good

  16. #16
    Boolit Master HARRYMPOPE's Avatar
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    I took it out today again in the wind and rain. These TX200 rifles are absolutely amazing. It was blowing too much to really shoot much Beyond 50 yards so I went to 25 yards and shot these two groups. I was holding a different aiming points because it was blowing so hard hard.
    I remember buying a Cummins tool sale under lever Chinese lever actionin 1985 or so when I was 17 years old shooting at my parents basement basement. I sure wish I would have been introduced to better quality airguns back then like I said before. And your first post talking about the poruous wood grain man my whiskers are just absolutely being pulled by the cheek piece. Made me shave this morningAttachment 234407
    Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries

  17. #17
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    nice gun and nice write-up. You're obviously putting it to work.

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