Winning The Race Against Boredom!

Russ Douglas talks us through the Tanfoglio CZ75 - a thoroughbred CO2

- Russ Douglas

I have several air pistols, from the awesome Izzy SSP target pistol, through a few classic springer Webleys, and on to the often less accurate rapid-fire CO2 variety. Most of these are replicas, modelled on full-bore, semiautomatic police or military service pistols, but there’s another breed out there designed as pure thoroughbreds. Welcome to the world of the race guns!

These are so-called because they’re hyper-functional versions of more everyday pistols, for speed shoots timed to the millisecond. In the full-bore world, competitors literally race against the clock to ring steel plates downrange. They run between shooting positions with pistol held up in front, reloading as they go from belts rattling with extended hi-cap magazines. International Practical Shooting Federation (IPSC) is one such competition league. If you’ve enjoyed the John Wick films starring Keanu Reeves (think ‘combat choreography’), then I hope you’ve looked-up ‘Keanu Reeves 3-gun training’ on YouTube. He wasn’t just acting as a pistolero assassin, but also underwent intensive ‘three-gun’ pistol/shotgun/rifle training, under the tutelage of Stateside Champion, Taran Butler.

DESIGNED FOR SPEED

One such pistol design was based upon the reliable CZ75 9mm, adapted by Tanfoglio for the use of former IPSC Champion, Eric Grauffel. The real thing might be out of reach in the UK, but we can buy the Taiwan-made, Tanfoglio-licensed, CO2-powered airgun version, for our own back garden shooting fun. Prominent features include; an extended barrel, topped-off with a multi-ported muzzle brake, designed to control muzzle flip and quickly bring the gun back on to aim – entirely cosmetic on the airgun version, of course.