Walther CP Sport Air Pistol Review

In the spirit of providing (hopefully) decent air gun / pistol / rifle reviews for your consideration so you can make an informed choice, I am providing the latest review on a popular air pistol, which is one of those "love 'em or hate 'em" models: the Walther CP Sport.

This CO2 pistol is modeled after the CP99, but a more compact version that is more "plasticky" in feel. Walther, of course, is famous world-wide for their real-life pistols, most notably James Bond's PPK. The replica air gun models are licensed and manufactured by Walther (and distributed by Umarex in North America - I believe Umarex is somehow affiliated with Crosman).

The CP Sport is a double-action .177 repeater, that is fairly light to handle and comes with an 8-shot rotary clip. Now, I believe the velocity is around 430FPS or something in that range, but one thing for sure - this is meant for close-range target shooting. There are accessory rails on the gun if you want to mount a laser sight, but it looks really, really dumb, since it's under the barrel rather than at the top.

Several people have suggested this pistol as something worth trying out, considering my disappointment with the Crosman T4 (see my other review). For one, the big selling point is accuracy, which make sense, considering the fact that the CP Sport has a rifled steel barrel built in. I can attest that with the open sights, the CP Sport is fairly accurate for close-range shooting - it is by no means a match gun, but it's decent enough - far better than your standard pellet gun. It's also slightly smaller than the T4, so it's easy to handle. Its loading port is much more user friendly and the rotary clip drops in place and stays in place unlike the T4. However, that's about all the benefits that I have experienced with the CP Sport and I'd have to say that it's a tad overhyped.

The downsides to the CP Sport are few, but the few are significant. One is the fact that the safety is not easy to operate (for me anyway). It's a two-stage slide safety on the right hand side of the gun. You basically have to press in a little button and then in the same motion slide the safety switch backward (to take it off SAFE). To put it on SAFE, it's just s simple slide forward. Perhaps I'm not doing it right, but these kinds of things should not be rocket science. Here's where I like the Crosman T4 and 2240's cross-bolt safety (though the cross-bolt safety has its own inherent problems, not the least of which is causing a false sense of security in the shooter in that he/she assumes which side is the SAFE and which side is the FIRE position. With the CP Sport, you'll always know it's more difficult to put it on FIRE than it is to put it on SAFE.

The second thing I do not like about the CP Sport is the heavy trigger. Some people have advised me of this, but I always though - you just get used to it. Not so. Unless you have finger and hand muscles that rival those of WWF (sorry, it's WWE now) wrestlers, you will likely struggle with the trigger - and that does affect your accuracy to a degree since you are straining to pull the trigger and even the little shakes of your hand will cause your shot to miss its target. I heard that this can be modified, but I'm not yet a airgun gunsmith, so I won't even bother trying. Besides, my wife will kill me if I have air gun parts lying all over the kitchen table.

Finally, the last thing I find not so endearing on this pistol is now the 12g CO2 cartridge is loaded. As with most air pistols of this variety, the cartridge is behind/inside the grips of the gun. That is not a problem. The CP Sport's CO2 compartment release switch is near the trigger guard and easy to use. However, when the CO2 compartment is released, there are several steps that you will need to do. First is turning the boot of the compartment more than 180 degrees (one side to open, one side to close/lock). I thought that that was unnecessary until I realized that turning it back to the locking position pierces the CO2 canister. However, that is not possible until you turn this brass notched wheel to tighten the CO2 canister before moving the boot lock. Honestly, with so many steps, it is a bit obtuse and takes the fun away from a quick CO2 load (with the T4, it's a quick two step insert and snap the cartridge in place, which pierces the canister). Now, this is just the insertion of the CO2 cartridge part to which I am referring. If you happen to not spend all of the gas and wish to release it (good idea since it won't wear), you eject the compartment and then slowly turn the boot to let out the gas. When I mean slowly, I mean slowly - like turtle-slow. What I thought was slow ended up having the leftover gas spray all over my hand and shirt, and that is not pleasant as the CO2 is very cold and you can theoretically develop frostbite if you expose your skin to too much of it.

One last thing - I am all for warning text and labels, but there is so much writing on this gun, it looks like a billboard from an NHL hockey rink or a NASCAR driver's outfit. But this may be by design, since it's a pretty decent replica of a Walther product, so the text is probably there to ensure no one mistakes it as a real pistol (and of course, you should never try to paint over this text to make the gun look more "authentic").

There is a front and rear sight (one of them is adjustable, I believe it's the rear), and both are a white-dot colour - really easy to see. The gun also gets decent life on your CO2 canisters - you may get around 50-60 shots, which is pretty decent, in my view. Also, the loading port latch is very easy to use and is sturdy (unlike the T4's flat-against-the slide one).

Overall, the CP Sport is a decent air pistol. It's not the best out there, but it's hardly the worst. If you don't mind a little bit more work with the trigger pull, and some of the other idiosyncrasies with this gun, it's worth your consideration. It does seem solid and well built.