Anschutz LG220

Anschütz LG220 

This was the first of the post-WW2 German recoilless (or recoil supressed) match rifles, and incorporated an ingenious small bore rear-facing piston in addition to the main forward-facing piston, which helped to cancel out recoil. It also had a sliding breech which opened behind the barrel, with an elaborate grooved ramp to assist with inserting a pellet directly into the breech. The sliding breech is now commonplace on fixed-barrel sporting air rifles.

Mike D said about the LG220:

Q: What was the most significant air rifle made post WW2?

A: The Anschutz 220 match rifle, introduced in 1959/60.

At a time when the best target air rifles were recoiling break-barrel springers like the Weihrauch HW55 and Walther LG53/55 series, the 220 introduced:

+ A fixed barrel with low-effort, rear-hinged sidelever cocking (No chance of break-barrel wear or alignment issues, no slots under the stock for the cocking mechanism, etc.)
AND
+ An ingenious sliding breech allowing direct loading of the pellet (Obliterating the main disadvantage of previous fixed-barrel guns with loading taps)
AND
+ A recoil-suppression system (in this case, a compact pneumatic "shock absorber" absorbing the rearward thrust and vibration of the spring)
And this triple whammy of innovation came - as you would expect from Anschutz - wrapped up in a ruggedly built, beautifully finished package with world-class barrel, superb adjustable trigger, and fantastic sights.

The 220 not only rendered all competition utterly obsolete overnight, it ignited a match gun "arms race" that continues to this day. Diana's Giss system was developed at about the same time...but placed in break-barrel guns only. Diana's model 75, FWB's sledge system, Walther's SSP LGR, Anschutz's own models 250 and 380, and the later generations of CO2 and PCP match guns can all be seen as incremental steps to out-do one another. But the Anschutz 220 was the quantum leap that got it all started.

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