SIG SAUER ASP 20

Are you a big boy or big girl? Then you need a big-kid air rifle! Sure, anyone can buy an “airgun” at the local Cheap Junk Emporium Mart, but you won’t find any of these type of rifles on the shelves. The SIG SAUER ASP 20 is a proper rifle which just happens to be powered by air instead of pyrotechnic combustibles.

Silent World Domination

A few years ago, when SIG embarked on its strategy to take over the world by entering every known shooting sports product category, one quiet (at the time) but dedicated group was figuring out how to make world-class airguns for recreation, hunting and training. Since then, we’ve seen a barrage of air-powered clones of classic SIG centerfire designs like the 1911, P226 and P229, P320, M17, MCX and MPX. If you have any of the noisier equivalents of these firearms, you may have already discovered the joy and training value of having low-powered BB and pellet alternatives you can use at home with your existing holsters and other gear.

More recently, the SIG Air folks have created an air rifle all their own. The SIG SAUER ASP 20 is a break-barrel rifle, offered in .177 and .22 calibers, that’s all elegance and class. I’ll bet Princes William and Harry have a couple stashed away. We’re talking real wood, actual steel, a centerfire-like heft and performance to boot.

The unique break-barrel design is part of what makes this air rifle special. Break-barrels have been plagued since the beginning of time with droopy barrels as they age. Because you unlock and relock the barrel and receiver with every shot, over the years the lockup loosens. The barrel eventually “droops” a bit low relative to the perfect orientation of its youth. The proprietary breech lock on the ASP 20 looks something like a key stone in an arch and creates perfect and consistent alignment of barrel and receiver over time. You won’t suffer the embarrassment of droopy shots.

I should mention the included scope. Unlike Cheapo Mart package rifles, the Whiskey ASP scope is a first-class piece of gear. It’s made for air-powered shooting — the parallax focuses as close as seven yards. At airgun distances, a normal rifle scope will give you a sight picture similar to a mezcal-induced haze because it’s designed to focus at 50 yards or more. The Whiskey sight picture is crisp and clear, the reticle is fine, and the optic is built like a tank. It’s legit.

Shooting The ASP 20

Since airguns are more susceptible to wind thanks to those light pellets, I’ve built an indoor range in the large garage space under my raised home. It’s walled-in, so wind conditions range from zero miles per hour to none at all. When my wife isn’t home (shhh!) I set up a shooting bench in one corner and a target box in the opposite corner. This configuration gives me a full 20 yards — a good distance for testing most airguns.

Cocking the SIG ASP 20 is not as hard as the power level would imply. The SIG Air team has done some clever engineering to reduce the force required. Once you break the tight barrel to receiver lockup — a good thing — it’s easy. As with any break barrel air rifle, be sure to engage the safety and keep your hand on the end of the barrel through the whole cocking cycle. If you get careless, or something breaks, your loading fingers will be right in the way of a warp-speed closing-barrel-guillotine. Safety first! As a side note, the ambidextrous sliding safety doesn’t automatically reengage with every shot. I like it because I prefer to control the safety myself, just like on most centerfire rifles.

Radar Love

I’ve been using a new piece of gear that completes the indoor range experience. The folks at FX Airguns have invented a pocket radar chronograph barely bigger than a deck of cards which can measure velocities up to 1,100 feet per second and transmit data to a companion smartphone app. Nothing to set up down range, no optics to get wonky from weird indoor lighting and it’s accurate. It’s brilliant and the $199.99 price point is not much more than an optical chrony.

I shot two types of .22-caliber pellets: SIG SAUER Match Pb (13.73 grains) and H&N Sport Barracuda Match (21.14 grains). According to the FX Pocket Chronograph, the SIG Match pellets averaged 876.7 feet per second and the Barracudas 678.0. As for accuracy, my wobbly card table bench produced 20-yard average group sizes of 0.86″ and 0.64″ for the SIG and Barracuda pellets.

The SIG SAUER ASP 20 is available in .177 and .22 caliber and you can choose either a synthetic ($549.99) or wood ($639.99) option. All models come equipped with the Whiskey ASP scope.

www.sigsauer.com

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