First, thanks for the kind words. Your question poses an interesting problem. If you want a pistol for target shooting and dealing with magpies in the garden, you have a “conflict of interests.” The single-stroke pneumatic pistols — HW75, Daisy 747, Gamo Compact — are all excellent target guns, and people shoot them in club matches at 10 meters and in air pistol silhouette matches.

The difficulty is that none of them make enough power to deal with magpies humanely. I have never shot magpies, but I did terminate a squirrel at short range with an HW45, and the Diana LP8 makes nearly as much power as your Meteor. But any spring-piston pistol is going to be more difficult to shoot accurately in club competition. An HW30 rifle would make a good replacement for your Meteor. If you wallet can stand it, you could then supplement that with a Daisy 747 pistol for competition.

If you want to read more about my adventures with the squirrel, check out this http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/10/noise-in-attic.html and this http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2008/10/noise-in-attic-part-ii.html

For more information about the LP8, try here: http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2009/06/rws-lp8-classic-in-making.html