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The Tech Force 97
Compasseco’s flagship spring rifle gets a workout.

by Tom Gaylord

1. TF 97

The Tech Force 97 is an underlever spring rifle with features that resemble those found on more expensive European spring rifles. Shown here with Tech Force 2x7 variable power scope mounted on one-inch rings provided by Compasseco.

2. Cocked

As the name implies, the underlever cocks by retracting a separate lever stored under the barrel. On the TF 97, the effort needed to do this is very low. Once cocked, the rifle is loaded, then the underlever is returned to its storage place under the barrel.

Compasseco has made a name for itself selling Tech Force airguns, but it has also made an impact in the quality of those same guns throughout the American market over the years. No where is that quality more noticeable than in the Tech Force 97 underlever spring air rifle.

Many of you know that Tech Force is the brand name Compasseco puts on all its airguns and other products that have been upgraded to its own high standards. The manufacturer has listened to buyers from Compasseco over the years and they have worked closely with the Kentucky-based company to give them airguns of the highest quality their country has to offer. And Compasseco has asked for a received numerous upgrades on specific models in an effort to offer the highest value in airguns at an affordable price. The TF 97 is a great example of that effort.

The rifle is large but not to long, at just a hair more than 41 inches in total length. Eighteen inches of that is barrel, which is somewhat long on a spring rifle. The stock feels very full and is shaped well for a big sporter. The ventilated recoil pad holds the butt firm in your shoulder and when you stand the gun in the corner. The gun weighs about 7.5 lbs.

The stock is a tight-grained hardwood, stained a medium dark brown. It is shaped in a very classic sporter style. It looks European or, even better, American. There were some dents in the stock of the rifle I tested - at the rear of the comb, but they looked like shipping marks, not factory flaws. A soft thick rubber recoil pad assures a non-slip surface on the shoulder or when you stand the rifle in the corner.

The metal finish under the bluing is adequate but not up to Spanish standards. Overall, I rate the rifle as better-looking than the buyer has a right to expect at the price. Certainly the Czechs do not do a better job, yet their spring rifles are more expensive.

Cocking effort of the rifle I tested measured 22 lbs. on a bathroom scale. The cocking stroke was one of the smoothest I have seen on any underlever rifle, including the British TX 200 that costs five times as much! That is due, no doubt, to the fact that Compasseco has taken the time to lubricate the mainspring correctly.

Several safety features are built into the cocking mechanism for your safety. The first is a catch that prevents the sliding compression chamber from closing unless the catch is pulled deliberately. That prevents a finger from being smashed from the sliding chamber closing unexpectedly. This catch is designed to engage before the rifle is cocked, so don’t be tentative when you cock the rifle. Keep pulling back on the underlever until all the clicking stops. The release catch is located at the extreme rear of the triggerguard and the underlever will not return to the closed position unless this catch is depressed as the lever is moved.

3. Trigger

The triggerguard seems busy, because of the two extra levers. In this picture, the muzzle of the rifle is to the right. The rear (left) lever must be pulled after cocking to allow the underlever to be returned to the stored position. The front (right) lever is the automatic safety that is pulled to the rear to allow the rifle to fire. It can be reset at any time. The trigger is in the middle.

An automatic safety also engages on cocking and, even when the sliding chamber is closed via the lever just mentioned you still cannot shoot until the safety is released. It is located at the extreme front of the triggerguard and is pulled back to release.

The trigger is single-stage and reasonably free from creep. It does seem to break in as you shoot, which is quite typical on a spring gun. Pull weight seems to be in the five to six pound range.

The breech is loaded with a single pellet after the sliding compression chamber is drawn back. I recommend you keep one hand on the cocking lever at all times, even with all the safety devices. It keeps your hands out of harm’s way and nothing mechanical is ever onehundred percent reliable.

The rifle comes with adjustable open sights, so there is nothing else to buy except pellets. I found them to be very adequate, but for real precision and all the accuracy the rifle is capable of, you will need a scope.

Because the rifle recoils, a scope stop is required to keep the scope mounts from moving and the TF 97 has one built-in. Compasseco sent me a 2x 7 power scope and mounts to test with this gun, so I set it up and sighted it in. I always sight in at 10 feet and get the pellet strike as far below the aim point as the scope center is above the bore. That usuallybrings me to about one inch low to 10 yards, which is dead-on from 20 to 30 yards with rifles of this velocity. Sight-in done this way takes less than 10 minutes.

4. Pellets

The pellets used in this test were Crosman Premiers (in the cardboard box), RWS Hobbys and Tech Force heavy target wadcutters. The Tech Force pellet were by far the most accurate in the test rifle.

I shot the rifle with three different pellets. Compasseco’s own Tech Force heavy target pellets gave a velocity spread of 625 to 689 f.p.s. for ten shots. The rifle was dieseling with every shot, which may account for the 64 foot-second spread. The heavy target pellet weighs 8.1 grains and the average of 661 f.p.s. gives an average muzzle energy of 7.86 foot-pounds. Crosman Premiers weighing 10.5 grains averaged 503 f.p.s. for a muzzle energy of 5.9 foot-pounds. These were very consistent with a total spread of just 14 f.p.s. RWS Hobby pellets weighing 6.9 grains went an average of 625 f.p.s for a muzzle energy of 5.99 foot-pounds. They gave a spread of 20 f.p.s.

Shooting the rifle proved to be a very different experience for me. I have a lot of experience with spring rifles that have to be held just so to group well. The TF 97 is apparently not one of them. After shooting many groups and only getting mediocre groups, I finally tried holding the rifle more like a firearm. That turned out to be what it needed. The group size shrank instantly by 50 percent.

5. TF 97 tgt

The pellets used in this test were Crosman Premiers (in the cardboard box), RWS Hobbys and Tech Force heavy target wadcutters. The Tech Force pellet were by far the most accurate in the test rifle.

At 10 meters (33 feet) the 97 grouped heavy Tech Force target pellets from Compasseco the best. The smallest measured 0.602, or just over one-half inch. None were larger than three-quarters of an inch at this distance.

There was one surprise during the extended shooting session. The underlever became loose and would not stay up when the gun fired. It fell down and hit the shooting bench with every shot. The problem was traced to a loose screw in the locking mechanism and once it was properly tightened, the gun started to shoot great.

The trigger is a sporting trigger, not a target trigger. It’s heavy and it breaks clean without a lot of creep. In fact, I felt almost no creep whatsoever. But the weight of the let off takes some getting used to. In the hundreds of shots fired during this test, I did not notice any lightening of the pull.

6. Scope Stop

I won’t report on the scope here because I’m doing a separate report on it, but it was a good match for this air rifle. The rifle has a scope stop built in and I noticed that the rear scope mount did slide backwards until it was in firm contact with the stop. So do yourself a favor and use the stop when you mount your scope.

How would I rank the TF 97? Well, from the standpoint of accuracy, it seems to be at the top end of Tech Force sporting air rifles. It’s nearly as accurate as a good Spanish rifle. In terms of power, it wasn’t as fast as I had expected, but it was very consistent with all pellets except the Tech Force target pellets that it shot the best. Go figure! At the price, there isn’t another spring air rifle in its league. It’s a good starter air rifle, but make sure you get the Maccari spring installed so you’ll have that consistency for many years.

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