How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

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zooma
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How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:45 pm

I currently own twoTX200 air rifles and one TX200HC, but I have no idea what age or Mk they are.

Can anyone please help me by letting me know what the differences are between the three marks of TX200 (and HC) are so I can tell what Mk mine are?

One TX200 and one TX200HC have walnut "fish scale" type stocks, but the other TX200 has a comparatively plain beech stock with just a little checkering pressed into the sides of the pistol grip and the fore stock, so I am guessing it must be a Mk 1 or a Mk 2 ?

At first I thought that the fish scale stock would automatically make it an easy job to identify a Mk3 TX200 (or HC) but now I am told that may not be the case so any information on how to positively identify the three different Mk's would be much appreciated.

I also own HW97K air rifles and find the HW register an easy way to identify the year of manufacture of any HW air rifle. Is there a similar Air Arms register so that owners can check to see when their air rifles were manufactured just by entering the rifle number?

If not, it would be a major asset for one to be included on the Air Arms Owners Club forum!
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tonyc
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Fri Nov 08, 2019 9:50 pm

There are no official Marks for the HC. The full-length TXs had some crossover versions presumably as parts stocks were used up but the easiest identifier is the ABT ratchet notches on the cylinder - none on the Mk1, 3 regular-spaced on the Mk2 and 3 irregular-spaced notches on the Mk3.

AA will tell you date of manufacture if you phone/email with the serial number.

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gdavison
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sat Nov 09, 2019 7:35 am

Always worth having a read of https://www.airarmsanorak.co.uk
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zooma
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sat Nov 09, 2019 12:37 pm

Thanks for the info.

All three of my TX's have irregular ratchet notches so they must be Mk3's.

I will try emailing Air Arms to ask about the age of my three rifles, but a previous emailed request for the age of my Pro Target remains unanswered, so I will try by telephone this time.
Rossendale Model Target Club. BB4 6QS . Every Tuesday and Thursday 7 - 10pm.

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tonyc
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sat Nov 09, 2019 12:54 pm

The one with the plain chequered beech stock could be a crossover or could be an old stock put on by a previous owner - often the case when owners want the new stock on a cherished older mark. If the barrel is unshrouded, with the moderator on the end (similar to HW97) then it's more likely to be assembled that way in the factory as I don't think it's possible to retro-fit a Mk3 cylinder and ABT in a Mk1/2 action... but I may be wrong on that!

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zooma
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sat Nov 09, 2019 4:21 pm

Thats interesting - maybe it is a cross-over model.

The gun number is 041350 so maybe that will help to identify it when I can find out the production date?
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zooma
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sun Nov 10, 2019 3:03 pm

Another question regarding the identity of the TX200 and TX200HC air rifles is that some have a nice dark wood cap fitted to the bottom of the pistol grip.

Both of my walnut stocked rifles (one TX 200 and one TX200HC) have this attractive feature and so I thought that is was only fitted to walnut stocked rifles, but today I have just seen a beech stocked TX200HC for sale that also has this same dark wood cap fitted!

Is this another age or Mk feature that can be used to age or identify the TX200/TX200HC rifles?
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tonyc
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Sun Nov 10, 2019 5:40 pm

All the TX Mk3 stocks I've handled have the "rosewood" cap. Some have AA engraved on the bottom and some don't. I've been told there's no significance to this. Some earlier Mk3 HCs have the older stocks with the plain chequering without the cap. I can't remember if I've seen caps on earlier models. The Mk1 and Mk2 shared the same stock but there was a Mk2 TXSR with a deeper fore end and a groove each side just in front of the trigger guard. I've seen a plain stock, no chequering on the front grip but that had been stripped so the original chequering may have been removed. All I can say is the stock as fitted isn't a reliable indicator, and it may have been changed anyway.

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zooma
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Mon Nov 11, 2019 2:12 pm

Thanks Tony,

I thought the dark wood "cap" was only used on the walnut stocks but it looks like it can be found on any of the Mk3 stocks, including the beech ones.

I appreciate that using the stock to try and date any air rifle would be highly unreliable as it is an item that can be so easily exchanged.

The seller of my Mk3 TX200 with the beech stock told me that he had ordered it with the old style stock from new as he disliked the fish scale stock design and preferred the older style with checkering.

Bob.
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FPoole
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Re: How to identify and date TX200 Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3

Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:07 pm

The Mark3 came out in 1999-2000 and had the very same stock as the Mark2. The fish scale came along around 2006, so there are plenty of Mark3 guns with the old nicer looking, to me at least, stock. Early Mark1 guns had no checkering on the fore end, just the pistol grip was checkered. One of my Mark1's, #00322, was just reunited with it's original stock. The owner had made a hack of it when he used it for FT, but I cleaned it up to the point of being usable.

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