Testing, testing RWS field kits

Time Well Spent June 15, 2022

The editor looks at a money-saving kit from RWS

To get the best from any airgun it’s vital to shoot a selection of pellets to learn which one suits your rifle. It’s all well and good taking recommendations from friends and gun club mates, but every gun is unique, so doing your own thorough testing makes sense. However, buying lots of tins gets expensive, which is why RWS is offering these Field Kits in .177 and .22.. In each one you get five different types of pellet with 200 per tin in .177, and 100 in .22. This is enough to do some proper testing but less wasteful than full tins of 500.

The .177 kit has an old favourite of mine, the Superdome, plus Super Point Extra, Super Field, the highly unusual Power Ball, and finally, the Super Mag. Some of these I know well, others not at all. I tried to learn what the ‘Extra’ part of the Super Point was about, but had no luck. I was intrigued to see if the Power Ball would be accurate because I’ve never seen a two-part pellet group well.

To show the difference in pellets, I shot each of the .177s at 25 yards through my ancient Air Arms S410 and then measured the groups. I know this rifle to be pin-point accurate with the Air Arms Field Diablo and to check all was well, I shot a group with them first. The fabled, ragged, one-hole group was easily formed.

Group sizes

Then I shot each of the new pellets in turn, firing three shots at each of three targets. The Super Field was first, which looks just like the Air Arms pellet and gave excellent results. I was surprised that the Super Dome wasn’t so good because it’s a pellet I’ve known for decades. Next up was the Power Ball, which delivered some superb accuracy with the odd, very wild flyer thrown in for bad luck. Some missed the target completely whilst it seemed that one shot had separated the steel ball from the lead because there were two holes in the target card.

The Super Point wasn’t great either, but then pointed pellets have gone out of fashion for a reason. The most interesting pellet of the bunch for me was the Super Mag, a 9.3 grain wadcutter that I’ve experimented with in the past. It also gave superb accuracy and I’d expect its flat face design to deliver maximum impact into quarry such as rats.

However, I’m a firm believer that accuracy is always the most important factor and the modern-looking Super Field was the winner in my rifle, but who knows which would do best in yours?

.177: £27.00

.22: £21.00

www.ruag.co.uk

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