First, this is a heck of a gun, and I'm a fan. But as with much in life, don't buy all the hype. I write tonight to add a layer of reality to all that I read and watched before buying this gun (mine is in .22).
Here is a sample of the type of stuff you'll read about the RWS 54:
OK, there are measures of truth to all these statements (and in the case of weight its 100% true, but with an important explanation). However, I'd like to dive a bit deeper into the reality zone.
Here is a sample of the type of stuff you'll read about the RWS 54:
- "It shoots with PCP accuracy right out of the box!"
- "It's totally recoiless!" (thanks to the sliding action)
- "It's not hold sensitive at all!"
- "It's as heavy as a tank and is too hard to cock!"
- "Beautiful German workmanship requires no modifications!"
- "It will trash your air gun rated scope"
OK, there are measures of truth to all these statements (and in the case of weight its 100% true, but with an important explanation). However, I'd like to dive a bit deeper into the reality zone.
- Unless you a very lucky or your PCP is of poor accuracy, it does not shoot like a PCP out of the box. I DID get WAYYYY better results than I would with any other spring gun of this magnum power, but it did not hold groups as tight as my Marauder .22 or Cricket .25 -- especially at longer ranges.
- That's because the RWS 54 is STILL a springer, and the spring inside this beast is a doozy. Even with the "recoiless" action there is some torque and bounce when that thing releases, just a lot less than the usual springer. Because it's an airgun shooting 16grns at 730 fps, The pellet is still in the barrel for a couple of thousands of a second while all these mechanics are going on. Is it better than most all magnum springers you've heard of? Yes. Will you be disapointed if you expect it to shoot like an Air Arms s510 Ultimate Sporter PCP? Yes.
- Due to the unavoidable spring dynamics I described above, my experience was that hold sensitivity is still in play. However, rather than the artillery hold model that most spring shooters adopt, I found its about this gun wanting to be held more firmly like a firearm. However, that is not to say you can just grip it and rip it any old way. For instance, I got significant change in point of aim moving from bags on the bench to sticks and a bucket. I also got significant changes in point of aim depending on whether the gun was teetering on its balance point, or set firmly at the fore end. In short, hold very much mattered more that it does with my firearms. There was much experimenting before I settled on my particular hold which was to mount the gun on sticks far out on the fore end, grip the stock somewhat firmly with the left hand toward the body to establish solid shoulder contact, and exercise very light-touch trigger control with the right hand without trying to strangle the thing. (Since I enjoy Hunter Field Target, I like shooting off sticks and get better results than off bags with this gun. Again, this tells me it needs to move in its own way while decompressing that ass-kicking spring and releasing that pellet). This was all quite different from the light artillery hold I use on my .177 HW97k, but still, hold mattered a lot.
- Yes, it's heavy. Damn right. And guess what? That makes it a whole lot steadier on sticks, on bags, or at your shoulder. Given the power of the spring, the weight assists the the shooter in staying steady during the milliseconds of the shot cycle when a lighter gun would bounce and twist regardless of the recoiless action. Is this a gun for a junior or smaller framed individual male or female? Perhaps not. Can a reasonably able medium to large framed adult of any gender handle this gun. Yes. The weight makes this the steadiest of my air arsenal in free-hold standing position. Don't knock weight. It's your friend in this case. Wanna schlep it through the woods on a hunt? Add a sling. Oh, yea, its harder to cock than a lot of guns. So what? That's the price you pay for a magnum spring and power. No biggie.
- The precision German workmanship left some things to be desired, in my opinion. The factory spring was noisy, buzzy and somewhat harsh. Upon disassembly I found the cylinder was not perfectly smooth and internals required some polish work. To get where I wanted, I chose to spend another $90 bucks on an aftermarket spring kit (Vortec), which gave me an immediate improvement. Taking the gun apart required a home-made spring compressor and a lot of YouTube tutorials, which was an experience, let me tell you. But it all worked out. It's not brain surgery.
- Yes it will trash even the toughest air gun rated scope eventually, according to guys at my club who had first-hand "hard way" experience in the matter. They all recommended the Diana Zero Recoil scope mount. Mine developed a highly unacceptable case of looseness and play. Read more on how you can handle that issue in this post.
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Summary: The RWS 54 Air King is an awesome spring powered air gun, in my opinion. Powerful and accurate, which is normally an inverse relationship in the spring world. In this case, the gun handles the power without spraying pellets all over the page. Great! I'm really glad I bought it and I enjoy the results. But it does NOT completely live up to ALL the YouTube and blog claims of perfection that convinced me I was ordering the second coming when I decided to buy. I learned again that this is a sport and a hobby. It wouldn't be any fun if you didn't have to work a bit to achieve something. The RWS 54 Air King requires you to be on your game, just not nearly as much as the average magnum springer. With this information, go forth and get you one!
