About the gun:
Side-lever cocking
Altaros Regulator Added
10-shot repeater
2-stage adjustable trigger
Adjustable power
11mm scope grooves (no open sights)
2900 psi fill pressure (200 bar)
Built-in manometer (air pressure gauge)
173cc air tank
Foster Fill (No adapter necessary)
Lothar Walther barrel (15.56 inches)
Shrouded barrel for extra-quiet shooting
Right hand walnut stock
Checkered pistol grip and forearm
Superbly blued
Magnificent stock finish
Sling Studs added
Ventilated rubber buttpad
Gun Weight: 6.4 lbs
- Overall Length: 37.38 inches
Aesthetics: 5/5
Stock: The walnut stock is gorgeous and of excellent quality. One of the reasons I like purchasing used rifles from forums is that I am partial to nice looking walnut stocks. The picture of a rifle for sale on a forum is exactly the gun you receive. Vendor websites always have a stock picture of the rifle on their website and finding out exactly what the stock of the rifle you are buying is a hassle. This rifle was purchased in large part because of the light colored finish on the stock and the pretty grain found on both sides. The rifle came with sling studs installed which was a nice bonus, however, the front sling is a tad too close in my opinion. It doesn’t interfere with handling the rifle but I’d prefer the looks if it was located an inch further away and mounted into the rosewood. I love air rifles that look traditional. The only thing that gives away the fact that the S510 is an air rifle is the air reservoir located under the barrel.
First Impressions: Fit 4/5
The first knock I have against the rifle is that the air reservoir did not fit snugly into the stock. There was a noticeable amount of play at the end. The problem was easily fixed. I used a few short strips of electrical tape to line the stock and custom fit the reservoir so there is no longer any play.
First Impressions: Finish 5/5
The blueing on the air reservoir is the best I’ve ever seen. It is a step above the two Daystate rifles I’ve owned. The blueing is a magnet for fingerprints and requires a quick wipe down to look its best. The checkering is flawless and makes the rifle look rich.
Loading: 4/5
The rifle came with two magazines. The far better of the two has a metal body and clear plastic cover. It feels much higher quality than its plastic sibling with a yellow tinted plastic cover. The higher quality of the metal magazine is felt in the smoothness of the loading spring mechanism. It is as easy to load as the top quality Daystate magazines. The magazine has a small red dot that is visible through the clear plastic that is supposed to help keep track of shot count. I wish the dot was a touch bigger to make it a little easier to see. The rifle did not come with a single shot tray, but I always find my groups tighten up with single shot tray use and would have liked to have had one included with the gun and save me the hassle of ordering the Rowan Engineering unit for it. I’m also not a fan of the magazine indexing mechanism because it stick up so high. The mechanism can get in the way of a scope if you like to mount your scopes as low to the barrel as possible.
Firing: 4/5
The S510’s side lever is smooth and easy to cock. The rifle is easy to decock by holding the lever back, holding down the trigger, and closing the lever. The safety is handy. It is easy to depress with a finger while looking through the scope at the target. I like its location. The trigger is two stage adjustable. However, It is a bear to get the trigger adjusted perfectly. The second stage in particular is very fussy. A slight turn of the set screw changes the second stage from too heavy to unpredictably inconsistent. I opened up the trigger mechanism to get a feel for what was going on when adjusted. Very slight turns of the first and second stage screws do indeed make a large difference in trigger feel. Point deduction for ease of screwing up the trigger while trying to fine tune it.
Adjustability: 4/5
The transfer port on the S510 can be opened or closed to adjust the pellet velocity with a simple twist of a screw on the side of the rifle. I am very happy that the low power setting adjusts down so that the pellet only has 9 FPE. This is a perfect setting for shooting collared-doves out to 30 yards in my backyard without too much risk of pass through damage. It doesn’t take much energy to kill a puffball of feathers. The report of the rifle at low power is also backyard friendly without a moderator for plinking. The report is too loud for backyard plinking at high power without a moderator. The high power setting can be adjusted all the way up to 30 FPE and is the setting that gets the best accuracy. I’ve deducted a point because the adjuster creeps. Just shooting the rifle on the low power setting causes the adjuster creep to higher powers. I was lucky enough to find a fix for this online. Wrapping a small o-ring behind the adjuster know gives the adjuster just enough tension to allow it to be adjusted, but also stay in position where it is placed.
Power Level: 3/5
The regulator has dropped the max power down a bit to 27 FPE. Most .22 cals are 30 FPE, but I prefer 35 foot pounds of energy to really push heavier pellets.
Efficiency and Shot Count: 3/5
Not as efficient as an electronically regulated gun. The 50 shot count come in large part from the large air reservoir.
Consistency: 1/5 without regulator, 5/5 with Altaros Regulator Installed.
At high power the gun has a significant shot curve.
The shot curve was much more flat at lower power settings, but to fix this I went about adding an Altaros regulator. The regulator allows the pressure inside the reservoir to still be read. The regulator as well as a lightening the hammer to 29 grams results in a shot string of 50 shots with a standard deviation of 2 or less!
Refill: 4/5
According to the documentation, the carbine version has a very generous 173cc air reservoir. This makes filling with a hand pump tough. The rifle gets a very respectable 50 shots at max power on a 200 BAR fill. With a regulator added and hammer lightened, the gun still gets 50 shots per 210 BAR fill. The sacrifice to get a flat shot string was a loss of 3 FPE down to 27 FPE.
I don’t like to fill any rifle that requires a probe. The rifle ships new with a Air Arms filling probe. I prefer all my rifles have a standard quick fill adapter. The previous owner of my rifle clearly agrees with me and changed the fill adapter for me. My rifle came to me with the Air Arms filling adapter changed to a Foster fitting. The hardware to replace the probe only costs around $25, though.
Reliability: 4 / 5
There have been no major problems with the rifle. The magazine index spring did need replaced. This part is the weak link in the rifle. Spares are inexpensive and easy to find. Replacing them is a 3 minute job.
The rifle is easy to take apart and work on. It isn’t overly complicated. With the exception of the magazine index spring, the rifle is engineered to simply work.
Summary and Overall Impression:
Pro:
Great looking rifle
Superb quality
Power adjustment makes gun useful in variety of situations
Easy to work on with spare parts readily available
Takedown diagram with part numbers and o-ring sizes is readily available.
Con:
Power adjustment knob tends to creep and needs fixed with an easy mod.
Getting trigger adjusted perfectly is a challenge.
Magazine index mechanism can get in way of scope with low rings.
Magazine index spring wears out quickly with use of Rowan Engineering single shot tray. Easy to replace but buy a few spares.
A regulator needs to be added to flatten the shot string. Or buy a new regulated one!
Moderator needed for backyard friendly shooting at high power.
Consider buying if:
Looks is important to you in a rifle. It looks great!
You want to do your own maintenance. Spare parts are easy to find and the gun is easy to work on.
You want a solid all round rifle that does everything well.
Avoid If:
You plan to pump by hand. The reservoir is just big enough and the gun just inefficient enough to make this a workout for extended shooting.
You’d be afraid of getting a ding or scratch on the gun. Much of the cost is for the superb finish.
