Posts Tagged ‘RWS Model 54’

Break Barrel Air Rifle: Let’s Talk Physics!

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Break Barrel Air Rifles

Click Here For Pellets

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

A word to my readers:

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Tom Holzel

The following post contains air rifle ballistics information obtained solely from http://VelocityPress.com, a fantastic resource for air rifle ballistics, conceal/carry information and a host of other “uncommon” information. The following post is written in the first person in order to to produce a fluid read, please understand that these are not my first hand experiences but the journaled labors of a very knowledgeable and well written fella named Tom Holzel. At Toms request, I have removed the article in it’s entirety from my website due to copyright issues, but I have retained a brief summary of the article and have included a link to it so you may read at your leisure, and I do suggest you read it (http://www.velocitypress.com/air_rifle_ballistics.shtml).

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Dave

Tom, thank you for giving us a little more insight into the range and trajectory of springer air rifles, from a layman’s perspective, and backing it up with solid science. As Tom mentioned, the RWS Model 54 is not a break barrel air rifle but it is a “springer” which I have decided qualifies it for inclusion on my site. Besides, it is one of the sweetest air rifles I have ever seen and I look forward to owning one soon.

-Dave Dillard 5-25-11

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

The Physics Of Pellets

These are some high dollar air rifles…

It would take about $600 to make ‘one’ of these baby’s yours, and you would be getting an exceptionally good air rifle indeed.

I don’t have $600 to spend on an air rifle  so thank goodness I can go to Pyramyd Air and get a quality break barrel air rifle at a price I can afford.

Check some out right here at Pyramyd Air or at Amazon here Break Barrel Air Rifles.

Now, lets talk about drop, trajectory and ballistics…yeah!

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Premium Anschutz Air Rifles

With premium air rifles costing as much as they do, figuring out what particular brand and model to buy can be quite confusing.

On what do you base your choice?

Take this Anschutz 9003 for instance, definitely out of my price range.

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Anschutz 9003 Premium Air Rifle Precise £2,634.00 ($4,097.89 USD)

Click Here For Quality Affordable Air Rifles

The first step is clearly deciding how much money you can afford to spend.

This will determine the quality level, and the features of the gun.

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

4 Pellet Calibers

After deciding this, the next most important factor is to chooser the correct caliber for the gun’s intended purpose.

If you are going to own only one gun, this can be an agonizing choice.





Here’s the approach I used to decide between a 5mm and .22-caliber Theoben Eliminator rifle for hunting in southern England.

As a long time air rifle crow hunter in the U.S., I recognized that to English farmers, hares, not crows, are more of a nuisance, so they would be the varmint of choice in my new home in Oxfordshire.

With crows, long range is more important than high power, so for that task the longer reach of the 5mm would be the obvious choice.

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Custom Pellet Calibers

Would that caliber also be the optimum for fur bearers?

When I examined the published performance I was puzzled by the ballistic data given the Eliminator on the Theoben website (http://www.theoben.co.uk/).

Their highly regarded 5mm rifle is listed as having a muzzle velocity of 880 fps, with 840 fps remaining at 50 yards.

(FYI: 4.5mm = .177cal  /  5mm = .20cal  /  5.5mm = .22cal )

Energy figures are quoted as being 24.5 ft/lbs at the muzzle and 22.4 ft/lbs at 50 yards.

These figures indicate the Crosman Premier pellet used loses only 4.5% of its velocity over 50 yards — yet drops by 23% the next 50 yards.

The .22-caliber figures were equally confusing.

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Stay On Target… Stay On Target

There are two ways to determine the trajectory of a pellet:

  • Empirically on the range — (this is the most reliable method) or
  • Theoretically (and much more rapidly) by means of a ballistics software program.

To help me clear up the issue,  I bought an air rifle ballistic program developed by Jim Baumann of Lame Rabbit Software (Note: Jim is apparently no longer in business).

Let’s see how the two calibers fare (at least on paper).

(CLICK HERE For All The Charts and Ballistics involved in this study)

Click Here For The Best Price On Pellets Delivered To Your Door

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Break Barrel Air Rifle: RWS Model 54

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Click Here For Break Barrel Air Rifles

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Click Here For Quality Pellets

A word to my readers:

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Tom Holzel

The following post contains air rifle ballistics information obtained solely from http://VelocityPress.com, a fantastic resource for air rifle ballistics, conceal/carry information and a host of other “uncommon” information. The following post is written in the first person in order to to produce a fluid read, please understand that these are not my first hand experiences but the journaled labors of a very knowledgeable and well written fella named Tom Holzel. At Toms request, I have removed the article in it’s entirety from my website due to copyright issues, but I have retained a brief summary of the article and have included a link to it so you may read at your leisure, and I do suggest you read it (http://www.velocitypress.com/air_rifle_ballistics.shtml).

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Dave

Tom, thank you for giving us a little more insight into the range and trajectory of springer air rifles, from a layman’s perspective, and backing it up with solid science. As Tom mentioned, the RWS Model 54 is not a break barrel air rifle but it is a “springer” which I have decided qualifies it for inclusion on my site. Besides, it is one of the sweetest air rifles I have ever seen and I look forward to owning one soon.

-Dave Dillard 5-25-11

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Click Here For The RWS Model 54

Recoil-Less Spring-Piston Magnum Test

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

RWS Model 48 Side Lever

After years of successful hunting with the .22-cal side-lever RWS Model 48, I finally decided to try its recoil-free variation…

—the Model 54.

I had resisted because the M-54 anti-recoil mechanism seemed like a needless complication.

One of the most notable qualities of RWS air rifles is their legendary reliability; why complicate that, I wondered, with a gimmick? Boy, was I wrong!!

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Model54-Kodiak2W

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Bing!

The instant after the first shot I discovered an amazing fact:

My sight-picture of the target remained rock-solid throughout the shot!

With my M-48, the sight picture would always jerk off the target or even momentarily black out due to recoil motion. Maintaining a steady sight picture had two immediate beneficial effects.

  • First, it let me see where I had hit (or missed) my target.With the M-48 (and all other magnum powered spring-piston air rifles) the recoil causes the rifle to move enough to knock ones view off—and even sometimes to result in image black-out. (And what a surprise at that first shot to keep seeing a rock-steady target!)
  • And second, by being able to view the target uninterruptedly, I was able to notice my post-shot barrel motion. I discovered I was sometimes waving the barrel right after the shot; was I also waving it during the shot?

Click Here For The RSW Model 54 from Amazon.com

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Stay On Target, Stay On Target...

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

RWS Pellets

Click Here or on Image For Best Selection of Pellets

The Spring Action Air Rifle As A Training Device

I was—thus answering the question of why, sometimes, I just couldn’t get on target. This is a very useful effect. It seems to me that practice with a Model 54 might do a lot to cure wandering magnum marksmanship! Air gunners who use PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) rifles are used to this advantage. The mass of the compressed air that squirts out their pellet is too low to cause much of an “equal reaction” (recoil). The mass of the piston and spring of a springer are enough to cause a significant recoil.

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

Exit Pupil

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Recoil

Because the exit pupil of a telescopic sight (the shaft of image light coming out of the scope) is quite small—usually only about 5 mm—it doesn’t take much movement to misalign the exit pupil with your eye pupil (itself 2-6mm in diameter), resulting in loss of the sight picture.

Springers vs. PCP Rifles

But PCP rifles require a lot of supporting equipment—a scuba tank of compressed air, fittings, tubes, etc… and leaks are a problem. The big advantage of spring piston rifles is they sit quietly in the back of the closet. When you are ready to shoot, you pull then out, cock them—and shoot. Nothing could be simpler.



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The Model 54 Is One Big Gun

http://breakbarrelairrifle.com

RWS Model 45 With Sling

You really must have a sling to carry it around.

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Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12x40

A big gun deserves a big scope, and I used the RWS 4-12X 50 telescopic sight with one- piece rings. The ring has two anti-creep pins—a real necessity for most springers (but not needed for this one!)

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RWS 4-12X50

The wider 50mm aperture gives a larger exit pupil meaning it is easier to get a sight-picture when you bring the gun to the ready, e.g., 6.5mm at 8X magnification—30% greater than 5mm at 8X for a 40mmm aperture scope.

Click Here For Quality Air Gun Scopes

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RWS Model 54