I just had an interesting talk about the RWS350

[Black Mamba]

With one of the owners of Straight Shooters.  He told me something I had not heard before and am now wondering about.

He basically told me that a gun with the power of the 350 (even in .22 like mine) does not shoot light rounds well.  He also said that to get maximum accuracy out of them you need to shoot heavy pellets.  He recommended I buy Kodiaks but I also got some exacts along with a beeman 5039 mount.

In my particular case (With a tuned for smoothness 350) I have to wonder because of my current results.  I have been using both 16.0 and 16.5 gr rounds with what I would consider "hunting" accuracy out to 70 yards.  I have also tried 14.3 gr rounds but seeing the acccuracy I have shyed away from them for now.

What do you people think about that?  Do you think it holds true?

The closer you get to the sound barrier the less effective the pellet can be. I think he is exactly right that you should be useing a heavyer pellet out fo the gun. One thing i noticed tho was that when I shot beeman silver arrows or crow mags the recoil was more pronounced. And it was a little harder for me to shoot the gun. It also took longer for the pellet to reach the end of the barrel I had to concentrate more on follow through.
In contrast those were around 10.5 grains (.177) and what I shoot now and works extremely well are 8.2 grains.

Hope that helps somewhat...

I don't think the Exacts in .22 are going to be a problem in the 350 as they are likely going to leave the barrel at around 800fps or so. My .22 48 loves them and at 15.9gr they are the heaviest pellet I've shot out of the gun with a velocity of around 785fps. It will even do well with the 'Express' Exacts that only weigh 14.3gr and it spits them out at about 830fps. My .177 48 has always shot 8.44gr Exacts very well, even with a fresh spring in the gun they are the most accurate with a velocity of around 950-960fps.

But with my HW90 in .177 Exacts are very unstable and inaccurate unless I lower the pressure in the strut so that velocity drops from just over 1000fps down to around the 900fps mark. They become even more accurate as I bring the velocity down even further into the mid 800's. In comparison between the 48 and 90, the 48 shoots the Exacts very well into the 960fps range while the 90 doesn't do well at all with them at that same velocity.

So it does in my experience depend on whether the barrel actuall likes the pellet, at what velocity the gun shoots the pellet, how heavy the pellet is, and how the guns shot cycle is affected by the particular pellet. All four affect how well a gun shoots a certain pellet, and limitting what ammo you use or try in a gun is limitting the guns potential accuracy IMHO. I've tried some different heavy(9+gr)pellets in my .177 magnums and they just didn't work well for me, and the rifles felt like they were being effected negatively by them. In fact, my HW90 would shoot JSB heavies very accurately at around 915fps, but the barrel would become leaded and fouled after only 50 or so shots. Sometimes I find it hard to believe, but all of my springers and my few pneumatics in both .177 and .22 shoot a JSB pellet of one kind or another best, save for my B22 that oddly enough favours Gamo Hunters.

Sorry for the length,
Mulby

got ride of my 350 I think it was defective or something or I expected too much, when a manufacturer claims a certain fps I think it should be so in a average weight pellet not some super light weight pellet that's not worthy  of real world shooting. But anyway I returned the 350 .177 for a rws 48 in a 22 ,boy that  thing hits  hard .I've knocked  tree-rats 2 or 3 feet in the air with head shots at 35 or 40yrds and they don't move after they hit the ground . That's what  I call knock down POWER.   Anybody else  that has a rws 48 that is hard hitting  and wants  to brag about it   this is the time THREEGUNS OUT .VERY IMPRESSED  WITH MY RWS48 IN .22

[daved]

My .22 350 would have to disagree.  It does NOT like Kodiaks.  In fact, one of the best pellets is a cheapo Daisy wadcutter, not sure of the weight, but it's got to be under 14 gr.  So far, Predators and Superdomes offer the best accuracy and power, and they shoot to almost the same exact POA.  I also get more power than the Kodiaks.  Kodiaks avg. 673 fps/21.24 fpe, Predators do 802/23.57, Superdomes do 828/22.06. Also, the Predators really retain energy well, they still pack over 14 fpe at 50 yards.   I get slightly more power from Beeman FTS's, but the accuracy just isn't there.  And the heavier pellets really make the recoil much harsher.  Gun is box stock, with a Simmons 44 Mag scope.   And I'm STILL trying to learn to shoot this thing consistently!  All I can do for now is ten yards in my shop, definitely NOT what it was designed for!  But at least I'm getting trigger time, and I discovered that some of the lock screws on my 5039 mount keep shooting loose.  Okay, I'll go quietly, enough babbling :-)!  HTH.

Dave

[Black Mamba]

I brought this up to see what others had experienced.

I too have not had good luck with the RWS 350 and heavier pellets at this point.  I'll admit though that I've only tried one.  Crow Magnums.  They were not accurate even at 30 yards and did not give me the fpe numbers that I'd want either.  I suspect that the Kodiaks won't do the trick either but I do have a B30 in .22 and it may like them.  I'll have to see.

Currently, for me the mid weight pellets do the best.  I'll be interested to see what's what after chronoing and accuracy tests are complete.

Me and my bro stoped @ Rich's house and put my 48 in22 on the chrony -stock less than 30 14.6 superpoints throuth it I want to say 815fps @19 ftlbs  I love it

[daved]

Crow Mags actually are okay in my rifle, but only okay.  Plenty of power, around 24 fpe at about 775 fps.  Like yours, the accuracy goes away after about 25 yards.  I still think the Predators are the best hunting pellet, with the Superdomes being a good, less expensive, general purpose pellet.  The big surprise for me was the poor showing the JSB Exacts made.  Those and the FTS's are lousy in my gun, and yet, those are two pellets that most people swear by in most guns.  But hey, that's what keeps it interesting!

When do you plan on doing some chrono testing?  I have to have close to 1000 pellets through my 350 by now, so it's about time I did some updated testing, just to see what's going on.  I was actually surprised to see that I'd shot up almost a full tin of Superdomes, they are the only thing I've found that comes in tins of 500 in .22.  Guess it's time to order some pellets!  Later, and Merry Christmas to all!

Dave

Got the "Q" done for your 48 side cocker.

I've read that as well.  Its true that the big guns shoot the heavyweights faster but I picked up a tin of CP HP at walmart for one of my other guns and the 350 shoots those real well.  I've had a few flyers with them.  They weigh 8 grains but one out of 10 is underweight so I throw those out.  I get groups of an inch at 60 yards with the sorted pellets.

[Black Mamba]

I was hoping to do it this weekend.

The weather sucks though.  Cold and high winds.   I did get my new Leapers 3-9X40 Full Size A.O. Range Estimating Mil-Dot SideWheel Red/Green Illuminated Zero Locking/Resetting Scope on and zeroed.   Was popping soda cans at 70yards with only a 1.5 mil dot rise.   Amazing.

From my weather reports it looks like Sunday will be the day for it.  Hopefully I'll have something whipped up by Sunday evening.  I'll post my numbers.

[vinceb]

....it's got closer to 21 ft-lbs, and seems to be doing even better...