Ya know... I REALLY wanted to get a B30...
Not sure why. I thought I had sworn off "sliding breach" guns for the obvious reason... I'm sorta attached to my fingers. Or rather they are sorta attached to me. Regardless, I have no confidence in my remembering to hang on to the cocking handle while loading and thus insure that this attachment would continue, so I was gonna stick with break-barrels.
But I had a hankering for an "elephant gun" (as wifey used to call my B22)... a high-powered .22 with killer accuracy that was cheap and easy to shoot. A Shadow in .22 didn't quite cut it... and while my old B19 is healthy enough (730fps with Gamo Match after some work), it isn't quite there. The Hammerli Storm was closer - around 750 with the same pellets, and a nice barrel that could stack'em good when I was consistent enough.
But I wasn't always consistent enough. And the Storm had that lousy trigger which made it harder to shoot. And that seemed to be the last .22 breakbarrel in my price range of under $200 that might deliver what I wanted.
So that left me resolved to get a B30. No, it isn't a breakbarrel... but it has a solid mechanism with a reliable safety, so I figured that it was a pretty safe bet. Finally, after much procrastinating, I set out to order one... and found that the .22's were ALL GONE from EVERYWHERE. Nobody had 'em, and they weren't expected in for quite a while. Now, once I made up my mind to buy something, it's really kinda dangerous if I try to stop myself... so (just to be safe and sane!) I made a call to Umarex to talk about RWS 48's.
You see, Umarex sells "refurb" guns - returned guns that are brought up to factory specs by their gunsmiths and sold for substantially less than new. No long-term warranty of course... but if it shows up on your doorstep defective, they'll take care of it. The cost was a wee bit more than I wanted to spend... but at $226 shipped, I couldn't argue. So I bit the bullet and bought the gun.
Umarex did their part just fine... I called and left a message, they returned my call late in the afternoon on a Friday to take my order. They shipped the rifle pretty quick, as it was delivered the following Thursday. Unfortunately, it was delivered to my neighbor's house (FEDEX does this a lot!)... but I spotted it on his porch and grabbed it.
It was good to see that Umarex takes their unadvertised refurb business at least as seriously as Gamo does. The rifle came wrapped in a plastic bag and double-boxed, with plenty of styrofoam blocks protecting the goods. It was a far better packing job than Beeman did on my S1, that's for sure. It also came with a standard RWS user's manual, which is skimpy at best.
The rifle was in very good cosmetic condition (as promised). There were no flaws or damage that I could see on the metalwork. The stock is very attractive (with a nice, warm medium-brown matte finish) and almost pristine... except for the "R"'s stamped in the side (see picture)! I don't know WHAT possessed RWS to put their "refurb" mark on the stock as well as on the action, Crosman just puts an "R" after the serial and Gamo puts a simple dimple in the top of the breach block. But no, the "R" is right there on the wood - on BOTH sides, I might add.
But even so, the looks of the rifle did not disappoint. The finish is nice'n smooth, and the machining of all parts is very good - as one would expect from a '48. The rear sight was a bit of a disappointment - it bears a strong resemblence to the old B19 rear sight, but it does have some sideways play and an ill-sized rear notch. The rear leaf is held on with a screw, so it should be a simple matter to remove it and reshape the notch... or to even make a new leaf. The front sight is a simple blade mounted on a ramped dovetail that allows it to be adjusted for elevation or removed entirely. There's no hood over it, but the sight is stout enough that I doubt it's necessary. There are no fiber-optic inserts, but I do wonder if B30-1 sights might fit. There are some plastic parts on the gun - specifically the trigger guard, trigger, and safety button. There should be no plastic-related service problems for these low-stress parts, so I ain't gonna complain!
My first outing with the gun was a bit late in the day... not enough time or light to really sight it in or do any accuracy testing, So I figure I'll just put a few dozen rounds through it to work out any excess lubes and get used to the overall behavior of the rifle. And that's where things started getting good....
A while ago I did have a B22, and was under the impression that shooting THAT rifle was similar to shooting a '48. Well, despite the obvious mechanical similarities - well, there are few similarities. Sure, the 48 has some heft to it, and does feel a bit muzzle-heavy - but it is much better than the B22. Cocking the B22 was always a chore - but the '48 is both smoother and easier. So easy, in fact, that I immediately thought that I must've gotten one with a weak spring! Mind you, it isn't light - but I was expecting "real bad". Certainly livable - and certainly less fatiguing (and much quieter) than my old B22.
Actually shooting it was even more of a surprise. The trigger is good... granted, the B20/B26 and Norica-style two-stage triggers can be adjusted to a lighter pull, but to my tastes this is just about perfect. The 2nd stage has very little creep, and the effort required is high enough that you are not likely to fire prematurely"... you KNOW when you're beginning the 2nd stage. But it's not high enough that you are likely to "flinch" the rifle when pulling it through. The motion is smooth... no binding or grinding or inconsistency from one pull to the next. Perhaps a formal target shooter would want a lighter pull, but out in the backyard it feels simply wonderful. And far better than my old B22 ever did.
Ditto for the firing cycle, which is really the opposite of harsh. It is smooth, free of any vibration or twanging, it doesn't kick hard, and it isn't terribly loud. It fires with a solid thunk, just an absolute delight to shoot. Again, though, it got me thinking about the power of this rifle - is it shooting slower than it ought to?
So the next stop was the chrony. A few shots showed velocities ranging from 770-780 with Crosman Premier HP's... a little less than I was hoping for, but not enough to complain about. The next day I tested it with Gamo Match wadcutters - and got numbers between 792 and 803, which is as good as my old B22 ever did. I admit, I WAS hoping for a smidgen more... but I don't think these numbers are out of the normal range for this gun.
The next day gave me a real chance to see how the accurate the gun is in my untalented hands. I did my usual test - first, I sight it in at 60 yards with the Premier HP's and open sights. Then I rest my elbow on a wobbly table, and take 10 shots at a soda can-sized target. I count the hits - which I can hear as plain as day - and that gives me an idea of how well the gun behaves. I was ready for some poor results, though. A combination of the position of the sun and the background behind the target rendered it almost invisible, and the less than optimum rear sight notch made it harder to draw a consistent bead.
Or so I thought. The results were almost embarassing... I felt like the gun was aiming itself! Most shots were good, solid hits on the target, but the ones I flinched on - well, they still hit. If the gun slipped to the edge of the target, the pellet caught the edge of the target. If it was in the middle, the pellet hit the middle (I can hear the difference in the impact). Every single shot hit, which is something I was NEVER able to do with ANY other gun.
What does this mean? For one thing, the '48 is probably the LEAST hold-sensitive springer I've ever shot. I'm an inconsistent shooter - but the '48 didn't care. For another - the gun had to be shooting incredibly tight groups at that range... if the sights were anywhere on target at the moment I pulled the trigger, well, the pellet hit the target. No if's, and's or but's. It hit where it was aimed, time after time. It is unfortunate that I'm not capable of adequately grouping a rifle this good at that range, because I think it would be rather impressive....
So there you have it. Overall, the '48 is a wonderful surprise... I was expecting a slightly nicer B22, but frankly, the guns are just not in the same league when it comes to refinement or accuracy (at least my example wasn't). Don't know how it stacks up to the B30, but all the same I'm sort of glad it wasn't in stock when I wanted to order it. The '48 is far and away the jewel of my collection... one or two niggling issues aside, the rifle is more than I expected and darned near flawless.
Now, if I could only fit the B30's fiberoptic sights....