Well, this is a very interesting rifle and the bottom line is that I was favorably impressed with it. Last weekend I was able to spend a lot of time with it and ran at least 600 pellets through it.
Basically, this has a rather funky, aggressive look to it compared to the one other RWS gun I have, a Model 34. When I picked it up I realized that the 850 is much more comfortable to hold. Someone did their ergonomic homework here. It's nicely sized (41 inches long, 4.5 inches shorter than a 34). The stock is synthetic and while it looks to have an unusual shape it actually works well and conforms to your hand better that the classic wood stock of the 34. The feel of the stock is kind to the touch, easy to grip without feeling overdone with molded grip areas. The textures are subtle but very functional. The cross section of the forend looks unusual (very deep) but fits my medium hand very comfortably.
Out of the box, without a CO2 cylinder, the gun feels weight biased toward the rear, but with the cylinder in place the balance is very neutral. Overall weight, ready to shoot is lighter than the 34 (about seven lbs with a standard size scope) and the shorter length is very noticeable and makes handling easier.
This gun is made in Germany by Hammerli and imported and marketed by RWS. The price is very fair: about $185 to $216 depending where you buy it. I think it's a good buy for what you are getting.
The finish is excellent. The synthetic stock is one notch better than my Gamo CFX (which is very nice). In fact, I can't imagine more perfect molding and fit, The blueing is very good and equal to the 34. The butt pad is nicely molded and very comfortable. It's probably not really needed since there is no recoil, but it looks great.
You can't overlook the freedom of choosing any rifle scope you want to use since this gun has NO recoil. The all steel receiver is simple looking and all about function. The bolt works very smoothly and is very comfortable to use. There is a 6.5" scope mounting rail on top of the receiver and it gives lots of flexibility for scope mounting.
The open sights are the only negative feature of this gun. If you only use open sights look elsewhere. These are just awful - like they came of a $10 BB gun at best. They are hard to use, almost useless; they show you little and the red and green fiberoptic dots are uselessand distracting. A scope is the only way to go. Fortunately the open sights which are just all plastic unmount with two screws. Toss them out - it looks better without them anyway.
As for function this gun is pure FUN. The Crosman AirSource 88 gm. CO2 cylinder fits easily inside the front end of the stock. RWS on the phone, not in the instructions, advises like many CO2 guns to put several drops of RWS Cylinder oil/Pellgun oil on the end of the CO2 cylinder before inserting into the gun to keep the seals lubricated. Once inserted, you need to place up to eight pellets into one of the two supplied magazines, These are nicely made of a black synthetic material with a metal indexing cog in the center. Pellets load very easily and with a light press snap down into the magazine ingeniously held lightly in place with an o-ring which is fitted into the outside edge of the magazine. It's simple and works easily with every pellet I tried - at least a dozen with domed and flat match heads. I ran into no problem with any pellet in the gun either. There were no jams in over 600 shots over three days. once I started pulling the trigger I had a hard time stopping. It was so easy to just keep shooting. And to top it off, this gun can shoot very well even not yet broken-in.
The advertised FPS in .177 cal. is 760. I collected some data on an 85 degree day with a full CO2 cylinder. Here are some sample average chrony results from the real world which are not bad and very consistent: CPL-714; Gamo Hunter-735; JSB Exact Express-730; MKH-711; Beeman FTS-741.
Five-shot grouping size at 100ft. for samples: CPL-.38", MKH-.56", Beeman FTS-.66", , SuperDome-.69", Beeman Match-.79", Gamo Match-.71", ,JSB Exact Express-.94", Hobby-.98", Gamo Hunter-.95"
As you can see, there are some pellets that do well in this rifle and it is barely broken in. And, we are relying here on my mediocre marksmanship. I feel that there are even better results ahead.
The sound of each shot appeared to me to be louder than my springers, but I realized after a while that it probably was not increased in volume but rather a higher frequency. My springers seem to have a lower pitched "thunk" rather than the higher pitched jet of CO2. Speaking of releases, though the instructions say to remove the CO2 cylinder from the gun after each use whether its finished or not (which would waste whatever is left). I spoke to a gunsmith at.RWS who said there rally is no problem with leaving it in the gun until it is finished. That's what I have done and have not noticed any dimished power capacity or reduced number of shots per cylinder. And on that subject everyone wants to know just how far you can go on one tank. Well, the advertised number of shots per AirSource 88 gm. cylinder is "up to 400 shots". Maybe on some other panet! - but in my yard it was closer to a real-world figure of 185. This is exactly what I have seen in another review so I don't think this particular rifle is unusual.
There are a few other things to touch on about CO2. It's easy because you don't have to cock it like a springer, but the ambient air temperature must be about 55-60 degrees F for effective CO2 pressure. Then, you should wait about 15 seconds between shots to let the mechanisms warm up folowing the previous release of CO2. You can physically shoot in a rapid fire sequence, but you power will be in question and therefore your accuracy for 15 seconds.
Also, there is a real dollar cost to get each pellet out of the barrel. The absolute lowest cost AirSource CO2 cylinders (which are sold in pairs) is $9.95 for two plus shipping from airgunsofarizona.com. Most others dealers charge $12.95. It's not terrible, but it's not cheap if you shoot a lot. And, you have to anticipate your usage so as not to run out since these cylinders have to be shipped by ground only. So plan ahead for your fun!
There is a definite fun factor in using this gun which should not be overlooked. Someone who doesn't like cranking a springer or who is physically limited in strength would just love using this gun.
One oddity that I ran across was that if you were not thinking about what you were doing, you can cock this gun twice thereby loading a second pellet into the barrel and it will fire as usual pushing BOTH pellets downrange and at 100 feet both usually hit the target side-by-side, about 3 inches below the POA. Interesting! I know because I inadvertantly did it twice. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to bother the gun. In fact I plan on trying some heavier pellets than I would dare use in my springers.
You also need to keep track of just how many pellets you have used in your magazine or you will waste a blast of CO2, again without harm to the gun.
All-in-all, I have been really enjoying this rifle and have been very pleased with it's accuracy and it's easy of use. Loading the magazines is simple: you just pull back the bolt and load the magazine from the left side and push the bolt forward again which pushes a pellet into the barrel breech and cocks the rifle. You can do it all without looking in just a few minutes - a very shallow learning curve, very easy.
The RWS 850 AirMagnum gets my highest rating. I'm thoroughly pleased with this. It is a very high quality instrument at a moderate cost - a good value in every way. I look forward to using it a lot and I can't emphasize enough the fun factor this gun has. Two thumbs up!!! This gun is also readily available in .22 cal.
