I shot a friends AA S410 Classic .22 a couple years ago and decided at some point I would own one for myself. This particular friend of mine lives on quite a few acres of land where he can really do some high powered airgun/firearm shooting with no fear of neighbors, me on the other hand live in Suburbia where things have to be a little more subdued. Now don't get me wrong I've owned some pretty high powered guns including a Sumatra .22, a 44+fpe Talon .22, an FX Black Widow .22, and a Career 707 II .177, and I'm sure I'll own some more, but I wanted something I could shoot every day as well as when I get some extra yardage. I've kept my eyes on the Air Arms guns and watched their prices skyrocket over the last few months, so when I got a good offer for a used one I quickly accepted. AA S400C arrived double boxed from a private seller two days ago. This gun is used, but I would say it is near perfect, I am pleased to say the least.
The first thing you notice on this gun is the great factory stock, this gun screams quality. I got the beech stock, but it's a really well detailed stock with heavy checkering and a great finish. I am really picky about ergonomics, and while I don't consider this a target stock, it is a VERY shoulderable sporter with a comfortable LOP. The bad part is that I am a little anal about ergonomics and I find the grip area to be a little too thick for me (personal taste I spose). The style is great though and it really is a step up from most factory stocks I've seen, kudos to Air Arms on that. The action is very clean, no nonsense piece of work with excellent fit and finish...also screams quality. The bluing is polished and deep, however not quite as nice as I've seen on some of the HW's and actually the S400's springer brother the TX200, still really good and nothing I would kick out of bed, just not spectacular. The bolt handle feels a little small in the hand, but this isn't a 30-06, it's an air rifle, and the action cycles SUPER smooth. As I mentioned before I have shot a regular FAC S410 and I don't know if the lighter spring is what makes the difference or the fact that I'm not turning a magazione, but this action is smooth as butter compared to the other. One thing I immediately noticed when I finally got to shoot this gun was the lack of a bolt probe o-ring. The oring is actually in the breach of the barrel rather than on the bolt. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, on one hand you don't have an oring that is constantly exposed to the elements, and on the other hand you have an oring that the pellet slides over every time you load the gun....action slides real smooth, so I guess it doesn't drag across that oring too much? The trigger, it's all been said before, this trigger is excellent. I haven't even adjusted it and I am also really picky about triggers. Two stage adjustable to first stage, second stage and pull weight, smooth first stage and just a itsy bitsy tiny bit of creep before the second stage lets go, but I'm sure I could adjust that out. The trigger blade is nice and ergonomic, and yes trigger ergonomics matter, try shooting a bone stock BAM B50 and you'll see how much it matters.
I've only got about 15 rounds through it now since I'm still a little beat up from a flu bug I've had all week. First two shots were sight in, pretty much everything since then has been one hole at 15 yards. Seems pretty accurate, but I will find out better later when I get some distance to shoot it more.