Air Arms S410 TDR .22 and FX 3 Stage Stirrup Pump

[drobson67]

Had the gun for 2 weeks now so thought I'd do a review and share my thoughts. The gun is easy to put together by hand and there is no need to use tools, it came with 4 allen keys but these are just for maintenance, was told by the shop keeper that the gun was powered at 10.5 ftlb but would go up once run in, had it chronographed after putting 500 pellets through and its powered at 10.8 ftlb using JSB Exact Jumbos at 15.89 grains, anti tamper sheer bolts prevents any power adjustment by me and would break the warranty if I removed them. The stock is walnut and looks nice, although a close inspection reveals a slight tool mark near the trigger guard but you really have to look hard to spot it and I'm probably just being pedantic. The FX 3 Stage Pump was confusing to put together as the manual is more like a glossy brochure and no clear instructions, I had to visit the manufacturer's website and download a pdf file on the pump to see which order the parts were assembled, it would have been better if this diagram had been included in the box. A female adapter which comes with the gun attaches to the end of the pump hose, the adaptor is then pushed onto the filling valve and it's important to push and turn locking it into place, care is needed as it's easy to damage the blueing on the barrel if they knock together. Maximum fill pressure on the rifle is 190 bar and the manual recommends refilling at 100/110 bar, I haven't been counting but I guess I'm getting around 50 to 60 shots before refilling, I'm a small bloke and pumping isn't hard at all with the FX 3 stage pump, once you get over 150 bar there is a noticable difference in pumping force but bending your legs and using upper body weight helps greatly, if the fill pressure was a lot more than 190 bar I would have considered buying the FX 4 stage version where you can shift gear making it easier to pump, once the pressure gets higher the last couple of pumps do seem harder, which is a combination of higher pressure and arms beginning to tire, it takes me about 2 minutes to go from 110 bar to 190 bar having a small rest in between and the pump only gets warm and not hot. If I'm plinking in the garden the shots do seem to go down fast but out hunting there's more than enough for a few hours shooting. Cocking the gun seemed rough at first and being my first pcp with a bolt action it took a while to get the technique right, you have to pull the bolt right back in one positive movement to cock the gun and index the magazine, using my thumb on the other side of the bolt really helps and now the action feels alot smoother since I've shot 500 pellets through it, I did manage to double load pellets but this was my ignorance of using the gun and not a problem with the gun. It came with one magazine and there are holders in the rear stock to store 2 more, there is a red dot marked on the magazine to show when its the last shot, but I found it hard to see while in the shooting position or when it was getting dark and often didn't realise I was passed the last shot until I was firing an empty chamber. My first tin of pellets were RWS Superdomes and weren't very accurate, the gun likes JSB Exacts and I'm shooting single holes in targets with multiple pellets at 16 meters. To cut a long story short I'm very happy and wouldn't hesitate in recommending this gun to anyone who is after a lightweight and accurate take down rifle, although shot count might be an issue for some people.

[mike hunt]

nice subjective review thanks, been looking into getting one for a while