Adding a Ruger Air Hawk air rifle to my gun cabinet.

[btefft]

Adding a Ruger Air Hawk air rifle to my gun cabinet.

Ordered a Ruger Air Hawk air rifle from Sportsman's Guide and am looking forward to trying it out around the yard, got some pesty squirrels.

The rifle and 500 Champion pellets cost me $97.93, to my door.

I read many, many good reports on it. Plus, if Ruger puts their name on it, I figure it can't be too bad. We'll see.

I've ordered a .177 cal bore snake for it, too.

The gun and 23 reviews can be seen at http://www.pyramydair.com/p/ruger-ai...ir-rifle.shtml

Anything else I should know?

Hack

 

[MCgunner]

It's probably a branded Chinese gun. That's what my Crossman is. I hope it's got a better trigger than the Crossman. Before I bought that thing, I only THOUGHT SKSs had a lot of creep. LOL! It was about that price at Wallyworld. I'm thinkin' you gotta spend more money to get a decent trigger. It's pretty accurate, though, with the iron sights. I tossed that "scope" off in the back of the closet somewhere, worthless POS. Spring guns with break barrels ain't too accurate with a scope, anyway, as the barrel hinges and the scope is mounted on the receiver, not the barrel.

They are fun and will kill small game to about 30 yards before the bottom falls completely out of the trajectory. Have fun. Buy a variety of pellets and find out what it likes, much as with a new .22. Mine sorta likes those RWS hollow cavity things. The pellet nosed ones shoot accurately, but have more of an arching trajectory. I reckon they're slower due to the weight of that pellet in the nose.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I thought most of the Crosmans were made in Mendoza, Mexico. Mine was - the Quest 800. Yep, airgun triggers can run from the wretchedly horrid, to the super sweet. Probably the former on the low end guns, but who knows; good luck!

PS. Remember on springer airguns, you want to use a loose hold, not a tight hold, for good accuracy. This can be more difficult with a bad trigger, so you might need the trigger worked on, depending upon how much accuracy you need.

 

[MCgunner]

Well, mine's a wallyworld Crossman special and it said "made in China" on the box. So did the almost identical Gamo sitting next to it that looked just like it for 30 bucks more.

 

[btefft]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I'll do a range report when I get it.

Hack

 

[tasco 74]

the ruger air rifles i've seen pics of look a lot like my rws model 34.... it may have been made in germany too....

LIFE IS SHORT.....

 

[btefft]

I don't have a 34, but a lot of folks have said the same thing.

hack

 

[MCgunner]

Range? My back yard is my range. That's why I bought it. BACK YARD report?

 

[kanook]

made in china, when you install the scope it takes alot of adjusting(mine did) to the point I thought it was broke. (start adjusting it at 10ft instead of 10yds) now that it's done, rats don't stand a chance.

 

[tasco 74]

i got my steel targets setup on my backyard lot line.... i shoot air rifle all summer long on good days when i have the time..... the rws was shreading empty bean cans so bad i switched to shooting an empty propane bottle hung on my target stand.... i talked my best friend into cutting a couple on the bandsaw for me.... they hold up lots better than cans but the rws still puts a hurtin on em..... the same stand has the 3/8 steel bowling pin target that will stand up to .357 magnum practice too..... of course i don't shoot the centerfire in my backyard too often...............

 

[MCgunner]

I have a 3" slip blind (chemical plant workers will know) attached to an old rear wheel stand from my old TZ250 Yamaha (motorcycle racers will know) in the back yard. It's all bent up from .22s at the range, but we have targets the club bought at the range now.

Lately, though, all my free time practice has been with my bows. I'm eventually going to get a new compound since my old recurve snapped on me. I'd buy another recurve, but I don't want it to break and I've never owned a compound. I've been getting pretty danged good with a little 30 lb draw target bow I've had my wife bought at a garage sale a dozen years or more ago and I'd never messed with. It's a pretty good training tool as it shoots pretty slow and demands follow through. This is sort of a new challenge as I gave up shooting my recurve back in the 70s. I've figured out more how to shoot it, though, and it's working for me. The new kinda wore off the air gun.

 

[6x6pinz]

MCgunner, I also gave up my recurve bow for a compound. I thought it was time to come out of the dark ages. I ended up with a Martin cougar magnum. The really nice thing is it does not take much practice to get good with it. Very accurate and fairly quiet.

I still enjoy my air rifle, RWS 48 with a 3x9 scope. Was real hard on the squirrel population this past season. I use it mainly to keep the birds and squirrels from eating all the fruits and nuts on the trees in my backyard.

 

[btefft]

I did not get the Ruger air rifle I had planned to.

I did not get the Ruger I had planned to. The one I got is called the Ruger Blackhawk. This gun is new for 2009. It still carries Ruger’s name. It’s made in China. It’s rated at 1000 fps. If you want to see one http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/...al-air-rifle-with-4x32-mm-scope.aspx?a=524681

The one I was originally planning to get is http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/ruger-air-hawk-177-caliber-air-rifle-combo.aspx?a=436725

Here are Ruger's three air rifles http://www.sportsmansguide.com/sear...sp+KW+Box&s=SEARCH&a=search&k=Ruger+air+rifle

So far, I am very pleased with the Blackhawk.

It came with an “air rifle” scope (one that can handle recoil in both directions.) And as for recoil, it does kick - that surprised me. It’s also loud – not as loud as a 22 LR rimfire, but it did make some noise – especially when I shot Gamos Raptor pellets, the air rifle was noticeably louder when I shot those pellets. It may be my imagination, but it appears to be less loud now, after about 100 pellets.

I shot, and chronied, three kinds of pellets.
Crosman’s Pointed pellets,
Crosman’s Wad-cutter pellets and
Gamos Gold Raptor pellets.

I zeroed the scope using the pointed pellets and when I shot the other two kinds, they did not group well. But, that doesn’t stand to reason, because to me, even though the scope wasn’t zeroed with them they should still have had nice groups somewhere around the target.

Oh yeah, I thought zeroing the scope was going to be a challenge, since you can’t look through the bore, nor see under the scope, to get the scope on paper. What I did was set the target about 10 yds out and take a shot. Fortunately the pellet hit on the paper at about 7 o’clock, 4 inches out. After that, zeroing the scope was simple.

I took a picture of a tight 5 shot group (covered with a quarter) from 15 yds and another from 25 yds (a little bigger), but "lost the image" - I'll have make another.

But, here’s the chrony results of the three kinds of pellets

Crosman’s Wad-Cutter – I weighed them and they weighed between 7.9 and 8.0 g.

821.5 fps
825.2
839.1
840.7
841.3
841.9
842.0
844.2
850.6
858.0
858.4
859.1

Avg = 843.5 fps


Crosman’s Pointed pellet – I weighed them and they weighed between 7.4 and 7.5 g.

890.5 fps
890.6
891.0
895.9
898.7
900.0
901.3
901.8
902.9
903.9
905.1

Avg = 898.3 fps


Gamos Gold Raptor pellet – I weighed them and they weighed between 5.1 and 5.2 g.

1051
1063
1076
1079
1085
1089
1091
1102
1107
1118

Avg = 1086.1 fps


Observation: heavier pellets have lower velocities – no surprise there – so, when I hear that an air rifle is capable of shooting pellets at 1000 fps, I have to ask, what size pellet were they shooting?

Conclusion: even though this air rifle cost less that $100, with scope, (I got mine from Sportsman’s Guide) - it is a good shooting air rifle – its no wonder Ruger put their name on it.

With all that being said, I'm going to return it to Sportsman's Guide to get the Ruger Air Hawk (not Blackhawk version). Why, because I'm handicapped and the Blackhawk Air Hawk weighs in at a little over 8 lbs, the "plain" Air Hawk comes in at just over 6 lbs.

The Blackhawk Air hawk is about 1/4 inch longer in the barrel.
The "plain" Air Hawk has a wooden stock (makes it lighter - I guess)

I sure hope the other air rifle is as accurate as the Blackhawk Air Hawk.

Hack