RWS 350 Magnum. Any opinions?

[Camba]

I've just brought home an RWS 350 Magnum rifle in .177 cal.  The rifle looks great!  I mae some shots in the basement and I've got a 1/2" group at about 10 yards with open sights.
Questions:  What kind of fps do you get with the 7.9gr pellets?
What is the best pellet weight to use with this gun as far as effectiveness while maintaining a good (greater than 800 fps) velocity?
What is the largest game you killed with it while hunting?

Thank you for all the info.

Camba

[Totenkopf]

The 350 is seriously over hyped by rws on velocity. That doesn't mean they are bad rifles. RWS just lies about the velocity on all their rifles. I would advise against the 7.9. If it leaves the barrel over 1050 there is a shutter when it gets back below the speed of sound. This is terrible on groups. I use these for hunting and target.
http://www.airgunsbbguns.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=cro177hb&click=2
They stay above 800 out to 25 yards.
Largest I have killed with it is a raccoon out a hair past 30 yards above the poultry shed. Regularly take cottontail and squirrel. A lot of the guys online have pictures of groundhog hunts with this rifle.
For a reference look at this page it will give a good guide of weight, velocity and energy on this rifle.
http://www.straightshooters.com/ourtake/ottest350.html

[Camba]

Totenkopf,

Thank you for the great information you had provided me.  It is very complete.  I knew if I waited long enough, I woud get a good answer.  Thank you.

Camba

[Camba]

I decided to use the Chrony for checking velocties for both, the RWS 350 and the RWS 34 using the same pellet:  the Crossman Premier 7.9gr, RNHP.  The temperature was in single digits and windy so I did not bothered checking accuracy.  The results are:

RWS 350 (advertised 1250fps):  1,070 FPS with the Crossman 7.9gr RNHP pellet
RWS 34 (advertised 1000fps):      970 FPS with the Crossman 7.9gr RNHP pellet

That places my RWS 34 as a close to the truth.  The RWS 350 is also good but not even close to advertisement.

Camba

[Larry Gibson]

RWS, like all airgun manufacturers, advertise the velocity with the lightest pellet available. The 7.9 gr CP is not the lightest. That is the discrepency between what is advertised and what you are getting.  Using the same pellet the manufacturers use will give you close to the same velocities. The spring power of a springer is constant.  Thus a lighter pellet is faster and a heavier pellet is slower. Interestingly if you compute the FPE for any of the pellets given their velocities you will find the FPE to be pretty constant also. However I have found, like most others, the lightest pellets are often poor performers except in velocity in most any spring powered air rifle. 

Larry Gibson

[Bull E. Dawg]

I am hijacking a bit but, I have a RWS 350 too.  Can you guys recommend a scope for it?  Will the BSA ARs hold up to this gun?