Shot, Tested The new S410H (article) The best part of the new S410H is the barrel and the chamber

........ ....... 
............
Not long ago, the new Air Arms S140 came out in Europe. Although it has been very popular on the Continent and in Japan, supplies to the United States have been minimal. Let’s; highlight the new changes and compare it to the predecessor S300/310 series.

The first noticeable change is in the stock. It is no longer ambidextrous but has a dedicated right or left side with a nice rollover cheek piece. The checkering is a nice touch. Also visible are the new gage measures bar and a modified magazine. Previous magazines were made of various forms of plastic but the new version has a metal insert giving the avid shooter more room for wear and tear. The one new feature I particularly liked is the screw on the cover, which is located over the quick-fill connector. I find pulling off the other caps is especially tedious. The best part of the S410 is the barrel and the chamber. The barrels are a new upgrade from the Walter and the chamber has also been done separately. The chamber is mated to the barrel instead of the transfer port being drilled in, so it does not compromise the barrel integrity. This leaves the transition between the magazine and the barrel very smooth and the pellets are not marred in any way.

In this comparison test I included S310, S410H in .177 and .22, and the S410E. The "H" designates high power just less than 20 foot-pounds. The "E" designates extra high power at approximately 35 foot- pounds. The "E" ‘reservoir is longer and also has a shroud around the barrel that acts as a moderator. The "H" version has a cap that ends the barrel. I tested the 1.77-H with an 8.44 pellet, 15.79 foot-pounds at the 25-yard range. The rest of the rifles were in .22 and again it was surprising how the S410s handled a wide variety of pellets. Normally any air rifle will shoot a couple of brands or weights exceptionally well. These turned out to be some excellent groups.

The worst group that was shot at 25 yards was the Daisy pointed at 14 grains. Center to center (ctc.) it measured .836. The best group, 16 grains measuring .226 was shot with Air Arms Field using a sampling of nine different pellets. The same pellets shot from the S310 produced the largest group of 1.113 with Eley Wasp. The smallest was the Barracuda with a .187. Interestingly enough, there were three groups that ran only .265 ctc. and that was tighter overall than the S410. Just by looking at the groups, it is difficult to understand why there are reports of inaccuracy for the S310. It was noticeable that the S310 definitely worked better with certain pellets in comparison to the S410E that worked better with symmetric groupings.

At the 50-yard marker, I decided to use only the pellets that looked the most promising—AA Field and the Barracuda. The results were 1.070 for the Barracuda and 1.224 for the AA Field. For this shooting I was using a half-inch particleboard backstop. All the pellets went right though on their own merit. I tested this after I noticed pieces flying off the backstop. Now that is power to spare.

The biggest surprise was the accuracy and how handy the S410H is. At 19.45 foot-pounds with 16 grain AA field, it had more than enough power. Being shorter than the "E," it is lighter and pointed more easily. It will get you over 60 shots per fill as opposed to 45 for the "E" version. Groups ranged from the largest of .616 from H&N Match to .143 AA Field. Here again, I did get groups that were very close to the smallest with Superdome, Silver Ace and Barracuda. It was amazing to have so many varieties of pellets shoot so well. I tried the AA Field at the 50-yard mark and the best group ran an outstanding .573. The other groups were well under an inch. I can only guess at the difference of the overall accuracy for the more powerful S140 and the pellet selection. It is simply that the majority of pellets are not made for accelerated speed. The back of the pellet is blown out like a parachute and creates wear on the barrel. The ballistics is also greatly affected.

This season I am taking the S410H squirrel hunting and I am curious to see if the power is up to the task. I just thought it might be more fun to take this one as opposed to my old companion S310. I don’t think the squirrels will notice. 

PARTS LIST <> S410-H

....BACK TO RADA'S ARTICLE PAGE

BACK TO RADA'S ARTICLE PAGE

....HOME

NEWSLETTER

.....AIR PISTOL <>AIR RIFLE

...GET TO THE BEN AVERY SHOOTING RANGE .

...SCORE CARD FROM JANUARY

...AIRGUNS FORUMS AND CLASSIFIDES

...SILHOUETTE & 10 METER TARGETS

...AIR GUN NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

...AIRGUN SCHEMATICS