RWS 54 Air king
Had to drive to Boston to pick up my parents last night, decided to leave a little early and take a “quick” trip to Maine and stop by the Kittery trading Post (Gamebreds favourite store) to see if they had a Daisy 953 in stock so I could see one in person.
I ended up perusing their used gun selection, noticed an old TX200 without a shroud for $625, nearly fall over myself when I saw a BSA Springer for $125, turned out it was $625 and then noticed two RWS 54’s, one was older and pretty beat up and one of the more recent models in good shape. I couldnt see price, asked to check the older one first and it was $600…. so I quickly went to the next one and it was $325…. I’ll take it! So I bought that and a 953.
Havent shot either yet, got home and had to go to work right away so the guns are still in my truck. Will post some pics of the 54 when I get a chance.
There was a guy looking at a used FX gladiator… the sales guy described it as the ‘Swedish version of the Air Force rifles” 🙄
All Replies
rob3dr: ” In springers, the lighter pellets generally give more fpe than heavy pellets, quite the opposite from PCP, CO2, and pneumatics. ”
Didn’t know this Rob, how is that? My friend just bought a .177 Ruger springer for $110.00, and it shoots great, quite accurate. cronied it at 942 fps with 7. something gr pellets. We plan on going to the range for targets, and I told him his gun would probably do better down range with Kodiaks… would this be the right advise for him, or would lighter pellets do better for him.
Nice gun YN!
If you are shooting 800fps consistently now, thats great. You’ll likely gain another 20fps or even more as the gun runs in. Thats typical as parts mate up properly and such…
Long range accuracy on that thing should be really good. Looking forward to seeing some groups.
Got the Maccari Spring/Guide and Piston seal today to go with the Breech seal I got from Umarex yesterday.
New Piston seal
Top is the JM SPring/Guide
I put it back together and its shooting 800 fps (yes again, but when I got it 800 was the highest it shot, 750 was the average – this time 800 is the average and its pretty consistent). Plan on shooting a few hundred pellets before worrying about the 15fpe as Straight Shooters had 842fps and I think it might go that high.
Lama makes money and knows how to use it! LoL
I had planned on buying a maccari kit for this at some point in the future but the low power and bent spring moved that forward so I ordered an XLR2 Tune kit. I also ordered a Breech seal so that all my bases should be covered and I hopefully wont be delving into this again anytime soon once the new parts are installed.
The Maccari kit comes with Tar, but I ordered a lube kit from Rich in Mich too mainly for the Moly and Piston Lube so I can do the 54 and also my Baikal 512.
Lama…. Your 17 and just got a $2800 powder burner – STFU, lol
It looks a little dry to me Yellow Ninja. After you lube that baby up be sure to clean the barrel. It looks like the lubes my have been shoot out so the barrel maybe needs a good cleaning.
Wow, since you don’t need that patriot anymore I sure am glad I sent you a free gun.
*nudge nudge*
😛
Cool stuff though. What did the wife say? 🙂
Here are some pictures after I removed some of the excess lube. I dont see any damage, a little bit of wear on the seal maybe but that’s it.
and the finish inside the compression chamber
Thanks Cyg, Rob.
Rob – The spring and guide are bone dry, the seal has a bit of grease all over it.
The compression chamber isn’t a smooth finish on the inside – looks similar to a lightly sanded finish where the seal rides, but that might be normal so it holds a little lube.
So now I guess you wont be needing that Patriot anymore?
I’ll look at the pics tonight, cannot view pics here at work. The 54 is fairly easy to work on… keep in mind though that ‘normal’ velocity on that gun in .177 should be around 850fps with the heavy pellets so you are not too far off. In springers, the lighter pellets generally give more fpe than heavy pellets, quite the opposite from PCP, CO2, and pneumatics.
I’ve stripped down a 54, and 3 48’s and all I’ve worked on were BONE dry on the inside so if yours has some excess lubes, it very well could have been dinked with a bit.
Great price on that….
I’ve had good luck with scopes on mine. I used a cheapie BSA 3x12x40 for a year or so with no worries, then a Legend, now I have a Leapers 3x9x40 on it. Havent had trouble with it. I think I have a review posted on the Writers Corner, but dont remember if I have any pics of the internals on it.
first of it looks like theres way too much grease in gront of the seal to start with, but piston seal looks to be in good condition
i would think there should be some kind of breech seal there, but i cant tell for sure never really studied the 48, 52, 54 rifles that close
I stripped it, didnt see anything wrong with inexperienced and untrained eye.
I owned an RWS 48 and I dont remember it being so black inside, but then again I never took it apart.
Any suggestions from any springer guru’s ? (Yes I’m hoping for an answer from you ROB !… I know you own one (or two or three) of these.)
I bet they put the price of the RWS52 on it by mistake.
You lucky Yellow Bastard. 😆
BTW that gun eats scopes like candy 😀
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
The 54 is a neat gun and yours is looking good. I put a Gen 1 Russian night scope on mine and my 10 year old consistently hits spinners at 30 yards with it that way. That’s cool!