Our Take - RWS Model 460
RWS Model 460
Straight Shooters Use Score
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Plinking
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Target Shooting
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Pest Control
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Hunting
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5
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3
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5
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5
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Velocity Test Results
Interpreting the score
The Our Take testing of the RWS 460 has been a long time coming. But we finally received the .22 caliber and found some time to do the testing. This rifle definitely rates up there with the other super powerful spring rifles such as the RX-2, Patriot, Tomahawk, 48, 52, 54 and 350. We try to test the .177 caliber also as soon as we can get one in stock to do so.
I have used this sentence in other Our Take write-ups but it is so universally true that I'll repeat it again. And it is that generally speaking, it can be difficult to get spring airguns that shoot at very high velocity levels to group well. That is especially true when using lighter pellets in .177 caliber. The Model 460 did a pretty good job of handling pellets of all shapes and weights. We were very surprised to see that a spring airgun of such high power levels could shoot as accurately as it did. Of course, we don't test for accuracy when doing the Our Take testing. It is a velocity test but when shooting that many pellets of all kinds, we can't help but notice if the gun tends to throw pellets all over the place or whether it shoots them reasonably well. The 460, as all other super powerful springers, did better with the medium or heavier pellets but surprisingly it didn't throw the lighter pellets all over the place. It kept them in reasonable (if not great) groups and that's always a positive thing. We found that one of it's strengths was that it kept the velocity range very small from pellet to pellet. It was not unusual to have velocity spreads of only 5-8 fps. That's very good for a power rifle and we wanted to be sure to note that in this write-up.
As with the other powerful springers and gas ram rifles, this gun will be an excellent longer-range plinker and pest control gun. It does have some recoil and motion but we were surprised to find that it was much less than we expected. It was acceptably smooth for a gun that shoots as hard as it does. And the cocking effort was considerably less than I expected. Real powerful guns usually require some heavy cocking effort and that just wasn't the case at all with the 460. In fact, it didn't cock any harder than most of the medium powered underlever rifles. That is a real positive for the guy that wants a lot of power without the big cocking effort.
The velocity is advertised at 950 fps in .22 caliber which our tests were unable to verify. Our tests, however, came fairly close with a top velocity of 878 fps. Many guns don't measure up to manufacturer advertising claims though, so don't let that turn you off to the gun. This is one powerful hunting gun which still packs 20-23 fpe of pure hunting power. Nowadays it's always possible that the importer used a Gamo 4 grain pellet for testing to get the extra high velocity. We'll never know.
We found the accuracy to be quite good for it's power range and hitting the mark should not be much of a problem for the average shooter. Being as powerful as it is, there was a fair amount of recoil but less motion than we expected. We have to say that the gun was much easier to cock and shoot than we expected and while it's a howitzer, it might just be one of the easier ones to learn to shoot.
In summary, the gun is well worth the money for a hunter or person looking for a lot of power in a .22. We were disappointed that the manufacturers overstated the velocity because it simply isn't necessary to do so. The model 460 has plenty of power and we don't understand the need to overstate velocities when they are just fine as they actually are using standard weight pellets. But we understand that every manufacturer and importer tries to get an edge in the marketplace. But it doesn't change the fact that the 460 is going to make a very good howitzer for a lot of shooters.