Air Arms S400 MPR Precision, Poplar Stock

I received my Air Arms S400 MPR rifle today. Out of the box it was perfect - stock, bluing, finishing everithing was perfect. It has 150 BAR still in the rifle and because I didn't have received my HIll MK4 pump I tried it as is. I put one of my Bushnell Elite 6-24x40 Target scopes on it and sight in with a few peletts. I started with RWS R10 pellets. The first group of five was - literaly - one pellet diameter hole. I was impressed! I tried different kind of match pellets and I can clearly say - the accuracy is AT LEAST equal to my FWB 300S or even better. S400 MPR rifle has a super smoot bolt and an upgraded fully adjustable metal buttpad. It is verry comfortable to shoot. The trigger is not as light as on the FWB 300S but still verry good for the target shooting.

Wider forhend and heviar rifle.

Nothing - perfect rifle for the money!

Just received my S400 yesterday and love it. Just started on sighting it in with benchrest and already putting pellets through the same holes. Great accuracy out of the box. Fit and finish on mine is immaculate. I have seen a few issues noted in previous reviews about some minor stock problems but mine came perfect. Machine work is very good. I would imagine that any problems I have shooting competitively is going to rest on my shoulders and not the guns.

Not much except maybe the sights and that may just be me not being used to them. It seems it takes quite a few clicks to get it zeroed in on target. Like I say, that may just be me and my old worn out eyes too.

I think this would be a great gun to get your feet wet in 10 meter matches. Larger individuals may need to add some spacers to the butt stock to adjust your pull but everything else in my opinion is pretty easily adjusted on this gun. Maybe a bit pricey but from what I've seen accuracy wise so far it's worth it. Just be sure and try different brands and weights of pellets to get the most out of her.

It is very accurate in my opinion, but I have never shot anything more expensive than this rifle. For testing I bench rest from a standing position because I have to shoot from my basement up half a flight of stairs into the garage to get a 10 meter distance. The pellet trap in the garage is at eye level. This makes my shooting from a rest at about a 5 foot height not as steady as I would like. However, if I am real careful, I can normally get groups of 0.035 to 0.050 CtC with a UTG scope at 12X and R-10 pistol pellets. With a real Gamo aperture sight I get groups of 0.036 to 0.077, not being really careful with the biggest ones. It might also be my 70 YO eyes with aperture sights. The workmanship on the rifle is excellent, except as noted next. I also really like the trigger and the trigger adjustability on this rifle. I thought my Marauder was good until I shot this rifle.

QC at Air Arms seems to be somewhat lacking. Shortly after I unpacked the rifle, I noticed cracks in the varnish/lacquer starting at the stippling and going back about an inch. I wrote an email to PA over a week ago and have not gotten a response. I then sent another email yesterday with close up photos attached and are waiting for a response. After I sent the latest email, I examined the cracks more closely and discovered that they also go into the stippling and seem to be into the wood and not only the finish coat. If this were a $300 rifle then I would not be concerned with the small cracks, but a $1000 rifle should not be shipped this way.

If you order one of these, expect very good to excellent accuracy, but examine the woodwork very carefully, as from mine and a couple of other reviews, it seems that the Air Arms workmanship and QC on the stock can be hit or miss. The velocity is somewhat less than shown in the specifications. Using 7.0 gr R-10 pistol pellets, it averages 535 fps at 170 BAR, dropping to 524 fps at 150 BAR and 506 fps at 130 BAR. At 135 BAR the POI at 10m has dropped about 0.030 inch from what it is at 170 BAR. At 110 BAR the velocity averages 488 fps. I kept track of the number of shots the first time I shot it and I got 105 shots from 170 BAR down to 130 BAR. AT 110 BAR I had gotten 140 shots. I used a magnifier to try to get an accurate pressure reading on the small reservoir gauge.

1) Metal work is well executed, without any objectionable tool marks. 2) Polishing and bluing (actually a blackening) is uniform and dark under strong light. 3) Stock work is clean and well executed save for one problem (see below). 4) Trigger has a smooth second stage and the break is crisp and repeatable. Out-of-box my trigger broke at around 19 Oz. on my very old RCBS spring scale. After 300 rounds it breaks at 16-16.5 OZ. 5) Fully charging to 200 Bar and following the recommended recharge at 100 Bar I am getting about 150 rounds. You'll get 2 full practice sessions between charges. Given the small size of the cylinder (~100 cc) this rifle is easy to run with a pump. 6) The stock and trigger have plenty of adjustability.

1) There is obvious tool chatter and grain tear out in the corners of the 6 cutouts at the air cylinder channel. I would not consider this to be normal on a $1000 rifle. One of the stock makers missed a step. 2) The aperture insert pre-installed in the front sight was badly bent. The sight's ears were too big for the slots in the sight tunnel and when the factory tightened the retainer the aperture was bent. None of my other inserts (from Anschutz) would fit either. A few carefully strokes on the sight tunnel slots with a needle file fixed that. I was able to flatten the bent insert with the help of a bench vise and a small brass hammer. 3) The bolt handle is too lightly constructed for my tastes and seems out of place in comparison to the rest of the rifle's build. I have noticed that if I retract the bolt too slowly the action will sometimes not cock- the lock work seems to need a little bolt speed. 4) Supplied front sight riser is flimsy plastic- should be steel.

1) The length of pull is quite short out-of-box, probably too short for most adult men. You will need to buy or make spacers to suit your needs. I added the optional adjustable metal butt plate to mine
and have been happy with it.

2) If you use a sling you will need the optional rail insert (Harris HBA-ANS).

1) Metal work is well executed, without any objectionable toolmarks. 2) Polishing and bluing (actual a blackening) is uniform and dark under strong light. 3) The vast majority of the stock work is clean and well executed save for one problem (see below). 4) Trigger has a smooth second stage and the break is crisp and repeatable. Out-of-box my trigger broke at around 19 Oz. on my very old RCBS spring scale. After 300 rounds it breaks at 16-16.5 OZ. 5) Fully charging to 200 Bar and following the recommended recharge at 100 Bar I am getting about 150 rounds. You'll get 2 full practice sessions between charges. Given the small size of the cylinder (~100 cc) this rifle is easy to run with a pump. 6) The stock and trigger have plenty of adjustability. 7) Accuracy is excellent. My best 5 shot group to date has been 0.225" O.A.L with the 8.2 gr RWS Meisterkugeln pellets (prone, @ 10 meters, stock Gamo style rear sight and 3.0MM front insert.) The rifle is capable of better.

1) There is obvious tool chatter and grain tear out in the corners of the 6 cutouts at the air cylinder channel. I would not consider this to be normal on a $1000 rifle. 2) The aperture insert pre-installed in the front sight was badly bent. The sight's ears were too big for the slots in the sight tunnel and when the factory tightened the retainer the aperture was bent. None of my other inserts (from Anschutz) would fit either. A few carefully strokes on the sight tunnel slots with a needle file fixed that. I was able to flatten the bent insert with the help of a bench vise and a small brass hammer. 3) The bolt handle is too lightly constructed for my tastes and seems out of place in comparison to the rest of the rifle's build. I have noticed that if I retract the bolt too slowly the action will sometimes not cock- the lock work seems to need a little bolt speed. 4) The supplied front sight riser is flimsy plastic. Spend $5 and give the rifle the steel riser it deserves.

1) The length of pull is quite short out-of-box, probably too short for most adult men. You will need to buy or make spacers to suit your needs. I added the optional adjustable metal butt plate to mine and have been happy with it.

2) If you use a sling you will need the optional rail insert (Harris HBA-ANS). For what its worth, the Daisy sling from my 953 fit just fine.

3) I had Pyramid test my rifle. Their tested velocities were from 473-507 FPS with the 7 gr RWS Diablo Basic.
My first generation Shooting Chrony is showing 450-481 with 8.2 gr Meisterkugeln pellets at the 150 Bar point on the rifle's pressure gauge. This is my first PCP rifle, so I am not sure how good the 31 FPS ES is.

4) The air shroud is quite long making cleaning a bit more difficult. You will need a high quality one piece rod or better yet a pull through inserted from the breach. The shroud can be removed by loosening a single set screw but I don't like doing this as it disturbs my sight adjustments

Got the rifle a couple of hours ago. Rifle looks beatiful, the finish is vey nice. Unfortunately I have not tried it yet cause there's an issue with the stock. Will update or create a new review when I get the replacement. The low rating is for what I've received.

Air Arms should have better Quality Control. The rifle that i received have a crack on the pistol grip that's been glued, even have glue residue around the crack. I can't believe Air Arms sent this to Pyramiyd to sell as a new Rifle.

Still waiting for a response from Pyramyd to get an RMA so I can swap this thing. Hopefully this is just an isolated case of bad QA. I will update this once I get the replacement and have tested the gun. I also hope Pyramyd Air have a good customer service and take care of this quickly.

I love the feel ov the gun when I am shooting it. I blame its slight lack of accuracy on my old eyes and not the gun. When I talked to the rep. I ask for a gun that if I missed I would know it was me and not the gun. I got a beaut.

As others, I would like to see a Foster quick fill on the tank.

Buy it, shoot it, love it.

I had the T200 and it was accurate at all compared to the S400 and the S400 is not as accurate as the Feiwerkbau which is what I have used in the past, but you get what you pay for. I use this for practice silhouette shooting and it works well.

The stock is too short for me, I had to add 2 inch of spacer to get my LOP at 14 inches, best as is for a junior shooter. It works after the spacers added.

Its well made, cocking is easy, the opening where you put the pellet is still too short and with my large hands its hard to always get the pellet dropped in facing the correct way.

For the price it can't be beat. A quality Air Rifle at a price that is affordable!

I have the MPR that was so graciously donated to the Southern Nationals by Pyramid Air. This rifle is a SWEETHEART!!!... I do not believe any other target air rifle can do much better in the silhouette game than this one can. With crosman premier 7.9's and no wind it is capable of 1 inch groups at 45 yards consistently. With all the adjustments it has, yoy can taylor it to fit you like a glove. The gun was shooting at 535 ft per second when I got it but there is an air adjustment on the side under a grub screw that with one half a turn with an allen wrench stepped up the speed to 609 ft per second and still have 70 to 80 good shots with every filling.

If there is one thing that I would like to have on my MPR, it would be a foster quick fill connection like on my marauder.Im not particularly fond of unscrewing the tube for every fill. To me, that causes unnecessary wear on fragile threads. It is more of an inconvenience than anything. Most high end target guns are filled this way. the way the gun handles is an absolute joy. It will shoot better than ANYONE can shoot it!!!

Great all adjustable trigger!