Air Arms S410 Review

Overall Rating

Lothar Walther Barrel
Stock
Magazine system
Weight
Accuracy
Trigger
Filtered Air Bottle

Silver Bolt handle, this may spook quarry. Black matt handle would be an improvement.

The original design for the S410 came from the incredibly popular S310, since then the S410 has been designed twice. The first makeover was the S410 and the second was its stock remodelling in 2005. The Air arms S410 is used widely over HFT circuits, and has now risen to one of the most popular PCP?s used in Britain. So what is the S410?s secret to success? Could it be the superb wood stock that comes in Beech or walnut, thumbhole or sporter, left hand or right hand. All aspects of this gun contribute to its success, firstly the action including the revised safety catch, hassle free magazine and free floating lothar walther barrel.
The Action of the S410 is quick, light and easy to use, everything that is needed in the field or competing in a HFT circuit. A generous sized cocking lever that is slightly tilted downwards allows for easy cocking of the rifle. This lever rotates the magazine and loads the pellet all in one action. The lever is pulled upwards then outwards until the click of the trigger blade kicking forward is heard. After pulling the lever upwards, it must be pulled outwards in a strong single motion in order to prevent a second pellet entering the barrel. This is sounds alot more complex than it actually is, but when done properly the cocking action works smoothly and faultlessly as long as it is kept in good condition. Atop the action is a small set of dovetails in order to fit a telescopic sight, no open sights are provided so a scope is necessary. The dovetails are short but I have had no trouble. However, if you do need the extra room, extended mounts can be used. The magazine sits high, I have used high mounts to accommodate my 44mm objective lens scope and so unfortunately I don?t know if small mounts will raise the scope high enough to use the magazine. My high mounts have given a gap of 1cm between the top of the magazine to the bottom of the scope tube.

The 10 shot magazine that accompanies the action is in turn unique. This magazine is remarkably simple, but it works so very well. The cocking handle removes the pellet from the magazine which in turn rotates the magazine. There is a generous amount of pellet input room, but strangely the pellets do not often fall out. The magazines are made sturdy and the only bit of maintenance needed is to oil the spring which rotates the disk inside the magazine. This is easily done but will ease up the working remarkably. Magazines to suit this rifle are not cheap, retailing at an average price of £30 plus postage and package. Prices do not change for either calibre.
£30 is not a bad price for a magazine that will last you a fair few years as long as you keep in it marginal condition at minimum.
The magazine and cocking system can allow a second pellet to be entered into the barrel; however after an hour or so of using the rifle you are that used to process of shooting it that you won?t cock the rifle twice because you will want to fire the pellet as soon as it has been loaded.
The trigger is light, fully adjustable and has a nice feel to it. The trigger is curved so that it feels right on your finger. The trigger guard has a large opening, just big enough to fit the tools needed to adjust the trigger. Each trigger is adjusted specially for the rifle before it is delivered to the supplier and so sometimes it does not need manual tweaking. Inside the fully adjustable two stage trigger is a resettable safety catch, which when pushed to the one side allows full use of the trigger in order to fire the loaded pellet. The safety catch is simple and easy to use, which is all that is needed in the hunting field.

A fully free floating lothar walther match grade barrel is fitted as standard and will keep you accuracy remarkably consistent on an unregulated rifle. The barrel is fitted as standard with a muzzle compensator which is held on with an easily removed grub screw. The muzzle compensator can be quickly removed in order to fit a silencer or an air stripper for the HFT competitors. It is important that the barrel is kept in a fully oiled condition and left with at least one layer of oil remaining.

The power of PCP?s comes from their ugly air bottles imbedded in the fore stock of the rifle. The S410?s air cylinder is an average size, giving around 80 full power shots in .177 and 100 in .22, whilst the carbine is slightly smaller giving 50 full power shots in .177 and 80 in .22. Air arms have hidden the majority of the air cylinder inside the luxury wood stock, but some still remains. Filling directions are printed onto the cylinder, a maximum of 190Bar fill level is recommended and a refill level of 130bar.
The air cylinder is capped off at the front with a steel end cap that comes standard in black, but other materials such as aluminium or brass are available. This is the simple coating which hides the filling adapter. The air arms filling adapter is a push on type which allows ease of filling. A filter is built into the end cap which stops the dirt and impurities getting into the air cylinder, but if correctly stored and cleaned the gun would not need this filter. Still, it is yet another brilliant idea which adds to the reason why the S410 is such a popular gun.
The S410 comes standard with a luxuriously crafted beech sporter stock, with walnut and thumbhole options available at an extra price. The standard beech stock comes with rose capping on the bottom of the grip, whilst the walnut stocks have extra rose capping on the fore stock of the rifle. . For those of you who sculpt parts of their original stocks, the walnut is considerably easy to carve. Walnut is slightly lighter than beech, but this is un-noticeable in the wild and if a sling is added the weight is reduced. Left hand stocks are available at an extra price but if you are a left handed shooter don?t get put off by the price for the stock. The stocks are carefully crafted, with amazing laser cut chequering on the handle, both sides of the forestock, as well as the bottom of the forestock in order for that extra grip needed in a standing stance. The air pressure gauge sits further back and is hidden away just in front of the trigger, perfectly placed in order to see the air levels at a glance.
In conclusion, this is a mid priced rifle that is competition standard and is can be used very efficiently in the hunting field when in the right hands. This rifle can make an average shooter good and a good shooter brilliant. Pellet on pellet at 40yards with a recoilless action, faultless magazine system and luxury stock on a mid priced PCP is hard to achieve but with the S410 Air Arms have achieved the unachievable.