Had a few over the years, all excellent. Infact out of all the pcp, s I've owned, the humble S200 comes out on top for accuracy
I thought I'd do a quick right up on one of these, nothing fancy, but it may give some people some info on them :thumb:
These are now discontinued by AA as a standard rifle, but they do still make them as a 10m target rifle set up with dioptre sights and running at around 6fpe, I presume you could just remove the sights and turn the power up to the normal sub 12fpe version if the anti tamper (AT) was removed though? The version I have here is a MK3 sub 12fpe version with AT intact, it's running at 11.8fpe max with JSB Heavies on a warm day, so it's probably set perfect TBH.
These are sold as entry level target rifles by AA, they weight around 2.6kg in standard trim, but the one I have here has a fairly large home made (I believe) moderator attached which I re-packed the foam in to give it better noise cancelling properties and it works very well, if on the large side. The mod is attached by a 15mm adapter with a couple of grub screws and replaces the muzzel cover supplied, ideal for back yard plinking to keep the neighbours happy
The stocks are fully ambidextrous, but it's a fairly small gun, so ideal for younger or smaller stature shooters, it comes with a non adjustable rubber but pad, so you could lengthen the stock to suit larger frames by replacing this. The barrel has a small 11mm dovetail segment mounted on it to give more flexibility when mounting a scope, and it also has a barrel band in place for rigidity and protection. This is always going to be a bone of contention as many target shooters "free float" their gun barrels, but I'm kind of in two minds about it, as why would the manufacturers make them this way even on £3k target rifles??
The actual action of the gun is a single shot bolt action in standard set up, mine has the 10 shot magazine conversion fitted which seems to be a very desirable add on for most people, and I was quite impressed how accurate the gun was with this fitted, although it's a little clunky and not as smooth as a dedicated mag system. I have no doubt the gun would be even more accurate as a single shot version, which is what you would do if using it for the likes of FT/HFT or even BR, but most people will use these as a hunting or plinking rifle at the cheaper end of the market with the fancier, but arguably no more capable, more expensive guns being used for comps.
Here are a few targets I done with it at 20m in calm conditions, you can't argue with that accuracy on a relatively cheap gun, it kind of permits AA to call it an entry level "Target Rifle".
Those who know me know I like to run the numbers, so in true form I put this over the chrono from 200bar to 100bar to see just where the power curve was, and how that translated to accuracy over those shots. The graph is below along with a 100 shot target I was using while doing the chrono work, It should be noted I was adjusting the scope an odd click here and there to remain on target during this, so the POI obviously shifted from shot 1 to the last shot having such a pronounced curve. These were at 20m outdoors, on a calm day and with the magazine and JSB Heavies out the tin. The conclusion, as clearly seen in the graph, is that you get a good 40/45 shots in the power curve above 11fpe and within 20fps of each end, with a shot to shot variance of just a few fps, so exactly as you would expect from a non regged gun. For plinking you could easily do 60+ shots with very little POI shift in real life unless your shooting at distance or go beyond that shot count, as the extra half fpe makes little difference to it. One of the take away points from this is don't bother filling your gun beyond around 180bar, and do your own research on your gun so you know how it shoots and exactly when your just wasting air, in this one it's around 170bar.
Looking at filling these they have the AA quick fill system, but you can also remove the cylinder, so you could take a spare if you wanted to on a trip for instance. There is no gauge, which is a pain, but they do give you a fully adjustable trigger. I'm not convinced how great this is though, it works fine, is adjustable, and looks the part, but it's heavy for a target rifle, and lacks the feel of better units. I've go the 2 stages set as light as I can for them to operate, and I suppose your going to get restrictions on quality at this price point, so I guess I'd have to say it's perfectly acceptable for the gun it's mounted in.
So there you have it - a brief write up on what is probably one of the most accessible AA rifles they have ever made. It's fairly cheap, it's a decent gun for entry lever target shooting, is impressive with the mag for accuracy, gets a good 40+ shots across it's power curve at full power, and is ambidextrous
What's not to like
James
Making a mockery of growing old gracefully since I retired
Had a few over the years, all excellent. Infact out of all the pcp, s I've owned, the humble S200 comes out on top for accuracy
LOOKING FOR A BSA ULTRA IN .177 and .25
Great guns , just added a better stock to mine , well my Grandson's I should have said
Don
Nice writeup..
I have x2 model T's
One for the range in a Warren Edwards laminate stock.
With a T50 fitted.
One in the Mk2T stock with a Pard 008 for the rabbits...
Looks like a mini Dragunov.
Both Huma regged and fully Rowaned up.
Very very accurate guns ,and the best barrels of the CZ guns i have had...both as accurate benched as my old Ev2, MPR, S400 and Dominator..so pretty good and both run on Exact 4.52 die 54...and JSB Selects.
Maybe they could have been noticeably better than the 200's if i had the die 54 ammo at the time..who knows. ?
Triggers have been worked in and are pretty good for me.
Recently fitted them with new air tubes this week as well.
Spent a bit on them ,but worth it to get the best out of the pair of them.
Top guns.
Last edited by MrGreengrass; 02-07-2021 at 09:00 AM.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -- Benjamin Franklin
Ive got a Ratworks cz mk3 with a Tench reg and screw cut barrel. Very accurate gun, and you dont have to be young or small to shoot them.
The S200 is the only Air Arms rifle I sold. Air cylinder never felt secure. Filing it was painful as the cylinder always wanted to unscrew itself. Couldn't then remove cylinder as the silencer stopped it being removed. Trigger was rubbish. No pressure gauge as standard. I gave up on it in the end and sold it. Faults far to many and too annoying. If Air Arms have stopped producing them, that is no surprise. Bloody awful thing, everything about it seemed cheaply put together.
Great review of an extremely accurate rifle. It'd be the last one I'd let go
So here`s my thoughts
I bought an s200, off a mate with some fancy brass on it single shot 177. I shot a lot of feral pigeons but went back to 22. The s200 has now had the reg reduced Change of Hammer spring and stuck some diopetrs on and we are shooting the pip out at 10ms,This will now be my daughters gun. So I am looking at a 22 version, no fuss easy to work on versatile extremely accurate. Theres allsorts of bits to make it what you want it to be.
In short I love the little quirky things.....
Thanks for being bothered to review the s200 its not for everyone but its definitely for me,