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cactusrat · Member

Tested pellets though the Air Arms S500 in .177cal., AA S400 in .22 cal. and the FX Cyclone in .22 cal.. The distances were 15, 30, and 50 yards.

The short story is; The FX came out ahead in all averages at all distances. The S400 did better than the S500 over all. The S500 only had one group average in the top five group averages. That was at 50 yards with CPH 10.5g out of the box and was the fifth place.

The longer story;

The test were 5 shots groups with four groups for a average. A few pellet brands were only shot with one group because they shot very large groups at all distances.

The three guns shot a total of 654 groups and over 3270 pellets (not counting mistakes or dropped pellets).

Texas wind makes pellet testing very difficult. Most test began before sunrise, before the wind picked up to over 10 mph.

The S500 in .177 seems to like Crosman Premiers Heavies and CP Hollow Points better than JSB and Kodiaks. (a about time I have a gun that respects my pocket book).

Best group average at each distance for the S500 was, CP Hollow Point, .22 inch at 15 yards. CPH, .43 inch at 30 yards and CPH .75 inch at 50 yards.

Best group average at each distance for the S400 in .22 cal was, JSB Exact Express (14.3g) .18 inch at 15 yards. JSB Exact Heavy, .41 inch at 30 yards and JSB Exact Heavy, .73 inch at 50 yards.

Best group average at each distance for the FX Cyclone in .22 cal. was, Beeman Kodiak .15 inch at 15 yards. JSB Exact Heavy, .34 inch at 30 yards and JSB Exact Heavy, .43 inch at 50 yards.

Combining the S500, S400 and FX groups together, the FX held 4 of the 5 best groups at 15 yards, The S400 held second best group.

At 30 yards the FX held the top 2 groups while the S400 held the third and fifth place and S500 held the fourth place.

At 50 yards the FX held the top three places with the S400 holding fourth place and the S500 holding fifth place.

Looking at individual groups, the S400 had the best group at 15 yards, .10 inch using a Kodiak. FX made a .12 inch hole using a Kodiak. The smallest hole for the S500 was .14 inch using a CP Hollow Point.

At 30 yards the FX made the smallest group using a H&N Baracuda at .18 inch. Best for the S400 was .26 inch using A JSB Exact 15.9g. S500 made 5 CPH go threw a .22 inch hole.

The best group for the 50 yard test, was the FX once again with a .22 inch hole using a JSB Exact Heavy. This time the S500 beat the S400 with a hole of .54 inch using JSB Exact. The smallest group the S400 made at 50 yards was .56 using Crosman Accupell (14.3g).

I’m going to hate what I’m about to say in closing. Eating crow is always hard. Evil or Very Mad

The FX is the best all around shot of my herd. If I need to put a pellet exactly on a mark, the Cyclone will my go to gun. That’s the eating CROW part. I was saying the S400 was a little more accurate than the FX.

However, The S400 carries a little more kick (energy) so for big pest control the S400 is a little better choice.

The S500 is going to be a good plinker gun, since it likes cheaper pellets.

If anybody made it this far threw my long winded post, thanks for reading.

This is about half of the targets I shot doing this testing. S400 test was done last year and I didn’t save the targets.

In the picture of the guns, from top to bottom; S500 .177, S400 .22, FX Cyclone .22

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