It’s that time of year again; the autumn leaves are beginning to fall and with crops off the fields and in the barns, farmyward pest control is now essential.
So now, Mike Morton is reviewing the RWS Super Field pellet to see just how good it is when the nights begin to draw in.
What are the two things we look for when trying to find the right ammo for our guns? Consistency and accuracy have to be top, and I can spoil this review for you right now by saying those two are already ticked off with the Super Field. But German firm RWS has gone and added a third word to that list: shiny!
RWS recommends the Super Field be used in PCPs, and says this pellet is ideally suited for field target shooting and hunting. Super Fields come in a shiny metal tin, but that doesn’t prepare you for just how shiny the pellets are themselves. While this shininess will probably not affect the pellets’ downrange performance one jot, it does put a smile on your face.
Super Fields are available in two head sizes in .22 calibre – 5.51mm, like the ones seen here, and 5.52mm, both having an advertised weight of 15.9 grains.
The pellets used in this review were bought in a tin of 500 costing £11, but Super Fields are also included in the RWS Field Kit – a sampler pack containing five small tins of various pellet types.
KEY SPECS
Pellet: RWS Super Field
UK Distributor: RUAG (www.ruag.co.uk)
Type: Roundhead diabolo
Calibre tested: .22 (5.5mm)
Head size: 5.51
Supplied in: Tin of 500
Price: £11
Advertised weight: 15.9 grains
Measured weight: 16.08 grains
Uses: Target shooting, hunting, plinking
At first glance, the pellets appear to be a classic domehead diabolo design, but the front part of the head is slightly smaller than the rear, making it look like a little acorn sitting in its cup. This creates a rim around the edge of the head, which is what will come into contact with the rifling when the pellet is fired.
An inspection revealed no damaged or deformed pellets, which may in part be due to the fact that the lead alloy used to make them is quite hard. I was delighted to find only a single flake of lead swarf hiding at the bottom of the tin. It wasn’t that long ago that washing pellets to remove swarf was par for the course. Nowadays, as this tin proves, there’s not usually a need to do this.
Super Fields have an advertised weight of 15.9 grains in .22, and when I tested 50 pellets from my tin of 500, I found that according to my scales 30 came in at 16.0 grains, with the remaining 20 weighing 16.2 grains, giving an average weight of 16.08 grains.
TEST CONDITIONS
This shoot was conducted outdoors on an overcast, but windless day with my BSA R-10 zeroed at 30 yards.
All shots were taken at the centre of a 1” Birchwood Casey Target Spot, regardless of distance, to show how much their flightpath alters at range.
The pellets were taken straight from the tin, and five shots were taken at each of the three targets.
DOWNRANGE
The R-10 was shot off a Harris bipod up front and a Dog-Gone-Good shooting bag at the rear, rested on a bench. I found the Super Fields a little tighter to chamber than usual, probably due to the harder alloy, but muzzle velocity was a very consistent 560 to 563 feet per second when 10 shots were put over the chronograph.
At 20 yards, the Super Fields delivered a small, one-hole group measuring 8mm centre-to-centre. The average point of impact was 12mm above the point of aim, due to the set-up of my scope and mounts, my chosen zero of 30 yards, and the weight and flightpath of the pellet.
Back at my zero distance of 30 yards, group size was much the same – this time being a svelte 9mm centre-to-centre, and bang in the middle of the target.
Forty yards saw the group expand to 13mm centre-to-centre, well inside the 18mm diameter of a five pence piece, with drop-off from point of aim measuring 38mm.
With this pellet turning out to be a one-hole wonder at all three test ranges, the RWS Super Field is a shining example, quite literally, of what a premium performing pellet can achieve in the right barrel and the right gun.
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