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Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x

Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x

This is by far the most insane and most powerful PCP air rifle that I have ever had the pleasure of shooting! Check out the HM1000x by Rapid Air Weapons in .357 and running at a staggering 130ft/lbs!

Firstly, a bit of history on the company. Rapid Air Weapons LLC was formed in 2006 as a supplier of precision air rifle components and accessories; today they manufacture, as well as supply, high-quality components and products for the shooting industry from their factory in Tennessee, USA. They do a small selection of rifles, which vary from high-end bench rest PCPs, to monsters like the one here; however, they are all based on the same action.

The action

The HM1000x is a side lever cocking PCP that can be loaded via the magazine or just single fed; and it’s not in the slightest bit fiddly to load those huge .357 pellets I can tell you! Calibre choices are .22, .25, or like we have here on test, .35. Now, the magazines (7 shot in .35) are cassette in style and are quite similar to the mags that FX use and are very easy to load, once you have the knack! The magazine then just slides in from the left-hand side and then you just close the cocking lever fully. I am ever so slightly warming to cassette magazines, because I like the way they don’t allow you to close the cocking lever once they are empty.

There is no automatic safety catch, instead, there is a lever in front of the trigger, pull it back to engage it, forward to release it. The trigger itself is feather-light and adjustable, more about the trigger shortly.

Now, it’s not a small rifle at 46¼-inches, nor is it lightweight either, weighing in at 9lbs 4oz, but it is a buddy bottled PCP after all, even though the bottle itself is carbon fibre. So, starting with the stock, it’s a right-handed thumb hole, which kind of proved a bit of a challenge for me to shoot, what with me being a lefty! As you can see, it is in beautiful walnut with a fairly high comb cheekpiece. The butt-pad is rubberised and adjustable for height via a screw. The thumb hole is ample, even for a gloved hand and, erm, thumb! There is a thumb rest if you don’t want to ‘go through the thumb hole’and the actual pistol grip itself has some of the best stippling that I have seen on a rifle stock and offers loads of grip. The finger grooves and semi palm shelf just add to the comfort.

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Moving along to the rest of the woodwork, the trigger guard is incorporated into the stock and flows seamlessly into the forend, which is very thick and chunky by the way and with this rifle being a buddy bottled gun, I could see no weak points anywhere around the end of the forend where the bottle is actually attached, nor where the gauge is located on the left-hand side of the action.

Trigger time

The trigger is a two-stage, adjustable metal blade and the one on this particular rifle was set a little light for me, at just over eight-ounces! However, this HM1000x was on loan to me from a friend, so I didn’t want to really mess up his set-up. It’s bloody light though and I must confess that it did catch me out a couple of times when I was putting my ‘itchy’ trigger finger on the trigger ready to take the shot, a little ‘premature’ I guess, must be an age thing.

At the front of the forend, there is a rail to throw on a bipod, which I think on a rifle like this is essential. The one that you see here on this rifle is an American Defense Atlas, very good by the way, with lots of adjustment. Moving on to the action and receiver, it’s all aluminium and very solid with everything in the right place; with that, I mean the manometer is right on the side where in my opinion, it should be. I know that you don’t get my pet hate with buddy bottled PCPs, but I do like to whinge about manometers on the muzzle end of guns. In this case, it’s located on the left-hand side of the action, with the filler nozzle on the right with a push on dust cap to keep it clean from debris.

Trade-off

Now, as far as shot count goes, with this rifle being a big calibre and high power, you don’t get a massive amount of shots per fill. In fact, my friend who very kindly loaned me this rifle, said he just runs two mags and then tops the gun up with air. He’s found that those two magazines (or 14 shots) will have maximum velocity, after that they start to drop off. So, 14 full-power shots, travelling at around 850fps with 130ft/lbs of energy out the muzzle. For a high-power hunting PCP, that’s pretty good.

A feature that I was very impressed by was the fact that you can de-cock the rifle just by pulling back on the cocking lever and pulling the trigger and then closing the lever back, a great safety feature. Moving on to the barrel, it is totally free-floating and wrapped in carbon fibre, as is the Rapid Air Weapons moderator. Although the mod does muffle quite a bit of the sound, there is still a bit of noise and you can hear that enormous .35 pellet whistle down range! Accuracy then at 50-yards was okay, I was getting around a 1.5-inch group but bear in mind I’m a southpaw and I was shooting this RAW righthanded! Yeah, yeah, excuses!

Conclusion

So, all-in-all, a monster of a PCP, especially in the .35 calibre! It’s definitely a hunter’s rifle, without doubt, but you can have some serious fun shooting soft drink cans (full ones!) out to 100-yards plus, like I did!

The HM1000x is a beautifully crafted rifle that for me, has shown another dimension into the constantly evolving world of airgunning! Safe shooting!

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

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  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

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  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Model: Rapid Air Weapons HM1000x
  • Action: Side lever multi shot PCP
  • Calibre: .22, .25 & .35 (on test)
  • Length: 46¼-inches
  • Weight: 9lbs 4oz (walnut stock)
  • Price: £1499
  • Contact: Michael Tawn Airguns www.tawnadoairguns.com
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