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S410 TDR Review

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 9:27 pm
by pjgtech
Ok, I’ve had the TDR long enough now to form an opinion of it, so here goes…

Ever since I first saw the TDR I wanted one, some rifles you just see and you know that one day, you must have one, well that was many years ago and I’ve been patiently waiting ever since, till I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy one. I bought the .177 flavour, cos I’ve had a couple of .22’s so time for a change.

I bought my TDR from Pellpax, mainly cos I wanted it quick and I wanted the delivery service they offer, and I have to say, the service was great, with an easy to use website, fast delivery (with time slot to suit me) it really was easy with no fuss.

Once delivered I opened the box and was greeted with that great little black case. I love the fact it looks like a large rucksack. Its also very well made and sturdy with thick eggbox type padding inside and tailored to hold the TDR (with scope) nicely. I’ve moved the bag around quite a bit and so far everything has been held in its place with no issues. It has some nice touches too, with places to hold some tools, allan keys, etc and a strap for the silencer / moderator and very thick and soft padded main straps for the rifle, (so as not to scratch it). The straps on the back of the case are thick and durable and they are adjustable and also have (moveable) padded shoulder pads.

The rifle itself, is of course based on the Air Arms S410 with multi shot magazine, but this is the TDR, Take Down Rifle, dismountable, a kit gun, Oo-er, very James bond…

So it comes in three sections, the main stock and action, the butt and the silencer. I have watched YouTube clips of people putting it together in very fast times, (eg: about 30 to 40 seconds) or usually well under a minute, and I always doubted that it could really be put together that fast. Well it can. Easily. Its so simple you actually wonder how it still works, but it does, the quality is obvious, it feels well made, it feels solid, but not heavy, (its actually a fairly light rifle coming in at 2.8kg or 6lbs). You slot the butt into the rear of the action, twist a nut for a few seconds and it very gently but positively pulls the two together in a very satisfying way. Then you slip on the silencer and tighten a small thumb screw and that’s it, your rifle is ready to go. It really is so simple its brilliant and so quick.

The rear butt section has an adjustable shoulder pad, easily adjusted by one screw / nut. I haven’t adjusted mine as it seems to fit me right out of the box (case). There is a front rail for connecting accessories, eg: bipod, etc. Overall length is a smidge under 42” (1060mm)

Walnut: the main action and butt come with walnut sections. These look to be good quality pieces of timber and seem to be well made and well fitted. I have already applied a few coats of CCL oil and the grain is coming up nicely.

Magazines. The TDR comes with one (10 shot) magazine and its exactly the same magazine that you get with the S410. It slips easily into the action and rotates smoothly when cocking the rifle. The cocking bolt was a tad stiff when it was brand new, but I have since greased it and used it a fair bit and it has got smoother. Another handy feature of the TDR is its built in mag holders (there are two of them) in the butt. They are held in very firmly, on the underside of the butt section, by a strong spring clip and I have no fear of them falling out any time soon. Obviously its also a handy feature to have up to 30 shots readily available to you, (eg: one mag in the action, and two spares in the butt). I was surprised to see that the magazines do not have a mark to indicate when the mag is empty, older mags had a small red mark on them. However, its very easy to take the mag covers off and apply a red dot to use as an indicator).

Trigger, as per most modern air weapons nowadays, the TDR comes with an adjustable two stage trigger. I have not tampered with it so far, as it seems fine with a very predictable second stage.

There is a built in safety button mounted on the trigger itself, which frankly I don’t like. It is well made and functions perfectly well, I just don’t like having a safety on a trigger as there is a possibility of an accidental firing whilst trying to operate the safety. Personally I prefer a safety to be mounted off the trigger, that’s just my personal preference, and to be honest its about the only negative thing I can think of for this rifle?

Charging the Cylinder? The air reservoir has a large screw on cap, which is again very sturdy and well built and keeps the adaptor well protected when not in use. I opted for a pump, the Webley Accupump three stage, built in moisture trap, very sturdy and well engineered. I have filled the reservoir several times now and I can say its not that hard. From 100bar to 150 bar it takes 100 pumps (counting every down stroke as a pump and every upstroke as a pump) and to get from 150 to 190 bar (the recommended fill level) it takes another 200 pumps. So to get from 100 bar to 190 bar takes about 300 pumps. (NB: the max recommended pressure is 200bar). I’m not that fit anymore, but it takes me about 10 minutes to do the full 300pump (90bar) charge, but that is taking my time, making sure I do a full slow and positive up pump and down pump on every stroke. Stopping every couple of minutes to A: allow the pump to cool down, and B: allow me to catch my breath. (Well I said I was not that fit!) If I was a bit fitter or just went for it, I’m sure the rifle could be charged a bit quicker, but I think anything faster than about six minutes, would probably produce too much heat in the pump. Obviously a dive bottle could be used if you don’t fancy the idea of a pump. There is a small but easily read manometer (pressure gauge) on the underside of the main stock. The gauge is colour coded to aid reading.

The TDR comes with the standard AA T bar type filling adaptor, but it also comes with a variety of other adaptors and some spare O rings.

No’ of shots per fill. So far I reckon I get about 50 shots per fill, eg: starting at 190 bar and finishing at 100bar after about 50 shots. But I may do some more testing on this at a later date. AA say the shot count is 40, but I don’t know what pressure range they use for this figure?

Accessories: The TDR comes with the case, the filling adaptors and a cleaning cloth. Mine also came with a few allan keys, but they were for the scope which I bought at the same time.

Scope: I opted for a Hawke Vantage 9-3x50AO. It came ready fitted with Hawke separate mounts.

Pellets: So far I have tried it with H&N FTT and it seems to like those, I have also tried it JSB Match Exact Diablo and it seems to like those too.

Accuracy: Getting nice groups on a consistent basis, but only have 25m in my garden, so not tested to anything further yet. I’m sure it will be an accurate little beast, in fact I’m sure it will be far more accurate than my shooting ability.

Upgrades since buying it: I have already changed the bolt. Although the original bolt is nice enough, it is a sort of silver / metallic colour, whereas almost everything else on the rifle is black, so I opted for a Rowan Engineered black anodised bolt, which I have now fitted and it looks much more in keeping with the rest of the rifle. I quite like the idea of a Rowan Engineered single shot auto loader, may have to get me one of them at some point. I have now also applied a red dot to both my mags as an empty indicator….I have also bought a nice little Smart phone camera/scope mount, which seems to work well.

So there you go, me and my TDR, the rifle of my dreams, so far I’m not disappointed, I’m looking forward to a long and happy life together… 8-)

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 8:29 am
by Blackbaronfish
Nice review. Have you put a sling on it,if so what did you go for.

BBF

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 1:21 pm
by TenMetrePeter
Have you tried sending the review to the magazines with some photos?

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 2:47 pm
by eboswan
Good review thanks :)

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 4:25 pm
by pjgtech
Blackbaronfish wrote:Nice review. Have you put a sling on it,if so what did you go for.

BBF


No, I haven't fitted a sling yet, not sure if I will as its so light (compared to my HW97KT which is a heavy beast) it should be easy to lug araound, plus of course there is the small case too, which can be used as a rucksack...

8-)

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 4:26 pm
by pjgtech
TenMetrePeter wrote:Have you tried sending the review to the magazines with some photos?


No, which magazine is that?

Re: S410 TDR Review

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 4:48 pm
by eboswan
Airgunner,airgun world etc.