Chad Kentner In the 100 yard benchrest arena we see guns from England and Sweden often dominating the lineups. Let me tell you that airgun manufactures from the United States are taking notice and producing extremely competitive options as well. One such company is RAW Airguns, manufactured in rural Tennessee and recently acquired by well known Air Force Airguns in Texas. The acquisition was to help RAW streamline production due to high demand, while also maintaining the ability to produce very high quality and precision made products.
As I get into this review, it is important to note that all products produced by RAW continue to be run through the hands of master craftsman and airgun designer Martin Rutterford. What makes Martin’s reputation and why has he become such a well known and respected airgun designer? Well, in short it is his 30+ years of experience starting with his apprenticeship with Theoben in 1985. Martin approves each rifle’s accuracy and tweaks it if necessary until his very own high standards are met. This does also mean that on a very rare occasion one won’t meet muster and is not sent out.
This of course brings me to the rifle I have been sent to test. Like all RAW air rifles, Martin himself has approved for accuracy prior to sending out. It is the one and only RAW HM1000x in .25 caliber. Where “HM” stands for Hunter Model and the “x” denotes the larger plenum size for “x”tra power. This rifle is also currently available in both .22 caliber and .30 caliber models. All HM models are also shipped with a multi shot magazine and a set of seals to repair any leaks in the unlikely event one were to occur. The breech block is milled out of high grade aluminum and has a precision milled picatinny rail with 20 degrees of MOA built in for long range accuracy.
When ordering your rifle, you will have two stocks to choose from when ordering. The first stock option is an ambidextrous laminate wood stock that is available in a variety of colors and comes with an adjustable cheek piece, M-Lok rail system, and an adjustable (rise and cant) Minelli shoulder pad. As a reviewer it is important to note the new shoulder pad being used. Being the same one that Minelli is using means that the stock is also compatible with accessories being made by the likes of Kraford and Lypt, Precision Rifle Systems and others. I mean, who doesn’t like accessories?
Your second stock option is known as the “Chassis System” and was debuted January of 2020 at Shot Show in Las Vegas. This option will really appeal to those of you who like the AR-15 platform and like to spec out your airguns with your favorite array of add on accessories. The stock is milled for a solid piece of high grade aluminium with built in M-Lok rails, anodized black, dressed with an adjustable AR-15 butt stock, an AR-15 grip (you are more than welcome to swap out for any other compatible butt stock or grips you choose) and a very functional yet well hidden built in hammer spring adjuster. I believe that this option will also be very popular for those who are looking for a solid and powerful platform to take on a hunt.
The HM1000x has a magazine style lever action breech block. What I found to be very intriguing is the magazine that was designed by RAW is the same magazine that was borrowed by Benjamin/Crosman to develop their flagship Marauder. There is no single shot tray for those of you who desire this option, but I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that there was plenty of room with the magazine removed to hand load pellets into the breech without one.
A final aspect of this rifle and it’s design that made me happy as a target shooter was the simplicity of the build. There is nothing worse than having an o-ring bust and not being able to perform the necessary maintenance at a match to get back shooting. Everything about this rifle is simple while also being highly polished and magnificently machined. You can easily take this rifle down in just a few minutes and replace any seal that many have developed a leak. How do I know this? Well, experience tells me this as RAW asked me to develop a series of “how to” videos for their Knowledge Center. This project required me to tear into the internals of this rifle and intimately get to know its mechanics. If you are considering the HM1000x or the TM1000 I would highly encourage you to visit their site and check out the RAW Knowledge Center for yourself.
While all of this sounds very promising, it all comes down to “real life” performance. As all consumers know, everything from t-shirts to the newest sports car can be hyped up as the absolute must have product. So we would be remiss to not take a closer look at how the RAW HM1000x performs out of the box.
Beginning with the trigger system which incompases the easily accessible safety located directly in front of the trigger blade. The trigger itself is a true two-stage system which is easily adjustable by the end user if needed. I say “if needed” for a reason. This is because straight out of the box it was registering just ounces of pull! After completing eight consecutive trigger pull measurements it was averaging just 3.6 oz. No that is not a typo! At just 3.6 oz, the RAW HM1000x may just have one of the best out of the box mechanical triggers I have had the pleasure to try.
With the trigger out of the way and making me a very happy airgunner, it was now time to check for consistency. So out came the chronograph, my rubber mulch trap and scba tank to get a full fill of air. Being that I was testing a .25 caliber, high power air rifle it was also time to warn the family of the pending noise. Although the HM1000x comes with an excellent moderator, the .25 calibers are always slightly louder than the .177 calibers I generally test. You should also note that most of this type of testing is completed in my attached workshop (a fancy name for my garage), as range time is at a premium for me.
After getting everything setup, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The testing showed that on a 54 shot string the HM1000x was averaging 1012 fps, with a spread of 35 fps and a standard deviation of 7.4 fps.
Wanting to make sure that I got you the most detailed description of this data, I wanted to take a look closer. What I found was very promising! If we just facter the first 31 shots, the data becomes even more consistent. With 31 shots, the rifle was producing a slightly higher average speed of 1017 fps, a lower spread of just 14 fps and an even smaller standard deviation of just 3.8 fps.
What does all this mean? Well for me, it means if I am out hunting or plinking with friends I can rely on 50+ shots before I need to refill the tank. However, if I were shooting this rifle in competition and want to get the greatest consistency and accuracy I would want to limit my shots to around 30 before refilling. Kind of sounds like the best of both worlds to me. High shot count for shooting for fun and really great consistency with a slightly lower shot count for target shooting. All in all it seems like this factory made regulator is working out great and the rifle looks to have some real potential once I can get it out to the range.
Another few days pass by and all I could keep thinking about was the potential I saw from my data collection. As I am sure you can all relate to, family matters and my work schedule must come first. Finally the stars aligned, the clouds parted and on a beautiful Sunday evening I was able to make the trek to my local club to see what type of precision the RAW HM1000x in .25 caliber was capable of.
Sometimes with great excitement and anticipation, also comes great disappointment. This is the thought that kept running through my head as I set up my bench, shooting stool and walked my target out to the 100 yard stringer. The setup I brought with me to the range was of course the HM1000x in .25 caliber, mounted with Eagle Claw adjustable scope mounts, a Sightron SIII 10-50×60 scope and an Accu-Tac FC Gen 2 bipod.
Sighting the rifle in at 100 yards was fairly easily accomplished and I didn’t need any adjustment to the scope mounts. Remember earlier when I mention there is 20 MOA that RAW mills into the scope rail? Well apparently that works like a charm.
Alright, I know you are all waiting for the results and I don’t want to disappoint. Well at 100 yards, the HM1000x showed tremendous precision on that Sunday afternoon. With a light hold, smooth trigger pull and only a light breeze I was able to produce multiple 5 shot groups at just over .5 inches ctc. at 100 yards. These results not only fulfilled my excitement, they didn’t disappoint this airgunner one bit!