by B.B. Pelletier
And, now, for something completely new, let’s look at Mendoza’s .22 caliber RM 2000 repeating spring-piston rifle. That’s right, this one’s a repeater! The rifle I tested was in .22 caliber, which should excite all you hunters.
The RM 2000 is a large air rifle that’s close to fully ambidextrous.
The RM 2000 is a large and powerful breakbarrel rifle. It’s 45.5″ long, with an 18.5″ barrel (including the muzzlebrake). The rifle weighs 7.7 lbs. and feels big in your hands. Cocking effort is about 38 lbs. The stock is hardwood stained a medium dark brown with no checkering. The black buttpad is solid rubber and very grippy. This rifle could easily be used by a lefthanded shooter because the safety has bars on both sides of the action and the stock shape is not radical. However, the low cheekpiece is on the left side only.
Sights
The sights on this rifle are something to talk about. It comes with a hooded front square post that’s also fiberoptic and a wonderful micrometer open rear sight that has beautiful, crisp target adjustment knobs. This rear sight unit would be a $50-60 sight by itself, but it comes mounted on the rifle! It also has fiberoptic inserts for use with the front sight; but, under low light conditions, the notch is as sharp as anyone could hope for.
Rear sight is a high-quality, click-adjustable micrometer open sight with target knobs.
Repeating mechanism
A tubular magazine atop the receiver feeds pellets into a sliding shuttle for the repeating function. It’s a linear feed, meaning the nose of one pellet is pushed into the skirt of the one in front of it, so pellet shapes are critical. Mendoza does make special ammunition for all their magazine rifles in both calibers, but I did not have any on hand to test. So, I simply loaded .22 caliber Crosman Premiers into the magazine tube, and they worked flawlessly! I don’t see why you would need to purchase special pellets. Even .22 caliber Benjamin Sheridan diabolos will work. The .22 caliber Premier hollowpoints should also work.
The magazine tube lays close to the spring cylinder. Silver sticker advises to use Mendoza 2000 express ammo only, but I learned that Crosman Premiers work perfectly.
Pellets are inserted into the magazine through this hole, once the spring-loaded follower is locked out of the way. The length of the hole limits what can be loaded, so you don’t jam pellets in the loading shuttle.
If you don’t want to use the magazine, just load pellets directly into the barrel the same as any other single-shot breakbarrel rifle.
I mounted a Leapers Bug Buster 2 on medium mounts for some preliminary testing and learned that the magazine cannot be loaded with this scope/mount combination on the gun. The follower hits the scope before the pellet loading hole is opened. That was okay because I didn’t use the magazine for accuracy testing; but, if you want a full-time repeater, remember to order a higher scope mount and a not-too-large objective bell. A 32mm objective is probably as large as you want to go with high mounts.
How the repeating function works
A loading shuttle rises when the barrel is broken open. It aligns with the magazine tube and a pellet is pushed in. The length of the pellet is important so the shuttle doesn’t jam when it moves downward again. This is the same way a Career 707 loads, except from the side instead of the top. When the barrel returns to battery, a forked plate pushes the shuttle down into alignment with the closed barrel. The shuttle is also the breech.
This picture shows how the shuttle, or breech, moves up to accept the next pellet and then back down for firing.
The remainder of the RM 2000’s attributes are much like those we saw on the RM 200. The same two-part trigger controls the first and second stages, and I must say I am warming to this idea a lot. It gives an absolutely positive indication of where the second stage begins, and the pull is very light and even. This rifle has the same clever piston-seal oil hole as the 200.
Make no mistake, this is a much larger, more powerful rifle than the 200. This is one to consider if you want to hunt.
BB, you were right…
I just got an RWS48, and MAN is it a nice rifle! Very smooth, not as heavy as I expected, and surprisingly easy to cock.
No comparison to the B21 I used to have…
Vince,
If your rifle is that smooth I’m guessing it’s a .177. The .22s tend to vibrate a little more than the .177s when they are new.
Of course all these rifles can be tuned to be smooth.
B.B.
Actually, it is a .22 cal rifle. This was not a new one, but a “refurb” sold directly by Umarex, a fair bit cheaper than new BUT with no warranty. Maybe it isn’t as smooth as a .177, but it is soooo much better than the guns I’m used to.
What really surprises me is how much more pleasant this thing is than my RWS34 (purchased new). The 34 is weaker, harder to cock and twangier, and I suspect the ’48 is easier to shoot well.
Maybe I just got a good one – but whatever the reason, it is positively a delight.
Vince,
I agree that the 48 is much smoother than the 34. It’s also much easier to shoot accurately. You’re going to love this rifle.
B.B.
hello BB,
i have read some of the other topics and have seen mention of stroke lengths for springers, and the amount of air capacity/availability for usage. that break-barrels have a longer stroke length than side-levers. where do under-levers fit in? are they like break-barrels, side-levers, or in the middle?
thanks
Underlevers are closer in design to sidelevers than to breakbarrels. That’s because, like sidelevers, they have sliding compression chambers, too. The sliding compression chamber subtracts from the length of stroke and from the possible diameter of the piston – both diminishing the swept volume in the compression chamber.
That said, Diana and Air Arms do a wonderful job of getting power from their sidelebers and underlevers.
B.B.
BB,
i make alot of my purchases based on an airgun manufacturer’s warranty. i always lean toward those that offer limited lifetime. i feel like this limits my perspective. are there any manufacturers you would recommend whose warranty period is generally moot, based on their reputation, workmanship, and longevity? even though they might offer 1year, i could expect to get years of uninterrupted satisfaction.
p.s. – in regard to my last question, i mostly buy springers
This almost sounds like a blog to me. Watch on Monday.
B.B.
B.B.
One request. Please examine the plastic scope stop. Do you think it is durable enough? It looked to me like it might eventually crack where the rivet holds it.
Below are a couple of observations about the RM-2000 (also see comments under the Pyramyd AIR RWS 850 AirMagnum report #3).
– The RM-2000 also has a cocked indicator dot.
– There were three problems I found with pellets feeding from the magazine. The third is why Mendoza recommends their solid skirt pellets.
1) A pellet’s skirt might be too small so two pellets would feed (one sticking out of the shuttle and one in the shuttle).
2) A pellet’s skirt might be too big to feed (causing a dry fire). Fortunately I always noticed this and corrected it.
3) A pellet’s nose might stick in the skirt of the pellet in front of it and get chopped when the shuttle closed.
I am looking forward to your report on the best hold, accuracy and velocities you find with the test rifle. The RM-2000 I bought only did 500fps with .22 JSB Exact Jumbos (15.8gr) and around 640fps with .22 Mendoza solid skirt pellets (13.8gr). I expected at least in the 700s with the Mendoza pellets since it is rated at 800fps. I returned it because of this.
I really liked the RM-2000 except for the power. If you find that the low power isn’t typical, I might eventually buy this rifle again.
Thanks,
.22 multi-shot
.22 multi-shot,
You’ve given me a lot to look for.
As for the pellet feeding situation, I look at it differently. I find the one pellet that works and I’m done. These feed mechanisms are notorious for NOT working, and I am just impressed thus far that the RM 2000 has worked with so little difficulty. I dislike repeating pellet rifles for a number of reasons, and even if this rifle were mine, I would always shoot it single shot.
As for the recoil stop cracking with use, it’s difficult to say. It might, I suppose, and no amount of quick testing like I’m doing will probably find that fault. I guess the answer is to ask other owners if their stops have cracked. I do know the large bearing surface is on the side of the stop not cracking.
I will be especially interested in the velocity. When I initially tested these guns (I have another Mendoza yet to come) they were detonating and velocities were all over the place, but I’ve gotten a few hundred shots on this 2000 now, so it should have settled down a bit.
Since there is no owner’s manual with the gun I received, can you please tell me where the cocked indicator dot is located? You aren’t talking aboiut the piston seal oil hole on the left side of the spring tube, are you?
B.B.
B.B.
You’re right. The multi-shot mechanism works very well in general! I would guess that sizing the skirts will eliminate all the problems (if you stick to one pellet).
Unfortunately I don’t remember where the cocked indicator is and I don’t have the gun anymore. I just remember that there was a red dot that showed through a hole when it was cocked. I think it might even be the oil hole as you suggested.
Thank you for checking the scope stop. Also thanks for the articles on dieseling. They were very informative as usual.
.22 multi-shot
BB, just came in from shooting my new ’48 some more… and you’re right. It is far, far easier to shoot than the ’34, and it seems less hold sensitive than ANY other springer I own. Which is good, because I’m not by nature a very consistent shooter.
Plinking with this gun almost feels like cheating – it seems to wack the target no matter what kind of boo-boo’s I make. With the open sights and a rested elbow I nailed a soda-can at 60 yards 10 times in a row – NEVER was able to do that before with ANY spring rifle.
One of the reasons I finally went for it was your recommendation. Man, you were right on the money with this one…
vince,
what type/brand of ammo you using to whack that can at 60 yards?
thanks
Vince isn’t it nice when something works as advertised?
Now, someday maybe you’ll believe me enough to get a TX200. Then we’ll be friends for life. 🙂
B.B.
If you had between $400-500 to spend and you were looking for a very nice overall air rifle (hunting, plinking and target shooting), which of the following would you choose:
1. HW 97K Underlever Sporting Air Rifle , 0.22
2. Beeman R9 Goldfinger, 0.22
3. RWS 48/52, 0.22
4. RWS 350 Magnum, 0.22
All opinions are welcome, and if you’d like to rank them, even better.
Thanks, I anxiously await your replies.
Diana 48
R9
HW97K
Diana 350 Magnum
B.B.
TX200??? Not the B40???
I was shootin’ .22 Crosman Premier Hollow Points – nuthin’ special at all. Very cheap for a .22 pellet, as a matter of fact… especially when you buy 3, get 1 free (from you-know-where). I’m convinced that this is the best .22 pellet bargain out there… they really outshoot every other comparably priced pellet I’ve tried in that caliber.
Seriously, though – this has got me thinking… maybe my airgun collection oughta lean more towards quality rather than quantity…
I enjoy shooting air pistols and i currently own an izh-46 and a walther nighthawk. I love these guns, but I’m looking for a cheap non-co2 air pistol to carry while hiking. The izh 53 looks good, as well as the marksman 2004 and the crosman 1377. I wood like to be able to holster it. The power is not a big factor because even the 1377 wont kill a squirrel efficiently enough. I will mostly roll pine cones and shoot the occasional sparrow.
Thanks B.B. I’ve considered the Diana 48/52 on several occasions, but the scope mount issue also seems to scare me off. Curious as to why the HW97 ended up third?
I wouldn’t worry about mounting a scope on a Diana 48/52. Just remember that if you add a huge scope (3-12X44 30mm)it will make it heavy and as B.B has said in the past it is a drooper so you need mounts to compensate.
The iron sight are set for long range maybe 50-60 yards. If you want to set it for closer range don’t forget the front sight is adjustable. I lower my rear sights all the way down and was shooting slightly to one side.
B.B as much as I have spent on this that and other things I could have easily bought a tx200. Its my next springer. I’m glad that I listened to your recomendation on the rws 48/52 over the 350 magnum. It was a difficult decision between the 48/52, 350 magnum and r9 but I wanted the power. Everything is a compromise.
Woodswalker,
When you added, “… shoot the occasional sparrow, you limited the choice to just the 1377.” The others are too weak for that.
B.B.
Whenever people ask me to rank four airguns, one of them will always be third. The placement is meaningless, because no two people have the same set of values.
The guns are all fine airguns. No subjective ranking can change that. But the 350 Magnum requires too much technique to shoot well, and in my experience, the 97 is not as nice as the R9.
B.B.
hi again bb
im going to be ordering the HW50 and leapers 4-16×50. im hazy on which scope mounts to use. the accushot ones look good but seem cheap. i think id want to lean toward the b square or airforce ones. b sqare makes so many different models i dont know which one to get. im also skeptical of the airfore rings because they only deal with pcps so can i trust there rings to stand up to the recoil of a spring gun? thank you
Nate in MASS
Nate,
The Leapers Accushot rings with 4 screw caps are the best deal in town. AirForce rings are also built for magnum spring rifles, as are their two scopes. Both company’s mounts have the vertical recoil stop pin you need for the 50.
B.B.
Well, I ended up going with the HW97K .22. Got it yesterday and mounted a Leapers 4-16×50 AOMDL scope to it. Fortunately I had also purchased some high profile scope mounts because due to the length of the scope it would have been very difficult to load a pellet into the chamber with anything lower. Beautiful gun and a very smooth shooter. Only took about 15 minutes to dial it in. Despite some comments that it’s hold sensitive, I did not find it to be so.
Dear BB, since in this blog u had reviewed mendoza RM-2000, i want to ask, are there any repeater spring besides mendoza-RM2000? i only brand i know that has repeater spring rifle is diana, diana 300R. BUt i read many bad reviews about it.
I really want to have repeater spring rifle,do u have other choices for me?
thanks
regards,
Fakhrudin
Fakhrudin,
Did you read the whole report? I ask because you commented on Part 1 of a 3-part report. See the other parts here:
/blog/2007/6/mendoza-rm-2000-part-3/
The RM 2000 is a very nice air rifle, but repeating spring rifles just never work. There have been many of them and there will be more in the future, and they will all have feeding problems.
Gamo made the Expomatic and BSA made the GoldStar, but neuther one worked well. The Expomatic was similar to the RM2000 and the GoldStar had a circular clip. Only when you shoot single-shot can these rifles really perform.
B.B.
Does anybody know where to find the Mendoza Solid Skirt Pellets in .022 Cal? I Can only find them in .177. I found one website that claimed to have them, but if you look closely, the item number is me/.177. I ordered them anyway, but I’m not expecting the right size. Can anyone help?
I'm looking on advice to narrow down my choices for a springer suitable for taking out fairly large varmits with thick hides. I'd like to keep it under $250.00 or so, but I have considered a Webley Tommahawk at $385.00, so I'm flexible up to there.
I've been looking at Beeman: RS3 dual caliber combos, GH1050, Heavy Target, & Silver Sting, Gamo Whisper, Benjamin Super Streak, Crosman Tac-1 Extreme, RWS Panther, & the Mendoza RM2000.
I shoot left handed, so I need an ambi- stock and I'm near salt water, so the stainless & synthetic guns are appealing, but not a necessity. Those have been the main reasons I've narrowed down to the models listed, but I'm definitely open to suggestion.
The main thing I'm looking for is knockdown power, and I haven't found any place to compare specific models. I'm looking mainly for a .22, but wouldn't mind the dual caliber just to widen the options. Any thoughts?
How about the RWS Diana Panther 34 in .22 caliber. The power is good, though not the absolute best, but the rifle has better accuracy than most others, Especially for a breakbarrel.
The 34 also has a nice trigger. If you had more to spend I would suggest the RWS Diana 48 in .22 caliber. It’s a lot more powerful yet just as accurate as the 34. It’s also much easier to shoot accurately.
B.B.