Ruger Air Hawk Elite Combo

I really loved the looks of the stock and the thumb hole in it made it really comfortable. The rifle seemed to settle down after only a few shots and it was surprisingly accurate up to 25 yards

I didn't care for the scope mounts and it would be nice to have open sights for those not interested in having a scope because of the problems sometimes with spring guns.

The rifle is a little on the heavy side and is almost too pretty to have for an every day shooter.

I like the stock

The scope or the gun is useless the scope doesn't stay on the gun. The scope or the rings are bad quality it is almost impossible to sight in. I put the scope on another gun had same problem. It is also not a very accurate gun wished I would have never bought it.

Unless ruger makes changes on this gun I would not tell anybody to purchase this gun. I bought this for my daughter for 4h shooting sports. Big mistake.

Love the thumb hole. Makes the trigger pull smoother and easier. For small varmits and plinking it is great.

None

Muzzle break works great to quiet the report

The Trigger; First stage is smooth and light. Second stage is not too heavy and very crisp. Its the best trigger I've had on any of my springers (unmodified, that is). I've only shot about 200 pellets but it si shooting very accurate. .25 inch groups at 10 yards are not too hard to do with this rifle. The 3-9x40AO scope is pretty good. It has a clear sight picture, is easy to adjust and has a simple duplex reticle. It is a much better scope than some of the other companies include with their rifles.

The dovetail is very short, about 4 inches. A normal length dovetail would have been better. My little Ruger Explorer youth rifle has a full inch longer dovetail on it.

It is very heavy. Mine weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. with the scope mounted. For me that means mostly bench rested shooting. I'm pretty sure it's getting close to the rated FPS. I don't have a chrony but the pellets are slamming harder into my steel pellet trap than any of my Crosman rifles do.

The price - but as a wise man once said - the sweetness of a low price is forgotten after the bitterness of low quality remains. I'm sure there are "good" air rifles in this price range, but this ain't it. I was attracted by the "Ruger" name as I am a Ruger Firearms owner and their quality and workmanship is always excellent. This piece of garbage air rifle is made in China under license from Ruger and frankly, it not only has none of th etypical Ruger quality, it gives them a black eye. On the good side (once you pass on accuracy and lack of QC) is that this gun appears to be solidly-built and once tuned by a competent technician, *may* be a decent rifle. The wood and finish on the stock is nice (until you let it get services - see below) and the bluing isn't bad.

The Ruger name. It's misleading - making you *think* you're gonna get an air rifle that measures up to Ruger standards. The Quality Control - before it leaves the factory, they must not test it AT ALL. Mine had a barrel that didn't "lock up" properly, making it IMPOSSIBLE to fire a three-shot group under 18" - even from a bench rest. The scope also couldn't even be brought into alignment with the bore - possibly because of the defective barrel and possibly because it was just a bad scope and/or rings. The scope runs out of adjustment before you're on-target. The "service" from Umarex - the importer for this air rifle. Yes, there is a one-year warranty - but YOU mush pay shipping BOTH WAYS (about $50 total PLUS whatever you have to "spend" to build or buy a proper shipping box. Umarex does typical "warranty work" - replacing things that may not need to be replaced so they can kick back the expense to the manufacturer, and ignoring or sweeping the easy-to-fix problems under the rug in order to "sell" the expensive, money-making warranty fixes. When returning the rifle, they packed it poorly - resulting in the gun shifting around inside the box, scratching the stock up. What was a new but defective gun became a "used" gun thanks to the meatheads at Umarex. The automatic safety is a pain. Safeties have a place and that place is under the total control of the shooter. Having an "automatic" one is like having somebody who doesn't talk to you playing with the gun.

Aside from carrying products imported and "supported" by Umarex, Pyramid Air is NOT to blame for this fiasco of an air rifle. They were as helpful as their policies allow when directing me to Umarex and further disappointment. Their price was good and the shipping was OK. Telephone support was fast and accurate.

Umarex has forever earned a bad name with me. I will NEVER buy another air rifle that Umarex has anything to do with. They've screwed me over, lied to me, charged me to have a "new" under-warranty gun repaired, didn't solve the problem (the gun STILL has problems - probably the scope/pairing) and they damaged the gun in the process.

This gun is disappointing all around. The thrill of a new toy, the let-down that it doesn't work as it should, the cost and trouble of sending it back, the cost of GETTING it back to you, the LIES from Umarex, the fact that is STILL has problems.

Pass on this rifle. Save yourself a LOT of disappointment and running around. Spend a few buck more on a quality air rifle - or - at least one thet Umarex has nothing to do with.

Finally - I was prompted to write this review because of an e-mail from Pyramid Air asking "Think Dealers Lie? Owners don't!" and saying that you can rely on the review on their web site. I see a disclaimer that basically says my review will never see the light of day if I say something "wrong" - If that is the case, I HOPE Pyramid Air will take this opportunity to contact me to make me change my opinion!

I bought this rifel just before Christmas and it is my first break barrel air rifle. First...get rid of the stoack rings and get the aacushot rings. 2nd, pull each screw out and use blue locktite and let it cure overnight before you shoot. Next, use ONLY 8 or more grain pellets if you want top notch accuracy. I have tried 7 different peelet to date and so far the 8.4 grain GAMO Hunter have given me the best groups with this type of pellet. I have also used the GAMO Red Fire pellets and I can drill the center of a target at 30 yards with no problem. The BEEMAN Kodiak's are my next choice to get. After looking at differnt specs on pellets, these i believe will be the best in this gun. It likes the heavier pellets. You might lose some velocity, but you will see greater downrange energy. Right now the pellest I am using are blowing right through 1/2" plywood at 20 yards and I have taken a Rabbit and a squirrel so far.

The scope rings. Add some kind of sling mount. There is a really great sling mount on the Benjamin Trail NP (my next air rifle). This is what they should do on this rifle because this is a HEAVY gun. Carry this in the woods for a while and you will be wishing for a sling right away!!

Once you get the scope rings and the ammo figured out, plan on shooting this rifle for at least 200 shots before you get tight consistent groups. I would just start out with a less expensive pellet until you get through the "break in" period. After about 200 rounds switch to the GAMO Hunters in 8.4 grains and round nose and then go to the Beeman Kodiak's or the Beeman Kodiak Match. I am also going to try the Beeman Field Target Specials that are a little over 8 grains too. I know that these will be great for hunting too.

The gun once dialed in is extremely accurate and has great weight! Easy to shoot and amazing overall feel.

This gun is amazing but has a louder pop when fired than other break barrels I have used. It is a little loud to shoot in a backyard depending where you live.

If you are contemplating buying a breakbarrel rifle, there is no choice but this gun. Hands down it beats out all my other rifles including my Gamo guns for consistant accuracy and quality!

After reading a ton of reviews and spending countless hours on YouTube, I settled on this rifle. The key selling features to me were the quality of the included scope and the thumbhole stock. The stock finish is nothing special, but may spruce up with some wood polish. The accuracy seems to be getting better and better as the gun breaks in. I didn't waste my time with the stock scope rings, but went with two-piece Accurings for $10. This totally eliminated the need to shim the scope and I was able to get the scope sighted within minutes. I also went through and tightened all the screws before firing. After putting 50 pellets through it, however, I found everything had loosened up. I removed all the screws and used blue loctite on the threads and so far haven't had any issues with the screws coming loose. Cocking effort and recoil are what I would expect with a 1000 ftp springer.

There are three things I'd change to make this go from good to great. (1) Replace the scope rings with something that can handle the recoil from this rifle and keep the scope in place. The stock rings are junk and went straight to the trash can. (2) Add the ability to change the trigger pull weight. You can adjust the trigger pull, and the stock pull weight is not bad. However, I'd like to drop the pull weight by about a pound. (3) Add some way to use a sling. This rifle is heavy and carrying it on a hunt will get old fast. Sling mounts would be a great option for those who want to use this to pluck off some small game.

I'm still experimenting on pellets that this rifle will like. It definitely does best with pellets over 8 grains. Anything lighter and I tend to see some flyers and/or funny holes in paper targets that I attribute to pellet instability.

The Ruger Elite is an all around awesome air rifle. It is heavy and so are my Winchester, Ruger, Remington and Springfield M1Garand deer rifles. It is a well made air rifle and is very comfortable to shoot. After cocking the breakbar the safety automatically engages. That is a nice feature. Overall a very accurate rifle.

There is no scope stop. Ruger should have added one. To overcome the lack of a scope stop, simply use the blue breakable locktite and apply it to the hex head screws. Tighten both evenly and your scope will not budge.

My rifle shot 5" low even after the elevation knob was maxed out. I placed a shim inside the rear scope mount. The shim raised the scope enough to counteract the issue.

I love the fit and finish of the rifle. Very nice scope. Very accurate up to 60 yards. Very very powerful. Quite enough to shoot in your yard. A bit heavy, but I can deal. Very little cocking effort for a 1000fps springer.

Although mine came with a scope stop it needs better mounts. Mine will slip from time to time. Also I would like to see the ball bearing in the back of the breach be a little strong, when setting my rifle on a bipod the barrel with automatically break.

Keep your eye at the 3" suggested distance from the scope. My friend put his eye less than an inch away and he got scope bit bad enough to go get stitches. DO NOT diesel your pellets in this gun!!