RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 Caliber Pellet Test Review

VALUE FOR MONEY

RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets are a product in the RWS “Professional Line” of pellets. Specifically designated as being for use in air pistols, Hard Air Magazine uses these pellets as a standard in our HAM Air Pistol test reviews, where they generally give good performance.

As a light, wadcutter pellet, RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets are intended for shooting paper targets.

With a typical online price of $11.95 for a tin of 500, RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets cost 2.4 cents each. As leading retailers offer “buy four tins, get one free” promotions, the actual price per pellet can be lower than that, of course.

Compared to the .177 caliber RWS Hobby pellets previously tested by HAM, these Meisterkugeln Pistol pellets are 50% more expensive. However, the improvements in consistency would appear to justify that difference in price.

BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol .177 Cal, 7.0 Grains, Wadcutter, 500ct

BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
RWS MEISTERKUGELN PISTOL 7.0 GRAIN PELLETS, 500 COUNT

TEST DATA SUMMARY

COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS

RWS claims that 500 pellets are packed in one tin. The tin tested by HAM contained 503 pellets.

The average weight of the RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol pellets tested by HAM was 6.99 Grains. This was 0.01 Grains (0.14%) less than the claim. Pretty close!

The manufacturer claims that RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets give increased muzzle velocity. This is true, of course, compared to heavier lead pellets.

There are claims for “match grade accuracy” and “high performance finish” made on the packaging. The HAM team is not sure what high performance finish is and we don’t measure accuracy in our testing, but consistency. However, pellet accuracy is, we believe, largely associated with consistency and RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets do have very consistent head sizes, in particular.

Also, the packaging of RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets says that they offer “precision for competition and training”, as well as being “perfect for sighting-in and general shooting”. When shot in air pistols – as announced in the name – these are probably not unreasonable claims.

CONSISTENCY

No damaged pellets were found in the tin of RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM.

Head diameters were very consistent. In fact the 50-pellet sample tested by HAM featured only two diameters – 4.50 mm and 4.51 mm. Fully 64% of the pellets tested had the 4.50mm head diameter, as you can see from the chart below. That’s excellent consistency!

The average weight of the Meisterkugeln Pistol pellets tested by HAM was 6.99 Grains. The most common weight was 7.01 Grains, which was achieved by 18% of the pellets tested. Interestingly, no pellets exactly met the 7.0 Grain claimed weight. (More interestingly still, this was also true of the “7.0 Grain” RWS Hobby .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM in a previous review).

With a minimum pellet weight of 6.90 Grains and a maximum of 7.07 Grains – measured on HAM’s laboratory-grade milligram balance – the heaviest pellet tested weighed 2.5% more than the lightest.

The length of the RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM averaged 5.23 mm. The most common length was 5.22 mm, which was found in 24% of the pellets tested. The longest pellet measured 1.7% longer than the shortest in our test sample.

DIRTINESS

The photograph below shows the dirt in the tin of RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM. The weight of this dirt – which is inevitable in pellet manufacturing – was 0.28 Grains. That’s 0.056 Grains per 100 pellets.

DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE

As always, downrange performance of the RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets has been charted using the ChairGun ballistics program. We used the Ballistic Coefficient of 0.011 that’s included in the ChairGun database.

Muzzle velocity averaged 961 FPS using our standard Beeman 1074 test air rifle. That’s 14.35 Ft/Lbs of Muzzle Energy.

ChairGun shows that – if sighted-in at 36 yards, RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets shoot effectively “flat” – within plus or minus half an inch of elevation – between about 12 and 40 yards. Although, remember that this is a dedicated air pistol pellet and is not intended for field use in an air rifle, as the HAM standard test protocol assumes…

The data produced by ChairGun is given below.

Range  POI   Drift    Time   Vel.     Vel.   Energy  Energy  Drop
(Yard)   (In)    (In)      (sec)    (Ft/s)  (%)   (FtLbf)   (%)       (In)

10      -0.54  -0.39   0.033  842.6  87.7  11.02  76.88    -0.2
15      -0.11  -0.87   0.052  795.9  82.8   9.83   68.59    -0.5
20       0.18  -1.53   0.071  753.9  78.4   8.82    61.54    -0.9
25       0.32  -2.38   0.092  715.0  74.4   7.93    55.36    -1.5
30       0.29  -3.43   0.113  679.0  70.7   7.15    49.92    -2.2

35       0.07  -4.67   0.136  645.1  67.1   6.46    45.06    -3.1
40     -0.36  -6.12   0.160  612.9  63.8   5.83    40.68    -4.3
45     -1.02  -7.79   0.185  582.3  60.6   5.26    36.72    -5.6
50     -1.94  -9.70   0.211  553.3  57.6   4.75    33.14    -7.3
55     -3.14  -11.85 0.239  525.4  54.7   4.28    29.89    -9.2

60    -4.65  -14.26  0.268  498.7  51.9   3.86    26.93   -11.4

HUNTING USE

RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets are not intended for hunting. Their flat-fronted wadcutter design is perfect for the designed task of punching sharp, round holes in paper targets.

ChairGun data shows that the initial Muzzle Energy of the pellet has dropped by 30% – down to just 10 Ft/Lbs –  in as little as 14 yards from the muzzle. So that would be HAM’s suggested maximum hunting range. However, the RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellet makes a large, 10 mm diameter, wound channel, giving up its energy in just 32mm in our standard ballistic soap penetration test, below.

The pellet expanded considerably in the soap block from an initial head diameter of 4.50 mm to 5.23 mm – an increase of 16%. At the same time the length of the pellet collapsed to just 3.32 mm.

So, at very short ranges, the RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets would be pretty lethal on small critters if fired from an air rifle. HAM does not recommend hunting with any type of air pistol unless you’re a world-class shot and the pistol is powerful.

BUYING AND OWNING

RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets are packaged in a push top tin. In spite of the absence of any foam padding in the tin, no shipping damage was found in any of the HAM test pellets.

You’re not likely to find these pellets available at your local big box sporting goods store. However, they’re easy to buy online from dealers such as Pyramyd Air and Airgun Depot.

Although these RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol 7.0 Grain .177 caliber pellets are fairly clean to handle, all appropriate precautions associated with any lead product must still be taken in use.

TEST DATA

For background details on HAM’s Pellet Test Review methodology, check out this link.

Chairgun is a product of Hawke Sports Optics LLC and is used with permission. Check out http://www.hawkeoptics.com

BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
RWS Meisterkugeln Pistol .177 Cal, 7.0 Grains, Wadcutter, 500ct

BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
RWS MEISTERKUGELN PISTOL 7.0 GRAIN PELLETS, 500 COUNT

Understanding HAM Pellet Awards

HAM Pellet Awards come from the most rigorous, professional and comprehensive pellet testing by any independent publication. They are the result of much precise measurement and analysis using high precision measuring devices and highly-experienced testers.

Note that accuracy is a product of the complete “system” of airgun, scope, atmospheric conditions and shooter ability – not the pellet alone.

This means that no pellet test review can predict the accuracy of a particular pellet with YOUR individual air rifle. That’s why we do not measure accuracy in these pellet tests.

What HAM Pellet Awards do recognize is manufacturing consistency. Inconsistent pellets definitely will be inaccurate, consistent pellets are much more likely to be accurate.

HAM Awards also recognize value. There’s considerable variation in the price of airgun pellets. This means that an 8 cent pellet needs to score higher than a 2 cent pellet to achieve an award.

For full details of the HAM Pellet Award scoring methodology, please check out our Pellet Testing page.

For a full listing of HAM-tested Ballistic Coefficients, please see our Ballistic Coefficients page.

This entire article including scoring, data etc is Copyright Hard Air Magazine and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the publisher.