Coming from the world of break barrel rifles to a model 52 I am a little leery about losing a finger while loading this rifle. I understand to hold the cocking lever but even then you'd really have to have great hold on it to prevent the piston from coming forward hard enough to severe a finger.
Does the beartrap safety ever fail. Do you actually know of anyone who has lost a finger loading one of these sidecock guns?
I plan to be safe but don't want to be so afraid of loading this gun that I don't use it much.
I own 2 RWS54's and have spoken with a RWS Service Center Technician
May 5 2006, 9:39 PM
and others about this issue...apparently the only confirmed finger severance involved a RWS Sidelever where the trigger was set down to a hair trigger and the Anti Beartrap was either removed or modified...
The tech I spoke with said that in his experience, the Bear Traps have always worked while servicing RWS Sidelevers and accidentally causing the discharge of the rifle...he said it scares the hell out of you as you know what the sound ultimately means while working on the cocked rifle and your fingers are near the breach area...make sure the mechanism is functioning, i.e. the spring has plenty of tension on the beartrap and is unencumbered in movement while depressing the lever....never had a mishap yet...
The beartrap design on these guns is simple, sturdy, and easy to visually check while cocking the action. I used to own one and never lost any sleep over it. Barrel-cockers aren't risk-free either, though it's easier to keep a hand on the cocking lever of course.
If it's one of those things that just bugs you, though--we all have one or two of those!--you could check out other types of actions. The flip-up loading port (RWS 46, old Webley Eclipse) is quite a finger-safe design.
The old-fashioned rotating loading tap may be the safest springer design of all. Not only is it impossible to get a finger into the breech, but the tap seals the transfer port when it's open. You can carry one of these guns cocked and loaded, but as long as the tap is open, a pellet can't possibly be discharged and the piston can't slam home, even if the trigger is deliberately pulled.
it is my only sliding open breech loader in my current collection .
most of my other spring air rifles are barrel cockers , with the exception of my RWS46(flip-up port) and Sterling HR-83(bolt action) .
when i load the RWS48 , i use the "elbow-arm jam" safety method i read about here on this forum . if i had not discovered that method , i would not have bought the RWS48(even though i've always wanted one , the safety issue held me back).
the method as i understood it is: after the gun has been cocked , while loading a pellet with your left hand , simply keep your right arm against the side of the gun[stock forearm] , firmly gripping , holding and supporting the gun as well with the right hand . have the right elbow near the cocking arm joint/linkage point . so that in case there is an accidental release , your arm an elbow will block the the lever from slamming home . thus preventing the breech from fully closing on your fingers(in theory).
your arm may get badly bruised , but at least you'll have all your digits .
Other option is begin the cocking and when the the cylinder hits the first ratchet on the bear trap, let the BT hold the cylinder, load the pellet, now cock the action fully and then close the action. This way, if the bear trap ever fails, the cylinder will not slam aginst your finger from a fully cocked position while you are loading the pellet. Nope, not lost a finger yet !!
I think it might be safer to fully cock the rifle as the trigger lock is now holding the piston, which rarely fails and if it does fail for some strange, rare reason then the baretrap ratchet is there to also catch the plunger if the trigger lock does fail. By using this method you have 2 safe guards holding the piston back, with the method suggested you only have one the baretrap and if it does fail for some strange reason you will hurt your finger and thgere is no second backup safeguard. I think you actually increase the odds by 50% of hurting yourself (not failure)this way by choosing not to use the second safeguard. RWS installed this trap as a secondary saftey precaution encase the trigger lock fails for this reason and it is probably wise to use it as it was intended. Can you imagine cocking the rifle half way, the baretrap ratchet fails, injuring you hand and trying to explain to the RWS laywer how you thought it might have been a better idea to only use one safeguard instead of both? This is only my opinion which may not be correct so good luck. By the way I have used my 34 and 54 for many moons and never had the trigger lock fail yet, unless I had tampered with the trigger by trying to make it a hare trigger. Not to say that it isn't posible though, perhaps that is why RWS installed it.
I have been using plastic nipper to pick up a pellet and loading the pellet to the gun port. This eliminates the risk of your finger and even if it slam, all you loose is the plastic nipper. In addition, since pellets is made out of lead, you are not touching lead contaminant as well.
You will get use to it once you do it often enough.