I have asked this question elsewhere and it seems no on can give me an answer. I am new to this forum although have been reading it for some time now. I would appreciate it very much if someone out there could find the answer for me. I have had no luck in talking with Umarex who I have been told handles this now. I don't even know if the was originally a RWS oroduct.

I own the "RWS 850 Airmagnum" that I purchased about more than a year ago. Now the guns are distrubuted and sold under the Hammerli name. When did the original RWS 850 first come to the market place and when did Hammerli first begin to use the logo "Hammerli 850 Airmagnum." Is owning one of the original "RWS 850 Airmagnum" versions of this gun make it unique in any way or is it still only a 850 Airmagnum. My 850 is in out of the box condition and just curious if there is any real difference.


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Hey there, welcome!

RWS doesn't make anything, they market the products of others. Most RWS rifles are actually made by diana, in germany. I believe the 850 has always been made by hammerli, an actual manufacturer based in switzerland.

J

Thank you very much. That is the most informative fact that I have got from anyone. So far it appears this questions is being pushed aside and in my opinion due to the fact it isn't one of the high Dollar guns. I own the HW100T, RWS 350, RWS 34, R9, R7, HW50 and this 850 and a bunch more springers and airguns. The 850 is my go to gun when I want to have fun and so some serious hunting (20 to 25) yds and target shooting. Mose people who come to my home and see my guns usually ask me if they can shoot the 850 Magnum. Some of your post xx//:" out. Did you mention who actually makes the gun. If not, do you happen to know.

Thank you for your input. If anyone does care about this, I found the following. I did find out that the original RWS 850 Airmagnum was introduced into the U.S. market in June 2006 and was looking through my records and that is approx. when I purchased mine. The gun was manufactured by Umarex, Switzerland. Gun has been branded by RWS, Hammerli and Umarex.I don't know if I am allow to post it and if not please delete.


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Seen that happen to many other rifles in the past. Generally, there is no current difference in value and it might take about 75 years before there is any real intrinsic value to having one name over the other. Remember, RWS is not a manufacturer and Hammerli had nothing to do with the manufacturing of that rifle. Umarex is the manufacturer and owns the Hammerli and Walther brands. The rifle is also marketed by them as a Walther 1250 PCP rifle.
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If any additional information please provide and if any of this not in fact correct please let me know. Thanks

I found value in that info. I was once and still may be interested in this airrifle. Thanks

I too own an 850 .22 and a 350 .22 but you have many other nice guns too so I 'm still catching up

You need to visit the 850 forum:
http://www.network54.com/Index/84463

The guys there are pretty knowledgeable and can answer most of your questions but the guys here are right. Umarex is the actual manufacturer. They make guns under the name of Hammerli and Walther, both manufactured in Germany. The main difference we have been able to identify are the "Trade Licese agreement" stamped on the 850 is by 3 different companies depending on when you bought the gun or which batch it came from.
Mine says the following on the right side of the action which is 5 lines in total (by the 8-shot magazine):

"Trademarks licensed by PW International - Germany / Made in Germany by UMAREX cal. .22 (5.5mm)".

What does yours say? If you go to the 850 forum, you 'll see a thread in there somewhere where everyone posted this information, PLUS the S/N which is right behind the bolt. The serial# on mine is: G010097. Yours should be pretty low like in the 8-9,000 range if you bought it more than a year ago. Maybe even G007xxx but I don't think we 've run into any of those.

I agree with you, the 850 is a decent hunter up to 20-25yds but I would not hunt past 25yds with it until after I do the hammer spring mod which gives you another 50-55fps more velocity and even then I will limit it to 30yds at the most. The good thing is, it's very hard to miss with this gun especially with a scope so head shots are easy. It has no recoil and if you hold it steady it will hit the bullseye every time. I get 1 hole shots often at 20yds and usually average 0.25" CTC groups. The problem with this gun is in the winter when you are outside or have it sticking out the window the CO2 gets cold fast and the gun loses power. I will start shooting at targets out the window when the gun is "warm" and it's shoots right on. I also wait about 1min. between shots so the temp. comes up in the cylinder. If I don't have the heat cranked all the way up in the room, and the temp drops like 10deg. the gun starts shooting lower because of the power loss. It can throw you off when hunting if you don't remember that the gun is cold and you have lost 75fps. It doesn't have a lot to begin with. Mine shoots an average of 603-608fps through the chrony at 72-73deg room temp. with 14.3-14.6gr CP, CPH, Superdomes & Beeman FTS. I chronied the gun after I came in from outside (about 35deg out) and it shot 520fps! That is not enough hunting power for 20 or 25yds IMO, not for squirrel or crow anyway. Starlings and mice yes.

Even if the gun is warm and shooting full power >600fps, I would not shoot large animals like a possom, groundhog or racoon with it even if they were at 15-20yds. The 350 is much better suited for "larger" small game and will put their lights out at 40-50yds because it has about twice the energy of an 850.
Umarex did a good job with the 850. Its barrel is super accurate and the gun is well balanced, not heavy and not too light. Still you have to be careful. I do not rely on it for hunting if I have more than 90-100shots on the Co2 cylinder which seem to be all I can get for full-power. From shots 100-160 it seems to shoot about 30-40fps slower, and shots 160-220 shoots at around 500fps which is still good for plinking or 10-15yd target shooting, and then dies off quickly after that. So I make sure I go hunting with a fairly fresh CO2 bottle.

Diana 350 Mag .22
Hammerli 850 .22
A few Crosman CO2 & Pump .177