Just to keep you informed:
my newly bought 54 Airking cal .22 fired well over 1,100 shots by now.
I DID believe everybody who stated that these rifles become better each tin shot.
Well - I never would have believed how much better it got!!
I am completely overjoyed by the accuracy this masterpiece delivers!
Today I took it out into the forest to an open range and measured with my rangefinder 70 metres exactly (76,58 yards).
Never shot that far until today.
I thought I'd give it a try with the pellets that perform best yet(seems to be the RWS Meisterkugeln - Wadcutters).
My goodness! What a superb rifle of mine! I am totally in love with this sweetheart!
Even though it was a tad windy I shot groups well less than 2.5 inches!

Well, I admit: I also would like to make your mouth watery so you might be tempted to give this rifle a try. It is worth every penny spent!

The 54 is a terrific rifle indeed. BTW, have you tried any of the popular dome head pellets, particularly the 14.3g Crosman Premeire or the 14.3g JSB Express? These 2 are usually a top performer in most 54's and give you a much flatter trajectory, better BC energy retention and quite a bit better accuracy down range on super long shots. I bet that one of them shoot the best in yours and will probably knock another inch and a half off of that group at 75yrds. I can sometimes get my 54 to group 1" on a calm day at 75 yrds with Crosman Premeires.

Cheers!

BTW, I just took a starling yesterday with my D54 from 149.5 yrds, verified by a Nikon 550 rifleman laser rangefinder. This thing is still hitting with 5.5 fpe at 150 yrds, simply amazing rifle once you get the Leapers droop compensator base, strong Weaver rings and a magnum-rated scope snug and dialed in.

one-hundred-and-fifty yards????
Now this truly IS some real mean tool!
Regarding AMMO I have ordered 2,500 rounds of JSB's Exact Jumbo Express.
Delivery should be due next week.

I have tried two domed pellets until now:
The RWS superdomes were an outright desaster. I haven't been able to shoot any group beyond 30 yards - I guess my rifle hates them Luckily I've only bought one tin.

The other domed pellets were Gamo's Pro Magnum. They were somewhat better but they seemed to have too much of fabrication errors - like, say, one pellet you'd have to outright force into the chamber and the next one snugs in like a wadcutter.
I observed something stange though while trying to sight my rifle on this ammo at around 50 yards:
Even though they're heavier than RWS Meisterkugeln their drop is pretty much the same as the wadcutter's.
I assume that wadcutters drop pretty fast because of ther non existant aerodynamic shape while Gamo's streamlined pellets thus compensate their weight.

(As Hector calls the RWS 54) - Ought to be able to shoot JSB Exact Jumbos. They are 15.8 g and cost nearly half of the Exact Jumbo Express's (14.3 g) at PA. I try to optimize price/performance and shoot CP's when I want the lighter weight (although I note that CP's now cost nearly as much as Exact Jumbo Express's - will have to make a new plan when I run out).

Anyhow, I shoot the Exact Jumbo's in a Talon and they work great.

I am not calling you out but at 149 yards a starling is about the size of a pencil eraser. Id have to see it to believe it ! I guess there is a such thing as luck !

np Chris, it was a see-it-to-believe it shot. I use to think the chest part of the silhouette targets looked small at 500 meters with open sights on my M16A1 rifle in the Army, until a good friend and ex Army sniper taught me how to hit them with consistency.

I do want to get a video camera and mount to record some long shots. To date i've taken over 10 starlings from 90+ yards with the 54 and another one at 98 yards(my previous best).