You already know that Ruger makes some of the best quality guns in the world.
Ruger is a recognized brand name with good reason, and this is no letdown.
The Air Hawk is an imitation of the legendary Diana RWS 34 but with a cheaper price tag.
It has received lots of rave reviews and stands at the top of the best 5 air rifles under $100.
Let’s find out if this air rifle is overrated or not in this review.
Table of Contents
Ruger Air Hawk – Guntype
This is a spring-piston gun.
Spring piston guns tend to be cheap and have amazing accuracy.
You can read more about spring-piston guns’ pros and cons in this post.
The Ruger Air Hawk is a break barrel gun which means that you have to cock it each time you want to shoot.
Break barrel guns are easy to load pellets into because the breech is exposed when it breaks open.
Furthermore, it gives you an unlimited shooting capacity and the convenience to repair it, because the mechanism is so simple.
Finally, a break barrel gun is easy to clean because you have direct access to the bore.
This is a single-shot gun: you can shoot only once at a time.
Single-shot guns give you control over the ammunition and make you a better shooter .
Because you know you have to make your first shot count before the required reload.
The barrel has a caliber of .177 inches (4.5 millimeters) .
.177 is a popular caliber for target practice and plinking but this gun promises to do well in the pest control field, and we’ll get into that later.
(For more on the differences between .177 & .22 and which jobs they do best, see this post.)
The barrel is rifled with helical grooves inside so it makes the bullet spin before it exits the barrel.
The barrel and compression tube are made of semi-gloss bluing steel to prevent it from rusting .
(For more on things you should know about air rifle barrels before buying, see this post.)
Stock
The stock is made of hardwood so it brings an intimate, authentic feel to your hand and withstands impact, shock, and abrasion.
It can be refinished easily at any time so it has a very long life span.
For more on the in-depth comparison between synthetic and wood stock, see this post.
The stock is ambidextrous so you will have the same shooting experience whether you are left-handed or right-handed.
Also, the stock has a rubber recoil pad to reduce kickback in the shooting.
The stock is designed in a Monte Carlo style with a raised comb and low heel.
The Monte Carlo stock has lots of advantages including improved accuracy.
Since the shooter’s eyes are lined up more naturally with the sight, it absorbs a small amount of recoil and therefore allows faster follow-up shots.
Sight
The front sight is fiber optic: it uses optical fibers for the dots and channels the ambient light to the rear sight so that it’s brighter than the dark surroundings.
Fiber optic sight comes in handy if you don’t have perfect eyesight or if you are shooting in low-light conditions.
Besides, it provides fast target acquisition and more accuracy in normal conditions.
What else? The rear sight is fiber optic.
It is fully adjustable for air resistance and windage, allowing you to adjust left and right, and for elevation as it allows you to adjust the sight up and down.
In addition to the handy fiber optic sight, Ruger has added the 4×32 scope in case you get bored with iron-sight shooting.
32 is the diameter of the front lens, measured in centimeters, while 4 is the magnification of the scope i.e. it magnifies the picture 4 times bigger than real sight.
This scope is good enough for plinking but I suggest you upgrade to a better scope if you want to go hunting.
Velocity, accuracy and power
Chrony tests give us results as follows:
| Pellet | FPS |
|---|---|
| Hyper mag pellets 5.2 gr, lead-free pellet | 1142.41 – 1154.5 – 1145.55 |
| JSB exact jumbo | 799.48- 805.06 – 802.65 |
| Crosman premier light 7.9 gr | 925 |
| Stoeger X speed precision pellet | 1045 |
| Crosman Premiere super domed | 726.5 |
| RWS Superdome 8.3 gr | 737.4 |
| Crosman pointed pellet | 746.1 |
| RWS Hobby pellet | 1093 – 1499 – 789 – 797 – 766 – 803 – 810 – 755 769 – 806 – 750 – 771 |
| JSB exact heavy 10.34 gr | 659 – 757- 665- 534 – 553 – 536 – 550 – 593 – 555 – 546 – 631 – 581 – 559 |
| RWS Max lead-free pellet | 882- 970 – 892 – 904 – 854 – 835 – 816- 877- 814- 799 |
| RWS Hobby | 630 – 644- 677- 722- 720- 699- 706 – 1080- 790 – 1089 |
| JSB heavy | 572 – 893 |
| RWS 5.2 gr Hyper Max lead-free pellet | 906 – 1203 |
| Gamo Raptor platinum alloy pellet | 1098 |
| H&N Field Target Trophy green 5.56 gr | 1131 – 1579 |
| Crosman Premiere HP 7.9 gr | 939 |
| JSB Exact Diabolo 8.44 gr | 820 |
| H&N Field Target Trophy 8.64 gr | 863 |
| H&N Baracuda Mathch 10.65 gr | 788 |
| Crosman SSP 4 gr | 1463 |
| H&Ntarget trophy green 5.56 gr | 1182 |
| Field target trophy 8.64 gr | 929 |
| Crosman premier 7.9 gr | 989 |
| RWS 9.3 gr super mag | 817 – 965 |
| CPHP | 927 |
| Crosman premier heavy 10.5 gr | 760 |
| PBA gold | 1189 |
| 7.9 gr destroyer | 895 |
| 7.71gr gamo match | 915 |
| RWS Superdome | 900 |
The common shooting groups are:
- ¾” at 20 meters with JSB exact jumbo
- 2 ½” at 60 feet
- 0.61” – 0.64” at 22 yards
- 0.493” at 10 meters with AirARm Falcon pellet
- 0.411” at 10m with Crosmn Premiere 7.9 gr
- ¼” at 8 yards
- 1 hole 5 shots group at 10 yards with polybag
- ¼” with destroyer, 3/8” with CPHP
- less than ½” at 40 yards with Baracuda match 10.64gr
- 1/6” at 25 yards, 2-3” at 100 yards
- hit a penny at 10m
- dime size at 20 yards
- 1” at 50 feet out of the box
- 0.75” at 10 meter
- 0.86” at 25 yards with H&N target trophy green
- 0.91” at 25 yards with H&N field target trophy 8.64 gr
- 0.61” at 25 yards with Crosman Premire 7.9 gr
- hit 1.5” square block at 40 yards and 32 oz bottle at 100 yards
- ¾” at 30 yards
- nickel size at 13 yards with Crosman destroyer
- 1.5” at 30 yards
- 1 ½” at 30 yards with CPHP, dime size at 60 feet
- 0.65 “ at 10 yards
- hit penny at 25 yards with Kodiak and RWS super mag
- ½” at 20 yards with CPHP
- dime size at 15 yards
- less than ½” at 25 yards
- hit a 2.5” tin at 55 yards with CPHP
- dime-sized group at 30 yards within 30 shots
- 1” at 25 yards out of the box
- 1” at 15 yards
- 0.5” at 10 yards with Gamo match
- hit 1” knot on a pine tree at 36 yards using open sight
- a dime at 50 yards, ¾” at 20 yards
- 1” at 30 yards
- 2” at 50 yards
- 2” at 100 yards
- 50-cent size at 50 yards
- 1” at 30 yards
- group 3 shots through beer bottle cap at 30 yards
- dime size at 30 yards
- a quarter-size group at 15 yards
- 3” at 80 yards
- stack up pellet at 50 yards
- hit a pack of cigarettes at 60 yards
- hit a 7” frying pan at 50 yards on average 2 seconds after loaded (quick follow-up shot)
- 1 – ½” at 30 m with H&N Baracuda Match
- 1” at 30 feet
- sight in at 20 yards
- hit street light at 30 yards
- 1” at 25 yards
- ½” at 30 yards
- ¼” at 30 yards
- 1” at 75 yards
- 3/8” at 165 feet
- ¼” at 30 yards
- and ¼” at 20 yards out of the box.
That accuracy looks promising, how about the power? Surprisingly, Ruger Air Hawk can:
- hit tin can at 80 yards
- blow 8 oz pop can at 30 yards
- penetrate ¼” phone book with Crosman Premiere pointed pellet at 45 yards
- picking off crow at 50-80 feet with Beeman Crow Magnum
- kill bird at 30 yards
- go right through a hard piece of ½” plywood like it wasn’t even there with H&N Baracuda
- penetrate 8” deep in a cardboard box at 8 yards
- Pick off crow at 50-80 feet with Beeman Crow magnum
- Dispatch squirrels and birds at 20 meters
- pick off a 12 oz can at 25 yards with easy
- Kill 10 squirrels and 26 woodpecks
- went completely through a chest of a squirrel at 30 yards
- shatter beer bottles at 30 yards
- pick off a pop can at 50 feet using open sight
- 1 shot kills a crow at 50 yards
- blow a turtle’s head out at 7 yards with CPHP
- went through a tin can and ¾ way into a 2×4 board with Raptor gold pellet
- shot a bird at 30 yards on the first day with the gun
- headshot a couple of foxes at 50-60 yards
- shoot squirrel at 80 yards, hit a squirrel at 50 feet
- headshot opossum at 20 feet with 6.5 gr flat tip target ammo
- nail a squirrel at the bird feeder at 20 yards- pellet go through the pest and feeder cleanly
- headshot crow at 83 yards
- shot robin at 50 yards and squirrel at 40 yards
- went through both fences at 31 yards
- kill squirrel at 12-15 yards
- shoot through 3/8” phone book up and ¼” plywood behind it.
To sum up, common pests like squirrels, rabbits, crows, etc don’t stand a chance before this heavy-hitting rifle.
Trigger
This trigger is almost an exact replica of the T06 trigger on the RWS 34 rifle.
The trigger plate is metal, not plastic.
Furthermore, the trigger pull test gives us amazing numbers:
- The trigger pulls at only 1 lbs 155 ounces, 3 lbs 6 oz, 2 lbs 14 oz, which makes it a dream for young shooters.
The safety is automatically on when you cock the gun so you don’t have to worry about misfiring.
Cocking and loading
To cock the gun, hold the pistol grip with one hand, place the stock on your hip, and break the barrel all the way down to its limit.
Load it with the breech open after you cock the gun, but the pellet into the chamber (with the pellet’s nose lying forward)
And pull the barrel up to its original position and you are ready to shoot.
Loudness
The noise test result of this gun is 100.7 decibels, which is in the medium range: not so loud and still backyard friendly
Maintenance
At first, you can get banging noises due to excess preservative oil burning off.
Just clean the barrel and shoot a lot of light pellets and you’ll be fine.
Oil it with 2 drops of RWS air chamber lube every 1000 shots, into the compression chamber port.
This keeps the piston and mainspring working.
Protect the barrel by coating it with RWS spring cylinder oil if you are not going to use this gun for a long time.
A tip to increase accuracy more: just tighten the screw, fit a better scope, select the right pellet, and hold the gun correctly.
Customer review
Customers are content with the power and accuracy of the Ruger Air Hawk at its price level.
They love its quality build, beautiful fiber optic sights, solid weight, and crisp trigger.
Most negative reviews mostly concern defective products or damaged scopes.
They are item-specific and do not affect every single gun.
Some customers complain that the rifle is made in China
But so what?
Ruger will not let any Chinese company produce their air guns without strict provision
Because cheap production lines can ruin the entire reputation they worked so hard to build up.
Specifications
- Caliber: .177″ (4.5mm)
- Max velocity : 1000 FPS
- Loudness : 3-Medium
- Barrel Length: 18.7″
- Overall Length: 44.8″
- Shot Capacity: 1
- Cocking Effort 30lbs
- Barrel: Rifled
- Front Sight: Fiber optic
- Rear Sight: Fiber optic (Adjustable for windage and elevation)
- Scopeable: 11mm dovetail
- Trigger: Two-stage adjustable
- Buttplate: Soft rubber recoil pad
- Average trigger pull: 2 lbs
- Action: Break the barrel
- Safety: Automatic
- Powerplant: Spring piston
- Function: single shot
- Weight: 8.16 lbs
- Scope: 4×32
- Cocking effort: 31lbs
- Made in China
- Distributed and imported by Umarex
- Suggested for: small game hunting/ plinking/target practice/pest control
- Warranty: 1 year
This gun weighs more than 8 lbs, making it pretty heavy for young shooters but very nice if you have a medium to large build.
Also, the heft makes the gun feel solid and helps a little bit with accuracy.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Price
The price of a Ruger Air Hawk is so cheap: just around 100 dollars for a gun that’s solid, hard-hitting, and extremely accurate.
For that cheap price, if you take care of it, you‘ll have a good gun for a long time and get rid of squirrels or rabbits on your property.
Conclusion
This rifle is hard to beat in its price class, it has good bluing, good metal, and the accuracy that you come to expect from Ruger’s name.
If you want better accuracy, just replace the scope.
Furthermore, it has so much power despite the fact that it’s a .177 rifle.
The Air Hawk is an inexpensive rifle that’s worth putting a quality scope on down the road!
