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Browning 800 Magnum Review
by Dennis Brooks
This is a review of the Browning 800 Magnum 700 feet per second (fps) rated break barrel target pistol from Umarex. The Browning is made under license from Browning.
This review will consist of presentation, documentation, general construction/features, safety, sights, trigger, grip, velocity, accuracy, sound level and level of comfort in a day's shooting. The air pistol was fired on the same day at the same time to eliminate variations in day to day environment that might have significant affect on spring air pistol performance. The pellet pistol has been fired a minimum of 500 times to check for reliability.
Documentation
The Technical Specifications include a Trigger pull of 4 LBS and a Cocking Effort of 32 LBS. I reduced the cocking effort significantly by using the Browning Cocking Extender. The Browning has a barrel length of 8.25 inches.
The 800 Mag with a cocking extender.
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The Browning Cocking Extender greatly reduces the wear and tear on your hands by removing the need to try to cock the air pistol with your hand over the front sight. It also reduces the force needed to cock the air pistol. Not a huge difference, but significant. It also prevents breaking the fiber optic rod mounts on top of the sight! The cocking extender comes included with the gun.
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Buckmark logo and "800 MAG" on top of the breech.
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General Construction/Features
The Browning 800 Mag has an 8.25 inch barrel which is recessed in the front sight shroud/mount. The cocking extender adds 3.5 inches to the pistol. If you can hold the end of the barrel on the air pistol with the raised sight topped by the fiber optic rod, you will have 9 inches or .75 foot pounds of leverage. Using the cocking extender you will have approximately 1.042 foot pounds of leverage. A quarter foot pound of additional leverage may not sound like much, but it becomes quite a deal cocking the 800 Magnum a significant number of times.
The pellet gun is a mix of high tech plastic and metal.
I noticed that the front hex/allen screw began backing out as soon as I started shooting. Thread lock will prevent this. It has two hex/allen set screws, and also has a third opening, possibly a pin.
The gun has a solid composite plastic grip and frame. The piston assembly sets in a plastic cradle that recoils backward a quarter inch or so when the air pistol fires giving this pellet pistol an anti-recoil action. The trigger and safety move back with the spring assembly, but you do not notice this when you fire the Browning. You can just make out the rails on the bottom of the spring carriage just in front of the ribbed portion of the frame and the front attachment screw. During cocking the assembly will sometimes move backward.
You can push the assembly backward by pulling back on the cocking extender with the barrel level and locked in position. (watch the commercial as seen on American Airgunner TV Show)
Safety
The 800 Mag has a safety that is broken over to cock the pistol.
It can also be set manually when the pistol is not cocked. The Browning has a lever in front of the trigger that is pushed forward to release the safety. This is very convenient and usually released by the trigger finger prior to each shot.
Sights
When you line up the fiber optics in a level set of green-red-green dots, the front sight is only halfway up the rear notch. This leaves a significant gap above the front post sight. If you line the sights up level, the fiber optics form a triangle with the red front dot above the rear green dots.
The Browning safety mechanism: on above and off below.
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The Browning Windage Knob is smooth, and the rear adjustable sights on the gun uses a thumb wheel for windage and a common blade screw for elevation.
NOTE: This gun has grooves in the receiver to mount optics. It is for 11mm mount systems. I like the open optics systems such as the Walther Multi-Reticle and PS 55 red dot that put the reticle and target in focus.
I have a Redfield Extended Eye Relief 2.5-7 X 30mm pistol scope that can be mounted on the air pistol with regular or “see through” mounts. The see through mounts allow you to use the iron sights up close and the scope at distances. I prefer the holographic or red dot sights on the short ranges used by most air pistols, including this one.
Trigger
The Browning averages 4 LBS trigger pull. This is according to my Lyman Electronic trigger gauge and the built in averaging system and closely matches the Technical Specifications for the pistol.
The gun has minimal initial take-up and releases with a spring feel due to the recoil mechanism. It comes back on target fast because it does not jump as far in your hands.
Grip
While in general I like the feel of a larger grip, the Browning 800 Magnum air pistol wins out over many of it's competitors in reach, with the web center from thumb to trigger finger on the back strap and finger pad on the trigger. At two point five inches (63 millimeters) the 800 Mag puts the pad of my trigger finger on the trigger face with the web centered right on the back strap. I generally use both hands to support these types of barrel heavy guns.
The Browning 800 Magnum balances where the front of the trigger guard joins the receiver. The Browning I received weighed in at 3.7 pounds (LBS). The cocking extender on the air pistol will add two ounces to the overall weight.
I use a loose hold with all spring air pistols that I shoot, allowing them to “float” in my two handed grip for more accurate shooting. I find if I try to grip tightly and control the recoil, I not only wear my hands out faster, but my shooting is inconsistent. It takes upwards of 50 rounds through the Browning 800 Mag before it starts to wear on my hands at all.
The gun jumps slightly at trigger break, but with a single shot target air pistol this is not a problem since you are not coming right back on target for another shot. Normal follow through should bring the sights back to the target, but you are not looking for an immediate second shot through the same hole. I suffer some paralysis and palsy in my hands and reduced vision from breaking my neck too many times, so I can't break dinner plates at 100 yards with my Smith & Wesson .357 as I did in my twenties, but I can hit a dime pretty much every time at ten yards (or meters) with an air pistol.
Velocity
I used a Chrony chronograph and a variety of pellets to get average velocities for the Browning 800 Magnum. Since I live at 5320 feet in the desert west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, results were adjusted for sea level standard day conditions:
BROWNING 800 MAGNUM
FOR EACH PELLET TYPE THROUGH THE SAME CHRONOGRAPH AT THE SAME
TIME ON THE SAME DAY:
CHRONOGRAPH RESULTS AT 5320' ALTITUDE AND 6800' DENSITY ALTITUDE
“/ ADJUSTED FOR DENSITY ALTITUDE”
As you can see, the air pistol lives up to the 700 fps advertisement listed on the box when using alloy pellets. It came close with the RWS 7 grain lead target pellet and would probably exceed 700 fps with 4.5 to 5 grain light lead pellets. In general the 800 Mag liked the plastic and lead pellets. All but the plastic pellets were run through a “pellet sizer” prior to firing through the chronograph to yield optimal rather than “out of the box” results. The RWS pellets were more consistent in size based on the effort required to size the pellets.
This is a pretty standard pellet sizer. Pellets are placed in an enlarged breech end and forced down through a .177 smooth bore barrel end with a plunger designed not to damage the skirt of the pellet. This one was just over $20 and I don't recommend buying one unless you compete or test.
Accuracy
In the picture, you can see the air pistol was very accurate at 10 yards. The three targets displayed were shot with the 800 Mag, while I was in the process of comparing it to another gun.
Keep in mind that I have some paralysis and palsy in my hands. The air pistol is capable of tighter groups in the right hands.
Sound Level
The Browning 800 Mag has a definite “twang” as the spring releases and the carriage recoils. It is certainly quiet enough not to bother your neighbors.
Level of Comfort
The cocking extender that comes with the 800 Mag is a nice bonus. It not only gives you a couple inches of extra leverage, but it allows you to cock the pistol without putting your hand on the delicate fiber optic topped front sight. The surprise is that the same cocking extender fits other break barrel pistols in my collection, notably the RWS LP 8 Magnum.
By itself, Browning's cocking extender is available from Umarex for around 15 dollars plus shipping, but like I said it comes with the Browning 800 Mag when ordered from the Umarex site. The gun is somewhat barrel heavy. You have two hex screws on the gun that hold the front sight mount. The front hex screw on the Browning started coming out as soon as I started shooting. I suggest you use blue Loc-Tite on all screws on break barrel spring guns. I found the recoil system on the Browning gave it a spring feel when the trigger released the sear. I also find that a rearward recoil as the spring is pushing forward must reduce the velocity.
When loading the 800 Mag, the pellets engage the rifling immediately.
Note the length of the initial cocking arm that is attached to each breech.
For specifications or to buy the Browning 800 Mag, click here.
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You should handle the air pistol for yourself to make sure that it fits your hands correctly. If you get a chance, cock and fire it to get a feel for the triggers and the recoil system on the gun. I would recommend the air pistol if someone asked me if it were a good gun to own. It held up well during testing, and was very accurate, especially on long shots. It has metal and plastic, but composite plastics have come a long way.
I hope this gives you an insight into this air pistol, showing where I found fault and value. Remember, always keep the safety on when not actually shooting.
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