RWS LP8 Magnum Review
By Dennis Brooks

This is a review of the RWS LP 8 Magnum. It is a 700 feet per second (fps) break barrel target pistol from Umarex.

All of the shots fired by the air pistol were fired at the same time of day, to eliminate variations in day-to-day environment that have significant affect on spring air pistol performance. The pistol was fired a minimum of 500 times to check for reliability.

Specifications & Technical Basics
The Technical Specifications for the LP8 are fairly straightforward. The trigger pull was 3.3 lbs and cocking effort was 24 lbs.

The RWS has 7.125 inches of rifled metal barrel and breech! The differences between this and other similarly styled pistols are hidden in the front sight mount.

Pictured is the RWS. A cocking assist handle was used during the testing. This 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 and it reduces the force to cock the pellet pistols. Not a huge difference, but significant. It also prevents breaking the fiber optic rod mounts on top of the sight!

The cocking assist adds 90 millimeters (3.5625 inches) to the RWS. 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 assist you will achieve 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 when cocking the pistol a significant number of times.

The RWS is mostly metal in design. The RWS logo is marked on back of the receiver of the LP8 pellet pistol.

The airgun has two hex/Allen set screws which secure the front sight mount and shroud.

The Safeties
The air pistol has a safety that is automatically set when the barrel is broken open and cocked. It can also be set manually when the pistol is not cocked. The RWS safety is mounted above and behind the trigger guard at the bottom of the receiver, above the grip. It is ambidextrous, having a lever on each side of the air pistol. Both sides have the colored dots indicating on and off. It can be reached with a stretch of the trigger finger. I used my supporting hand to move the safety prior to each shot.

The Sights
The RWS has a level sight picture when the fiber optics are in-line. The RWS has the usual loop of green fiber optic rod, which equates to brighter rear dots. The front optics rods are basically the same length, but the RWS has a longer ramp and the fiber rod is spread by melting for a larger surface area to gather light. It has rear adjustable sights that use a thumb wheel for windage and a common blade screw for elevation. The RWS windage knob is grooved.

The RWS has a raised mount, and a 11 mm mount system. I like to use open optics systems such as the Walther Multi-Reticle Sight (MRS) 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.

The Trigger
The RWS averages 3.2 lbs trigger pull. This is according to my Lyman Electronic trigger gauge and the built-in averaging system and closely matches Umarex’s technical specifications for each pistol. When shooting it feels the same weight, but over a large number of shots you begin to feel the difference between this and other guns I have shot. There is a quarter inch or so of take-up in the RWS trigger before you feel resistance. After that you slowly increase pressure until the sear releases with a crisp break.

I used a pen to demonstrate the take up or slack before pressure is felt on the RWS trigger.

The Grips
In general I like the feel of a larger grip of the RWS LP 8. At three inches (77 mm), the RWS is a long stretch for my short fingers, placing my fingertip on the trigger edge with the web center on the back strap. I compensate by rotating my shooting hand toward the trigger, web biased toward my thumb. The large RWS grip is more comfortable in my two handed grip when shooting a large number of shots. I generally use both hands to support barrel-heavy pellet guns. The RWS balances just behind where the front of the trigger guard joins the receiver and weighed 3.34 lbs. I use a loose hold with spring air pistols, 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. While 50 rounds through the similar guns wears out my hands from the cocking and loading, I can fire 80-100 rounds through the RWS before the same feeling sets in and the sights begin to wobble. The RWS jumps slightly in my grip at trigger break. 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 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 10 meters with an air pistol.

Velocity
I used a Chrony chronograph and a variety of pellets to get average velocities for the RWS Diana LP8 Magnum. Since I live at 5320 feet in the desert west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, results were adjusted for sea level standard day conditions:

 
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 pistol lives up to the marketing of 700 fps when using alloy pellets. It also came close with the RWS 7 grain lead target pellet and both would probably exceed 700 fps with 4.5 to 5 grain light lead pellets. In general, the RWS liked the alloy and heavy pellets. I ran all but the plastic pellets 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
Looking at the targets to the right, you can see the pistol is very accurate at 10 yards. This was after firing one hundred rounds through  the air pistol and setting the sights to 10 yards (Keep in mind, as mentioned earlier, that I have some paralysis and palsy in my hands.) The pistol is capable of tighter groups in the right hands.

Sound Level
The RWS has more of a “thwack”, similar to a CO2 air pistol. It is quiet enough not to bother your neighbors.

Summary
First, if you intend on buying the pistol, also buy a Cocking Extender! It not only gives you a couple inches of extra leverage, but it allows you to cock the pellet pistol without putting your hand on the delicate fiber optic topped front sight. It is snug, but slides on and off without force. The RWS also has a delicate fiber optic rod on the top of the tall front blade sight. The cocking extender gets you away from the front sight and makes the RWS even easier to cock. The cocking assist is available from Umarex USA’s service department for around fifteen dollars plus shipping.

As stated above, I found the larger grip on the RWS an advantage in controlling the air pistol. It makes for more comfortable shooting, especially if you are shooting for longer lengths of time. It should be fairly obvious that the lighter cocking pressure of the RWS gives it an advantage over the most other similar pistols. Add the cocking extender to the RWS and you have a much nicer situation. The pistol was barrel heavy, but not unbearable. You have two hex screws on the RWS that hold the front sight mount. I suggest you use blue Loc-Tite on all screws on break barrel spring guns.

The long travel on the RWS trigger was a waste as far as I was concerned. I prefer a zero slack trigger. You can adjust the distance from the point where you feel pressure on the trigger to sear release with the RWS adjustment screw.

The LP 8  is slightly easier to load than some other break barrel pistols I have used. It allows the pellets to drop directly into place.

The RWS LP8 held up well during testing, and was very accurate. It has both metal and plastic, but composit plastics have come a long way. I hope this gives you insight into this pistol, showing where I found fault and value. And, always remember to keep the safety on when not actually shooting.

For specifications and to buy the RWS LP8 click here.