I have been an airgunner for over 20 years and I am very proficient with the .177 and .22 calibers having 6 different rifles and pistols.  I recently saw an ad from SPORTMART selling the Winchester 1000X for $79.95.  The rifle sported a genuine Walnut stock and was a Magnum rifle.  I read a no. of reviews about this rifle, most of them were bad as reviewers mentioned it was inaccurate with a heavy trigger that wasn't adjustable.  Few said anything good about it, but I decided to try one and that I'd return it if I was not happy with it.  This past weekend I had a chance to try it under severe weather conditions (heavy, cold winds with a wind chill at 9 below zero).  As I have a 50 yard pellet gun range, I set up four 10 ounce steel soup cans and gave it a try.  Before I tell you of my results, let me say that the rifle is quite nice looking with no really serious flaws.  If I wanted to be picky, I could say that the plastic recoil p late could have been fitted a bit better, however my two RWS air rifles don't even have one at all!  The wood was quite attractive:  sure beats the hardwood of my FWB-124 and the R-1.  The metal also looked quite attractive with no burrs, scratches.  I was a bit alarmed that the front sight was all plastic: all my other pellet guns are blued steel.  My first assessment of the rifle that it was remarkably good especially when one considers its low cost.  Would it perform as well?

 

Using Crosman utility WC .177 pellets (cheap, but amazingly consistent in all my air guns),  I stepped out to 20 yards w/o adjusting the sights.  I set up four steel cans in front of my backstop, cocked the barrel (cocking effort was about the same as with the RWS model 34 or about 35-40 pounds...the Win 1000X has a barrel a few inches shorter so a slightly more effort was required to cock it), inserted a pellet, and let fly!  I aimed at the exact center of the can and that is were the pellet impacted smashing through both sides of it cart wheeling the can as it did so.  It was noisy, as there was a small amount of dieseling that is normal with a new air rifle, especially a magnum.  I was quite pleased with the rifle and of the trigger pull that was about the same all with all my other rifles, with the exception that the pull is much longer than with my other air rifles.  The reviews that complain about it were not correct when it came t o the rifle that I had just fired.  I then proceeded to fire at 30, 40, 45, & 50 yards and missed more often then hit, but I had yet to tighten the screws (which hold the metal receiver to the stock) nor had I cleaned the bore.  I fired about 30 shots, then took it inside to warm up.  I then tightened the screws and cleaned the bore with about 5 patches.  The bore was very dirty. as it took so many patched to clean it.  I then went back out an tried it again.  No more dieseling and the accuracy was much improved.  I was now hitting more than missing (a real challenge as I wore no gloves in the Arctic chill).  At a full 50 yards I fired at the four cans.  Using six pellets, I had four hits!  This was fantastic accuracy as there was a stiff NW wind (I was firing to the NE) of 15-20 mph and it was frigid.  I really dislike any wind hitting my face especially when try to concentrate on hitting a relatively small target offhand. There is no doubt that under better conditions that i could do even better and that is what I pan on doing!

 

In summary, the Winchester 1000X is an extraordinarily good air rifle.  It is accurate and powerful.  The Walnut stock really dresses up the rifle and one quickly overlooks the plastic sights, trigger guard & trigger.  The trigger has no creep and is a medium pull, same as in the RWS model 34's.  It is a long pull, but most of the distance takes almost no effort, just the let off requires about 4-5 pounds of force to release the spring.  In a Magnum air rifle, that is about right.  I still cannot believe my good fortune, to find a magnum air rifle that has a walnut stock, is so accurate and powerful and costs less than $100.  While I really enjoy my FWB-124 and the RWS Model 34, I think that this will be my favorite .177 cal pellet rifle.

UPDATE:

Last December I wrote a mini-review about this rifle for you. I have now managed to do much more field shooting with it using Crosman WC pellets in my backyard 50 yard range. I have mounted a 4 x 30mm air rifle scope and found the combination to be quite accurate and powerful. I also have a FWB-124 (also scoped) as well as a RWS Model 34. The Winchester 1000X is more accurate than the RWS and more powerful than the FWB. Using Crosman WC pellets I have no trouble hitting 12 ounce steel soup cans at 50 yards with each shot (if the wind is steady and I do my part). The amazing thing is that the Winchester 1000X still sells for $80 at the local Sportmart! While many are critical of the rifle, I am not as I have used it often and found it to be both accurate and powerful. The amazing thing about the rifle is the speed of impact of the pellets at 50 yards. Hits seem to be so fast that it is similar to a .22 LR. T he fact that it can punch through both sides of a steel soup can at 150 feet is also quite amazing as I used stock Crosman WC pellets. If one where to use some premium pellets I would assume that performance would even be better.

As I own three different .177" air rifles, I feel that this model requires less cocking force then the RWS but more than the FWB. I have found it to require the easiest cocking force required for any 1000+ FPS air rifle that I have ever fired.

 

Wally Lucas