I will defer to others on the CURRENT "magnum" threshold. My perception, as discussed above, is that it's basically an advertising buzz word that has been quite, shall we say, "fluid" over time.
The first air rifle to reliably exceed 700 FPS in .177 was probably the Diana 35 of the early 1950's. There was a famous magazine article written sharply criticizing it as a cruelly OVER-powered "ice-pick" for hunting purposes...hard as that is to swallow today! Diana, BSF, and the HW 35 were the "magnums" of those halcyon pre-Beeman days.
When I first got into airguns in the mid-1980's, I think 800 FPS in .177 was the consensus "magnum" number, with the FWB 124, Webley Vulcan, and Diana 45 leading the pack. Then along came the 1000 FPS R1 and off we went. And frankly...I kinda lost interest at that point.
The first air rifle to reliably exceed 700 FPS in .177 was probably the Diana 35 of the early 1950's. There was a famous magazine article written sharply criticizing it as a cruelly OVER-powered "ice-pick" for hunting purposes...hard as that is to swallow today! Diana, BSF, and the HW 35 were the "magnums" of those halcyon pre-Beeman days.
When I first got into airguns in the mid-1980's, I think 800 FPS in .177 was the consensus "magnum" number, with the FWB 124, Webley Vulcan, and Diana 45 leading the pack. Then along came the 1000 FPS R1 and off we went. And frankly...I kinda lost interest at that point.
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