May 9 2011My review of the Cometa Indian Indian spring-piston air pistol. Also known by it's earlier version as the RWS-9, the Indian is unique as an over-cocking pistolair pistol. It is differentiated from other over-cockers in that it's barrel is not a part of the cocking lever (as it is in the Beeman P1, or Webley Tempest). Like the RWS-9 it comes in two finishes: black, and nickel-plated. It is only available in .177 caliber.It is cocked by first pushing the manual safety to on; forward towards the barrel. This will disengage it from the cocking lever, which it will hold in place when it (the safety) is movedrearward to the "fire" position. Then the lever can be lifted upward, and swung forward, over the topof the pistol, then downward in a total arc of about 300 degrees. The lever is hinged at the front of the pistol. NOTE: The lever is connected to a rack and pinion, and the rack is visible when the pistol iscocked. It can be seen extending from the front of the pistol. This feature greatly reduces cocking effort.Once the lever is lifted, it releases the sring-loaded breech closure. This reveals the breech tray where the pellet can be laid prior to shoving it into the breech. Thebreech closure is made of plastic but it has a metal probe with an O-ring on it. This probe can be be used to shove the pellet in. The O-ring probably acts as compression seal. When bringing thecocking lever back to it's firing position, the breech closure must be held in place, as itis spring-loaded to make the closure "pop" open once the lever is lifted. Taking the safety off holds the lever in place for firing.Quite quirky, imo, but in actual use, it's surprsingly simple, and loading a pellet is quicklydone. Of note is if you've loaded pellets in to an under lever or side lever rifle, loading apellet into the Indian can be similarly a fumble-fingers issue. Sometimes there is some fidgeting to get the .177 pellet into the loading tray. A .22 pellet would be easier to handle. Be agile of fingers! The cocking effort is only eight pounds. The pistol weighs only 2.5 pounds.The sights are very basic, and plastic. The rear sight is only adjustable for windage; a major drawback to an otherwise great little pistol. The pistol has a one-stage trigger that breaks crisp, and smooth after it's worn in. It can be vey stiff when new, and it will effect accuracy either way, but you get so much better resultsonce it's broken in. The grips are somewhat ergonomic, if a bit narrow. There is a nice shelf of a thumb rest. It only comes with right-hand grips, iirc.Accuracy is surprsingly good. I can make ragged single holes at close to ten yards. The barrel is cold-forged, and crowned. I've also hit 12oz plastic bottles at 30 yards. The pistol is as accurate as I am.Power is advertised as being between 400 and 500FPS. I chronographed mine using Crosman Destroyer-EX pellets @7.9 grains. The Indian averaged 480FPS/4FPE, with a low of 475FPS,and a high of 486FPS. I was surprised, and not expecting it to do more than 400FPS, really.Not too bad for a quiet pistol with relatively low recoil. No wonder no one wants to sell the older RWS-9s. Sweet-shooting pistol.A few things to be aware of with the Cometa Indian: The cocking lever has some sharp edges thatreally need to be rounded off or they can really hurt the unsuspecting hand. Pay aprticular attention to that area of the lever that engages the safety; really pointy edge there. Also,the lever can move about a bit, coming in contact with the receiver. This caused scratches, and a small gouge in the receiver I only discovered too late. Mine is the black pistol, and I need to buy some metal-black to cover the scratches. In the meantime I've used blackelctrical tape to provide protection to the rub areas. I also have a Browning 800_Mag. Comparatively speaking, the Indian is much lighter and easierto cock. It's more accurate too, and far less pellet-picky. So I reach for the Spanish-madeCometa Indian far more than I reach for the Browning. It's accurate, relatively quiet. I've Modified the rear sight by adding a notched rear sight from a broken unit taken from my Browning 800_Mag. I drilled and slotted it to make it elevation-adjustable. It is held in placeby a bolt; I drilled a hole into the rear of the plastic rear sight and let the bolt serlf-thread it's way in. I ground down the original rear notch. The design needs some refinement, but the concept works like a charm!I've included two pictures that show the Browning and the Indian, both cocked and not. You can see the rack extending from the front of the Indian.That's my review. Thanks for reading!Darryl
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