Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Beeman .177 R9 with Leupold 2-7 on the way out which .22 air gun?

Too me the Beeman R9 is about as ergonomic as a 2x4 and I am finally done with it. Its clubby and weight rear in my opinion.

Does anyone make a decent spring powered more "hunting rifle" or 22 rifle feeling pellet rifle for around $3-400 or am I just looking for something that does not exist.

Do the underlevers balance more forward? The RWS 460 magnum looks interesting.

I love my "2X4's". Limited Edition .177, #71 of 200 and Gold Finger .22



Don't know what's not to like about this classic gun.
For an under lever, I like the HW97k. Mine is a .22 tuned by David Slade.

Jimmy,

Yes, you are loooking for the holy grail.

In a perfect world, we could make a rifle that is as lightweight, compact and easy to cock as a little Beeman R7- about about 6lbs. That rifle would be as accurate and shoot able as a regulated PCP rifle and as strong and self contained as a high end spring gun.

Unfortunately, we are not their yet. The R9 is about the best "happy medium" out there in terms of a self contain spring rifle with power, accuracy and light weight.

As to your weight/balance issue before ditching the R9 all together, I would suggest this-

First remove the buttplate and have a trusted woodworker or machinist bore a lighting hole or cavity in the back of the butt. It will be hidden by the buttplate and should drop about 4 ounces given the dense heavy European Beech that Beeman used on their rifles.

Second, If your R9 does not have a muzzle/break barrel weight, I would install one. Particularity if you use a scope)
That should add another 4-6 ounces if the muzzle weight is made of steel.

are the under levers more accurate? I think a .22 is in my future. The .177 is not getting it done.

Don't know if they are more accurate but they are at least the equal of the better break-barrels. I have a Mauser that will and has put 5 rounds through the same hole at 50'. One of the guns on my wishlist is a HW77 Carbine in .20. They have finally started importing them again if only on a limited basis.

The only break-barrel I have is a R9 in .20...a delightful gun for a 2x4.

You may want to look at the Nitro series guns by Crossman...have not shot one yet but they feel pretty good.

xposo...have you chroned your HW77K in .22 after the tune...was just wondering what it was running...

Bob

do they make it in 22 cal? Is it mo betta than the R9?

how about the GAMO guns, the hunter extreme gives 1300 FPS with a 22 pellet.

Gamos only make those velocity numbers with superlight tin pellets. Their velocity numbers are simply a gimmick. Their accuracy is is about like throwing rocks and Gamos, as a whole, are cheap pieces of crap with BAD triggers and bone jarring vibration and recoil.

They also are just as heavy as your R9 and much harder to cock. Also, any underlever spring rifle that equals the R9s level of power will be at least 1 full pound heavier.

As I said before, the spring piston air rifle you want simply does not exist. You may not want to hear that, but it's true.

Frankly, given your accuracy weight and power requirements, a Benjamin Discovery and a hand pump would be the best thing for you.

In most shooters hands, they are the full equal to a top end tuned spring gun in terms of accuracy. Lighter and more powerful.

The only thing that betters them are guns like the Marauder, but they pretty much require scuba tanks to fill up. The Discovery operates at 2,000 PSI and is a sweetheart to use with a hand pump..

For $350 you can buy a brand new Disco/Hand pump combo that will blow ANY spring gun out of the water in terms field accuracy ,power and light weight.

I had David Slade keep it within factory power limits with FTS pellets. At the time it was shooting in the mid 700's. But now that Beeman FTS are no longer available, ( I'm saving my stash of them) I found another pellet that shoots better, A LOT more accurate, and much cheaper, I never had the time to chronied it yet, but I suspect it's shooting faster being that it's a lighter pellet. I've tried it in my Gold Finger "2X4" and the speed went up by 8-10 FPS faster than the Beeman FTS. Not much, but I really don't care about speed, it's the accuracy that counts. And it's a HW97, not a 77.

Oh...I knew that stock looked larger than the 77 and should have picked up on that. It is 77 Carbine in .20 that I've wanted for many years. I can still remember the last one I saw at a gun show and didn't buy it...they were discontinued right after that and have not seen another one for sale since... Pyramid Airguns had some in stock but are now on a special order only basis.

Can't decide whether to get a 77 or a AirForce Condor or Talon SS in .20........

Bob

can I swap out barrels to get a 22 barrel from Beeman for the R9??

Not on the 97 or 77. Those are fixed barrels.

mine is an R9.

Call Beeman and ask...or also try MAC1 Airguns...Bob

Yes you can swap barrels on it, but you're going to have to buy it with the breech block already attached, the barrels are pressed into the block. Also, if you're going to do that, you might as well get the cocking likage and cocking shoe along with it. If not, you can use the shoe from your present gun. The linkage can be a problem if you can't get the rivet off, then putting it back on and rebuttoning it.

Just for your information, Beeman is owned by a Chinese company for the past year or so, no more German Weihrauch's in that house. It's all cheap Chinese crap, stuff you see in Wally World, Bass Pro, etc.. If it says Beeman on it, and the gun is new, it's Chinese.

I highly doubt that Tim (Mac1) would have a R series barrel lying around his shop. In fact, it would be a miracle if you could find one. Even the airgunners in Europe are looking for those barrels. There's a couple of guys on the Yellow forum that have been posting for over 8 months on the Yellow classifieds looking for a R9/HW95 barrel in either .177 and .22. Good luck in your hunt.

OK so I am not going to sell it if the real Beeman is a thing of the past. This gun is 5 or more years old, I cannot remember.

What decent spring air gun can I buy in the $400 price range that shoots a .22 bullet fast enough to hunt squirrels with?

There are quite a few guns in that price range, even cheaper that'll take out squirrels, you don't need that much power, or money to do it.

This is one of the beter deals out there right now.

http://www.airgunsofarizona.com

Scroll down and you'll see several model 34's. I had a couple of them in different configurations, very good guns with very good power. These guns are more than enough to do the job.

There are quite a few more, you just have to look around.

I own and love my R9 2x4 as well, but for great hunting ergonomics, look at the BSA Lightning Tactical XL in .22. I have it in .25 and absolutley love the light weight (~6.5 lbs) and synthetic stock. Plenty of power for squirrels (~14+ ftlbs) You can find one new for 480, or a used one for around 300-350. Down side, the lighter weight and stiffer trigger make it more challenging to shoot accurately.

The "real " Beeman is still with us.

What Xposo told you here was only partially true.

Since Feb 2010, there have been two Beeman Airgun brands. The Chinese Airguns and the German brand guns. Nothing has really changed in terms of availability ,though..

Pyramid Air- is the US Wholesaler for the German marked Beeman guns. Almost every Airgun dealer in the US that carried German made Beemans before the new importation deal still does. They also sell Weirauch marked guns in the same basic models.

The bottom line is the Beeman R9 is NOT being discontinued anytime soon.. They are still being made and sold. It will not be discontinued any time soon.

Actually, the BSA Lightning XLs would be a gun to pick up if you want a gun that WILL be hard top get in the future. BSA is owned by Gamo and little by little, the English made BSAs are being replaced with Spanish made guns.

The RWS 48 is a hammer.

RWS M34 in .22cal - No where near Beman R - quality, but worked on these (and well over 100 more) chucks this spring.

Had a 34, good gun, harsh firing, harder to cock, but alot of power, bury pellets in a pallet at 60 yds! It was in .22, sold it, still have my R9 in .20 and my son has a blue .177 as above.