Beeman R1

[Wickyd]

I picked up an older Beeman R1 in .177 at the gunshow today for $130 in very good shape.
Has anybody had much experience with these?
Got to shoot it a couple times since I got home seems to function fine.
I have been shooting an RWS model 38 for the last 30 years also in .177
It seems to be loosing a little speed.
Now to find a scope for it , I have a hard time with iron sights
Darrell

[Themoose]

I had a R1 in .20 caliber... wish I had bought the .177 due to the problem for finding reasonably priced pellets. It was a great shooter and gave me no problems at all... I had a Beeman scope mounted on it and it was deadly accurate... Quit using it for awhile and sold it... big mistake...but then I guess we all have done similar things.

TheMoose

[W.R.Buchanan]

Darrel: I have a .22 R1 and it is a beast. Note the amount of force necessary to cock the thing? These are very powerful guns. They also have a lot of recoil.

These guns are solid 50 yard varmint rifles for anything up to Raccoon Size.

As for a scope a 1-4 x Leapers scope like the one I am using is able to take the pounding and is not too expensive at $79.95. Also UTG has a mount that has a stop on it that prevents the mount from moving. Without that stop, it will move! $14.95 with 100+ 5 star reviews. http://www.pyramydair.com/

Since you might not know already, these airguns have recoil in 2 directions and it is quite vicious, and the R1 is the worst of them all. They recoil back as the gun is fired and when the piston hits the front of the air chamber the gun snaps forward. This kills normal rifle scopes so don't spend a bunch of money on a high end scope. It is also this action that makes the scope mount move no matter how much you have the clamp screws tightened. The mount must have the stop screw. There are three holes to put it in on the gun, pick one and slide the scope/mount all the way to the rear of that hole.

My gun moved the scope .005 every shot until I got a mount that had the stop in it.

At $130 you got a screamin' deal. I paid $400 for mine and I got a screamin' deal. You did much better.

Enjoy your gun, you will be addicted soon.

Randy

[Pakprotector]

I'd suggest against using that stop screw...seen more than one dig a nasty channel down the length of the reciever with it. Get a mount with more screws( I got an RWS droop mount, and added three screws to it for total of 7 ). I have this running on an RX2. The forward snap acceleration on that beastie is 4,000 m/s^2...anything less moved. The Leapers 1-pc can have two added easily for total of five...quite useful IMO.
cheers,
Douglas

[Wally]

I have one in the .22 caliber...also have a RWS 34 in the same caliber...I chronographed them and the R-1 offers slightly more velocity. It is as heavy as a Garand and I don't use it much.

[Wickyd]

I have found older Weaver scopes will hold up as on my model 38 RWS did have to put sandpaper in side ring to keep scope from moving.
I was introduced to the Beemans in the late 70s.My young neighbor had one and walked over one day and showed me his rifle.He told me to look thru the Bushnell scope and I saw the lenses were shattered.He stated that was after 200 rounds.
I later talked to him and he said Bushnell sent him a replacement and the lense shattered in 150 rounds.
I noticed in the book that came with my R1 that they had a 1 piece mount that had rubber in it to absorb the shock but I have not located one yet.
Darrell

[Wickyd]

I had read your post on your R1(realy looks good) and read about the Baracuda pellets.
Have you shot any of the heavier .177 pellets or is all your rifles.22.
I have only shot the ones in the 7 to 8 grain weights .
Darrell

Darrel: I have a .22 R1 and it is a beast. Note the amount of force necessary to cock the thing? These are very powerful guns. They also have a lot of recoil.

These guns are solid 50 yard varmint rifles for anything up to Raccoon Size.

As for a scope a 1-4 x Leapers scope like the one I am using is able to take the pounding and is not too expensive at $79.95. Also UTG has a mount that has a stop on it that prevents the mount from moving. Without that stop, it will move! $14.95 with 100+ 5 star reviews. http://www.pyramydair.com/

Since you might not know already, these airguns have recoil in 2 directions and it is quite vicious, and the R1 is the worst of them all. They recoil back as the gun is fired and when the piston hits the front of the air chamber the gun snaps forward. This kills normal rifle scopes so don't spend a bunch of money on a high end scope. It is also this action that makes the scope mount move no matter how much you have the clamp screws tightened. The mount must have the stop screw. There are three holes to put it in on the gun, pick one and slide the scope/mount all the way to the rear of that hole.

My gun moved the scope .005 every shot until I got a mount that had the stop in it.

At $130 you got a screamin' deal. I paid $400 for mine and I got a screamin' deal. You did much better.

Enjoy your gun, you will be addicted soon.

Randy

[Silverboolit]

Congratulations on your purchase of one of the 'Cadillac' airguns. That one looks like the one I bought in 1985. Has the sights on it. If it seems easy to cock and a little twangy when shot, your mainspring may be bent, arched from age. I took mine apart this summer and the spring was bent. New spring/seal, and it is shooting better than I hoped.
It is a beast, but a pleasure to shoot.

[Silverboolit]

Also, Has it had a tune-up recently?? If it is several years old, the grease in it may be needing replacement. DO NOT PUT OIL IN THE CYLINDER!! It will diesel and break parts.

[Wickyd]

Shot the R1 today a few times in the back yard, it sure made me realize how much power my RWS 38 has lost.I will have to look at doing a rebuild on it.
Will need to do some studying now to see what is involved.
Darrell

[27judge]

I had one gave it to my grandson ,between us both we have shot many bushel baskets of starlings/blackbirds. Avery accurate gun and hits hard .Problem for me it was heavy tks ken

[lancem]

Bought one new long ago in .177 and will always have it. Super accurate, lots of power. You got a great deal.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Wickyd: I have an HW35 (predecessor of the R1) in .177 and have shot mostly H&M Match pellets in that gun for 35 years. I have some Beeman Silver Jet and Silver Streak Pellets which are slightly heavier and have sot a lot of them as well. Really the difference between 8gr and 11 gr doesn't amount to much at 625 fps.

The R1 on the other hand, buried the Barakuda Pellets 1" deep in a dry phone book at 50 yards! The H&N Match pellets only went in about 5/8" at 50yards, so there is a noticeable difference in performance. The H&N Match pellets are 13 gr and the MV was probably higher, but the aerodynamics of those pellets is much worse than the Barakudas, also the energy was way less.

The R1 is simply better suited to shooting the heavier pellets, (outdoors) but I still shoot the H&N match's exclusively indoors. No reason to shoot the more expensive ammo at paper targets.

Go here to see all the H&N pellets available in .177. They range from 7 gr to 16 gr. so you have a lot to choose from.

http://www.pyramydair.com/search-results-ext?Ntt=H%26N+.177+cal&sid=1375A617A415&N=0&Ntk=primary&q=H%26N+.177+cal&cx=002970863286801882398:jlcminxfwdw&cof=FORID:11;NB:1&saSearch

Incidentally, Pyramyd Air is your goto source for all things air gun related. They have just about everything there is worth mentioning in one place. I use them and so do many others here. Good People to deal with.

And you do need a scope mount with a stop in it. The screw goes down into a hole in the receiver and not into the top of the receiver, so it is not going to dig a groove in the gun, No one would put up with that.

The Stop Screw on this mount goes down vertically just in front of the rear side clamp screw shown in the pic. It is into the third hole in the receiver which is covered by the mount. This mount is a Leapers/UTG mount and was $14.95. The $60 mount shown in the first pic of my gun did not hold position even with 70 IP of torque on the screws. It was easier to replace it than modify it. I got two of the Leapers/UTG mounts and $30 back in exchange.

Leapers Accushot 1-Pc Mount w/1" Rings, 3/8" Dovetail

It is 7th from the bottom of this page. http://www.pyramydair.com/search-results-ext?Ntt=UTG+scope+mount&sid=1375A617A415&N=0&Ntk=primary&q=UTG+scope+mount&cx=002970863286801882398:jlcminxfwdw&cof=FORID:11;NB:1&saSearch

Randy

[MT Chambers]

Certainly the R1 is a very well made and powerful SPRINGER, but for people new to airguns; PCPs are quite a bit more powerful then springers, everything is relative.