HW45 | Air gun blog - Pyramyd Air Report

To all new airgunners

Posted on June 19, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 105 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

As I write this report, Edith is sitting on the couch, reading and approving customer reviews of airguns. It’s a lazy Sunday morning, and we generally try to work on things that are easy on such days. She just made this remark to me while reading another customer review, “People want powerful hunting air rifles that cock with 20 lbs. of effort or less. Isn’t that called a precharged pneumatic?”

That was what came to my mind the minute she announced what people want. But experience tells us that it isn’t what’s on the new airgunner’s mind. They want a spring rifle, because they want nothing to do with all the extra stuff that’s needed to keep a PCP running. They just want to cock the gun, load a pellet and shoot. And many of them wonder why this springer can’t be a repeater, as well.

New BKL mount adjusts for barrel droop: Part 2

Posted on December 20, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 60 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

It’s been half a year since I did Part 1 of this report. I always meant to do today’s test, but other things seemed to crop up every time I was ready. I did make an excursion in another direction to test BSA’s 2×20 pistol scope using another mount on the Beeman P1 air pistol. Such is the tangled life of the airgun blogger!

New territory!
Today’s report takes me into fresh territory with my Slavia 631 breakbarrel rifle. I had earmarked it as a testbed rifle for testing the accuracy of lead-free pellets a long time ago, but the lack of a scope mount caused me to substitute the Whiscombe rifle at the last minute. You see, the Slavia air rifles all share a common problem when it comes to mounting scopes. They have dovetails that are among the very widest on the market. Most 11mm scope mounts will not expand wide enough to fit the 14mm dovetails (they are still called 11mm, which creates a world of confusion among buyers who try to scope their rifles) that are standard on all Slavia breakbarrels. Even for me — with a drawerful of specialized airgun mounts and prototypes — the Slavia remained a gun I could not scope until this new BKL mount hit the market.

Airgun selling strategies

Posted on October 3, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 40 Comments

by B.B.Pelletier

I attended a gun show this past weekend; and on the first day, I noticed something that I’ve seen for many years but never appreciated. Most of the people who attend gun shows don’t know what airguns are worth. You can benefit from that.

Nobody knows what airguns are worth!
Across the aisle from me, a dealer had a Daisy model 21 double-barreled gun laid out. When I examined it, I noticed that it was really beat-up. It was a 20 percent gun, at best.

The dealer said he wanted a thousand dollars for this gun, because he’d seen one new in the box selling for $3,500 on the internet. He knew his was a junker, but he figured it must be worth that much at least.

New BKL mount adjusts for barrel droop: Part 1

Posted on July 11, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 72 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Announcement: Due to a mix-up, the most recent Big Shot of the Week winner wasn’t announced last Friday. Jeffrey Aaron Demers is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Jeffrey Aaron Demers is this week’s Big Shot of the Week. Congratulations!

The optional BKL bubble level is mounted on the left side of the new BKL adjustable scope mount. This view shows the rear of the mount raised up to compensate for this rifle’s barrel droop.

Today, I’m going to show you the new BKL adjustable scope mount that will soon be available. I mentioned this mount in the Part 3 test of the new RWS Diana T06 trigger last week, which is where the first picture comes from. I’ll show all the nuances of the new mount and discuss how it works.

Beeman P1/HW 45 air pistol: Part 4

Posted on May 17, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 52 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The Beeman P1 sits in the top tier of air pistols for power and quality.

Today is accuracy day; before we begin, I’d like to share a Beeman P1 anecdote with you. I interviewed Robert Beeman for the podcast that will go live in the near future. After we were finished, he told me some stories about the old days, when Beeman Precision Airguns was getting started. This one relates to the P1 and the gun that was never designed.

After the success of the R1, Robert and his wife, Toshiko, embarked immediately on the design of the P1 pistol. They wanted a powerful spring-piston pistol made with the handling characteristics of the M1911A1 pistol. They also wanted dual power levels. They had sketches drawn and took their ideas to Hans Weihrauch for implementation.

Beeman P1/HW 45 air pistol: Part 3

Posted on May 6, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 124 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Announcement: Here’s this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 gift card.

A departure from the usual camo-wearing players we see in airsoft skirmishes, Joey Demonti is wearing a suit and overcoat. I don’t know which scenario he’s playing out, but the Thompson should take care of it. Wonder where he put his violin case?

Part 1
Part 2

The Beeman P1 sits in the top tier of air pistols for power and quality.

Today’s report is a special one, requested by several readers who want to learn how to hold their Beeman P1s for best accuracy. I wrote about this originally in the January 1996 issue of The Airgun Letter.

Beeman P1/HW 45 air pistol: Part 2

Posted on May 3, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 60 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

A large and impressive spring-piston air pistol, the Beeman P1 sits in the top tier of air pistols for power and quality.

In Part 1, we received so many comments and questions about the Beeman P1 that it’s now certain that this report will have more than three parts. I’ve been asked to show you how to hold the handgun for best results, and while I’d hoped to get to that today, something has come up in today’s testing that caused me to postpone that until the next report. I want to spend some time explaining a spring-gun phenomenon that I’ve read about but, until this test, have never seen.