Page 13 - Beeman P17 Reviews

This is a large and substantial pistol, it does not feel "cheap." Although it is Chinese made, the difference between this pistol and the Chinese air rifles I bought 20-odd years ago can be measured in light years. I got away from airguns for some years and it's probably been 20 years since I bought an air pistol and the quality has improved exponentially. This is solid, it feels like it should cost substantially more, and, although I've only had it a few days, I am most favorably impressed by its feel, its performance, and its accuracy. It's wonderfully simple to operate and it's an adult airgun as cocking the pistol requires sufficient effort that would preclude a child from operating it. It's accurate, has great sights, the trigger is smooth, and, best of all ....IT"S FUN! I guess that part of the fun appeal of airguns like this is that it makes someone like me, 60+ years old, feel like a kid again, and that may be what I like the most about this pistol.

For the price, I cannot think of a thing.

IMO, the P17 is high on quality, high on accuracy, high on just being fun, and low on cost. And, let me mention once again, it's FUN!

Accuracy,cost ,size and recoilless

Trigger pull is too heavy .needs lighten and polished as does the barrel crown . But for the price nothing ! More work would only raise the price

Good garage/backyard plinker. Polish here and there on the trigger and barrel crown . Then it'll shoot good groups at 10 meters for what it is .bought 4 of them , 1 for me and 3 for guest ... back yard plinking games

Single stroke pump, very accurate, nice trigger, vibration free, extremely nice for the price.

If I had to dig for something to change it would be to integrate a rail underneath to be able to add a laser sight. Not needed, just for fun.

It is for sure the best value that I know of in airgunning. This pistol used to be a Marksman 2004 back in the mid 2000's. I have owned one since then and have used it to kill many pests. I have chronoed it and it still shoots the advertised 415fps. It is extremely accurate with no vibration during the shot. The best thing about this newer model is the fact that they added fiber optic sights which is an improvement from the plain black. Bought my two boys this pistol for Christmas and I am as impressed with the new as I was with the old. Great design, quality and price.

My P-17 arrived yesterday! cleaned the barrel, was very rusty, and dirty!! pulled the piston to make sure it was lubed, and it was, but the O-rings from the factory are cheap the black was rubbing off the o-ring, and on the piston. bought a viton o-ring set from harbor freight, and replaced the pump o-ring # 116 lubed with Buzzys slick honey!! anyway the pistol shoots great. put a leapers one piece offset mount on with a Hammers 2x20 pistol scope. ten yards hole in hole. the trigger is very good. I will replace the other 2 seals when I have problems. great buy.

not a thing!! is what it is. maybe a .22 version!!

harbor freight!! part #67525 o-ring kit.

Accuracy appears to be very good. Able to put 5 shots within 5/8" c-t-c from 8 yards. And I'm not that steady. Trigger is one of the best I have had on any of my airguns. It feels lights and breaks consistently.

For the money, can't really complain.

For an accurate practice shooter, can't beat it. Just know that this is not a great gun for kids unless you are on standby to load and prime it for them. Take some effort to close and compress the air for the shot.

enough power to give it some accurate range like cans at 50 ft. nice feel in your grip but slick . smooth trigger.

texture the grip

cocking effort is a bit heavy. thinking about how to make a cocking lever to aid with the leverage. still very happy to have this good shooter

Super accurate, trigger action is very good. Weight and feel of gun is spot on. So far it has performed well, no problems. Overall quality is much higher than the purchase price would indicate, Super Value!

Nothing....

You will be surprised by this pistol, everything I mentioned above makes it a Great choice. Weather a first Air gun or one you can enjoy no matter what else you may own....

Accuracy, low cost.

Although it is hard to cock it mounting a $20 Field Sport Red and Green Micro Dot Sight helps and makes it complete.

Fun little gun Hard to cock but i expected that

excellent pistol feels good in your hand, im going to buy 1 more.

nothing

buy it now

way too hard to cock

ability to cock

way , way , way too hard to cock

Your a fool if you do not pickup one of these pistols. It has great accuracy combined with and even better trigger. I like it so much that I picked up a second one. Pistol just doesnt care which pellets you put threw it. Shoots great with whichever one you chose.

Nothing

I have owned 6 Marksman 2004's (gave away 3 of them to beginning airgunners) and own 1 P17 and have been nothing but pleased with all of them. I've shot the Beeman P3 and they are not identical, but DAMN close. The P3 is smoother in terms of action, has a teeny bit better trigger feel, and has cleaner molding and trimming of plastic flashing, but it's also way more expensive. The P17 is roughly 1/6 to 1/10th the price depending curent pricing for each. The gun will shoot nice cloverleaf groups at 10M. it's an incredible value for the money.

The thin plastic rail system for mounting optics. It's sooooo flimsy. That, plus people tend to want to use the scope on top of the pistol as a lever to open and close the action and you end up with damaged rails in short order. I hate auto-safeties, so this one irks me just like they all do.

If you use a scope or red dot, don't use it as a handle to open or close the pistol's action (see above). WATCH OUT FOR THE PINCH POINTS WHEN CLOSING THE ACTION.

This is an awesome gun for the money! Extremely accurate and fun to shoot.

Make the rear sight a little bit more solid for elevation adjustments. It sometimes moves on me since it gets pressed on during cocking.

Watch the side of your hand when cocking. You might get a good pinch.

After reading many reviews, decided to try the Beeman P 17. Dang, this is a FUN pistol! Balance, grip and size is amazing (over piston charging) and the trigger is out-of-the-box sweet (short travel-clean 2.5# break). Due to the pneumatic power-plant, there's No recoil or break in and I was hitting tight groupings as soon as I got the FO sights set (within first 20 shots). The pistol grip feels great and fits my large hands perfectly. With RWS Hobby 7.0g WC's shooting at 415 fps, got one grouping of .375" at my indoor workshop 10yd range, but still need plenty of practice to be more consistent. After the 1st 150 rounds, installed a low profile RR red dot reflex scope. I'm now a little more consistent getting 1\2" groups. The P17 doesn't hit as hard as some break barrels, but it's proving to be a great target plonker!

So far...Nothing!

Due to the non-break barrel cocking, took me a few rounds to get comfortable with the top receiver swing \ breech loading \ final compression closure, but all that is easily 2nd nature now (careful of "pinch points"). Even with the scope installed, the "adult" effort to close isn't an issue for me, just use my fingers on the receiver outside rails instead of my palm on the back dovetail. As I always set the safety on my break barrel pistols before cocking, I appreciate the "auto safety engagement" upon opening of the P 17 top receiver. I find the shot report indoors a little "loud" (83db), but not annoyingly so and still choose to wear hearing protection. Overall, the ergonomics of the P17 (lighter, smaller, conventional pistol style, good trigger) and the lower cost makes this Beeman pistol one sweet shooter and a great deal for air gunning Fun!!

Accuracy! This gun is crazy accurate! Price! This gun is extremely inexpensive. While it may be prone to some problems, it is easy to work on, and WELL worth doing so if necessary. My current gun needed NO work of any kind.

I am only going by the comments here, but it seems quality control needs to be improved! And I surmise MOST if not all of the problems stem from a burr on the inside of the compression tube at the air intake port. Easily corrected by disassembling the gun and using 400 grit then 600 grit sandpaper to remove the burr. Lubricate the o-ring seal with a little moly grease, reassemble, and enjoy! The gun should now last a lifetime! And at about $40, this is a BARGAIN!

This gun is easily as accurate as any target grade pellet pistol I have ever owned! I own an air venture V10 target pistol and this gun shoots as accurately as the V10 at about 1/8 the cost!

So if you are in the least bit able to disassemble a gun and work on it, buy this gun and enjoy it. If it does give you problems, they are easily fixed!

This feels like the real thing and has decent accuracy @ 36 feet.

The seals are HORRIBLE and after 1000-2000 rounds I have to change the seals every 50-100 rounds at best.I have used white lithium grease for lube to no avail and 3 in 1 oil with the same results. This pistol is not worth the price of shipping let alone the price of $35. I truly got just what I paid for, a learning experience to never try to cheap out on an air gun again.

If you make this investment purchase a case of seals and what ever lube you choose you WILL need it all.

Cheap feels similar to a real pistol semi easy to cock load and shoot.

I wish I would have saved my money and put it towards a real air pistol. Shot a couple thousand rounds thru it and had to change the seals. Now have to reseal it after 50-60 rounds. What a piece of junk. I have put new seals in it 4 times in 1 week I am done with this paper weight.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF CRAP.BTW..Not a problem with Pyramid Air though. They are a great company I will buy from them again. Like 1 of their techs told me in a chat one day you get what you pay for and he is absolutely right.

The value for the dollar is unlike most of what you encounter today. The gun I got is by far more value for the dollar than any of the over 100 airguns I have acquired. Velocity is really consistent. There is no leakage at all in this one. I can let it sit and fire it and it is the same as shooting immediately after cocking. I have measured the velocities of 26 pellets ranging in weight from 7.0 gr. to 8.2 gr. All of the 7.0 to 7.5 gr. pellets exceed 430 fps with the highest velocity coming from the RWS R-10 Match 7.0 gr at 445 fps. Several other of the 7.0 to 7.3 gr. pellets push the 440 fps threshold. Pellets in the 7.9 gr class deliver around 420 fps with the JSB Match Express 7.87 gr. pellet going 427 fps average. It is the highest velocity of pellets in this weight range. All three of the various 8.2 gr. pellets gave nearly identical velocity averages of 411 to 412 fps. I was pleased and impressed at the consistency which indicates stability in the power plant. Accuracy is good.

Take some of the sharpness from the edges of the top rail to reduce the tendency to produce small cuts to the palm of the hand when closing the action. I usually also prefer standard sights and not fiber optic ones but these are very uniform and I like them. The adjustments are precise and the gun was zeroed with the sights having plenty of adjustment left if needed. Most of the 26 different pellet offerings tested landed in the same place on the target but there were some slight differences noted with a couple shooting slightly right of the zero of most. Group size did vary from pellet to pellet but most did group well and three were outstanding: H&N Match Pistol 7.4 gr. WC; RWS Meisterkugeln Heavy 8.2 gr. WC; RWS R-10 Match Heavy 8.2 gr. WC. I will add specific group size information later in the comments section after this aspect of testing is completed.

I have read a lot of the reviews posted here and there is such a wide range of what is experienced from this product, I am an airgun professional and I find that is the case with most Chinese production. Quality control simply can not exist in any practical manner from what I have encountered. At times there is a hint of excellence in one specimen, other times there is a total absence of quality in another. So beware, you will not be able to count on what I experienced. I had in mind to tear my gun down from the start and correct the things that are described in many reviews but instead I proceeded to try it out from the box as it came. After more than 300 shots, I believe I have one of the better examples. Smooth, consistent operation and performance without a hint of fault or pending failure. Most 10 shot strings fired over the Chronograph have an extreme spread of about 5 fps which produces consistent performance and high accuracy potential. I am very glad I put aside my doubts.

The accuracy is great for the price,

Cocking pressure is high, sight rail has sharp edges and construction quality.

The rear sight nut came loose very early. It was glued in place and a drop of lock tite added to keep it from loosening. The rear light tube had to be glued in as well as the elevation pivot pin. With that said I have now put over 4000 pellets through this little gun. Along with the above work the tube and seal have some white grease added occasionally. On a good day 5 shots are still under and inch. I don't why it keeps shooting this good but I just ordered another 2500 pellets.