Page 6 - Beeman P17 Reviews

There are tons of reviews for this pistol floating around the web, and several excellent video reviews on youtube as well. My own experiences are in-line with what most people say: this is a really fine pistol. Dollar for dollar, there are probably no better air pistols in this category i.e. single-shot, single-pump pneumatics. The pistol is precise and has a really nice trigger. The grip is good, and it's very comfortable in the hand. A bit of effort is required to pump it, but with time the motion becomes fairly easy and natural. Loading pellets is also a bit tricky at first but soon becomes second-nature so no issues here. Build quality seems ok, with no obvious flaws on my unit. The gun is mostly plastic, but it's very good quality polymer-type stuff.

Nothing really. It's really hard to find any major flaws here, considering the price point. I mean, it would be really awesome to have a similar pistol that could sport competition-style grips (like the Air Venturi v10 for instance). I'd also rather have standard iron-sights with a squared-off front sight as opposed to the round fiber-optic front. But overall, there's nothing really wrong with this gun though...

I'd recommend you buy this gun for the collection. It's certainly worth it. Once you get it, be sure to visit youtube to get familiar with the 2 or 3 things you should do once you unpack the gun. For one thing, it's recommended that the compression chamber (very easy to get to) be inspected. Or more precisely, that the air intake port (where the air flows in when the pistol is 'opened' up) be verified to ensure the hole has been smoothed out properly (something that's apparently not done consistently at the factory) and which could lead to premature wear on the main piston o-ring. Speaking of the compression chamber: while you have the main piston out, you may want to give a good wipe inside the chamber, it's pretty dirty coming out of the factory. Same thing for the barrel... A cleaning pellet or three is probably all you really need here though. RWS Hobby Wadcutters seem to work pretty well in this gun, and I've heard people say the Chinese-made Pointed Beeman's also shoot well.

I like it. I like the size. Easy operation. No recoil, fairly quiet. A little Fridley to load but not bad. I don't really have any complaints.

I wouldn't change anything. You get what you pay for. What do you want for under $100.

Clean weapon before use, barrel on mine was very dirty.

Excellent trigger and very accurate. A real bargain for sure.

Nothing.

everything, it is as advertised .

nothing

I gave it my own 20/20 as soon as i got it . removed the barrel , cleaned and re-crowned it , removed pump piston inspected and lubed , removed rear sight nut and bolt cleaned and applied blue thread locker reinstalled. Put 250 rounds though it , I like it , it's a keeper.

It really is very high quality and the price is a bargain, The pump chamber is very well built and really packs a punch, it can make it through tin cans cans with sharp point pellets like Hyper Max pellets. The range is pretty good, I was hitting a plastic wheel barrel at 100' I also use mine for taking care of rats in a storage yard and it does a great job with good knock down power and it is easier to swing around and point into confined areas than my pellet rifles.

I really wouldn't change anything because the price and quality of this Beeman P17 are great

I recommend this Beeman P17, It is great for target practice, rodent control and general plinking.

It really is very high quality and the price is a bargain, The pump chamber is very well built and really packs a punch, it can make it through tin cans cans with sharp point pellets like Hyper Max pellets. The range is pretty good, I was hitting a plastic wheel barrel at 100' I also use mine for taking care of rats in a storage yard and it does a great job with good knock down power and it is easier to swing around and point into confined areas than my pellet rifles.

I really wouldn't change anything because the price and quality of this Beeman P17 are great

I recommend this Beeman P17, It is great for target practice, rodent control and general plinking.

Price. Good Quality. Accuracy. Quietness.Nice trigger.and sights. Ease of operation and simplicity of design.

At that price....nothing! I love this pistol.

I tried 12 diff. pellets and settled on RWS Diabolo wadcutters at 7 gr and suspect that the RWS 7 gr Hobby WC would work equally well. Keep all parts of your anatomy out of the way when you close it...or end up with a blood blister LOL. I ported the barrel .25" from crown of muzzle with a 3/32" diameter hole which increased the already good accuracy without any loss of power. The port hole is on bottom. I chronographed it at a very consistent 414 FPS. Always be sure the latch is fully closed before you shoot. A fun gun for those strong enough to cock it.

Straight shooter! Right out of the package with the first pellets I tried, and no cleaning or anything, this gun easily out shoots my other two air pistols (Beeman Dianawerks model 850 and Umarex sa10).

Feels cheap and plasticy compared to my other air pistols, but it was cheap, and is more accurate. I couldnt imagine paying almost $300 bucks for the Weihrauch version made with the same materials.

Loading is kind of awkward and I have had the action pop open when shooting because I didnt close it all the way until it clicks shut.

I just got this gun and I love it. Great trigger, fairly quiet and SUPER accurate. Best gun for the money. I have other, more expensive target guns and this one is just as much fun. Can't go wrong. Simple, easy to cock. Sights are nice and easy to adjust.

Nothing for this price range.

Make sure the latch fully engages before you shoot. Mine needs a little help by pushing the hammer/latch forward to make sure it is fully locked. I am sure it will get better with use. BEST GUN FOR THE MONEY

The price was the teaser along with the Beeman branding. The pellet speed seemed sufficient to dispatch pests in my fruit trees at ranges less than 10 yards. The trigger and self setting safety are adequate for a pistol in this price range.

Loading a pellet with a working mans hands is a frustration. Holding the barrel vertically allows a pellet to be pushed on top of the barrel until it can drop in and be pushed down into the barrel. Enlarging the muzzle hole to allow a loading pen to place the pellet in the barrel would be a simple solution. The windage and elevation screws are loose and move from their adjusted positions. An additional cocking lever to overcome the pistons resistance and keep the flesh on your fingers intact while forcing the barrel down to set the locking hammer would be helpful.

This is a crude copy of Beemans $200 pistol, it isnt sufficiently accurate enough to train with. Using JSB Match Diablo pellets and a sand bag rest failed to produce an acceptable grouping. Another $30 will put you into a Hatsan break barrel pistol that is capable of knocking squirrels out of trees at 10 yards.

Inexpensive. Good trigger for the cost. Surprisingly accurate at close range, for the price.

Smooth the internals better. Seals torn within the first month. Hopefully that's better now as my purchase was several years ago...

That is it. Better polishing internally where the seals rub. And or better quality seals.

This was probably the best deal going for an inexpensive and accurate pellet pistol. The trigger is a multi-lever job and is adjustable, within limits, to taste. Mine was recently bought, the problems with burrs that are on many internet sites seem to have been addressed in manufacturing. When fed with decent pellets, Crosman Premier flatheads for instance, it does very well on targets. There's plenty of info out there on how to replace the seals, they're standard hardware store O-rings and pretty cheap. So easy to keep running. The moving parts are all steel or alloy, the body is plastic, have to make some concessions to price point. Most fasteners are pins for the moving parts, screws hold things together, don't think there's any glued bits on it. Has a decently shaped grip, kind of like a Walther PPS.

Don't care for the "iron" sights, myself, the fiber optics don't improve the sight picture for targets. Others have mentioned that the pellets are hard to load, the pin for the "hammer" barrel latch is in the way, don't see a way for the current configuration to be altered to ease that. And it's got a considerable cocking force, but other single-stroke jobs do, too. Just keep fingers and clothing away from the barrel/handle join and all is well. Open palm works. Not something for the kiddies, either.

Mine is not a Pyramyd purchase, I've got a couple of these. The big discount place that starts with a W was blowing out ALL their airguns for half-price, these were left. So I got one, then two. You can also dry fire them without doing a complete compression cycle, just raise the barrel until the trigger cocks and then close it. I think I've spent more for pellets than the guns cost. Only mods done were to open it up, check the seals and lube with some teflon lube gel. Take pictures, it can be a bit of a puzzle to get all the springs and levers back in place. I deleted the auto safety on mine, the slider was just inconvenient to operate. It still works, just not automatically.

Look and feel ... nice balance and decent trigger for a low end pistol.

Moderate the cocking effort. It is through the roof and frankly a dangerous proposition unless you are Hercules. I had to be so careful closing so I would not pinch my fingers. Tried about 7 shots. Too tiring. I'm an old fan of all Beeman items before the professor retired and sold the biz. Definitely not the same company - legacy products are still great (P1, R9 etc.) but the new ones like this a junk.

Buy something else...I actually threw mine away. Not worth the hassle of even returning it for something else. Not "Beeman" quality at all.

Relatively inexpensive as single shot guns go. The grip, overall, has a great feel. The gun's not heavy t all. The gun has design ques from several different guns as well as the designers imagination, not bad.

I took a knife to smooth the grip halves to get rid of the (as molded) sharp edges. Big difference, much nicer in the hand now.

My copy has a horrible trigger.
The pull weight isn't bad at all. The first stage is nice and smooth to the wall, but the second stage pull on my gun is VERY creepy, long and gritty to final release.
But I guess you can't have everything on a $45 gun..! I'll be looking into fixing what I can.

Dollars to accuracy, the P17 is the best deal in air pistols, period. If you like slow, methodical, accurate shooting on a budget, this is the pistol for you. It may not be a 10 Meter Olympic pistol, but I'm not an Olympic shooter, either. But I can and do appreciate accurate guns that push me to be my very best, and this pistol does that. Benefits include great accuracy, bright fiber optic sights (the rear being fully adjustable for windage and elevation), hair trigger, automatic safety (very important with how light the trigger is!), and only one pump necessary. What more could you want in a sub $50 gun? Solid construction, too. The polymer used feels like that used in a quality firearm. No brittle plastic. This does NOT feel like a cheap toy. The gun has some heft to it! And the ergonomic grip is super comfortable, highly reminiscent of a Walther P99. Oh, and this gun has some power, too!

Can't think of a thing. For the price, no complaints whatsoever.

You can buy two of these pistols for the price of one Crosman 2240, 1322, or 1377. And no extra money spent on CO2 cartridges, and no pumping all day long. I hear those Crosman pistols have excellent accuracy as well, but I grow tired of pumping, and spending extra $ on CO2. And none have the incredible trigger that the P17 does out of the box. In my book, the P17 is the king of the inexpensive target plinkers.

Shoots straight, good balance. Fun to shoot.

Come up with a easier way to load.

Cocking this pistol can be tricky. Not easy for kids. Will give you blood blisters if you aren't careful. Takes a lot to close up, and it snaps shut. You have to make sure that your fingers, and any other parts are clear.

Fun to shoot, low noise, fairly good trigger.

Total bear to cock with sharp edges on the slide and rear sight. (I used a glove to save my hand) Loading takes a little practice.

1st one had a screw missing from the gun. Sent it back and got another one, this one had a broken front sight. However, Pyramyd Air told me to keep it or throw it away and they gave me my money back! Fixed the front sight and put an aimpoint on it. Thanks for the great service PA!

Trigger , accuracy, value

Scope mounting rail needs to be stronger. It is polymer and flexes under pressure.

I have many pellet pistols. These Beeman P17 are without question the best value. I use 7.4 gr wadcutter pellets. H&N Excite Plinking will shoot one hole groups at 5 meters all day. Crossman 7.4 gr Competition wadcutters shout almost as well. I mount micro red dot sights on them. You will need a 11mm to picatinny / weaver rail adapter. The sprin loaded ones work great. I mount red dots between the false ejection port and the front sight. The pistols 11mm rail is polymer and if you mount the scope close to or over it that rail is so thin it distorts. Mounted forward of that port works just fine. You need the top of the slide from that port rearward too the rear sight left uncluttered as you will need considerable force to pressurize the charge.
Yes loading a pellet is a little tricky. Another review spoke of using a small Allen wrench to hold a single pellet and load it. I am uncomfortable using steel around a precision rifle barrel. I use a 3 inch piece of 1/8 inch brass rod to load.

When I ordered this I expected crap boy was I surprised by the quality this is an awesome beginner pellet gun

Nothing

Watch out for those pinch points

Realistic look , great feel in hand weight fiber optic sights

NOTHING

This is a good accurate air pistol