Beeman Sportsman Series Deluxe Air Pistol - Model 2004

I shoot airguns for fun and love the inexpensive (relatively) shooting hobby. I have a couple PCP rifles and a break barrel. Years ago I had a CO2 pistol but sold it as it only got 12 low power shots per cartridge. I stumbled upon this pistol while searching for some airgun targets. At $30 bucks the reviews seemed too good to be true. I put it on my list and it became unavailable. Then the whole covid garbage went down and I figured this was a lost cause and just gave up on the idea of owning this pistol. To my surprise it became available for a couple days and I went for it. It took a while to get to me (expected as shipping priorities had changed) but it got here this afternoon and all I can say is WOW. This is the real deal as far as all the positive reviews go. I took it out to the garage (we are seeing snow right now so setting up the outdoor range was out of the question) and proceeded to sight it in (roughly) and shot a 5 shot group of just under an inch at 15 feet free handed! Color me impressed. I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can get this out on the bench and properly sight it in and do some real shooting. I was amazed at the power level this shots at with my crosman premier hollow points punching through 5 layers of cardboard. The trigger is amazing and breaks so cleanly that it is amazing to shoot (almost as nice as the trigger on my Hatsan and that trigger is one of the best I have ever used). The gun is pretty easy to cock (considering the power that single stroke provides) and I had very little issue with loading (I take a size large glove but my fingers are pretty flexible and do well with fine detail tasks) but I can see where it might get a little fussy with larger fingers or if your trying to load it quickly. My gun arrived with the elevation screw loose and the nut fell off. A simple quick fix but once it is dialed in I'm going to locktite it in place. Gun is heavy and a lot of it is very heavy weight plastic (like synthetic stock type material- probably some kind of glass filled nylon) and there is a lot of metal where it counts (hinges, trigger, hammer release, barrel, internals). Noise level is moderate- it could be shot indoors with a proper backstop and only slightly annoy the family. The weight and feel in the hand is amazing and there is just a great comfortable feel to it. The top receiver does have a rail for mounting optics but do be careful as the edges are sharp and could cut when closing it. Directions are written in real English and are clear and easy to understand. I also appreciated the warning about brandishing in public as this looks real enough to be easily mistaken for a actual firearm and could cause possible problems in certain situations. This gun is great for plinking and Target shooting, but probably not good for hunting (other than maybe close range small pest control). This is probably one of the best values in airguns right now. Thirty bucks very well spent.Quick update: I spent a few minutes sighting this in and it puts pellet after pellet in a 1/2 circle. I set up one of my field targets just to see if this had the energy to knock one over. At 15 feet it knocks down the target every time. I'm using crosman premier HPs at 7.9 grains. I put 50 shots at the target and only missed 5 or 6 times (more my fault as I'm still using it open sights). I really can't say enough good about this pistol.Update2 Finally got a nice sunny warm day and did some chrono testing. The results are beyond impressive. I won't go into every pellet tested but every pellet tested (3 shots per pellet) yielded a variance of less than 5 fps. The heaviest pellet I shot was the JSB Heavy which went out at 384 fps. The lighted I shot was H&N target trophy greens at an amazing 435 fps. Crosman HPs shot at 401 fps and RWS hobby wadcutters showed a consistent 418 fps(all 3 shots!) So unusual to find a pellet gun that shots as fast or faster than stated. Also very nice to see such consistency in a simple package. As for the accuracy- well this shoots as accurate as it is consistent. I would be very hard pressed to find a better value in an air pistol.

I am a airgun collector and have been for over 50 years. I started when I was about 11 years old. I have handled all types of airguns and pistols. I own more than 50 by now and this is one of my favorite guns to shoot.I have read all the reviews to get a feel of what this air gun was like and how it was designed. At this stage of my life I am fortunate enough to be able to buy whatever I choose so price is not an issue with me. I have two of the P17s. I have had them for about 5 months now and have had no problems at all. I know some people say they will leak and some have had bad experiences with them right away. But no product is perfect every time. It is really not hard to replace the O rings if they fail. You can get pictured instruction to show you how to do this on the web. I thought about doing this when I first got my guns but since they worked great right out of the package I decided to wait until something goes wrong. Going back 30 or 40 years the quality control of Chinese made air guns left a lot to be desired. One of the reason I own so many Chinese made air guns is because I have in some cases 3 or 4 of the exact same model. I have four B3 air rifles. One is a gem. It shoots as accurate as some of my 5 or 6 hunderd dollar German made models another is very good and the other 2 I just have for parts because they spray pellets all over no matter what tunning I have tried. That being said the qulity of the 2 P17s I own is outstanding for the price paid. One shoots an average 380 fps on my Chroni. and the other 391 with the same RWS pellets. Yes they take effort to cock but you do not need CO2 and you only need one pump to be able to shoot. What I like best, other than the price is that the trigger is very light and smooth and these guns are very accurate. I do not care how cool a gun looks or how much it costs if it cannot shoot straight I will not use it. Since it is only a one pump gun it should not be used for hunting or pest control but it is geart to practice with, for target shooting and plinking. I have since bought a P3 just to see what the differences were. On gross inspection they look almost the same. Both have adjustable rear sights. The P3 has fiber optics on both the front and rear sights. That is nice but not neccessary to shoot straight. they both have a scope rail built into a polimer frame. I think it is 11 mm. this is nice if you want to mount a red dot sight. I have done s on both of my P 17s. with these I get 3/4 inch or less groupings at 10 yards rested. Free hand I do not do nearly as well but that is because I cannot hold the gun as steady as I would like and not he fault of the gun. Inside you can tell that the P3 is made from better materials but the P17s are made with metal too but with aluminum for the compresion chamber. I believe the design is the important part. Both the P17 and P3 are built the same way. I really like the P3 and it will probably last longer without maintenance but it also costs 4 to 5 times as much. If you do not get a lemon I guarentee you will not get a better air pistol than the P17 for the money. If you compare it to some of the CO2 air pistols you will see what I mean. The only pistol that comes close in my opinion is the Crosman 2240 and you need CO2 to power it and you need to upgrade it to a steel breach to be able mount a scope securly. The 2240 is a nice pistol too but like I mentioned it needs CO2 to work were the P17 you can just pick up and use. If you do get a P17 that has problems you can return it to Amazon with no hassle. Two more things, if you do buy the P17 I would suggest getting some type of rubber grip sleeve or decal to put on the grip. The gun itself is not small and because the frame is made from a form of tough plastic it can feel slipery. you can get them on Amazon for 10 to 15 dollars. Lastly, if you mount a red dot sight mount it as far forward on the frame as you can so that you have room to place your hand when you push closed the compression chamber. Don't let any of the negative reviews keep you from buying this gun. I am sure you will be greatly impressed. I know I have been. I do not work for Beeman. I am just a very pleased buyer.