Beeman and Webley

[Cordite]

Hi. I just came into possession of two air guns:

1. a Beeman Model R1, made in West Germany. Has a nice wooden stock with checkered grip, adjustable rear sight for elevation and windage, globe front sight in .177/4.5mm. It's a beast. It also appears to be drilled and tapped for a scope, and has an adjustable trigger.

2. a Webley & Scott Hurricane air pistol in .177/4.5. This is also marked Beeman Precision Airguns, so I guess Beeman is the importer. It has an adjustable rear sight for windage and elevation and also has a globed front sight.

I'm not an airgun person but might be, if these are decent pieces. Does anyone know anything about these? I do believe they are fairly older airguns. This one also has a telescopic sight mount that can be attached.

I'm checking around but if anyone knows about these and can give me an opinion, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[6Den]

Mixed reviews for the Hurricane, here's an article: http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2005/11/webley-tempest-hurricane-whats.html

The R1 is a premium magnum air rifle that is still available:
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Beeman_R1_Supermagnum_Air_Rifle_No_Sights/1897

I would have a competent airgunsmith check over the springs and seals, but I would shoot and enjoy them. Oh, also keep in mind that spring piston guns are very hard on mounts and scopes due to reverse recoil. Make sure to use only airgun-rated optics so that you don't destroy regular scopes.....even nice, expensive ones.

 

[MaxVO2]

Hi. I just came into possession of two air guns:

1. a Beeman Model R1, made in West Germany. Has a nice wooden stock with checkered grip, adjustable rear sight for elevation and windage, globe front sight in .177/4.5mm. It's a beast. It also appears to be drilled and tapped for a scope, and has an adjustable trigger.

2. a Webley & Scott Hurricane air pistol in .177/4.5. This is also marked Beeman Precision Airguns, so I guess Beeman is the importer. It has an adjustable rear sight for windage and elevation and also has a globed front sight.

I'm not an airgun person but might be, if these are decent pieces. Does anyone know anything about these? I do believe they are fairly older airguns. This one also has a telescopic sight mount that can be attached.

I'm checking around but if anyone knows about these and can give me an opinion, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

***The Beeman R1 is a fantastic pellet rifle. It was one of the most powerful spring piston air rifles of its day. It sold for about $350-$400 back in the late 1980's and had lots of accessories that you could purchase direct from Beeman or its distributors. If it is in decent shape, it is worth at LEAST its original cost. It is a high quality piece.

Below is a pic of one (top one, shown with match sights..). The R1 shown has non-stock sights but is otherwise original.

The one below is a Venom tuned Weihrauch hunting pellet rifle in .22 with scope. It's a really nice piece with significant modifications, tuning, and accurizing. It is a delight to shoot and has surprising recoil as all powerful spring piston guns do.

Both rifles came with bench rest data on accuracy as well as boatloads of other info on their assembly, etc.. They are remarkably accurate - more so than any firearm at their intended effective range.

I'm not familiar with the pistol you listed. Perhaps someone else knows something or you can find out on one of the big air gun sites like Pyramid...

http://www.pyramydair.com/

Good luck with your new acquisitions!

 

[mswrc]

No no, they are both junk. You need to get rid of them as fast as you can because... well because they may blow up or something... yeah that's it. ...and to show you what a nice guy I am, I will stop by and take them off your hands and keep you safe.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

[smdub]

Both very nice springers. The R1 is worth $400+ depending on cond. They came in .177(4.5mm), .20(5mm), and .22(5.5mm). I have a pair of .20s

The hurricane is much more modern so not worth as much. I have an OLD webley premier.

If you contact me, I'll try to take a snapshot of the blue book for you. A good place to look for info on them is the 'yellow forum' on network 54. There is a classified section there you can search to get some ideas.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/

And FYI, do **NOT** dry fire a springer. You **MUST** have a pellet in it when you pull the trigger. The piston needs the backpressure to keep it from slamming into the end of the compression tube and damaging stuff. Really old ones have plastic seals that rot. If whitish powder puffs out the port then the seal is gone and needs to be replaced and not be fired until fixed.

 

[Tebonski]

Do not dry fire them. You can destroy them. Also don't use petroleum based oils for the airgun chambers. And like the other guys said, shoot them and enjoy them.