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| .20 caliber Beeman R-9 |
For the last thirty years or so, I've taken most of my small game with spring-piston
air rifles. When a rifle of this type is cocked, a piston is retracted against the force of a powerful mainspring.
The piston is restrained from forward motion by the fire control mechanism (trigger). When the trigger is depressed,
the piston is no longer restrained, and it is driven forward by the mainspring. The moving piston compressess a small
volume of air to relatively high pressure. This compressed air flows through a small hole in the compression tube and
impinges on a pellet in the breech, pushing it out of the barrel. The powerplant of a spring-piston air rifle is self-contained,
in that the compression of air used to power the pellet is done within the rifle itself.
In contrast, the pre-charged pneumatic air rifes that are widely used by hunters in the United Kingdom require an external
source of compressed air for power. With these rifles, compressed air is either decanted from a scuba tank or sourced
from an external pump. With a spring-piston air rifle, I don't need to bring a scuba tank that takes up limited
space in the hunting car that could be used for camping gear, and I don't have to have a scuba tank bouncing around in the
back of the hunting car when negotiating rough tracks used to access the areas that I hunt in. I also don't need to
overcome the logistical problem of hand-pumping clean air into my rifle in a dusty envrionment that is a mile above sea level,
which describes many of the areas of California's vast High Desert that I enjoy hunting in.
The spring-piston rifles that I shoot all utilize conventional metallic mainsprings.
Some spring-piston rifles, such as those manufactured by Theoben Engineering in the U.K., use a "gas strut" spring instead
of a metal one. The "gas strut" is similar to the struts used to hold up the liftgate on a modern SUV when it is opened.
The problem with "gas struts" that I have found is that they are unreliable in cold weather, with failure ranging from significant
power loss to complete inability to discharge. My metallic-spring rifles, on the other hand, have functioned reliably
down to 17 degrees F. This is important to me because I frequently hunt in temperatures well below freezing,
and I need a rifle I can rely upon under severe cold weather conditions.
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| The Beeman R-9 Breech |
I prefer barrel-cocking rifles over those that utilize a fixed barrel
and a seperate cocking lever, and the photo to the left amply demonstrates why this is so. The open breech of the barrel-cocking
air rifle makes reasonably rapid re-loading a viable proposition. This is particularly important to me in quail hunting
out in California, where I am often presented with multiple, consecutive shot opportunities that quick re-loading allows me
to capitalize on.
I take the majority of my small game with rifles in the "mid-magnum" class.
These will put out 13 to 16 ft/lb of energy at the muzzle, with an advertised velocity of 930 to 1,000 ft/s in .177 caliber.
There are far more powerful spring-piston air rifles on the market today than those that I utilize, but that added power
comes with the penalty of additional mass and bulk. That added power on the "front end" at the muzzle doesn't automatically
translate to significant gains in energy at the 50 yard line, either, due in large part to the unique aerodynamic properties
of airgun pellets. What often happens with spring piston rifles more powerful than those that I shoot is that their
initial energy gains are squandered in increased aerodynamic drag. In other words, rifles in the power class that I
shoot don't develop impressive muzzle velocity or energy compared to more powerful choices,but they do carry a higher perentage
of thier initial velocity and power downrange, where it counts, than rifles in the next power class do.
This is why I had little trouble selling my .20 R-1 to finance the purchase of my lighter and more dynamic handling .20
R-9. At the muzzle, the bigger R-1 trounces the .20 R-9 for velocity and power, but downrange, where it really counts
the most, the difference isn't great enough for small game animals to notice.
Given the terrain that I hunt upon, which is typically rugged and steep, I simply don't want to carry more weight around
than I need to. A Beeman R-9 in .20 caliber will develop 14 ft/lb of energy at the muzzle and thwack a target 50 yards
away with about 9 ft/lb of thump. That is enough power to humanely take all of California's resident small game species,
including large jackrabbits and wild turkey, and it comes from a rifle that weighs 7.3 pounds, sans scope and mounts.
It also shoots with a trajectory flat enough to allow a maximum field distance of 50 yards, which is plenty for most small,
edible game hunting situations. For the hunting that I do, I need the most power that I can get in the lightest, most
accurate, and most reliable platform, which also offers relatively rapid shot repeatability. For me, the only
rifle on the current market that comes closest to meeting my requirements "out of the box" is the Beeman R-9 in .20 caliber.
The break-barrel, spring-piston rifle has been a mainstay hunting arm among American airgun enthusiasts for decades.
While pre-charged pneumatic rifles have a small and devoted following here in the U.S.A., I believe that the spring-piston
powerplant will remain the most popular among America's adult air rifle enthusiasts for many years to come The self-contained,
simple, rugged design gaurentees reliable peformance under harsh, remote conditions. Those of us who started shooting
adult precision air rifles prior to the advent of modern pre-charged pneumatics managed to hit what we were aiming at with
our "springers" way back when and we still do today. A quality spring-piston air rifle is still
an incredibly precise piece of shooting kit when the correct shooting techniques are applied to its use in the field.
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| .20 Caliber Beeman Field Target Special Pellets |
Caliber
Modern sporting air rifles are commonly available in .177, .20, and .22 calibers. A limited number of air rifles
are available in .25 caliber, and there are some 9mm air rifles in use, as well as even larger bores offered by custom makers.
While these larger bores are interesting, the three traditional smallbore air rifle calibers all work well for most shooters
taking resident small game with air rifles.
As with firearms, the choice of caliber in air rifles is a highly personal and subjective one. That said,
the choice of caliber is still largely predicated on the game being hunted, the terrain that it is hunted upon,
and the manner in which it is hunted, just as it is in firearms shooting. One shooter may get by quite nicely with just
one caliber, while another shooter might perceive a need for all three.
.177
When all three of the common smallbore air rifle calibers are fired from the same spring-piston powerplant, the .177
caliber will generally have the highest velocity. It may have the flatest trajectory of the three when fired
from the same make and model of rifle, too. In spite of conventional wisdom to the contrary, modern advancements in
pellet design, largely driven by field target competition, has enabled the .177 caliber to deliver as much energy downrange
as the larger .20 and .22 calibers can when fired from the same model of rifle -particularly in spring-piston rifles
of the "middle magnum" power class.
The .177 caliber tends to penetrate deeper than .20 or .22 when fired from rifles using the same powerplant. The
higher velocity and smaller frontal area of the .177 caliber pellets are the main reasons for this. The problem with
the .177 caliber is that although it penetrates very well, it makes wound channels that are very narrow in diameter. Because
of this, it is best utilized for species that aren't particualrly tough to put down, such as cottontail rabbits and quail.
As a quail caliber, the narrow wound channels are something of an asset, as the smaller hole results in less bloodshot meat
on these relatively small and fragile 9 to 12 ounce targets.
My main application for the .177 is in the long-range shooting of quail and cottontails found on California's vast High
Desert public hunting lands. Late in the California quail season, the birds are prone to stay far out from the muzzle.
When I know that most of my shooting on quail will be done at ranges greater than 40 yards, the .177 is the caliber I use
because the flat trajectory it offers makes range estimation less critical in the field, and the added velocity helps reduce
the influence of wind on the flight path of the pellet.
.20 Caliber
While I have used the .177 and still use it for certain situations, the .20 is my favorite air rifle caliber, hands down.
Even when discharged from mid-magnum springers, the .20 caliber will shoot flat enough to allow for a true 50 yard maximum
range. The .20 caliber makes a bigger hole in game than the .177 caliber does, too, making wound channels on par
with those made by the .22 caliber. It drills a hole that is big enough and deep enough to anchor all of the common
resident small game species taken with air rifles -from little Oklahoma tree squirrels to large California turkey. It
is adequate for all of the small game animals that may be legally taken with air rifles here in the United States, and it
is the caliber I prefer for hunting tougher species like turkey, large jackrabbits, and tree squirrels.
Dr. Robert Beeman was a staunch advocate of the .20 caliber for field use while he was still at the helm of Beeman Precision
Airguns, and he is still a staunch advoate of the caliber, even though he no longer has financial ties to the company
that bears his name. That fact seems lost on detractors who believe -quite wrongly, in my view- that Dr. Beeman's
advocacy of the .20 caliber for field use in airguns had more to do with marketing, than anything. I tend to think that
Dr. Beeman recommended the .20 for field use and continues to do so because he's a fellow with refined good taste who
happens to know a thing or two about air rifles and their usefulness as small game harvesting tools.
.22 Caliber
As long as there are still pellets made in .20 caliber, the .22 is a choice that I have very little personal use for.
Several decades of experience in hunting with air rifles have led me to believe that anything a spring-piston air rifle
in .22 caliber can do would be done better by that same rifle in a .20 caliber version. In rifles under 17 ft/lbs of
muzzle energy, the trajectory of the .22 isn't flat enough to be of use to me for the hunting that I do -particularly the
upland game bird hunting that I do out in California. In order to get a .22 that shoots flat enough to be effective
for me, I'd need to move up to a rifle putting out close to 20 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle, with a corresponding penalty
in rifle mass and bulk that I am not willing to pay. There is very little difference in wound channel diameter
that it makes compared to that delivered by a .20 caliber rifle in the same power class, but there often is a marked difference
in penetration between the two calibers, with the slightly smaller bore getting the nod as the deeper-digging choice
between the two.
For the shooting that I do, there doesn't seem to be any advantage whatsoever in using the .22 caliber instead of the
.20, but there are two disticnt disadvantages, with the first being lower muzzle velocity and the second being reduced
penetration potential.
The lower muuzzle velocity translates into reduced maximum point blank range with makes accurate range estimation highly
critical in the field. It also complicates the process of correcting point of aim as required for inclination to the
target, i.e. shooting uphill or downhill. The increased dwell time in the bore adds even more challenge to accurate
spring-piston shooting, and the increased flight time gives the wind a greater opportunity to effect the pellet's flight
path.
In spring-piston air rifles, I would rather shoot .177 over .22 and take advantage of reduced barrel dwell time, reduced
flight time to target, the flatter trajectory, and the markedly increased penetration potential of the smaller bore.
The only reason I can personally see for choosing .22 over anything else is if I were looking for a rifle for
California turkey hunting, where .20 is established as the minimum bore, and the model I was interested in wasn't
manufactured in .20. Then again, if it wasn't manufactured in .20, I probably wouldn't personally be too interested
in it.
.22 caliber can be effective on game. I've hunted with people who were true believers in it and managed to kill
cleanly with it. As long as there is a superior alternative, however, I am inclined remain less than enthusiastic about
this bore size as applied to air rifles for field use. I would strongly encourage anyone looking for one air rifle to
"do it all" to bypass this caliber and seriously consider using a .20 instead.
Thoughts on Penetration
Where penetration is concerned, I am not one who believes that you can ever have too much of it. This is why I
would prefer to shoot .177 over .22 in the class of air rifles that I rely upon, if those were the only options, and why I
am gald that there is still a .20 caliber alternative, as I find the .20 to have much of the same deep-digging penetration
power that .177 is known for, while making wound channels significantly larger in diameter. I am perhaps a
victim of my firearms hunting background, but because of it, I see little difference in popping a bunny with an air rifle
or a cape buffalo with a .375 Holland and Holland. In both cases, the game in question can absorb far more kinectic
energy than the respective rifles can deposit into them with a single shot and in both cases, it is penetration that allows
vitals to be pierced and taken out of commission that does the actual killing, rather than "hydrostatic shock." When
shooting something big and mean that can fight back, through and through penetration is what anchors the animal and stops
the fight before it starts. You will not find a single licensed professional hunter in Africa who will dispute that statement.
While a charging cottontail isn't a threat to life and limb, it still deserves to be anchored and quickly dispatched.
With "too much" penetration, I can shoot right through the brain pan of a rabbit even with a comparitively wimpy little Beeman R-9
in .177, given proper pellet selection. The result is instant death every time, no different than if the same shot was
made with a .22 LR firearm. With "too much" penetration, I know I can reach vital organs and pierce them, even on a
less than ideal quartering away shot. With "too little" or "barely adequate," the end result is not so well assured.
Again, this is why I favor .20 caliber generally, because in my experience, it offers the best balance of deep digging
penetration and wide wound channel formation in air rifles of the power class that I routinely shoot, while maintaining
a usefully flat trajectory to make long range shots out to 50 yards still viable. With the .20, I still have what
some folks on airgun bulletin boards like to call "too much" penetration. This has the most value to me when things
go horribly wrong, and a follow-up shot at a less than ideal angle is required to finish an animal or at least stop it so
that it can be finished.
For Air Rifles
For Air Rifles
The Drop-In Fix from Charlie's Springer Works
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