Where are the .20 Beeman R9 owners at? Tell us about your experience

[Bryan Heimann]

I recently re-built a modest collection of airguns- pretty much all Chinese, some nicer than others, and lube tuned them all.  They are all great little guns, but I've never really had one that I didn't like.  It's not my first time around the block, and just like before, I find myself thinking better that I sell what I have and invest in just one, very nice airgun.  Maybe buy another in a year or two, and another after that- so on, and so forth.  Airgun this year, powder burner next year, whatever.  Seems like a .20 R9 would be a great place to start, perhaps the R9 Elite combo from Pyramyd and a nice soft case to compliment her.  With that I could get started in FT, and she would still make a great hunter.  Comparing the "our take" results from Straight Shooters to the Chairgun ballistic data for my marginally more powerful, tuned B19 shows me that the .20 R9 out of the box has as much retained energy at 50 yards with Exacts as my tuned and broken-in B19 does with Kodiaks at the same range, but with a flatter trajectory, plus in Paul Capello's review, he put 5 in a very nice, tiny, ragged hole with the gun he tested that was not tuned.  Not to mention the craftsmanship and the beauty that comes from Weirauch.  It seems to me like the R9 Elite combo is the perfect airgun for the average working stiff that is serious about airguns, who is willing to settle for just one, quality piece-  expensive, but realistically attainable by just about anybody- and probably worth it.  I've probably spent as much on airguns, tools, accessories, and ammo this year as this model costs anyway.  As you can probably figure out, I'm already sold on this, but I want to read about your experiences anyway because I enjoy it!

[Mark 611]

well their awesome! accurate and nice to shoot, I've had 4 20cal R9's and I liked all of them after a good tune most of them shot in the 775fps range with 11.4gr H&N FTT's and if it weren't for the rising cost of the 20cal pellets I'd probably still have them! but I'm just as happy with my old .177cal R10 carbine and it'll do what the 20 will do as far as accuracy and trajectory and give a little more fps over the 20 and theirs more of a pellet selection for the .177cal that your kinda limited to with the 20 JMO

[tjk]

The R9 is a great rifle from everything Ive heard of them. But if you go with .20 as your caliber of choice,......which is in fact a great caliber,....why not go all out and get an R1. Long barrel or carbine, they are a powerful and accurate all purpose rifle that really bring out the best attributes of the 5.0mm caliber. Being more powerful than the R9, they will shoot the .20 pellet with a flatter tradjectory. My carbine is a laser-beam at 30 yards. Nice retained energy on target impact too.

[SMOKEY]

i have an r9 in 20 and installed the vortek kit really just an all around awesome gun light enough to carry easy enough to cock u can shoot all day more accurate than any person i know me included great trigger fun fun fun reasonably quite nicely built pretty what else can i say buy it now before u change your mind

[PakProtector]

...why not go all out and get an R1.

Bah!!! half-measures availed us nothing!!! Get an 20 cal. RX2 instead. Mine is shooting well over 20 FPE with 13.7 JSB and it is remarkably flat( as you'd expect of a 900 fps round ). The boogey man that is its cocking effort is just a fun excercise machine... you'll grow into it quite quickly enough.
cheers,
Douglas

[Ballistik_.20]

Any R series Beeman in .20 will be an awesome, multi-purpose rifle.

".20 caliber (5mm) is a perfect example of obtaining large ballistic gains in performance with small, optimal changes compared to .177 caliber. The 5mm trajectory remains nearly as flat, but its heavier weight lets it carry about 40% more energy for the same velocity. This is the best general purpose caliber."
-Beeman Precision Airguns

[VAFarmer]

Unless you want/need the extras....just go HW95 in .20.

Had one, tuned by Billy Kizy. 

Great gun.  The guy who sold it to me was great.  Just found that a) I never used it like I wanted to, for fear of damaging it and b) .20 cal is a little harder to come by.

Very flat shooting, only gun I have ever had that shot Preds decently. 

If I didnt strap my guns to a 3 wheeler to carry around/hunt thick brush, I'd still have it.

God bless,

Farmer

[Calmark]

I have an R9 in .20 cal. and its neck and neck with my .177 FWB 124 as to being my most accurate springer.  I'm not a great shot, but I can get 1/2" groups or under with it at 20 yards if I am consistent shooting it.  Mine shoots the JSBs the most accurately, followed closely by the H&N FTT or Beeman FTS (same pellet).  I think its the perfect size, weight and balance for me (5'10", 180lbs) and the cocking effort isn't too bad.  I find the cocking effort of my HW80 in .22 cal. (same gun as the Beeman R1) to be quite a bit higher, so I always reach for the R9 first.  Even with greater power in the HW80, I find the R9 isn't too far behind, and I personally prefer the lighter weight and cocking effort. 

I recently had the chance to shoot my neighbor's Beeman RX-1 in .20 cal. and if I were to go with a power level of a magnum like the R1/HW80, I think I now would opt for an Beeman RX.  The trigger isn't as nice as a Rekord, but the shot cycle of the gas ram was very smooth and there seemed to be no torque when firing it. 

For an all-around gun though, you can't go wrong with the R9, or whatever Weihrauch you choose in the end.  I've got the R7, R9, and HW80/R1 and of them, I most prefer the size of the R9.  Maybe you need to try them all and collect the baby R7 all the way up to the big daddy R1 to see what you most like or to have lots of shooting variety! 

[Rico14]

My R9 .20 has a Vortek PG2 kit installed. It shoots flat out to 50 yards. It's shooting H&N 11.5 @ 830 fps and JSB 13.7 @ 767 fps. The Vortek kit has smoothed out the shot cycle and accuracy. I'm getting one ragged hole at 25 yards.

[Bryan Heimann]

Rico, as far as I'm concerned, those are the magic numbers.  Exactly the kind of information that I'm fishing for.  A .20 R9 between 17 and 18 FPE that still shoots smooth and keeps them in one hole sounds like a dream come true.  If I had to choose just one airgun, a .20 R9 with a Vortek kit and a nice scope would be hard to beat.  I'd even prefer that to the more powerful R1 or even the RX2, because I think it would be so much easier to carry in the field.  All the power that you need is there.  I wouldn't even consider that "settling" for one gun- more like taking a huge step up.  Then again, so is an R9 out of the box!