Three Beeman Chief Rifles (LONG Narrative)

[CraigH]

A Tale of Three Beeman Chief Rifles

Tragedy and Comedy Writ Large

This is a review of three Beeman Chief rifles in .22 caliber that arrived at my residence over a period of several months.   The extended time frame is because of this model going out of stock for months between each installment.   Pyramyd Air was the vendor and their service regarding replacement of the first two was excellent.   Beeman USA is assisting with parts for the third.

It must be said the Beeman Chief is a potentially fine platform of the most modest cost for PCP air guns.   The purchase price was $152.99 (new) delivered.   The rifle in general handles well and is fairly well finished.   There are however quality control issues and each of these three had varying degrees of defects.

Chief number one was at first received with anticipation and excitement.   It appeared after a cursory look to be very nice and having some air it should not leak.   A day or two later it was examined and an egregious flaw on the outside of the barrel was discovered.   It had a very deep gouge in the barrel a few inches from the breech which the factory obviously tried to grind out and failing that, in fact making it worse, just blued it anyway and sent it out.   It should have never made it through production and into a box.   This Chief was what would later come be known to be the first version.

It must be noted here that Chief number one had quite a different stock finish than my QB78D and the subsequent two Chiefs.   Chief number one had a lighter, more transparent finish that allowed the grain to show and it was of a bit finer grain.   The other Beemans are of the very dark almost opaque finish.

Chief number two arrived a few months later (back ordered) with no air in its reservoir, not a good sign.   Efforts to fill it failed and with thoughts of the first Chief in mind I was going to return it for a refund, but recanted and would await a third example.

And now to Beeman Chief number three – let the adventure begin!   This example came after being on back order a few months, had no significant cosmetic flaws and also held air, so a few days later it was run across the chronograph.  To say it was running a bit hot is a bit understated.   It quickly became apparent there was no sweet spot.   A number of fills were run and the rifle had an average start and finish of 890 fps and 790 fps respectively, with shot strings running straight down over 20 shots.  There was no bell curve whatsoever, clearly too heavy a hammer spring.   These chronograph results were obtained with the hammer spring adjuster full out and in fact at one point with the adjuster nut out of the rifle.   Seems it would be simple enough to shorten the spring as a beginning effort and while it is out determine the spring specs for buying other lighter springs.

It was not to be so quick and simple.   I have never found Philips head machine screws to be a great design and if such a screw does not immediately pop free, I switch to a hand impact driver to avoid damage.   The rear breech screw was not immediately coming loose, so on to the impact driver.   After a few taps it became apparent there were problems and after a number of heavier blows the damage to the Philips head was complete and never to be removed in a normal manner.

Knowing I now owned the rifle, I proceeded with the only possible path.   The action was carefully set up with v-blocks at the drill press and after center drilling and a progression of standard drill bits, an end mill was employed for the final cut removing the screw head without any damage, cosmetic or otherwise.

Of course as the rear machine screw body is still in place, the bolt/probe cannot be moved rearward enough for good access to the forward Philips machine screw and it was also too tight and the angle is just not right to apply the necessary force.   So next the end mill was used for removal of the bolt probe.   But carbide cutters do not much appreciate vibration (the bolt is not tight in the receiver/breech) or interrupted cuts so this did not go as well as hoped but did get done.   Now the hand impact driver was used to break free the front breech screw, then remove it normally, and lift the receiver/breech straight up and free of the air tube.

Returning to the original problematic rear breech screw, it had to be turned out with locking pliers and it turned hard all the way.   Upon removal about half the black oxide was worn from the screw, but the threads of the now removed end cap appeared to be fine.   This original screw had a common 0.7 mm pitch.   It could not be reinserted nor could a new socket head cap screw.   I wondered if there was a mismatch and that the female thread of the end cap was 0.75 mm pitch but I could not get a thread gauge in and screws of 0.75 mm pitch were not available locally.   So I tried inserting taps of both 0.7 mm and 0.75 mm pitch.   Neither spun right in but the 0.7 mm tap looked to fit better, so it was run through easily with very little cutting of material.   A good choice, and the new screw feels right going in.   When the new bolt/probe arrives from Beeman the rifle can be reassembled, probably with more care than the factory provided.   BTW, this rifle is the second version Chief with tandem probe seals and hammer spring adjuster.

Now what was the original issue?   Oh, right, modify the hammer spring and look for new springs.   When the rear cap and spring were removed there was no washer behind the spring.   With this interesting combination spring adjuster and degassing design, it seems that a washer should be used between the spring and the very limited seat in the end cap.   A well fitted washer is now made for that location.    If anyone wishes to know, the hammer spring from this rifle is 2.55” long, made of  0.047” wire, and 0.394” (10mm) diameter with flat and ground ends and about 15 coils.

[tennx]

Great write up..probably my loss but I dont care to get as involved with modding my guns as most on here....and Im sure it would take the fun out of it for most modders, but would be nice if manufactures at least peeked in to the forum to see what u guys can do with guns/any gun to improve ....good luck