What is so special about 'San Rafael' Beeman/HWs?

[jlieu]

I apologize if this has been posted somewhere...I couldn't find it though.  Apparently, there are a lot of threads which references 'San Rafael' and 'Santa Rosa' lol.

I've seen a lot of members (as well as Dr. Beeman himself) stating R1 and R7 of the 'San Rafael' and 'Santa Rosa' era being 'special'; however, I could never find the reason why?

Is it just because it is rarer?  Or were they actually of noticeably better build? 

Thank you! 

[Motorhead]

Just defines an EARLY manufactured rifle.  Many feel that these early rifles were just a cut above typical production guns of the time.
Many versions done for the USA market at the time were above power allowed in Germany and a lot of Europe ... so the attention to detail in having a balanced power plant ( Spring & guide ) just had these earlier guns a tad tighter & great shooters, also a bit nicer wood etc ... than later years where these Hi-power versions became full on production models.

[jlieu]

Good to know.  Thank you for that clear explanation Motorhead.

[RedFeather]

I find the stocks on the early R1 to be more nicely appointed, especially like the grip cap.  Some people are into the early Beeman stuff more as collectors than shooters.  Seen things like Beeman brakes going for rather silly amounts considering they are really no better than many available today.  Heck, I am seeing springers of the same vintage by other brands going for much more than they would have fetched five years ago.  Nostalgia?  New guns less well made?  Even in their hey day, some of these guns were just OK by any time's standards.  Had a Webley that buzzed like a bucket of hornets and the logo engraving, if I may stretch that term, left something to be desired.

[Nikoman]

The San Rafael R7's had no built-in safety whereas the Santa Rosa's starting having the safeties on them. To some people, that's a huge deal for plinking so they don't have to keep clicking off the safety button before shooting. To me, it's no big deal between the different iterations of these R7's, I've had better shooting Huntington Beech models than some of the older ones. I myself prefer the safety catch since I let newbies shoot my guns and that extra bit of safety is nice for the operator and the gun's sake for damage (if one were to accidentally touch the trigger while the barrel is cocked if the person doesn't hold onto the barrel like they're told).
I have been noticing lately that the newer HW's don't have the same bluing as some of the older ones, the older ones have more attention to detail in the finish. Red also pointed out the stocks, the older ones were also nicer in my opinion.

[Duckfish]

Took my two best spring guns to the range ths morning.  TX 200 and my old Santa Rosa R10 .20.  Had just cleaned the barrels and wanted to shoot offhand for practice as I could not attend the club silhouette shoot on Sunday.

TX shot as always, dead on.  R10 (HW 85) has original open rear sight and globe type front sight, so I can only really see the nearet target, (chicken) Beeman put 5  shots in the chicken.  Light wind, offhand. 20 yds.

That's one reason they are so highly regarded.

Duck