Beeman R9 in .22 Cal Questions

[woogie_man]

You could always just get both

[DRAGON64]

You could always just get both

In time maybe... I really liked the look of the compact, and might consider the 34 compact in .177.

[DRAGON64]

My new-to-me Beeman R9 in .22 arrived 3 days early (thanks USPS), and she is beautiful!  Ran a quickly 10 across the chrony:

High: 711 Low: 673 ES: 37!!!

She is dieseling a little and smoking... she must not have been shot very much or broke in...

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More info and question to come about this sweet rifle... oh yeah, the UTG 4-16X40 came in yesterday... great timing!

[DRAGON64]

Alright, I have had this rifle for 3-weeks, and I have been unsuccessful in getting her to group.  I mounted a UTG 4-16X40 SWAT scope on the rifle, currently using a Beeman 5039 1-piece mount.  I have tried a variety of pellets, and the Crosman Premier Domed in the tin have been the most accurate... but at 25-yards I am only managing 2.5" groups at best.  Early on I had severe issues with POI shift, which I was able to correct with a little practice at the artillery hold.  This hold irradicated much of my POI issues, yet the rifle will not group for me.

I also recently picked up an RWS 34 Pro Compact.  I can get this rifle to group at .75" - 1" AT 25-yards, and the only scope I had at the time was a crappy 4-32 Gamo scope...  I realise I would be comparing apples to oranges with an R9 in .22 to a D34 in .177, but my point is, the D34 is disadvantaged with a crappy Gamo scope and yet I can shoot better groups with her than the R9 with the UTG SWAT scope... which I feel is a decent scope for the money.

Help would be appreciated, as I know the accuracy is there... but I refuse to take this rifle on a hunt, until I am confident I can place my shot where I need it most.

[Mark 611]

well theirs a few things you probably need to address which are the basic's stock screws, check the tension on the barrel block screws proper trigger adjustment, then if all that doesn't help you then I'll say you need to open up the gun and clean out all the excess lube from the factory and check the seals, HW tends to over lube the internals of their guns especially the piston seal this is not uncommon to find them packed full of grease I hope this helps

[MarkinJHawkland]

It could be a bad scope. I would consider trying the other scope on the R9.

Good luck,
Mark N

[JohnWI]

I suppose a barrel cleaning wouldn't hurt.  Then stuff 20 down the pipe and try regrouping.

Somewhere between the hold, the follow through after the squeeze and the pellets things should align.

Might want to mention which pellets..crosmans are too tight in many guns and out of the tin are not as nice as from the boxes.  But every gun is unique.

[snakebite4767]

Mine shoots a 1/2" groups at 25 yds when I do my part. Even if I'm sloppy, it will shoot 1". If EVERYTHING is tight... then it might not hurt to try the other scope. I noticed your initial velocity spread... it was a little wider that I would want... maybe a tear down, cleaning and re-lube wouldn't hurt. I've had problems with my HW97K grouping, (I think I'm finally getting it under control), but the R9/HW95 has been tremendous. It works so well that I'm not even considering a Tune Kit for it. Mine shoots best with the 14.3 Crosman Premier HP... the Domed Crosman Premier  pellets work OK, but the HP group better for me. It shoots them at 680fps and doesn't vary much, although it has been slowing moving up the more I shoot it.
Hang in there pard .. you have a fine rifle, and from the photos, it looks really nice. Consistency in your hold is very important.

I'm looking forward to your future reports on this.

Snakebite

[wahoowad]

I have an R9 and even after 10+ years I occasionally start shooting crappy groups when I get lazy with my hold. I can shoot 2" groups at 30 yards when it gets bad, then I really concentrate and go back to what works and it improves.  Just mentioning that to show a good gun can shoot bad and not have an underlying problem. That said, 2.5" at 25 yards sounds like something might be amiss in your gun.

I would remove it from the stock, reseat it and tighten the stock screws firmly. I personally use a torque wrench to do it consistently. If I do this I would also clean the barrel. Put 15 or so pellets through it and recheck your groups.

It isn't clear that you have the right pellet for it yet. Hard to tell if you have a loose stock or some other issue. I would try JSB and H&N, something in the 15 grain range. Always surprises me how well a particular pellet will shoot while all others spray. Just a fact of life.

A lot of folks say the R9 is hold sensitive - me included. Pay extra attention to your shooting technique. This is what works for me:

- use a consistent rest. I'd stick with resting it in your palm. Be consistent with how it nestles into your hand and where on the stock your hand holds it. I make sure the trigger guard lightly touches my rest hand the same way every time. I don't grip the gun, instead let my palm lay flat and the gun sitting on top with no fingers gripping the sides.

- take aim, then take one more steady breath, let it out and try to take my shot after exhaling. Find a rhythm that works for you.

- be consistent with where your trigger fingers contacts the trigger and your pull

When I "do my part" above my groups shrink down to 1/2". Not every group but enough of them that I know it is me when they are more open.

If it still shoots like &^^& then I would take it apart and do a lube tune if you feel up for it, or send it off to John in PA for a Vortek or Macarri kit install and tune.

[DRAGON64]

I shot both the R9 and the M34 to confirm nothing has changed since I last shot.  Then I swapped the mounts and scope between the two rifles.  The R9 shot mostly the same with the crappy Gamo 4X32 scope, and the M34, with the new UTG scope, was making nice groups (on painted steel) from 25-yards.  Satisfied that the UTG scope was okay, I swapped it back to the R9.  Now the R9 seems to be shooting much tighter groups (1" - 1.25") now.  I have run out of decent pellets, and most of my shooting was done with Crosman and Discovery 14.3gr HP's and Crosman 14.3gr domes.  I believe I am going to bite-the-bullet and pick up four tins of H&N FTT's with the 5.53 head size... I have read than many a shooter prefer these pellets in their rifles...

[MarkinJHawkland]

Curious to know what pellets you have tried. You say a variety has been tried but I do not know which ones and do not want to re read the whole thread. You might consider trying mid weight JSB's and maybe Superdomes. The FTT's you have ordered may be the ticket too.

Mark N

[limbshaker]

From my limited experience with HWs in .22, some of them seem to have oversized bores. Meaning they like bigger pellets. If you order the FTT's in 5.53, I'd snag a can of the 5.55 size too. Can't hurt and they are handy to have around to help determine if new guns like "big" or "little" pellets. The Beeman FTS is popular with the .22 cal HW guys. Push a pellet of a known head size through the barrel with a dowel to see if it feels loose or tight. This can give you an indication of what head size to try. I just gave all my big pellets to a buddy of mine, or else I'd say bring her by and we'd try em out in your gun.

I bet the problem is your gun is dieseling. An ES of 37fps is not so good. A clean and relube can't hurt. I tore my new HW50s down and lubed it with Krytox and it was an immediate improvement. You can shoot heavy pellets to help burn off excess lube, but its much quicker to just tear it down and clean the gunk out. I'm right down the road from you in Decatur! If you decide to tear it down and need help gimme a shout I've got a 20 ton shop press that works great as a spring compressor. Come by some time and we will get it right. I've got some great squirrel hunting 5 minutes from the house too.

[DRAGON64]

Regarding pellets I have tried:

Note here; some of these pellets were shot in bad form, meaning I was using improper techniques...

Crosman Premier HP's (14.3) - Terrible accuracy no matter the hold...
Benjamin HP's (14.3) - These must be rebranded Crosman Premier HP's... terrible accuracy
H&N FTT (14.66) - These were sampled to me by the seller... 20 pellets not enough to learn the artillery hold on (wish I had these back).
RWS Super Points Extra (14.5) - These were sampled to me by the seller... Accuracy was okay, would like to have these 20-sampls back to see.
Beeman FTS (14.66) - These were sampled to me by the seller... As I began to become more comfortable with the artillery hold, these pellets shot pretty good... but were inconsistant.
Poly Mags (16.0) - These are the last of the sampled pellets sent to me by the seller... I still have these, and expect accuracy to be bad, just due to the design of the projectile.  I will use these eventually.

But a surprise showing yesterday while I was shooting the R9, and that was the Crosman Premier Domes...  I started the day shooting Crosman Premier HP's, and was getting frustrated with sub 3" groups, so I swapped to the Crosman Premier domes... after adjusting for a slight POI shift, I was shooting one holers!!!  Just out of the blue, everything started to click... and two things I noticed; theCP's pellets fit nice and snug, and the diesel smell has all but gone away.  I want to get in and tear the rifle down, and clean and relube (which is scary to me), and get busy get'n busy... High School Marching season is coming to a close, I want to start hunting next month...  Until I am comfirtable with my accuracy, I don't dare take aim on a critter and pull the trigger... know what I mean?

[Mark 611]

Get some H&N FTT's in the 5.53 head sizes and start over HW's in .22cal seem to shoot these well IMO

[MarkinJHawkland]

If it aint broke don't fix it. Might be good advice here. If you are getting one holers why tear it apart?

You will always have some settling in time after a tear down so I say leave it alone if it's working good

Mark N

[DRAGON64]

If it aint broke don't fix it. Might be good advice here. If you are getting one holers why tear it apart?

You will always have some settling in time after a tear down so I say leave it alone if it's working good

Mark N

So I have not serviced this rifle in any way since I received it, short running a few patched down the barrel...  I have run quite a few pellets through her, and now I am wondering if there is any type of typical maitenance I should be performing regularly  (i.e. lubing seals tightening screws etc.)  You are right, if it is not broke, then leave well enough alone...  I'm a tantative tinkerer anyway...  like I said, the thought of tearing in scares me.  I watched the youtube video, and there is a lot to contend with when tearing one of these break barrel air rifles down.

[Mark 611]

their not that hard dude also if you adjust the trigger properly and get the 2nd stage let off set right you'll see a bid difference in you accuracy! I know guy's think these triggers are pretty good out of the box but have really no idea of how good they really are until they get adjusted correctly in my experience with HW's they wont shoot as good as they can until adjust the trigger correctly and clean it up inside or tune it trust me I have owned a ton of HW/Beeman guns over the yrs and have tuned them and have done just about everything you can think of to them  

[JimL911]

Yes the trigger needs to be adjusted. Not the best out of the box, but great once adjusted.

[MarkinJHawkland]

You should check and tighten the stock screws on a regular basis. The two up front and the forward trigger guard screw should be tight. Don't kill them. The rear trigger guard screw should be just snug. It does not tighten to the stock. If your stock screws are loose you will almost certainly have accuracy problems.

For wipe down after shooting I use Ballistol on a micro fiber towel. It doesn't take much and I wipe off everything. Your breech seal should not need any lube. If it gets dirty you can wipe it with Ballistol but be sure it gets dried well. Can cause diesling to use a flammable on the seal. Appropriate seal lube is silicone grease but you really shouldn't need it. Just keep is clean and dry.

Varying opinions on barrel cleaning. I clean mine about every 1000 rounds. Pulled patches of Ballistol to soak and then dry patches until they come clean.

Once a year I pull the action out of the stock and wipe down the parts I can't get to with the stock on. I use ( you guessed it) Ballistol.

That's it.

Keep in mind that airguns are not firearms. There is no powder residue to corrode things like on a firearm. I use different lubricants and cleaners for firearms because of the necessity to clean the powder residue. Ballistol is safe for all components of you airgun so that is what I like to use.

HTH,
Mark N