Since I posted that I've found several resources. Many of my questions though just don't seem to make sense to the long time enthusiasts, too n00bish I suppose.
Hey if anyone sees good clearance deals on this (I hear some wal-marts are clearing them out) let me know! I really like this gun so far, it's got a very satisfying ricochet sound when I miss too..LOL and it also completely blows through the piece of 1/2" sub floor I have as a back stop when I use anything but the wadcutter pellets. This is NOT your kid's bb gun!
Also, I seem to have an issue with holding the gun very still when aiming. I don't know if it's a problem with me physically or just that I'm not holding it right. I was attempting to use the old stance I vaguely remember my father teaching me 28 years ago when I was 10 and had a little .22LR (that was lighter than this pellet rifle by a fair bit too).
The more expensive Beeman rifles are quality rifles from all I've heard. I bought a BF-3000 before which was cheap but returned it as it was cheap quality. The rule of thumb I remember being taught online was '.177 for feathers and .22 for fur' although if you have a 1000fps rifle and using heavy ammo (~10.9-12gr) you can still deliver a killer punch on small fur game.
The rifle you have a spring piston rifle. Most spring pistons I've used are HOLD SENSITIVE. What that means is you have to learn how to hold them. Don't hold the grip with a death grip. You have to hold it with with a little room to 'float/breathe' because the gun will snap it's bi-directional recoil. For those with spring piston guns I'm sure they know what I mean with the holding thing. Kinda hard for me to explain but easier if I showed you.
I would try buying a sampler ammo package from places like Straight Shooters (no affliation) which I recall they had something like a 20 type ammo sampler package with about 20rds of each type for you to try. If you're shooting close range like 10 meters most ammo would work well but if you're going for more range you'll have to test some pellets out.
A good site to check out is
www.airgunforum.ca It was spawned from the MSN Airguns Canada thread a long time ago. There are many airsmiths on the site. Dispite it being Canadian there are many Americans on it and many a Canadians with high powered (we're talking 500+fps - to 1200fps) airguns.
Pyramid Air is one good site to find ammo. Airguns Of Arizona is another. Compasseco in Kentucky is pretty good. I've gotten two guns from Compasseco before and thier tech guy Eric is pretty good on the phone answerign questions when I ordered before.
The Leapers 'Bug Buster' series of scopes as I've read has a good reputation for it's range for 'ratting' and close range pest control with some mid-range as well. They can be be sighted in to 3 meters. :devil:
Not everyone has good enough eyes to go open sights all the time and sometimes a scoped short range rifle is good for precision targeting.
Also check out
www.xisicousa.com (no afflication butI like thier designs). I own the B3-1 AK-47 .22 folder and B5-10 SMG looking pnumatic (pumper). Lets just say the B5-10 was probably tested with heavy ammo in Canada because normal ammo hits HARD
and you can pump to 10 pumps tho it was tested on 4 pumps if I recall right so it can knock out some smaller pests.
The B5-10 also is a 10+1 pellet manual gravity feed. The AK-47 model also has a .177 model as well. I think for the Canadian models they chopped off 2-3 coils to lower the power.
Also Todd Cooper did a full disassemble of the B3-1 with tune and lube how-to.
How much did you pay for your Beeman 1073? I recall Pyramid Air selling it for ~$173 USD. You Americans have the best stocked Wallys. >__<;; We in Canada only have ~2/3 the stock you guys have. BTW can you buy AK-47's and AR-15's in the USA Wallys? Like I know you need a background and licence check and such but curious even if they stock those.
Cheers.
