I have an older R-1 (California address) and I had Beeman install a gas piston. It seems, smoother, faster, with more of a "jolt" on firing.
I was wondering if any of you were familiar with this set up and what is your opinion on it?

Is it me or has interest gotten away from this type of airgun in favor of the PCP style?

Years agi it seemed that everyone wanted a Beeman Cro-Magnum...now it seems that Beeman has lost it's corner of the market.

I agree, I find if the "Gas Ram" is making a decent amount of power it has quite an unpleasant sharp recoil and a nicely tuned springer is just as accurate.
It seems if you have a good one that lasts without leaking or sticking or just breaking you'll be OK.
I think there were too many sold that had issues for them to have really caught on. There were lots of the "Theoben Eliminators" about at one time but not too many were of any use.

Specialist, is the Cro-Magnum still popular?
I almost bought one, but I think the were close to $1,000 at the time.
Back to my RX..I love it and the piston does not seem to have lost any power over the 5 years that I have it. I use the copperplated Beeman Double Gold Kodiak pellets. I've killed a few hundred pigeons with it, and they will usually fully penetrate one.

That is the Theoben Eliminator, I think people have gotten wise to Theobens costing 30 to 50% more than they are worth.
Then having to screw around with them in the hope of getting it working properly. With usually no help from the manufacturer at all.
That's if you could even get a reply from them.

That Beeman R1 is an HW 80 I think. Way better than a Theoben.
These days I expect new HW guns to work pretty good straight out of the box and to get seriously nice with a good running in and a nice service. Then last a fair while without any more fiddling around.

It is going more towards PCPs over here, even counting the expense and extra hassle it's worth it.

Hi there, I think that the problem is if you shoot a good accurate PCP with a good trigger, you will struggle to go back to springers. I grew up around springers but am still wowed at just how much accuracy you can get from some pcps with virtually no recoil. I only recently purchased a pcp, and have not shot it much, but shot it alongside a friends break barrel the other day, and with the springer it felt like it had been swapped with an rpg! I had completely forgotten how much recoil you get from a springer, although I never really noticed it before, it was only the dramatic comparison with a pcp after shooting one for a bit.

I have never shot one of the gas-ram rifles, but believe they can be quite good, as you do not suffer from spring weakening etc, but sounds like you do sometimes get a coconut. I know you can get the HW 90 which is a pretty powerful gas ram, think it might be very similar to the Beeman. Some of the powerful, better (expensive) springers on the market apparently have very little recoil eg HW 97, Diana 54, etc, but some approach the price of a pcp. If you just want an air rifle for a bit of plinking or light hunting around the garden then a good springer is still not bad for the price, but if you can afford it, and serious about hunting, then I would still recommend a nice powerful, accurate PCP. Unfortunately here in the UK we are limited to pretty feeble power levels without a fire-arms license, but think that over in the US, you shouldnt have any restrictions.

By the way, the Theoben PCPs look very nice, especially the Rapids, but they do not come cheap. I have not heard any bad reports about them, but they would be more expensive than the Eliminator, and they are rather chunky. The bonus would be even more power than the elliminator and better accuracy with little or no recoil. If I was to go for a FAC hunting bipod rifle, then a .22 Rapid MK2 would probably be high on my list, but would have to be convinced about having to spend an extra £200 or so over the price of an AA S410 extra FAC which shoots just as good.

If the particular Thoben you end up with is a "Good One" it will be cool, BUT if it's a Turkey GOOD LUCK. One friend has just gotten fed up with a new .177 that was just very expensive junk. Another mate got a used .177 and it was NFG as well. I also know a few that are reliable and accurate. But for that price they all should be winners.

In the USA I'd get a Talon there good and easy to work on.
Unless I had LOADS of cash then either Daystate MK4 or a "Ripley".

The HW 100 is not too bad, but a bit complicated.
BSA Super 10 is a good gun but quite old design now.

For Mid price guns you can't beat Air Arms, dead simple and deadly accurate.

A bit off topic, I know, but does anyone know if the super ten has been discontinued? It seems like the R-10 is the new replacement for it (it didnt seem to be in their latest catalogue if I remember)? I way preferred the look of the old super-ten, especially the MK3 if that is the case.

In FAC format you should be able to get some fairly decent power from it in .22 and for a regulated rifle with an option of a nice big bottle, and stylish action I would think it is pretty good value for around £600 or at least offering basically the same feautres as a Rapid 2, but £200 cheaper.

The BSA R10 is the basically same thing, just some cosmetic changes.
You know your on a looser when you have to start fitting a "Muzzle Flip Compensator" to a PCP. To try sell them to the muggs.
If you want the same toys that the big boys have, get a .308.

You can get 40fp out of a .22 S10. But you need to dump the "Regulator" it's only a ball bearing and a spring anyway.
Funny how you still don't need a Compensator.

I noticed too in their catalogue that all the bsa pcps seem to now come with a threaded muzzle-break I thought the general idea with airguns, especially pcps was to try and reduce muzzle blast, not enhance it, hence the abundance of moderators which generally serve a purpose, and are not just for looks.

The crow-magunum/elliminator looks like quite a decent rifle, but looking at their price range, you have a good choice of alternative pcp makes for the same price minus a charging bottle at least. Here is a short review I found on Gunmart... http://gunmart.net/gun_review/..._theoben_eliminator/

The Evolution seems to be quite a popular 12ft/lb rifle as well, looks very neat too, but again quite expensive for a break-barrel. I am sure it is top-class quality, but I would probably go for something like a Weihrauch springer (and save the extra money for a nice scope) or save up a little more and get a pcp before I thought about buying something like an evolution. The great thing is that there is quite a competitive market out there for air rifles and a huge choice to go by depending on your budget and taste.

I see Gamo also seem to be offering the Air-Venturi gas ram system with their air-rifles now, but you have to pay a fee for the conversion. Gamo seem to offer some pretty decent power for the price, but I am not sure about their accuracy or their trigger (also saw a friend's Delta fall apart after just a few years of use). I remember trying to save up for a hunter 440, because it was relatively inexpensive considering the price of equivalent (power) Diana air rifles, but do not think that the two are in the same class to be honest. I really like the Diana air rifles for both power and accuracy, although you will pay a fair bit more for them. Alignment of a break-barrel can be important and I think if you can go for a fixed barrel under-lever or side-lever you will stand a better chance of getting a winner. I would also go for a Diana 54 (semi-recoiless)before I went for an Elliminator, but that is just me. I have been very impressed with the general accuracy and power of a friend's 48/52 in the past and would certainly save up for one if I wanted nice power and fair accuracy without going pcp, although I am just a newbie really to pcps.

I didn't realize that the posters here have so much knowlege on airguns!
So regarding my gas-rammed R-1...does anyone out there do aftermarket work/repairs to this gun that would boost my gun's power even more? Are there any other options or modifications I can do to my gun?
My gas-ram was installed by Beeman about 6 years ago, and I shoot 22 cal Beeman Kodiak Pellets (Double Gold?) from it.

Thanks Fellas!

If it's not been serviced in that time it's possible it could benefit from a going over.

Do you think the piston needs re-charging by now?

Could do ?
If it's a bit easier to cock or seems low on power. Or if it looses it's charge after it's been cocked for a while, any airgun esp the Air Charge type guns should be serviced every year. Maybe every 2 years for light use.

If your a bit handy, and do some research for info on that particular gun and how to strip it down, recharge it and lube it up, it's quite easy to do.