Page 21 - Beeman P17 Reviews

This is the second one I have purchased. These guns are probably one of the very best buys in the Airgun world.

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Be sure and use lithium grease on the gun before you shoot it and keep it lubed. It will not fail you. The second pistol I purchased has the fiber optic sight. Be careful and do not drop the pistol as it is fragile.

Know the limits of what $40 buys. That being said this is a very clever little gem that brings ridiculous value for the money. You MUST take the piston out and sand down the little burr in the cyllender or it will tear up the o ring and leak. Do that, and add a little Molly or silicone, and it will last a long time and shoot better than most people can aim.

Nothing really for the money. DON'T change a thing. Guys. This is the most accurate gun I have ever seen for the money

Remember to clean up the burr in the cyllender with some Emory cloth. Also you can slip a few turns of Teflon tape under the o ring to get a better seal. If you do not do this you will most likely develop a leak

Probably the best value in the entire Pyramyd Air line of products.

Nothing. A bargain beyond compare. Don't let the fact that it comes in a blister pack worry you. This pistol is amazing.

Just experiment with pellets. I have two of these and one likes R10s and the other likes B & N Match.

really accurate, good trigger

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Good heft, feel

Hard to cock. Major chance of getting pinched, particularly after you cock it a few times and you get a little tired. Hurts a lot when you get pinched.

Good looking gun; looks like a gun; feels like a gun; no cheap plastic look or feel here; great weight and balance; excellent sights (rear finely adjustable, fiber-optic front and rear); I'd be happy if this trigger were on all my guns; extreeeeemely accurate and consistent shooter. I bought three of these: one for my wife, one for myself, and one for visitors. After I tuned in the sights, and lubed the piston seal, I can consistently shoot 1" hickory nuts off a tree fifty-feet from my back door. I hung a plastic Easter egg by a length of fishing line from that same tree. My wife hit it six out of six shots, and started bragging, so I said "That's nothing, watch this.", and I shot the string off just below the branch. If I had seen this gun, and had a chance to handle and shoot it before I had known anything about it, I wouldn't have balked a heartbeat to have given double the price for it.

It is a bit difficult to insert pellets at first, but in a very short time I was loading without looking or even thinking about it. It seems that everybody wants everything to be easy these days. Heck when something is too easy the fun goes out of it.

This is not a woosies gun. It takes a bit of muscle—and technique—to cock it. My wife couldn't cock it until I showed her how I had figured to do it, and now she can cock hers by herself. I push down on the upper with my open palm until I can catch the frame with my fingers, then squeeze till it latches shut. You build up some muscle pretty quick, then it's easy. Oh yeah, don't let your thumb or free fingers—or any other sensitive body parts—get between the frame and the upper as you close them together since, as the piston reaches the end of the stroke, the upper slams very hard into lock. I'm not being a wise-guy here, but I highly recommend you—especially ladies—don't hold the P17 against your—ummmm—chest while cocking it. I still have a blood-blister on the fleshy bit below my thumb from the first time I cocked mine two-weeks ago. You should check for burrs around the air-intake hole at the bottom of the cylinder, and grease the piston and breach seal before shooting it. Other than that, this is one gem of a target pistol. Also, I can attest that gray squirrels go down, and don't get back up with head-shots at 40-50 feet. ;-)

Power, accuracy, balance, aesthetics, price

Add a device to aid in cocking, possibly a sliding lever in the same nature of an extendable shoulder stock, or just a tool that increases leverage--I guess I'm saying, "The darn thing needs a lever" Also, inserting the pellet can be a challenge. A molded plastic guide aligned with the breach would improve loading, but how the gun is currently designed it would have to be positioned to the right or left side of the breach, and be allowed to be pushed into a recess when the breach is closed--more effort than I can manage in my hobby-sized workshop.

Know the difference between single-stroke pneumatic power and break-barrel spring/piston power, look at the price, and you should be able to make an informed choice on this airgun. I recommend it.

Ok, I bought this gun a about two or three years ago when a lot of guys on my forum were getting it for Christmas. All reviews were great. I have been shooting this gun like crazy since. This morning I did a chrony check OVER 400 fps with RWS Hobby's. Just a really good gun even if the price was not unbelievably low. Great accuracy, and just fun to shoot.

Would love a fiber optic site on it.

Be sure to keep it lubed with "White Lithium grease" on the forward cylinder and pellgun oil on the rear seal. Put the grease on as soon as you get the gun, so you can protect the main seal.Mine has never lost any power.

Easy to cock. Super accurate at 10M. Great value.

Difficult to load. Quality Control not so great. Rear sight adjustment needs locknut or Loctite.

O-rings don't last, so, expect to rebuild at any time, could last 100 shots or 1000, no way to know. Not too difficult to rebuild for the mechanically inclined. There are 4 O-rings: Breech & Upper chamber are the same size: #008 Lower chamber is: #006 Piston seal is: #116

Fun gun to shot. Not a big dollar gun but you can have lots of fun with this one.

Good value and can't think of anything I would change.

I would purchase the 10-for-$10. Also when you buy from PyramydAir you will be taken care of after the sale if you need anything.

Looks good. The Red Dot that came with it looks good.

I would not have bought it. Waste of money should have saved up and bought a better gun. I didn't buy it from PA so it may have been a referb.

Weak has no power. At 10 feet the pellet bounces off ply wood.

Good accuracy, good power, the trigger is not bad for a $35 gun.

Loading pellets is a little tricky, but practice is helping there. This is never going to be a cowboy action type gun, but loading the pellets is the limiting factor in terms of shots per minute.

It's a fun gun. For $35 I don't think you will regret it. I'm looking forward to some warm weather and doing some varmint shooting (grasshoppers and wasps). It really is darn accurate.

easy to cock

tricky to load

A little tricky to load with wad cutters. Round nose or pointed easier. Haven't shot it much but like it.

The weight and feel of the weapon, very accurate, and it's not fussy about the ammo you choose. I've used roughly around 15 brands without any issues, everything from Skenco type 1's to Black Max type 4's, Crosman SuperPoints in lead give great groupings, and for sheer muzzle velocity Crosman SSP's(points) take the cake in the non-lead offerings. I have a Webley Alecto, and the guns are very similar internally, But the Alecto costs nearly 10X as much.

I would beef up the power a little, and offer it in .22, I've seen where some have changed their .177 barrels for .22 without much loss in power.

This gun is very accurate with no recoil to speak of, so you can use it for some small game applications, I've taken a few squirrels at 25ft+ using Skenco Black Max match rounds, all were head shots and dropped the quarry no problem.This little shooter even handles H&N SilverPoints with good power and accuracy. all in all, This is definitely a pistol I would recommend to anyone who loves target shooting and light pest control. I will most definitely be bringing this gun to the Philippines on my next visit. The Rat's won't stand a chance. Cheer's, Andy

The Beeman P17 is an excellent value for someone interested in a 4.5 mm (.177 cal) target air pistol. Before you buy, think about what it is that you intend to use an airgun for. If you wish to shoot 10 meter air pistol targets and stay in the black at very low cost, this pistol is definitely worth three times what it is sold for. If you want rapidly to make many tiny dents in a barn door from 5 meters or otherwise blast away promiscuously, then skip the P17 and buy the CO2 BB gun which will do that job for you. If you want to hunt, skip pistols and go to a pellet rifle with enough power and accuracy to allow you reliably to achieve first round kills; then make yourself some rat, rabbit or pigeon stew, or at least supplement your cat's diet with your take. Is this an Olympic 10 meter target pistol? No, but it is surprisingly accurate for 10% of the cost of a basic match target pistol such as the Baikal 46. It has good balance, points very naturally and has a splendidly light trigger and servicable open sights. The P17 is a Beeman-licensed Chinese manufactured copy of the Beeman P3/Weihrauch HW40 manufactured in Germany. Except for the post and vee sights (very satisfactory for target shooting, the rear being adjustable for both elevation and windage,) it follows the P3/HW40 design very faithfully for less than 20% of the cost. I have found that Beeman model 1235 7.7 grain coated wadcutters work very well for target shooting in my P17, and are very economical.

Loading seems awkward at first, but will soon become easier, especially if you start with pointed pellets, then switch to wads when you are used to the loading. Beeman Model 1239 8.5 grain coated pointed pellets will serve that purpose. With these products, you can find out whether you enjoy the sport without having to spend serious money on it. While the design is very good, the level of quality assurance in assembly seems, from the sample of user reviews I have read elsewhere, sometimes to fall below that standard. Most are assembled well, but some are less well assembled. While the manufacturer should improve quality control, the P17 is warranted for a year, and is not difficult to work on when the warranty has expired. There is plenty of help for diagnosing and fixing problems on the Web. After about 2,000 rounds, I started to have trouble with pressure loss. Since the pistol was then still under warranty, I spent $12 on sending it to Beeman for repairs. After a month, it came back in good order. Now that it is out of warranty, I work on it myself. A Google search for P17 overhaul led me to a number of useful sources of information, including Derrick's overhaul part 1 and finale, which are step by step guides with very good color photo illustrations (Thank you, Derrick.)

Cocking this device is too difficult for a child, but within the abilities of most mid-late teens and adults. Anyway, it is not a toy and is not suitable for children. The safe handling considerations for firearms apply to pellet guns. The top of the receiver incorporates dove tail grooves between the front and rear iron sights for mounting accessory sights. Some offers of P17s bundle them with an open style red dot sight. If you are, or think that you may be, interested in target shooting, then the P17 is worth your consideration. If you do not enter formal competition, it may be all that you need. In any event, it is a fine pistol for developing pistol marksmanship and maintaining proficiency economically and at home, rather than driving to a firearms range and firing ball ammunition frequently. I know of no other target as good for so llittle money.

Accuarcy is outstanding.

Quality control. Within 30 days it started to leak and had to be returned to Pyramyd Air.

Pyramyd Air is great to deal with. If you get a P17 that does not leak, you will be very pleased with it.

First of all Wow this pistol shoots great. Great air pistol, highly recommend. Great trigger at-least 7" long barrel. Amazing power, I am impressed. Adjustable rear sights better than many center fire pistols.

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It is more impressive in person. Has a good weight to it. I think mainly for big kids and adults. It is not hard to cock but don't think small child would like it.

Excellent target pistol for money.

tough to load pellets...need loading tool that works with this pistol.

I really like the FPS on this gun. I also like the solid weight and feel. I can shoot straight through two soup cans with this gun. It is my go-to pistol.

Just one thing, the cocking effort. It is somewhat hard for me and my 22 year old brother can't cock it at all. But he isn't very strong at all, so...

This is a GREAT pistol!!!!

Good size and feel--good power-goes through both sides of soda can-one side of thick vegetable can.

kinda hard to load--some say hard to pump-but not that bad

best you can get for the price im painting it camo--lots of videos on youtube-how to paint guns camo