Beeman First ever .20 cal springer: "among some the most desirable collectors’ items of adult airguns" (Dr. R. Beeman)

[kingfisher61]

Congratulations on your find. Excellent condition and exciting experience.

I recently acquired two prototype .20 caliber rifles from Dr. Beemans museum collection. One is an R1 and the other an RX. Both are pristine and only have been test fired at Beeman. They sport the gold tags, and tags stating they are from the museum. Anyone want to give a value to those??

 

[boscoebrea]

Value,a word I use for something that I would not sell.

 

[Toxylon]

D45's are generally known to have been made also in .20 cal. Whether the Beeman run is the only one, I don't know. But, having made 'em for Beeman, M&G could've easily done a bunch of Diana 45 .20 cals, on almost inertia alone.

I would certainly buy a .20 cal D45 - it is a desirable gun with great history behind it, and the .20 cal adds value. But not for 400 - 500 USD, since I don't pay that kind of money for any gun.

 

[Jonnyroy]

D45's are generally known to have been made also in .20 cal. Whether the Beeman run is the only one, I don't know. But, having made 'em for Beeman, M&G could've easily done a bunch of Diana 45 .20 cals, on almost inertia alone.

I would certainly buy a .20 cal D45 - it is a desirable gun with great history behind it, and the .20 cal adds value. But not for 400 - 500 USD, since I don't pay that kind of money for any gun.

I understand that Dr. Beeman first had Diana make for him the first ever production run of .20 springer rifles (Beeman 250 .20 cal). Only about 40 ever made in this lot. He even listed them in his catalog a year preceding his acquirement. He later decided not to follow through with more production/sales. But then Diana decided to continue with their own production/sales with their Diana 45 .20 caliber. Beeman did do some experimental work in the .20 calibler rifle with the Beeman R5, but never put them into public sales. I was lucky enough to buy one at the Beeman office in 1982 for about $161.

 

[BABz58]

Find another one out there for sale in that condition. That gun is worth 1000.00 if it’s worth a cent.

 

[MDriskill]

That's a lovely rifle! The D45 is a terrific classic airgun - well made and hard shooting - that we tend to forget about. I would think its power is well-matched to that rare caliber.

Keep in mind that the Blue Book was originally mostly Dr. Beeman's work. He famously had a serious falling out with Diana at some point and aggressively pooh-poohed them in his later advertising. As a result - in my opinion anyhow - Diana guns can be suspiciously under-valued in the book.