I ordered a .22 Beeman R9 from Straight Shooters, they accidentally sent me a .177. I like the gun so much, I decided to keep it anyway. I asked to exchange my .22 pellet sampler for .177, but they told me to keep it and sent one in .177 for free 
I also ordered a Hawke 2-7x32 scope and rings from Pyramyd. While I was getting this gun dialed in today I decided to make a quick range review out of it.
Boxes, last night...
I really like the height of this scope. Hawke 2-7x32 and Hawke low rings on this rifle are a match made in heaven.
Range, this morning...
Sexy beast right there, and literally ROCK SOLID concrete benches. I love this range!
The first 5 shots, plain Jane Crosman Hollowpoints, 25 yards. Sub half-inch group. I love these cheap pellets! Accurate and hard hitting at close range.
Rough zero with Crosman Hollowpoints. I had some trouble with the scope adjustments, and started to think they were actually 1/2 MOA. Once I figured that out, one more good adjustment got me on target. In hindsight I think I just screwed my math all the way up, but we will get back to that in a minute.
4 more different pellets, all 1” groups or better. I tested RWS Supermags, JSB Hades, H&N Barracuda Magnum, and Crosman Copper Mag. I would not hesitate to hunt with any of these with this accuracy.
Hard hitting heavy wadcutters. Respectable accuracy for a .177 wadcutter at this power level. These hit HARD!
Crosman Copper Mags. Good enough to hunt, but I really expect more out of a good dome pellet. This isn’t the one.
I threw one out of this group, the flier was my fault so I shot one more. That is 5 shots that nearly fit under a 9mm case head
So far it looks like the Barracuda Hunter and JSB Hades are about tied. I don’t think the flier in the Hades group was my fault, but I could be wrong. I drive a rig so I can’t practice every day. I miss sometimes, it is what it is. Even with the flier, I am getting about a half inch with both these pellets.
Stretching it out to 50 yards, the wind became a factor. The side berms are a bit further apart on this side, and it was a pretty breezy day.
These Crosman Hollowpoints are great out to 30 yards. Past that I would use another pellet if it isn’t dead calm out. The wind was pushing them all over the place.
I called the outlier on the far left on account of the wind kicking up. One more shot and there are 5 shots about and inch and a quarter CTC. Spread out in an almost perfect line left to right.
These pellets dropped exactly 4 inches from 25 to 50 yards.
I dialed up the elevation 12 clicks based on 1/2 MOA adjustments and it got me half way there. At this point I realized I just suck at math. Dialed up 12 more, elevation right on point based on 1/4 MOA adjustments. The wind was blowing these pellets all over the place.
Next up, H&N Barracuda Hunter and JSB Hades. These results had my adrenaline pumping! It was all I could do to mitigate my heartbeat for these shots.
Barracuda Hunters, just a smidge over an inch center to center at 50 yards. This might be the one.
JSB Hades, about the same results. This group is a shade bigger than the Barracuda Hunters group, but the flier might be the wind or it might just be me. If so, the edge would go to the JSB’s, but regardless that is less than 1 1/4” including the outlier.
For now I decided to settle on the Barracuda Hunters. Mostly because they have a screw on lid vs the JSB Hades that came open in my range bag.
Long story short, this gun lives up to the hype and then some. It is beautiful, has the best trigger, best workmanship, best balance and best feel. It achieves good hunting accuracy with any load and unsurpassable accuracy with a load it likes. There is some spring noise but it doesn’t bother me one bit. I will add that the trigger was heavier than I expected out of the box, but it is a hunting rifle and I prefer the factory setting. It is perfectly crisp and predictable with zero creep or over travel. It is nearly perfect and I can recommend it to anyone.
Side note- I re-zeroed at 25 yards with the Barracuda Hunters and shot a 50 yard group to determine holdover. Barracuda hunters drop 3” at 50 yards, vs considerably lighter Crosman Hollowpoints that drop 4”.
Also noteworthy- the “mil” dot subtensions on this scope are about 3” at 50 yards on max magnification. That’s about 6 MOA or a shade under 2 mils. Other than that, it’s great. There is not another scope that fits my needs as well, except maybe a 2-7x32 AMX but those are not illuminated.
I’ll post a follow up after about 1,000k rounds but I will have a lot more pellets to test!
Thanks for looking
I also ordered a Hawke 2-7x32 scope and rings from Pyramyd. While I was getting this gun dialed in today I decided to make a quick range review out of it.Boxes, last night...
I really like the height of this scope. Hawke 2-7x32 and Hawke low rings on this rifle are a match made in heaven.
Range, this morning...
Sexy beast right there, and literally ROCK SOLID concrete benches. I love this range!
The first 5 shots, plain Jane Crosman Hollowpoints, 25 yards. Sub half-inch group. I love these cheap pellets! Accurate and hard hitting at close range.
Rough zero with Crosman Hollowpoints. I had some trouble with the scope adjustments, and started to think they were actually 1/2 MOA. Once I figured that out, one more good adjustment got me on target. In hindsight I think I just screwed my math all the way up, but we will get back to that in a minute.
4 more different pellets, all 1” groups or better. I tested RWS Supermags, JSB Hades, H&N Barracuda Magnum, and Crosman Copper Mag. I would not hesitate to hunt with any of these with this accuracy.
Hard hitting heavy wadcutters. Respectable accuracy for a .177 wadcutter at this power level. These hit HARD!
Crosman Copper Mags. Good enough to hunt, but I really expect more out of a good dome pellet. This isn’t the one.
I threw one out of this group, the flier was my fault so I shot one more. That is 5 shots that nearly fit under a 9mm case head
So far it looks like the Barracuda Hunter and JSB Hades are about tied. I don’t think the flier in the Hades group was my fault, but I could be wrong. I drive a rig so I can’t practice every day. I miss sometimes, it is what it is. Even with the flier, I am getting about a half inch with both these pellets.
Stretching it out to 50 yards, the wind became a factor. The side berms are a bit further apart on this side, and it was a pretty breezy day.
These Crosman Hollowpoints are great out to 30 yards. Past that I would use another pellet if it isn’t dead calm out. The wind was pushing them all over the place.
I called the outlier on the far left on account of the wind kicking up. One more shot and there are 5 shots about and inch and a quarter CTC. Spread out in an almost perfect line left to right.
These pellets dropped exactly 4 inches from 25 to 50 yards.
I dialed up the elevation 12 clicks based on 1/2 MOA adjustments and it got me half way there. At this point I realized I just suck at math. Dialed up 12 more, elevation right on point based on 1/4 MOA adjustments. The wind was blowing these pellets all over the place.
Next up, H&N Barracuda Hunter and JSB Hades. These results had my adrenaline pumping! It was all I could do to mitigate my heartbeat for these shots.
Barracuda Hunters, just a smidge over an inch center to center at 50 yards. This might be the one.
JSB Hades, about the same results. This group is a shade bigger than the Barracuda Hunters group, but the flier might be the wind or it might just be me. If so, the edge would go to the JSB’s, but regardless that is less than 1 1/4” including the outlier.
For now I decided to settle on the Barracuda Hunters. Mostly because they have a screw on lid vs the JSB Hades that came open in my range bag.
Long story short, this gun lives up to the hype and then some. It is beautiful, has the best trigger, best workmanship, best balance and best feel. It achieves good hunting accuracy with any load and unsurpassable accuracy with a load it likes. There is some spring noise but it doesn’t bother me one bit. I will add that the trigger was heavier than I expected out of the box, but it is a hunting rifle and I prefer the factory setting. It is perfectly crisp and predictable with zero creep or over travel. It is nearly perfect and I can recommend it to anyone.
Side note- I re-zeroed at 25 yards with the Barracuda Hunters and shot a 50 yard group to determine holdover. Barracuda hunters drop 3” at 50 yards, vs considerably lighter Crosman Hollowpoints that drop 4”.
Also noteworthy- the “mil” dot subtensions on this scope are about 3” at 50 yards on max magnification. That’s about 6 MOA or a shade under 2 mils. Other than that, it’s great. There is not another scope that fits my needs as well, except maybe a 2-7x32 AMX but those are not illuminated.
I’ll post a follow up after about 1,000k rounds but I will have a lot more pellets to test!
Thanks for looking
