I bought this about 20 years ago or so and it is a gas ram. I never had a problem with it using the scope I put on it in the factory installed Dampa Mounts. To date this rifle is still working and at 69 pounds of cocking force with the attendant violent action (compared to our favorite springers with springs!) to create only 705 fps with Beeman pellets that I bought with the rifle (those pellets are discontinued) compared to what PCPs can do I would recommend anyone to get a PCP .25 over a Theoben Eliminator Gas Ram.
I bought 2 sets of Theoben Eliminators when I was stationed in Ft. Huachuca from Straight Shooters, 1999. I shot them all and actually traded some into Murphy's Guns in Tucson for firearms I wanted.
I always kept out of the set of .20, .22, and .25 (remember, I had TWO sets of .20 and .22 I sold to Murphy's Guns in AZ) the .25 permanently. I gave one Theoben Eliminator to Chief Warrant Zuppan on his birthday and his wife also a Chief Warrant (they both flew Chinooks and I'm a retired Army Chaplain that happened upon them in my last assignment before retiring, medically).
But the .25 Theoben I kept with its original Weaver V16 and 1 minute dot reticle.
I've been shooting the HW30, R7, HW35E (.177 and .22 with two .177s Silver and Blue), HW50S in .22, .177, .20, HW57 .177 and .22, HW 80s in all pellet caliber (I still have them ALL!--a testament to the HW80 in ANY caliber for accuracy!), two HW95Ls in .22 and .25, three HW98s in .177, .20, and .25, an HW97K-T in .20 I want to get RID of (compared to the regular HW95), an HW95 .177 (Plain! No "L" here for "Lexus"--just plain!) and another springer custom made by Hector Medina: The D54 .20 for Heavy Pellets. I have PCPs like the original Beeman Falcon from 1999 (that's in .25) and the Daystate Huntsman (.177) I recently bought to replace my TM 1000 from RAW in .177 that finally gave up the ghost. Thing of it is sometimes a real wrist rocket is way better than any pellet from any PCP or springer or gas ram. I guarantee you this. I grew up shooting sling shots and when the wrist rocket came I did shoot flying birds out of the sky as well as varmints on the ground with a LOT more force than any pellet situation.
However, the limitation for a good wrist rocket is absolute precision. Ergo the personal time I take to shoot the Usual Suspects: The break barrel springers! Gas rams be damned to the precision of a good HW springer in my reading air rifle sites lately so my Theoben .25 Eliminator is "outdated" now. There are nitro pistons everywhere including from China or a place where labor is hired cheaply to make a product that may not may not may not last.
So this morning both neighbors across the street who own the property there asked me to "varmint hunt" their acreage with an air rifle and the first rifle that I thought to do what they wanted eliminated from their properties was of course the D54 .20 shooting heavy pellets. I took that rifle across their land to a lake to see if I can shoot beyond 50 or so yards with accuracy. The D54 .20 was not sighted in for THAT range and when I did sight it in I found my range on this rifle was definitely limited to 40 to maybe maybe maybe (Three maybes because I'm seriously talking as a true varmint hunter who used to use the 6mm Remington to eliminate coyotes at 400 yards on the ranch I grew up on) 60 yards at best.
BUT, I resighted the scope Hector installed to the ZR mounts (generation II) to 100 yards and began shooting across the lake. I was okay with the adjustments and knew the pellet would work for me up to 100 yards in his accurate D54 .20 but saw at 100 yards I am FOOLING myself to thing an air rifle at that range would be accurate and powerful enough to use. I figured forget 100 yards for any air rifle I've ever had or used. Using a .22 LR in a Remington 513 Matchmaster (yes I have one!) I could do BETTER!
So then I went back to my house and thought all air rifles are OUT to shoot at 100 yards with accuracy. The pellets are simply hollow and wind makes more difference than I thought! I had wind while shooting Hector's .20 D54 and THAT affected the HEAVY pellets enough for me to realize this custom made .20 cannot cannot cannot be relied upon for accuracy beyond say 55-60 yards.
So I realized how CLOSE I have to be in all this acreage to eliminate varmints they want me to eliminate.
I thought about the HW98s I have and each caliber I have them in. I WOULD NOT ever think the .177 pellet will work on these varmints maybe maybe maybe a .20. But Hector's .20 in D54 isn't the rifle either. So I thought about the .22s and realized I have the HW80K .22 with an HW95L .22........but also an HW95L and HW98 and HW80 .25! All will hit without a problem close range, but after close range one has to shoot to find the reality.
I shot the Theoben .25 across the lake with the Weaver V16 minute dot at 100 yards thinking it would be just a little better than any other .25 I had and knowing the range at 100 yards the knowledge the pellet was 705fps at the muzzle for Barracudas (I had HN .25 FTTs!). I shot too well to wonder why. It was the Gas Ram Technology that took me to 100 yard accurate shooting!
I had shot a dove at 91 yards with a Theoben .20 Eliminator in 1999; and comparing that to the .22 is pretty much so even don't bother buying either OVER the other they are EQUAL and accurate enough out there at 90 yards--if you know how to shoot a Theoben Elimator! The triggers are always edgy no matter what pounds or ounces you try for. But accuracy at 100 yards with a Gas Ram instead of a PCP or regular springer?
Accuracy? I was beginning to think the springers have the accuracy (I have had and still have enough of them to know how accurate they are) but now I am shooting a real classical antique over 20 years old (same with cars) that is still running and hitting the finish line better than any other rifle I OWN NOW!
So, if you do have an antique Theoben Eliminator in any caliber (.20, .22, .25) you are way way way ahead of customized sidelevers and pricey break barrels or underlevers for competition use at LONG RANGE. I feel suddenly quite stupid to have NOT used my 69 pound of cocking force in the antique Theoben Eliminator more often. The force of charging the thing requires every contortion in my body to crunch it cocked at by waist level. But when it is cocked.....I can wait forever to make the ONE shot with as much power as possible without using the PCP.
My PCP Falcon does 800fps at the muzzle, but my Theoben Eliminator always does 705 fps without refilling or worrying about pressure levels. All the way out to 100 yards. I had shot the Theoben .25 at over 100 yards years ago thinking that 100 yards would be impossible for accuracy. But now I am going to take this rifle into the varmint field when it is time instead of any other air rifle I have. This is quite a vote for confidence in a gun that has always been faithful for two decades and yet acts brand new. Nothing ever changed on this rifle except for the smoothness of trigger and cocking getting "better" in years of time. No need to replace a spring or rely on a kit to install "to make it new" again. It is always acting new.
And the other thing is I just took it out of the cabinet and went across the field thinking I'd probably be disappointed in it.
I bought 2 sets of Theoben Eliminators when I was stationed in Ft. Huachuca from Straight Shooters, 1999. I shot them all and actually traded some into Murphy's Guns in Tucson for firearms I wanted.
I always kept out of the set of .20, .22, and .25 (remember, I had TWO sets of .20 and .22 I sold to Murphy's Guns in AZ) the .25 permanently. I gave one Theoben Eliminator to Chief Warrant Zuppan on his birthday and his wife also a Chief Warrant (they both flew Chinooks and I'm a retired Army Chaplain that happened upon them in my last assignment before retiring, medically).
But the .25 Theoben I kept with its original Weaver V16 and 1 minute dot reticle.
I've been shooting the HW30, R7, HW35E (.177 and .22 with two .177s Silver and Blue), HW50S in .22, .177, .20, HW57 .177 and .22, HW 80s in all pellet caliber (I still have them ALL!--a testament to the HW80 in ANY caliber for accuracy!), two HW95Ls in .22 and .25, three HW98s in .177, .20, and .25, an HW97K-T in .20 I want to get RID of (compared to the regular HW95), an HW95 .177 (Plain! No "L" here for "Lexus"--just plain!) and another springer custom made by Hector Medina: The D54 .20 for Heavy Pellets. I have PCPs like the original Beeman Falcon from 1999 (that's in .25) and the Daystate Huntsman (.177) I recently bought to replace my TM 1000 from RAW in .177 that finally gave up the ghost. Thing of it is sometimes a real wrist rocket is way better than any pellet from any PCP or springer or gas ram. I guarantee you this. I grew up shooting sling shots and when the wrist rocket came I did shoot flying birds out of the sky as well as varmints on the ground with a LOT more force than any pellet situation.
However, the limitation for a good wrist rocket is absolute precision. Ergo the personal time I take to shoot the Usual Suspects: The break barrel springers! Gas rams be damned to the precision of a good HW springer in my reading air rifle sites lately so my Theoben .25 Eliminator is "outdated" now. There are nitro pistons everywhere including from China or a place where labor is hired cheaply to make a product that may not may not may not last.
So this morning both neighbors across the street who own the property there asked me to "varmint hunt" their acreage with an air rifle and the first rifle that I thought to do what they wanted eliminated from their properties was of course the D54 .20 shooting heavy pellets. I took that rifle across their land to a lake to see if I can shoot beyond 50 or so yards with accuracy. The D54 .20 was not sighted in for THAT range and when I did sight it in I found my range on this rifle was definitely limited to 40 to maybe maybe maybe (Three maybes because I'm seriously talking as a true varmint hunter who used to use the 6mm Remington to eliminate coyotes at 400 yards on the ranch I grew up on) 60 yards at best.
BUT, I resighted the scope Hector installed to the ZR mounts (generation II) to 100 yards and began shooting across the lake. I was okay with the adjustments and knew the pellet would work for me up to 100 yards in his accurate D54 .20 but saw at 100 yards I am FOOLING myself to thing an air rifle at that range would be accurate and powerful enough to use. I figured forget 100 yards for any air rifle I've ever had or used. Using a .22 LR in a Remington 513 Matchmaster (yes I have one!) I could do BETTER!
So then I went back to my house and thought all air rifles are OUT to shoot at 100 yards with accuracy. The pellets are simply hollow and wind makes more difference than I thought! I had wind while shooting Hector's .20 D54 and THAT affected the HEAVY pellets enough for me to realize this custom made .20 cannot cannot cannot be relied upon for accuracy beyond say 55-60 yards.
So I realized how CLOSE I have to be in all this acreage to eliminate varmints they want me to eliminate.
I thought about the HW98s I have and each caliber I have them in. I WOULD NOT ever think the .177 pellet will work on these varmints maybe maybe maybe a .20. But Hector's .20 in D54 isn't the rifle either. So I thought about the .22s and realized I have the HW80K .22 with an HW95L .22........but also an HW95L and HW98 and HW80 .25! All will hit without a problem close range, but after close range one has to shoot to find the reality.
I shot the Theoben .25 across the lake with the Weaver V16 minute dot at 100 yards thinking it would be just a little better than any other .25 I had and knowing the range at 100 yards the knowledge the pellet was 705fps at the muzzle for Barracudas (I had HN .25 FTTs!). I shot too well to wonder why. It was the Gas Ram Technology that took me to 100 yard accurate shooting!
I had shot a dove at 91 yards with a Theoben .20 Eliminator in 1999; and comparing that to the .22 is pretty much so even don't bother buying either OVER the other they are EQUAL and accurate enough out there at 90 yards--if you know how to shoot a Theoben Elimator! The triggers are always edgy no matter what pounds or ounces you try for. But accuracy at 100 yards with a Gas Ram instead of a PCP or regular springer?
Accuracy? I was beginning to think the springers have the accuracy (I have had and still have enough of them to know how accurate they are) but now I am shooting a real classical antique over 20 years old (same with cars) that is still running and hitting the finish line better than any other rifle I OWN NOW!
So, if you do have an antique Theoben Eliminator in any caliber (.20, .22, .25) you are way way way ahead of customized sidelevers and pricey break barrels or underlevers for competition use at LONG RANGE. I feel suddenly quite stupid to have NOT used my 69 pound of cocking force in the antique Theoben Eliminator more often. The force of charging the thing requires every contortion in my body to crunch it cocked at by waist level. But when it is cocked.....I can wait forever to make the ONE shot with as much power as possible without using the PCP.
My PCP Falcon does 800fps at the muzzle, but my Theoben Eliminator always does 705 fps without refilling or worrying about pressure levels. All the way out to 100 yards. I had shot the Theoben .25 at over 100 yards years ago thinking that 100 yards would be impossible for accuracy. But now I am going to take this rifle into the varmint field when it is time instead of any other air rifle I have. This is quite a vote for confidence in a gun that has always been faithful for two decades and yet acts brand new. Nothing ever changed on this rifle except for the smoothness of trigger and cocking getting "better" in years of time. No need to replace a spring or rely on a kit to install "to make it new" again. It is always acting new.
And the other thing is I just took it out of the cabinet and went across the field thinking I'd probably be disappointed in it.
