Beeman P17

Beeman Precision Airguns had a close partnership with German airgun manufacturer Weihrauch. BPA have initially imported Weihrauch airguns to the US and then they partnered with Weihrauch to develop a number of airguns that got marketed under both the Beeman and Weihrauch brands. Thus, the spring piston Beeman P1 corresponds to the Weihrauch HW45, the pneumatic Beeman P2 to the Weihrauch HW75, and the pneumatic Beeman P3 to the Weihrauch HW40. At this point, you might wonder what all of this has got to do with the Beeman P17 - well, this is the interesting part: after BPA got acquired by S/R Industries, this model seems to have appeared as a less expensive clone of the Beeman P3 that is manufactured in China. The P3 is a plastic pneumatic top lever airgun that is manufactured in Germany by Weihrauch. The P17 is the same design, but is much less expensive because of its place of manufacture. At a 5th of the price of the Weihrauch 40, the P17 sounds too good to be true - is it really so? Read on for the details.

Operation

Being a single shot, pneumatic pistol, the P17 is very simple to operate. Cocking the gun releases the top part, which includes the barrel, and exposes the pump mechanism. The top part needs to be pulled forward -  there is no pumping during this move, so this is an easy motion. Once the lever is extended, you need to load a pellet in the breech of the barrel - this is the finicky part, because there is just enough space for adult fingers to do the operation. Make sure that the skirt of the pellet is flush with the breech, otherwise it will damage the seal around the pump opening. Now comes the physically demanding part - you need to push back the top part and close it - this move gets gradually harder as you get closer to the end and it will take a noticeable effort to close it. It feels ok a few time, but do it twenty times or more and it will start wearing you off.

Closing the lever also engages the pistol's safety, which is a lever above the trigger, on the left side. This needs to be pushed away from the grip before firing. If you are right handed, you can conveniently do this with the thumb.

Package and build

Like all inexpensive airguns, the Beeman P17 comes in a plastic package that you can throw away. I actually got the version that came with a red dot sight, which I found to be useless for target shooting. I imagine it helps with situations where you want to aim fast, but it didn't look like it would help with precision shooting because of parallax issues.

The pistol is very nicely built. It is mostly made of plastic, but it has a very nice feel to it - it reminds me of the Walther PPQ both in terms of feel and in terms of stylistic touches - the grip and trigger guard in particular seem to take a clue from the Walther pistols. Note that the internals of the P17 are all metal - that includes the trigger, the hammer, and the safety lever.

For a top-lever pistol, the P17 is very compact and it is also very light.

One nice touch that the P17 includes is a builtin compensator. I have no idea how effective it is, but it looks nice.

Adjustable settings

The rear sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation and the adjustment mechanism works great, allowing precision changes.

Performance

The P17 impressed me with its accuracy and handling. It was one of the most accurate pistols I used so far. I say "was" because after less than 100 shots the pump failed and I was left with a piece of junk - fortunately, this happened during the period within which I could still return it, which I promptly did. I would have got a replacement but I have seen multiple reviews describing pump failures for this model, so I decided not to risk again. I actually read those reviews before ordering the P17, but I wanted to see for myself, so I did.

It might help to describe the pump failure in more detail. It happened as I was reloading the pistol, in the middle of a shooting session. I had fired it a few times and then the pump just failed as I was closing the lever for another shot. By failed, I mean that I heard a sudden hiss of air and the lever closed instantly with no effort. Further attempts to pump it led to similar results - I would get resistance when closing the lever up to about 40 degrees and then suddenly the air would gush out and the lever would snap closed with no resistance. I suspect that the head of the pump just started giving way under pressure - it would work up to a point, but then it would just fail and let the air out.

Leaving aside this unfortunate pump failure for the P17, my experience with this pistol design was very positive. Because of its shape and weight, it was a pleasure to use. The only downside was the force required for pumping it. Accuracy was excellent, the trigger was light and crisp, and power was sufficient to cut clean round holes in targets - all of these made the Beeman P17 a very nice pistol for target shooting.

Conclusion

I cannot recommend the Beeman P17 model - unfortunately, it looks like the attempt to provide an inexpensive version of the P3 has compromised the robustness of the pump and through that it compromised the entire product (yes, it was too good to be true). However, while it worked, the P17 worked very well and this makes me think that the Beeman P3 would make a very fine airgun.

So this is an unusual review, because I started by reviewing one product, only to recommend another, more expensive, one. Take it as more of an indirect review of the design of the Beeman P3.