Beeman P11

The Beeman P1 (Weihrauch HW45) is the most famous gun made by Beeman in collaboration with Weihrauch. Dr. Beeman is responsible for the styling and high level design of the gun (top lever, spring piston) and Weihrauch for putting the finishing touches and manufacturing the pistol. After the P1, several variations were developed:

• Beeman P1/Weihrauch HW45 stainless look - this one is similar to the P1, except the lower part is silver stainless steel
• Beeman P11/Weihrauch HW45 silver star - this is like the stainless look version but with a sculpted wooden grip replacing the Colt 1911 grip - this is the model on which this review is based
• Weihrauch HW45 black star - I have not seen this model from Beeman - this one has the sculpted wooden grip, but not the stainless look, so it resembles more the P1

There should not be much difference between these models other than in the stainless/grip aspects. I liked the stainless steel aspect and I also liked the sculpted grip more than the 1911 one, so I decided to get the P11 over the P1 and P1 stainless.

The sculpted grip of the P11 is also shared with the pneumatic version - the Beeman P2/Weihrauch HW75. Story has it that when Dr. Beeman designed the P1, he did not make it clear on the scheme that he wanted a spring piston, so Weihrauch put a pneumatic one and that is how the P2 was born. I considered the P2 as well, but as I already have the Beeman P3, I went for a spring piston model.

Operation

Unlike most other spring piston pistols that operate by a break barrel mechanism, the Beeman P11 uses a top lever mechanism. Furthermore, this mechanism compresses the spring towards the front of the pistol, so when it is released, it will kick back, like the recoil of a firearm. This is the aspect that interested me the most, because I found the forward kick of the IZH 53M rather weird. This aspect also means that the top lever works a bit differently than on a pneumatic piston; on a pneumatic piston, the top lever opens easily and then effort is needed for closing it, because that is when the pump is compressed; on the P11, the effort has to be made when opening the lever, because that is the action that compresses the spring - closing the lever back is easy.

So the P11 works like this:

• you release the top lever by cocking the hammer
• you then grab the lever (it has smooth edges and a groove that allow a comfortable grip) and pull it away - you can pull it to 80 degrees for low power or to about 150 degrees for full power
• you place a pellet in the breech
• you press the lever back until you hear it lock in place - I pull the hammer away during this part, to prevent it from rubbing unnecessarily with the lever lock

Note that the safety on the P11 is manual, unlike that on pneumatic guns like the P3, which gets automatically set when closing the lever. So you should set it before this operation. It works by blocking the trigger operation.

Package and build

Like the P3, the P11 came in a generic Beeman cardboard box, except this time the manual was included as well. This gun deserves a much better package. The Webley Alecto puts it to shame.

I had to order a separate case and I went for a small SRC tactical pistol case rather than the usual small Plano case model I ordered in the past. When it came, it looked as if it was going to be too small to hold the P11, but it actually fit in very well (with very little space to spare) in a straight position (I keep the P3 angled inside a Plano case). I like the SRC case over the Plano one because it locks better and feels sturdier.

The P11 is built entirely from metal. There is no plastic. The finish of the metal is excellent. The black anodized top is smooth and cleans up very easily. The stainless lower part has a bit of texture to it and is more resilient to fingerprints - this is the reason why I wanted a stainless model. The safety lever and the trigger are also made of black metal. Everything feels very well put together.

The wood grip is the only non-metal piece and it is a beauty. Its shape is excellent and it makes it very comfortable to hold the gun despite its heft. The upper part as well as the base of the grip are laminated and very nice to the touch, while the rest of it has this irregular non-slip finish that I have not seen before. It looks and feels like a high quality piece.

Adjustable settings

The rear sights can be adjusted for elevation and windage via two flat screws. The strength of the trigger spring can also be adjusted with a 2mm Allen wrench (not included) - there is a hole into the trigger guard through which this can be inserted to reach the trigger adjustment. These are explained in the manual.

I have not made any adjustment yet - the default settings worked perfectly for me. This is actually the first pistol for which I did not make any sight adjustments.

Performance

The Beeman P11 is very accurate. I already get results as good as with any other airgun in my collection and I think there is still room for improvement. The low power setting works great for shooting targets - it punches clean holes in the paper. I have tried the high power setting a few times and my aim got seriously off - it looks as if the sights need to be readjusted when used this way. The difference in effort needed for compressing the spring at the two power levels does not seem to be very high. In fact, the effort required is quite reasonable considering the resulting power. The P11 requires less effort to use than the P3.

The P11 is also fairly silent. I mainly hear the thunk of the spring and the impact on the target trap, but no loud pop from the compressed air.

The fact that the spring moves backward rather than forward seems to make a significant difference in control and accuracy too - I hoped for this and my expectations were met.

Conclusion

The Beeman P11 is a beautifully crafted airgun. Build quality is excellent, employing high quality materials. Operation and handling are very nice and its accuracy is top notch. This is one of the best spring piston airgun pistols available on the market. I just wish it would be sold with a custom case.

IZH Baikal 60

Before I formed an opinion about the IZH 53M, I was intrigued by the IZH 60 rifle and I decided to try one.  This rifle also had good reviews, so it seemed like a safe investment.

There is a repeater version of the IZH 60 - the IZH 61 - which uses a 5 shot clip, but I decided to go with the one shot IZH 60 because the clip operation of the 61 model was reported to be a bit finicky.

Operation

The IZH 60 is a spring piston rifle, but while most spring piston rifles use a break barrel mechanism, this Baikal model uses a side lever. This side lever is normally locked against the rifle body and needs to first be released by pressing a rod under its handle - this releases the lever, which can now be pulled to compress the spring - this movement will also release the bolt, exposing the breech for loading a pellet. Once the spring is cocked, the lever can be brought back along the side of the rifle to be locked. Not getting the side lever locked will prevent the bolt action from staying closed, so you need to push the lever against the rifle body to engage its lock. Next step is to load a pellet into the breech and close the bolt - the gun is now ready to fire; like the 53M, it has no safety.

I was confused at first by which steps are required to operate this rifle, so I will repeat them again:

1. Unlock the side lever by pressing the rod under its handle
2. Pull back the side lever to compress the spring (the bolt will open automatically)
3. Bring back the side lever, making sure to get it locked
4. Place a pellet into the breech
5. Close the bolt action - the rifle is ready to fire

The lever action is very easy and comfortable - it is only the pushing of the bolt to release the lever that can get a bit hard on the tip of the fingers, but I got used to it after a while.

Package and Build

Like the IZH 53M, the IZH 60 came in a cardboard box sealed in thick plastic. The rifle is wrapped in a piece of special paper that appears to be lightly oiled. The other contents are the manual, a cleaning rod, and a few spare pieces (a seal, a washer, and a small spring) that are wrapped in a tiny piece of paper and are attached by a small staple to the packaging of the cleaning rod - this small package is very easy to miss, so look out for it. I have not yet figured out where the spare pieces can be used, but it is nice to see them included.

BTW, additional spare parts can be found separately. Spare main springs can be purchased - these seem to have the same coiling as the spares for the IZH 53M pistol, but they are slightly shorter. However, one of the spares I acquired for the IZH 53M is exactly the same length as the spares for the IZH 60! I believe a spring from the IZH 53M could very well work in the IZH 60, but it would produce slightly less power, if it is of the shorter variety.

The Baikal model 60 is built from a combination of metal and plastic. Like in the case of model 53M, all pieces under stress are built out of metal. The trigger piece is plastic, but the trigger mechanism is metal. I have no concern about the durability of this rifle. Furthermore, the plastic used here is of higher quality than the one used for the stock of the IZH 53M - it has no blemishes and is very nicely textured. The rifle barrel is metal forged, as all Baikal barrels appear to be. The lever seemed a bit frail - it is basically a thin metallic U frame - but I do not see any signs that it cannot fulfill its job.

At 33" long, the IZH 60 is also one of the shortest adult rifles available on the market. I liked its style in pictures and in real life it looks even better. Both the pistol grip and the forward grip are nicely shaped and very comfortable to hold.

There is one big problem and it took me a while to notice it and to get certain that I am not imagining things: the barrel is not mounted parallel to the stock - it is slanted towards the right. This is an assembly issue and based on other reviews complaining about the rifle shooting to the right, I suspect that this is a general manufacturing issue.

A couple more issues are related to the shape of the rod that needs to be pushed to release the side lever and to the shape of the bolt handle. The side lever release rod is a bit harsh on the fingers - a flatter surface would help there. The bolt handle is too thin and is lacking the classical round end. I got used with both these aspects after a while, but they are worth mentioning.

Adjustable settings

The two main adjustable settings are the rear sight and the shoulder stock length.

The rear sight can be adjusted for both elevation and windage. Elevation can be adjusted very conveniently and precisely by rotating a wheel, but windage adjustment is less elegant and requires loosening two screws to move the sight laterally.

The degree of freedom for the windage adjustment is insufficient to allow compensating for the degree of barrel slant - I have it set all the way to the left and the rifle still shoots a bit to the right. The rear sight also has a weird design: there is a fixed post on the rifle that has two elongated holes through which two screws go into the moving sight piece. The holes in the fixed post determine the degree of adjustment of the sight piece and they cannot be enlarged further. If the elongated holes would have been on the sight piece and the screws would have went into the post piece, I could have built a new sight piece easily, but as it is, I need to not only drill holes into a replacement sight but I also need to get them threaded for the size of the screws.

Adjusting the stock is very easy - loosen a screw at the bottom of the stock and then pull the stock back. If you want more length, you need to completely remove the screw, pull out the stock, and then move the piece into which the screw engages into a second slot away from the gun, then screw the stock back against that - this will give you an extra inch over the factory setting. I pulled the stock all the way back at the first setting and that works great for me - it is nice to know that it can still go either way.

Performance

The IZH 60 is a very accurate rifle and, as a result, I use it as the standard against which I judge other airguns. This rifle is also rather silent, just like its relative, the IZH 53M pistol. Power is excellent for target shooting, maybe even a bit too strong for that. However, among airgun rifles, the IZH 60 probably has the lowest power, so keep my previous comment in the context of target shooting. There are pistols that have more power than this rifle (the Crosman 1377C is one of them), but they also require more force (to pump or to compress the spring piston), so when it comes to target shooting, my Gamo pellet trap feels the difference.

The sights work very well (with some caveats I mentioned earlier) - the distance between the front and rear sights also helps with accuracy. The trigger is crisp - it has little travel, requires an adequate amount of force, and then breaks quickly - I might criticize it a bit on a pistol, but it feels right for a rifle that is easier to hold steady. So far, I did not see the degradation in performance that I noticed in the IZH 53M trigger.

There is nothing not to like about the performance of the IZH 60 - this is a very well designed rifle.

Conclusion

What I like the most about the IZH 60 is how reliable its accuracy is. Together with the Crosman 1377C, this is one of my most reliable airguns. The style of the rifle also makes it very attractive and pleasant to use.

The only significant negative is the assembly quality, which for my sample resulted in a barrel that is slanted against the stock of the rifle. But even this drawback does not remove much from my enjoyment of this nice rifle.

IZH Baikal 53M

When researching alternatives to CO2 airguns, I found out about the Crosman 1377C, but also about the IZH 53M. "IZH" comes from Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, a Russian factory that also produced firearms like the Makarov pistol; Baikal is the brand under which this factory is manufacturing airguns.

Model 53M is a spring pistol that has suffered some changes over the years. The version that is currently available is very different from the one depicted in the Blue Book of Airguns. I understand that plastic replaced some metal components, but I have never seen the original model other than in pictures.

I decided to try this pistol because it was inexpensive and promised to be of a sturdy build. Users also claimed that it was very accurate and a great 10m target shooting pistol.

Operation

The IZH 53M is a break barrel pistol, which means that its barrel also represents the lever that is used to compress its spring. The pistol consists of a barrel that sits in front of a cylinder that holds the spring. The trigger mechanism sits under the spring cylinder and a large set of plastic grips attaches to it. By pulling down on the barrel, the spring is cocked. A pellet can now be introduced in the rear end of the barrel before straightening it out. Once that is done, pressing the trigger will fire the pistol - there is no safety mechanism, other than the one that prevents firing the gun while the barrel is bent. Very simple operation.

Cocking the Baikal requires very little effort. Firing it, however, is the tricky part, as you will have to deal with the kick of the spring that first jerks the pistol forward, then backward. The artillery hold is recommended for such airguns.

Package and Build

The IZH 53M came into a cardboard box, including instructions and a metal cleaning rod, in addition to the pistol itself. The box was sealed in a very thick plastic bag that felt very Russian in style.

This is a Russian pistol indeed. Everything feels very solid, although a bit unrefined. The barrel is metal forged, which is supposed to be a costly process that results in more accurate barrels - this operation is usually too expensive, but Russian manufacturing costs appear to still be low enough to make it economically feasible. The grip, front sight, and a few other parts are made of plastic, but none of them is under any kind of stress, so they will probably last as much, if not more, than the metal parts.

The large plastic body of this Baikal pistol looks a bit industrial and could use a bit more refinement. However, this is just the looks - its shape is very comfortable to hold.

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that this pistol is very long. I could not even find an inexpensive case to hold it. I picked a 2 pistol pillared Plano case, only to find out that the Baikal could only fit inside by breaking its barrel without actually compressing its spring. Despite its large size, the 53M is quite light - this is because other than the barrel, all metal parts sit right above the grip.

The long size is a direct result of the break barrel mechanism. Using the barrel to compress the spring requires the barrel and the spring cylinder to be in line, which means that despite the overall length, the gun still gets to have a shorter barrel than a pneumatic gun like the Crosman 1377C, where the barrel and the air piston cylinder are overlapping. All break barrel pistols will be long like this.

One last point - despite its large size, the 53M is not heavy and it is easy to hold steady - until you press the trigger.

Adjustable settings

The only adjustable setting for the IZH 53M is the rear sight, which can be adjusted for both elevation and windage. The adjustments are made via knobs that can be rotated. In theory, this should allow for fine adjustments, but in practice, the operation of these knobs was rather bumpy - I had to work them back and forth a bit to smooth out their operation.

Performance

The operation of the IZH 53M is very quiet and the power is very good - this gun can cut very distinct holes in paper targets. Speaking of which, 400fps seems to me to be the speed at which neat round holes are being cut reliably in target paper.

Aside from the finicky aspect of adjusting them, I really liked the size of the iron sights

Initially, I shot the Baikal all over the place, until I managed to sight it in so I can at least hit the target reliably. At one point, I got a very promising group where 8 out of 10 shots were very close to each other. But I never managed to get such a result again! I am not sure what the problem was - either the performance degraded or, as I was getting better with other pistols, I got worse with this one. I simply could not get reliable results - the spring movement was jerking the pistol too much in my hand and none of the grips I tried actually worked. Of course, I also tried the artillery hold, but it did not produce much improvement.

To top it off, after a while, performance clearly degraded in one area - the trigger. Initially, the trigger was rather stiff, with little travel and a sudden break - not unlike that of the Crosman 1377C. But after a couple hundred shots, the trigger started getting mushy - it could be depressed a bit with no effort and then it would just break - sometimes with a bit of resistance, sometimes without. Without any safety, this was a bit scary.

In the end, I just threw away this gun - using it was aggravating, a waste of pellets, and even felt a bit dangerous once the trigger started acting up.

Conclusion

I did not like the IZH 53M. Perhaps I did not figure out how to use it well, but I tried and I just did not like the experience. The gun seemed very accurate if you can handle the spring movement, but that is trickier than you might think because, unlike a firearm's kickback, the jerking of the gun happens while the pellet is still travelling inside the barrel. As I discovered nicer airguns, I just could not see much use for the Baikal 53M, so I ended up getting rid of it. This is the worst airgun that I used so far and it has cured me from using any other spring piston pistol, though I realize that some are much better.