gun #2...opinions

Ok guys, I've decided to get a second gun and I want your opinions on what it is! My first gun(cfx)  is shipped but hasnt even made it down to charlie yet and Im shopping for number 2....sad really. I want a beast, like all newbies, I just want one, the question's not why it's why not? I want .22 caliber this time around and ive looked at several but the ones I keep going back to are: RWS 48/52, RWS 350 Mag, Bam B30 (ewww?), as well as - even though its .20 like everyone says till they shoot it - The beeman R9 and last but not least the R1. I may have missed some other candidates but thats why im posting. I want to be able to kill a deer at 60 yrds, to not have any special holding technique and to be a 30 shot repeater....ok Im just kidding on that stuff! I'd like to stay under or around $350 but like all things if it's worth it I could go a little further but I aint putting a grand down for a PCP and all the peripherals, ya know?

I'm not tall or have long arms as dave asked me in email suggesting the 52 if I was. I'm not a good shooter (yet) either but if I have confidence in the gun then I know I can learn. I'm not concerned with noise or recoil, however no recoil would be cool but I wont see that for under $450 I think and im not sure its worth it or that it works all that well either.  I know this question has to have been asked 1000 times before, you guys have all been there. Some people say they like the 48, then they got the R9 and never touched the 48 again, some people say they got a 350 but maybe should have gotten a 52, some people love the B30 but say it has to be tuned to do any good so get a 52, some people have the 52 and say they should have gotten the 350 or the R9. I know the grass is always greener on the other side but do me a favor.  Do some serious soul searching and ask yourself if you had a tuned CFX what would be your very next gun, the last one for a long time (1 year or so) what one single gun would be worth your cash?

let's debate people! I love this place, thanks in advance for your opinion, it does matter to me.

[shadow]

A gun a year     , we'll remember you said that.Did you forget that your a member of GTA     If realize you have more guns then you need and your wifes on the warpath,your headed in the right direction,for you maby.hehe Ed

[daved]

Hey, JR, maybe I wasn't clear in my email, the R9 Goldfinger IS available in .22.  That would be my next gun, if I was in your place.

Dave

[longislandhunter]

You listed some good guns there.  Out of your list I own two of em, the 350 magnum .22 and the R-9 .22  and I have to say I absolutely love both guns.  I use both of them for small game hunting and both are well suited to the task.  I don't own the other guns so I won't comment on them due to no personal experience with them.

As for the 350,,, great gun with lots of power.  Very sleek, comfortable to shoulder and fire and with the Leapers 4x16x50 mildot illuminated reticle scope I have on it it's deadly accurate.  Just keep in mind the 350 has some length to it and it's not light.  I don't mind carrying it around the woods for extended periods but if you're adverse to a heavy, long gun might not be your cup of tea.  Of course adding a sling to the rifle helps much with the weight issue.

As for the R-9,,,, I bought the R-9 Goldfinger .22  scoped combo from Bass Pro, they sell it for $399 which is the best price around I've found.  I will just get to the point with the R-9,,, it's my favorite gun !!  Beautiful workmanship, perfect length, very light, a trigger that is to die for and deadly accurate.  One thing to keep in mind is that Bass Pro lists the .22 as being 800 FPS, which is the same FPS rating that Beeman assinged to the .20 caliber gun.  How could the FPS of the heavier .22 be the same as the .20 ??  Answer is it isn't, but when I chrony'd my R-9 it did come out in the 700's with a couple of pellets and close with some others.  If you insistst on .20 cal you can certainly get that gun in any number of places. I posted a review of the gun in the "Review Gate" if you want to read it.

I was so impressed with the R-9 that I am saving up to go back on the Bass Pro site and order the .177 R-9 Goldfinger.  Hopefully I'll be clicking the "order" button soon.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents.  Enjoy whatever gun you choose.  Good shooting.

Jeff

Ok, thats what I love about this forum, clear, concise thinking. It's down to the R9 and the 48/52 (im going to cabela's tomorrow and hold them). No, I don't want a long, heavy gun so the 350 is out. Like all newbies, I like the power of the 350 but I have to be sensible about my next purchase, maybe I'll find someone local that has one just to let me shoot it ten or twelve times to get it out of my system Anyway, deep down my heart tells me the R9 is the better choice, with the limited range of my shots around the house, pass-through would be a problem with magnum powered rifles. But my newbie brain wont stop talking about the 3-7 FPE difference(R9 vs 48/52), thats where you guys and us newbies differ....Hind sight is ALWAYS 20/20. You guys have the experience of shooting all the different guns and know what it is, its very hard to speculate and opinions are relative. Plus, if you guys want to shoot through a cinder-block you go grab one of the 'not-the-best' purchases and do it

Right now, I think the Goldfinger combo is the best choice for me for a couple reasons. It comes with a scope(1), sighted in(2), ready to roll for $400.00 plus shipping(3), nobody hates it(4). Those are very powerful reasons. The 48 on the other hand only has cheaper and slightly more power, accuracy between the two is debated all day long and I cant shoot either of them well so for me its the same, the 48 is heavier, SS says they're the same length but other say they arent. So for the 48 I'd put 289.00 + shipping, 50-ish for a c-mount or adjustable, $70 for an equivalent scope but 20 FPE has such an nice ring to it . Plus i hear scope mounting on a Diana causes some gray hair and im too young for that.

 I guess the question is this, how big of a difference is the power between those two guns? I know at 25 yards they'll both make a squirrel or maybe even a rabbit dead but what about 40 maybe even 50? (never ever further than 50) Can the R9 kill a 'possum at < 20 yards (headshot)? I know that FPE is FPE but is there a difference between 16 FPE in .177 and 16 FPE in .22? Either gun meets my goal of owning a fine piece a German engineering. Thanks for letting me talk it out on here with you guys, it helps alot.

yes, I understood that it came in .22, it took me a minute to realize that goldfinger was the one though. thread view confuses me, it makes my last message go above yours and look like an old message, anyhow I posted more thoughts above if you havent seen them, maybe ill get used to this view, flat doesnt provide all the info that thread view does so......such is life:)

[longislandhunter]

I certainly can't comment on the power of the 48 as I don't own one and haven't shot one.  As for the power difference between the Goldfinger and the 48 it seems you already have that data.  

Would I hesitate to take a shot at a rabbit or squirrel at 40 yards with my goldfinger??? Absolutely not,, if my shot placement is good I know I'll have a dead critter to retrieve.  As for 50 yards I might even take that shot also if I had a real good shot, but I am happy trying to keep my small game shooting to 40 and under if possible.  

You mentioned mounting scopes and that is certainly something to consider, especially on an RWS rifle where barrel droop is usually a factor to be dealt with.  I can honestly tell you that when I took my Goldfinger .22 out of the box it was shooting bulls eyes without me having to touch anything on the scope.  That impressed me.  I had always been skeptical about their claim of the rifle being pre-sighted in, but the first shot out of the box proved my fears to be unfounded.  

On my RWS 350 I had to resort to shimming the rear scope mount to compensate for the barrel droop that is built into the rifle.  Of course you can overcome the barrel droop issue on RWS rifles by using the proper adjustable mounts, or in my case shimming, but it is one more thing to deal with.  

I'm not trying to push you toward the Goldfinger, I know you'll wind up getting what you really want, whatever that is, I just wanted to add some comments that I forgot to mention in my first post.  

Jeff

I dont feel like you're pushing me at all, you've come here to stand up for a great gun which is more than any of the RWS 48 owners have done and that has to mean something right? I mean, I hear stories of shooting clubs using them exclusively and all that but I hear real people tell real stories about a real good gun called the R9 goldfinger! I shoot the cfx and wish it had more power cuz thats what noobs do and I dont want to get the R9 and do the same but I could do the same with a 48. Im going to cabelas tomorrow to hold the 48/52 and whatever else there is but I think the R9 is the answer, really. Any 48 owners wanna chime in? I really dont think I'd shoot anything but paper beyond 40 yards around here so I retract that portion of the question. Thanks for your information Jeff. To say you love the R-9 speaks volumes for it to a noob who knows you have a magnum in the closet! I'm just crazy, I need to just do it and shut up about it.

edit: I had a question about the scope and rings here but pieced it all together from your review and info on beemans site.

JR

[longislandhunter]

The scope that comes with the Bass Pro Shop Goldfinger combo is a Beeman 3x9x40, it is not a mildot, and it's mounted using Beeman 2 piece medium height rings.  The rings have 2 clamping screws each and they seem like solid enough rings.  So far they've held rock solid on my gun and I've done quite a bit of shooting.  The rings are not adjustable.  

As I said in my review,,,, I usually don't like medium height rings but I got used to them on this gun and I don't even give it a second thought anymore.  

If you were to order the Goldfinger combo from another airgun sight you may get a different scope setup than Bass Pro sells.  I think on a couple of other sites I saw the Goldfinger setup with a Bushnell scope.  

Anyway, best of luck.  When you finally do decide on a rifle I'd be very interested in reading your review of it.  Take care.  

BTW...... my wife told me today that for my 50th birthday, which unfortunately is coming up, I can go buy whatever present I want.  Now I'm in the same perdicament as you... I've been searching all my usual airgun sites trying to decide what to buy, but I think I'm gonna just head back to Bass Pro and hit the "order" button on the .177 cal Goldfinger combo so I can have a matched set.  

Jeff

[daved]

Hey, JR, if Jeff says it, you can take it to the bank!  And Jeff, Happy Birthday, man, I've still got a couple of years before I hit the big 50.  Did the wife really say whatever you want???!!!  Hey, have you looked at any of the Theoben rifles, especially the gas rams?  I gotta say, I'm having a ball with the ram I put in my CFX.  It's starting to get a little boring, though, the damn thing just wants to put everything in the same hole :-)!  Just a thought.  Later.

Dave

[longislandhunter]

thanks Dave.   Yeah, I can't believe I'm hittin the big 50.  Oh well, nothin you can do about it I guess.

As for the wife,,, yup, she told me to go buy whatever I want.  I replied that making a statement like that to me could be very costly, but all she said was "that's ok, you work hard, go ahead and buy yourself whatever you want".  I just stood there in disbelief !!

Before ordering that .177 cal Goldfinger I think I'll take your advice and take a look at the Theoben rifles.  I'm really not familiar with them, or gas rams for that matter, but you're makin it sound like something that deserves consideration.  

Jeff

well, I just went through the big 29, you guys are lucky wait till you get to my age  :p  seriously thought, I bet I've spent more time in ICU! Don't be talking good about those theoben's I like being married but if their worth it, I could afford one a couple years after the divorce.

Oh yea, I have to edit 2 or 3 times cuz I forget to say everything te first time! On beeman's site, all their scopes are listed as "beeman/bushnell" written just like that so I'd say they're all the same, beeman's just an importer right? So it would make sense that someone makes them for them.

JR

[shadow]

Let's see, Jeff's b-day is coming up and his wife tells him to GET WHAT YOU WANT.! Dave's gas-ram powered baby is stacking pellet's and he's BORED.! YOU GUYS ARE KILLING ME.! My b-day is in Feb, I'll be 43 and I'm SHOOTING for a 100. My gramps lived to be 103,it's a good bloodline start. If nothing else I can use my airrifes for walking cains hehehe. Ed

[DanoInTx]

I'm only getting to 35 at the end of February, but I already bought myself that Gamo 220!!!

You know if she said "Go buy yourself whatever you want".....man, I could think of alot of things besides a new air rifle....like what about a week long vacation for one filled with beer and strippers?  Air rifles, what's the matter with you man?  

Ok, since I don't drink it wouldn't really be beer, it'd be "near beer", and since my wife is the sexiest woman alive IMHO, it wouldn't be strippers it be a trip to Victoria's Secret...so I guess I'd get a new Goldfinger Combo from Bass Pro too:)

Happy Birthday Bud, enjoy your day!

Dan

[DanoInTx]

ICU, man, that's sucks.  I'm a bit of a "frequent flier" myself, but never in ICU that I can recall...although there was that incident with the ER and the backboard, and the ladder, and ouch that hurt like heck!

I've held the RWS48, as well as the Goldfinger, and owned a BAM30 which is modeled after the 48.  The 48 and B30 are heavy guns, alot of power, but heavy to match.  If you have arms like Popeye and want alot of power then you might like them, but if you want something you can shoot more than a few dozen pellets through before you're tired, then I'd go with the Goldfinger...ya know they also have a .20, which sounds like the ticket if you hunt too.  I myself went through that "Magnumitis" when I bought my second gun, it's hard to shake it.  I've found now that I really enjoy shooting my CO2 guns when the weather is right and most of those are shooting mid 600fps in .22 range(exception being the Mike Melick AR2078, that thing has muscles!).  Actually I can have a heck of alot of fun shooting my kids Red Ryders, fill it with BB's, cock, shoot, cock, shoot, so easy and light it's relaxing.  Maybe see if someone will lend you their big heavy gun for a month or so to see if you really want one, it might just cure ya.

Good luck, I know it wont be easy,

Dan