New and Hello

[BumbleShot]

Hi Long Islanders,
    I was just at Cobra Air on Saturday and bought a Beeman R7.  Thrilled with it so far!

   It was great meeting Joe and Tara.  

Are there any events coming up? If no "events" any place to just go shoot safely and break in this rifle?  

The opportunity to simply shoot with new acquaintances would be welcome!  I have plenty more questions for you folk!

I'm thrilled with the R7 and of course I'm thinking about more!

I had a great time shooting everything Joe handed me!  A kid in a candy shop.

Thanks again.

[TCups]

Welcome to the GTA, N Roe.
I have heard only good things about the R7.  Enjoy.
South Carolina is a great place to come shoot, but no upcoming events I know of, officially.
Aside from the back yard, I have been doing most of shooting indoors using a good pellet trap lined with electrician's duct seal putty.

[longislandhunter]

Welcome  !!!!!   Great to have you with us.....  Congrats on the new shooter,,,, you picked out a good one and you can never go wrong with Joe/Cobra Airguns helpin ya out  !!  I'm actually headed over to Cobra Tuesday morning to see Dave, Joe and the crew.  

I don't know of any  scheduled shoots but as for places to just hang out and practice just head east,,,, there are plenty of places.  I don't know where on the Island you are,,,, I'm in East Moriches,,,, but I'd be happy to show you a couple of places where you'd have all the room you want to shoot and noone will ever bother you.  Don't know if you hunt, but I airgun hunt small game almost every day of the season,,,, matter of fact Joe and I are gonna do some small game hunting together this season,,, you'd be more than welcome if you're interested...  

Anyway,,,, welcome and I'll look forward to your future posts and hopefully meeting you at Cobra one of these days....  

Jeff

[BumbleShot]

For the purposes of airguning, I'm in Northport on the East Coast!  

I don't have a hunting permit yet.  I'm taking the hunting safety courses this September for winter Muzzleloading/Bow. Happily I can borrow 12ga slug guns and Muzzies.

Actually part of the reason for purchasing the R7 was for non-indigineous pest control; aka European "House Sparrow" and Starling.  My wife and I are recent 'Birders' and have been enjoying that more peaceful pastime as well.  House Sparrow have destroyed native Blue Bird populations on Long Island.  (Also, a great excuse for buying a nice Leupold Spotting Scope!  Helps sighting in rifles at range as well spotting Red-eyed Vireo!)  The trouble now is making sure Sparrow shots on females are indeed female House Sparrow and NOTour indigenous and wonderful chipping-, White-throated-, Field- or Song- sparrows!  I intend to create a field guide for just these species for positive IDs for myself.  Starlings are easy to ID, but unfortunately, these guys are really common by the mini-malls and almost totally absent in the woods!

The R7 is made for sparrows and starlings!  *evil laugh*  Oddly, the House Sparrow is actually threatened in it's natural range in the UK...

Aside for a spot to shoot, my newest problem is deciding between a tuned Diana 34 .22 and an R9 in .20 or .22 that I can't afford!  I was impressed by the quality of the Beemans.  The RWS by comparison seem to require a tune, out of the box.   This rifle would be useful for Rock Doves (feral pigeons.)  Another non-indigenous species we know all too well! I figure a .22 would hit hard with little penetration issues or down range unintended problems, from what I can ascertain.

Thanks for the welcome and the invitation!  I may well take you up on it before long!

Cheers!

Here's an image of a Red-Eyed Vireo.  Who could shoot such a great song bird as this!  Song birds are not in my sights unless they are starlings and House Sparrow!


Here's the Vireo's Stats.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/573/_/Red-eyed_Vireo.aspx

What do you guys hunt?  Squirrel and rabbit?  Quail and pheasant?  Personally, I can't get enough venison!

[airgun/cuz]

Nelson,WELCOM TO GTA,I'm glad you joined this great forum,I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon........GO FOR THE R-9.......

[longislandhunter]

I agree Nelson,,,, get the R-9 ,,, you'll never look back !!!   Right outa the box it's a beautiful shooter.  As for the caliber,,,, the .20 and .22 are definitely the way to go as far as small game (rabbits, squirrels, etc)  but the .177, besides also being a viable small game hunter, is more than enough for pigeons.  I shoot pigeons all the time with my .177 R9 Goldfinger, and other .177's,  and it takes em down no problem.  

Well, will be seeing ya around GTA,,, it's great to have another "Islander" in the group....   :)

Jeff

[TCups]

Nelson:

Take your pick - R9 .20 vs Di 34 .22 with a Paul Watts tune.  You can't go wrong with either.  As you see, the Di 34 is a bit longer (and for me, perhaps just a tad barrel heavy).  The 34 is shooting 14.0 gr Trophies at about 635 FPB.  The R9 now has a new Maccari spring, guide, and seal.  It spits out 11.7 gr. RamJets at about 740 FPS.  To be absolutely honest, off a front rest, (at least in my hands), the tuned 34 is a bit more accurate, and the trigger on the 34 after professional adjustment is just as nice or nicer than the Rekord trigger on the R9 Goldfinger.  The R9 shoots flatter and feels ergonomically better for me, especially for off-hand shooting.  And being old and conservative, I like the hardwood more than the composite.  Both guns scoped (BSA on the 34, Bushnell Banner on the R9) price about the same, except that I sank another ~$150 in the Goldfinger on the Maccari tune and lubes.

[BumbleShot]

My heart goes pang for the R9, but fact is, I can't justify the expense for what I'm doing.  A 34 with a Macarri upgrade I can do myself is way under 300.

I have to ruin my Quest 177 first tinkering, or actually break in these 2 rifles, before I can even think about another gun!  My wife likes the guns fine, but asked, "How many do you have to have!"

If only lipsticks cost $500 each she would understand!

[airgun/cuz]

Nelson,believe me you can always find a way to justify an R-9.....And yeah,maybe lip-stick don't cost $500,start adding the shoes,bags,nail polish,hair products,skin lotions,etc..etc....you might have three R-9s..LOL!

[BumbleShot]

I have a great idea!!!

I'll just give the Quest to my buddy (or hock it), and buy an R9 and tell my wife the R9 is the $100 gun we got at Gander Mnt!  She wouldn't know the difference!

On a side note, the R7 didn't have the Beeman $60 lifetime warranty info.

[BumbleShot]

Well, after thinking about it all a little more, the R9 is wayyy out of my price league.  That Paul guy charges $300 for a tune + shipping...  I simply can't afford that.  that's wy I mentioned the 34.  It's a classic and tuned up, it's a champ.

I could have Cobra ship CharlieDaTuna a new wood 34 .22 and back for under $380 complete with shipping.  I read Paul's comments on tuning an R7.  That was depressing.  So I buy a $350 gun and it too needs a $300 tune, out-of-the-box to make sure it won't damage itself?!?!  A brand new Remington .720 Winchester in stainless costs less and groups 6" at 200 yards.

The Diana 34s I tried at Cobra were rough compared to the Beeman's and obviously would benefit from a pro tune.  But externally they looked worth a tune.  And after a Tuna would probably be a terrific .22 air rifle.  Like I said, I have to wait a bit to absorb it all!  

So a tuned R9 is about a $700 gun.  

Add to that I'd be lucky to put 1500 pellets through a gun a summer.  That might change seeing as I got the 'bug'.

I must remain patient!

[longislandhunter]

R-9's are fine shooters right outa the box.  I'm not saying a professional tune wouldn't make it even better but a new R9 right from the box would be a fine shooter and I wouldn't worry about getting it tuned.  The rifle will shoot well for a very long time if you take care of it correctly and years down the road when it may finally need some work is the time to have it tuned.  Like I said, I'm not saying a pro tune wouldn't make it even better,,, it certainly would, and if you have the extra money to have that done then fine,,,, but the R9's are sweet right outa the box and really don't need a tune IMO.  Others may feel differently of course and that's fine, to each his own.  

Jeff

[TCups]

Fact: Some R9's "out of the box" smoke and diesel and have deeply scored piston seals.  And it is surely possible to get a "lemon" in any air gun at any price.  And the cheaper the gun, well, the cheaper the gun.  This just seems to be the nature of the booming business in the high volume internet sale of air guns.  It's like Forest Gump's box of chocolates.  

So, if you want to make sure you get a really good springer that will give years of service without serious problems, what do you do?  After you purchase an airgun at any price, have someone you trust and who knows what they are doing take it apart, put a Maccari spring and seal in it, and lube tune it.  My opinion, elitist perhaps, but there it is.

[BumbleShot]

Is there anyone on Long Island who can do a safe Lube tune and install a Maccari kit on an R7?

[longislandhunter]

Don't know of any pro tuners on the Island, but there is plenty of "how to" information available if you're tempted to tackle it yourself.....

Jeff