.20 Cal Eliminator

[John C-S]

This is England's Premier Gas Ram. It costa plenty. Worth every dollar and then some. If you like Springers this is the ultimate. Cocking force is up there for muscle. But the rifle is like a .22RF up to 50 yds. Without noise of firearm discharge. Use Crossman Premier Pellets. Expect a slam on target close enough to the .22 short. Accuracy is phenominal. Not from a standard bench rest but from off-hand or supported off-hand shooting that the field is well aquainted with. The only kind of shooting we must do in the field. Put on a good high variable scope with stamina and parallax adjustment down to 30 feet. I've got a Weaver V16 on mine. Using CPs from dye number 7 this rifle is always my choice for practice and varmint control to 50 yards-or beyond if you are working pigeons or lighter pest birds. It kills jack rabbits easily to 50 yds with body hits. It is very quiet and very reliable. And you can shoot over and over again without worry about noise or ammunition cost or safety up to the mile mark on .22s.

[Lawdog]

Yes the Theoben Eliminator, also know as the Beeman Crow magnum until last year when Beeman and Theoben had a falling out and now Beeman no longer imports rifles from Theoben Ltd., is one powerful break barrel air rifle.  The main drawback to these rifles is the cocking effort it requires to cock them, 60 pounds.  Spend a day shooting a couple a hundred pellets and your arms end up looking like Popeye's.  Still these are the Rolls Royce of gas ram air rifles.  Mine are in .20 and .25 calibers and until you see what a .25 Crow Magnum pellet does to a 5 pound Brush Bunny at 45(+/-) yards it’s hard to believe it.  Lawdog
 

[doc_kreipke]

Regarding gas-rams in general.

1) Are they rougher or easier on scopes than an equivalent ft.lbs. & caliber springer?

2) Ditto for noise level.

(E.g. Eliminator vs. Kodiak/Patriot or maybe RX2 vs. RWS 350m ... )

[Lawdog]

Regarding gas-rams in general.

1) Are they rougher or easier on scopes than an equivalent ft.lbs. & caliber springer?

2) Ditto for noise level.

(E.g. Eliminator vs. Kodiak/Patriot or maybe RX2 vs. RWS 350m ... )

I own Beeman Crow Magnum(Theoben Eliminator) and a Beeman Kodiak(Webley Patriot) so let me answer this way.

1.]  The Crow magnum is more powerful

2.]  The Crow magnum is louder(the faster a pellet rifle shoots the more noise it makes)

3.]  The Crow Magnum requires more effort to cock

4.]  The Kodiak is harder on scopes

I really like the gas-ram as they won't take a set like a springer can.  I just wish that Theoben would bring back the Dual Magnum.  One powerful gas-ram underlever but production costs ruined sales so Theoben dumped them.  Lawdog
 

[John C-S]

If you wouldn't mind I would like to hear your details on each of these rifles you have and the scopes and the pellets and the accuracy--as well as the field experiences with the two calibers. I made the decision for the .20 as the one. If I could get another, it'd probably be the .25. But if you had to choose ONE.....

[Lawdog]

If you wouldn't mind I would like to hear your details on each of these rifles you have and the scopes and the pellets and the accuracy--as well as the field experiences with the two calibers. I made the decision for the .20 as the one. If I could get another, it'd probably be the .25. But if you had to choose ONE.....

I take it you mean my .20 & .25 caliber Crow Magnums.  Basically they are both equipped the same way.  Both wear the Same Burris R/A 6-24X scopes(no longer manufactured due to lack of sales) using Beeman 5030H mounts.  For small game hunting(which is why I bought these rifles) I shoot Beeman Crow Magnum pellets.  These hollow points really delivers the shock upon entry and expand to almost twice(sometimes more) the caliber size.  Crow Magnum pellets are my personal choice for all small game hunting and the majority of the pest control shooting I do around the place.

Accuracy of the Crow Magnum/Eliminator is EXCELLENT.  The trigger is about the best you could ever want on a hunting air rifle.  Adjustable, crisp, clean with no creep.  The game I usually use these rifles on is my favorite, The Brush Bunny.  Around 5 - 7 pounds live weight and a sporting target as they live in or around farm pruning brush piles where I hunt them..  They live in holes within the brush piles and if you don’t stop them in their tracks they can/will crawl down a hole and you loose them.  Forget head shots as Brush Bunny’s constantly move their heads.  I would say that 95% of the Brush Bunny’s we take every year are taken with body shots.  The other game animal I love to hunt with pellet rifles are Merriam Turkeys.  I used my Crow Magnum .20 to kill my first one.  A body shot at 40 yards.  I have used the Crow Magnums for Crow hunting but the repeated cocking is a short period of time gets old fast.  We mainly use our PCP rifles now for Crow hunting for the faster loading cycling time..  The .20 is an excellent choice if you plan on doing a lot of target work on top of small game hunting/pest control.  The .25 caliber has tremendous knock down power for air rifles.  It will turn a 5 pound Brush Bunny 180 degrees with a body hit at 40 yards.

But if you had to choose ONE.....

If I could only own one Crow Magnum/Eliminator it would be one in .22 caliber.  I feel the .22 caliber is the best all round hunting caliber with the second largest selection of pellets available.  I don’t feel anyone will use the Crow Magnum/Eliminator for target shooing on any regulator basis due to the 60 pound cocking effort.  Great exercise for your arms but it does get old real quick.  Lawdog
 

[doc_kreipke]

Since you're using the 5030 mounts, I take it that they don't have much barrel droop. (?)

[Lawdog]

Since you're using the 5030 mounts, I take it that they don't have much barrel droop. (?)

No droop on my Crow Magnums that I have ever heard of but my Beeman Kodiak wears 5039 mounts.  I does have enough droop to require the use of adjustable mounts.  Lawdog