but but then a Beeman R9 is now around 500 bucks.....
That sounds expensive. But is it?
I didn't pay anywhere near $500.00 for either of my R-9's, but if mine were stolen or destroyed or something, and I needed to replace them, I wouldn't hesitate to pay whatever the going rate is to replace them, though I could probably live without the .177 and stick with the .20.
Sure, there are lower cost alternatives. But if a buyer can manage to save $250.00 for a Gamo or whatever in "X" amount of time, it would seem that with a little goal-oriented patience, that same buyer could manage to scrape up the R-9's price of admission in time. It only hurts to pay for it once and after it is paid for, there is no "coulda woulda shoulda" attached to the ownership experience -just total satisfaction, over decades of use. It might take a little longer to scrimp and save for, but an R-9 is well and truly worth the wait.
The beauty of the R-9 isn't just found in its build quality, accuracy, or power to weight ratio. It is also manifested in servicability. Seals and mainsprings are wear items that need periodic replacement. The parts are comparitively cheap from Beeman and the R-9 platfrom is easy to service.
As with other forms of shooting sport, hardware isn't really where your shooting hobby money goes if you're any kind of volume shooter. I easily spend well over the cost of a new R-9 on the pellets that I shoot out of mine each year. It's pretty much been the same for me for the last 30+ years and will continue to be for the forseable future. But I only had to buy my R-9s once.
Here's why quality that bites to save for pays in the long run.
When I was a teen, I wanted a Beeman / FWB 124D in the worst possible way. I STILL wouldn't mind having one as I think they're the M-98 Mauser of airgunning -a classic. So I set a goal and worked and scrimped and saved and sacraficed for years until I had the money together and more. By then, the new flagship of the Beeman sporting air rifle lineup was the then-new R-1. Not only was it the flattest shooting, hardest hitting springer on the market at the time, but it was also available in the exciting, "new" .20 caliber.
That was one expensive piece of equimpment when it was new. And since I had waited so long to get in to adult airgunning, I ordered mine in .20 with a host of options that drove up the price even further.
I shot the daylights out of the thing for 25 years or so. It remains one of the few items I've bought that didn't just meet my expectations, but exceeded them. I never regretted buying it. When I decided to sell it, that rifle proved as good as money in the bank because I took exceptional care of it, kept it maintained, and sold it for MORE than I paid for it. Ultimately, it didn't really cost me anything. I used the proceeds of the sale of the R-1 to buy both of my R-9's.
I was looking for a .20 Deluxe when a guy came in to a shop with an NIB .177 Goldfinger that he won at a Safari Club dinner raffle and wanted to sell. I offered him $225.00 and he cheerfully handed the thing over to me. Six months later, I bought my .20 Deluxe with select wood, select barrel angle, and Beeman tune for $357.00.
Now that new ones are pushing the $500.00 mark, I am pretty sure that if I wanted to sell, I might get my money back on the .20 if I was patient enough to wait for the right buyer. I wouldn't have ANY trouble getting out of the .177 for what it cost me to get in to it. I'm not anxious to sell, however, and don't expect that I ever will be. I feel the same way about these that I felt about the R-1. In fact, I like them better because they're a little more managable in the field, being lighter and less bulky, but still having plenty of power and range for the hunting that I do with them.
Save for a new one. You won't reget it. While you're doing that, if a sweet deal on a used one comes along, you'll be in a position to snag it. Personally, I think a clean, used R-9 would be more satisfying to own and shoot than just about any break-barrel RWS model -probably an obvious fact, since I don't shoot RWSs but shoot my .20 R-9 several times a week.
With reasonable care, as long as parts are available for it somewhere, my kids will be shooting them long after I've gone off to take the proverbial dirt nap.
Tight Groups,
-JP
