The side-lever M48 is a powerful gun, and cocking effort is on the high side. It recoils considerably and can be very hard on a scope. In addition, you need to stick your finger into the breech to load it, and if your finger is in there and the gun malfunctions, well its going to hurt to say the least. Its happened before and will no doubt happen again.
If this is your first "real" adult oriented airgun, either the R-9 or the HW 77 is an excellent choice. Both have plenty of power for what you want to do. The accuracy capability of these guns is greater than most average shooters can take advantage of. Some guys seem to think that under-levers and side-levers have an advantage because the barrel doesn't move, but in reality you can't tell the difference. In most cases its the shooter that makes the difference, not the gun.
If you're looking for a gun in the 1000fps range it'll have to be .177. You really don't need that much anyway. Most .177 pellets start to lose stability and therefore accuracy once they get past 850- 900 fps. If you want to hunt larger critters like gophers, .22 is probably the way to go. A .22 pellet has lots more hitting power. Thats not to say you can't do it with a .177, but its easier with more power.
The Beeman/HW guns are usually excellent quality pieces, and aren't cheap. The RWS/Dianas are good quality too, but sometimes not up to HW standards. When you're buying the gun, keep in mind you'll need to spend a bit on a scope and mounts if thats the way you're going to go. The best scope/mount combo I've used so far is the Leupold 3-9x33EFR AO airgun scope on either a Beeman 5039 or 5040 one piece mount. Figure $300 for a decent scope/mount combo. High power magnum guns like these will tear a cheap scope apart and eat it for breakfast, sometimes in no more than a dozen shots. Cheap mounts make for lots of frustrating accuracy problems as they will not hold the scope in place for long.
Now, all that being said, heres another choice- If you're willing to spring for the $500 price tag of the HW77, check out the Beeman R-1/HW80. Its just about the best thing going in spring guns. Get it in .20, thats considered to be the best caliber for the R-1. It comes in standard length and carbine length. The R-1C in .20 is pretty much unbeatable as an all-around plinker/hunter.
One other thing- you can save yourself a few bucks by buying the HW marked gun instead of the gun with the Beeman stamp. Usually you'll save about $50-70 by circumventing the Beeman markup on what is the same gun. The R-1 is the HW-80, the R-9 is the HW-95. Same applies to the HW77.
.20 R-1 Carbine, Webley Gold Series 4x40 scope and one piece mount
