Beeman P1 and HW45 pistol owners... thoughts... opinions... please...

Have 2 .177 & .22 both are excellent and unmodified but scoped. I changed to finger groove grips on one and an underlayment which provided finger groove similarity. ~5.5fpe .177 & 6+ .22

I’ve had my .177 hw45 for about 5 years and it has probably been shot 10,000 times. It is an industrial work of art and a great plinking gun. I find it MUCH more enjoyable to plink while walking around in the woods with my hw45 than to shoot paper targets. It is heavy in a good way, and very well balanced in the hand. It is also relatively powerful at about 5.0 fpe depending on which pellet I shoot. I shoot 7.3gr JSB RS most of the time. 

Shooting it accurately takes some practice, but once you figure out the technique the accuracy is quite good for a powerful spring pistol. I would not hesitate to use it for squirrels or pests at 15 yards or less.

The only thing I’ve changed on mine is to replace the factory spring with an ARH spring at about 5,000 shots. The factory spring was still shooting fine, but I can’t resist taking apart and tinkering with my springers. This was a big mistake. Unlike all of my spring powered rifles, swapping the spring on an hw45 is a massive PITA. The spring is under a lot of preload and it is awkward to get it back into the compression chamber. So I won’t be doing that again until the spring really needs replacing. I’ve read about other users that have gotten 25k or more shots on a spring, so hopefully that won’t be for a long time

Bottom line, I really like mine but they are somewhat of an acquired taste.

R

In my opinion, the P1 is about the finest spring air pistol ever made, this side of recoilless match pistols. Extremely well-made, very durable interior components, excellent power, very accurate, great trigger, fine sights. The two power levels and ability to dry-fire the trigger are unique bonus features.

It does sit high above your hand and will take some practice to shoot well. Like you, I am not nuts about the stock grip panels. I have a pair of the old Beeman wood “combat grips” on mine which I like a lot, and of course the gun will take about any grips made for the immortal Colt .45 auto.

My gun is a very early-production example, purchased in the mid-80’s. I’ve replaced the spring once, otherwise it looks and works like new. A really great air pistol.

I am not a tuner or expert mechanic by any means, but I would guess the 7-inch barrel is not far from the optimum for the gun’s power level. I doubt you would gain significant velocity by lengthening it.

Mike Driskill check your inbox here and Facebook...

Enjoy



https://airgunwarriors.com/metal-shop/airgun-engraving-that-carved-up-beeman-p11-again/

I own and regularly shoot 3 P-1s (.177, .20, .22) and 2 P-11s (Silver Star). I consider them to be the finest spring pistols. They're challenging to shoot well, but once one gets the hang of them, thoroughly enjoyable. Since the grips are the same as a full size Colt 1911, many grips are available for personalizing. Since I too enjoy tinkering I made a spring compressor especially for my pistols. I use only BKL one piece scope mounts particularly because they're self-centering. RC

No droop compensation needed since the barrel is part of the over-lever, running parallel with the oversized dovetails. I use the 3", or 4" (depending upon the scope or what I happen to have on hand) cantilevered BKL one-piece mounts exclusively on all 5 of mine. RC

It’s been so long ago that I don’t remember all the details, but I was able to change the spring out just using an appropriately-sized bar clamp as a spring compressor, with a piece of PVC pipe to help keep things in line.

A really fun accessory for the P1 is the nifty shoulder stock that Beeman sold back in the day. I never realized how accurate the gun really was until I turned it into a carbine, LOL. 

Couple caveats on the stock though: 

1. The original Beeman instructions had you attach the thing with the grip screws, but IMHO those are not nearly long enough to firmly secure the stock into the aluminum frame. I found some longer ones at a local fastener dealer.

2. The stock makes the gun’s POI much higher (because, basically, the muzzle can no longer move under recoil). Beeman sold the stock with a taller front sight that attaches to the normal sight blade with a grub screw.

3. Like most pistol buttstocks, the LOP is quite long, so that you can contnue using scopes with pistol-length eye relief.

I had a p1 20 cal and a p11 22 cal....I liked the 22 version better because the bigger selection of ammo.

I have a silver star hw45. It is a great training weapon and it is not easy to shoot accurately. Let me explain, while mechanically the pistol is very accurate, it took me a long time to shoot it accurately enough to get squirrels and rats up close. I don’t know why, well probably because it’s a springer pistol, but certain days I can nail targets and game. I will pick it up again after a few months and I will be all over the place until I relearn how to shoot the pistol consistently.the build quality is nice and I’ll be keeping mine for the foreseeable future. Even though I use pcp’s, my hw 97 and hw 45 are always aired up and ready. It’s a great little pistol. If I had to do it over, I would get the standard hw 45 in .22 and get aftermarket grips for it. But I have to say, my silver grips are quite nice. It’s a great pistol for just grabbing some pellets and a target and go into the woods. Sorry about the brass knucks, I am too tired to take another picture. This was an old pic I sent to a friend.