Beeman Sportsman Gas Ram Series Rifle Dual Caliber .177 & .22 review

Beeman Sportsman Gas Ram Series Rifle Dual Caliber .177 & .22 review

Hello to all;

I saw an ad from Beeman back in 2017 describing a Dual caliber Gas Ram Air Rifle, the “Sportsman Gas Ram Series” with 2 interchangeable barrels; .177 cal & .22cal.

Actions were offered in both Nickel plated and Blued configuration with European hard wood stock & rubber butt pad. The dual caliber aspect along with the Gas Ram really intrigued me, and it also came with a Beeman 4x32 scope. I ordered the Nickel plated unit in 2018 and put together the following info:

The specs were OAL 47.5 inches weight 9 lbs. It also came with a Green fiber optic adjustable rear sight and a hooded Red fiber optic front sight. Also included were some extra breech seals and a 4mm Allen wrench to facilitate changing barrels. The safety is located in the trigger guard; a small lever in front of the trigger activated upon cocking and must be pushed forward to fire position.

After receiving the Rifle I gave it a thorough check, it came with the .177 cal. barrel installed. This is a really nice looking unit the Nickel finish and the Hardwood stock gives it a real custom look! I removed the.177 barrel and gave both the .22 &.177 bores a good clean, actually both barrels required very little cleaning three patches and they were clean.

I checked all stock action mounting bolts/screws made sure they were tight, installed the supplied scope and installed the .177 cal. barrel initially, I used a dab of blue Locktite on the barrel securement Allen screw. I checked the trigger pull and got 4.2 lbs.(* I recently rechecked the trigger pull with my Lyman electronic trigger pull gage and got 3.6 lbs ) I oiled all the barrel linkage friction points and called it good at this point and moved forward for some velocity figures.

I used Crosman 7.9 gr. and 14.3 gr. PMHP for all velocity testing:
.177

1. 948 fps
2. 951 fps
3. 946 fps
4. 948 fps.
5. 946 fps.

Average: 948 fps.
15.7 ft.lbs

After installing the .22 cal barrel I got the following:
.22

1. 743 fps.
2. 734 fps.
3. 739 fps.
4. 736 fps
5. 735 fps.

Average: 738 fps.
19.3 ft.lbs.


Really impressive performance velocity wise in my view! Now to take a look at accuracy! I started with the same pellets for the accuracy testing, at 20 yds. I will start with the .177 cal.

“Well” the Crosman 7.9 gr. would not group at all; 3-5 inch groups!!! I tried these pellets from 3 different cans: Shotgun patterns!!

So I went to one of my old standby .177 cal. pellets JSB Exact Diabolo 8.4 gr. These gave me what I was looking for, a 5 shot group of .680” c-c., and velocities were virtually the same. OK, JSB for the .177 cal barrel!!

Next up the .22 cal. barrel, I used the Crosman 14.3 gr. PMHP pellets; the Crosman PMHP pellets delivered 5 shot groups of .730, good, in my view.

I was impressed; this was the first Gas Ram pellet rifle I had any experience with, and after 5 years has not leaked down and still retains good velocity, accuracy certainly meets my standards and plenty of power and dual caliber barrels to boot, and they are still in production just saw one advertised at PA for $169.95!!

Garey