P-17, love my new 'basement plinker'!

I've always wanted an over-lever pistol - don't know why, just did....if for nothing else, just to see what the big "hoopla"was all about with these guns. But, not being a diehard, pistol kinda guy, I didn't want to shell out $250 - $300 for an Alecto, or $400 - $500+ for an authentic HW, only to find out that it's not my "cup-o-tea". So after reading a bunch of reviews (both pros and cons), I decided to get a Beeman P-17 from Eric to try out for some basement plinking to pass the cold, winter months. After taking it apart to clean the gunk out of the barrel, polish/lube trigger components and deburr the air intake hole in compression tube, I sat down to chrony/sight-in this surprisingly good looking and great feeling pistol.
Attachment 827 Attachment 828

Chrony session was pretty short and didn't yield any surprises, other than I noticed it is really quiet and completely recoilless. Good enough for paper-punching.

5 shot avg:
H&N FTT Green (5.56 gr) - 461.4
H&N Excite Econ (7.56gr) - 415.6
JSB Express Diablo (7.87gr)- 407.3
H&N Finale Match (8.18gr - 398.8
JSB Heavy (10.34gr)- 351.3

I set up a target at 10m, grabbed 6 different brands of pellets (both wadcutter and domed) and started shooting to see what it liked. First thing I noticed is that my eyes no longer like open sights!! I think I may end up putting on one of those 'reflex' style red dots using them nifty little dovetail-weaver adapters that Eric has: http://scopesandammo.com/storefront/...er-piece-p-852 but for now though, I mounted an NcStar 2-7x32 pistol scope so I could at least see what kind of groupings I could get.
Attachment 829

I have to admit: for a cheap, Chinese-made knock-off, I was expecting groups just marginally better than a bb gun, but instead was impressed at how accurate it really was, all things considered! Don't get me wrong - I highly doubt you will ever see these competing at the Olympic level, but in the right hands I'm sure it would hold its own against guns worth 2 or 3 times as much.

My rest wasn't the sturdiest, so looking back I should have put it in a vice to show its full potential, but still somewhat respectable. I'm sure with a better rest and more practice on my part, groups should be even better. Zeroed the scope using Meisters' (although it looks like I can still come up a click or 2), then used the same POA (i.e: x-hairs on bull) for rest of pellets. Turns out she's not too picky at all (for refferance, I traced a dime for targets):
Attachment 830

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. When you look at the "price-paid vs capability/fun factor" of the P-17, I don't think there is a much better deal out there. I would have no problem recommending this gun to anyone looking for a cheap, accurate, "fun-gun" to plink paper or cans with. It fits the criteria beautifully.

Cheers,
Todd