Beeman Tempest .177 cal. Review

Overall Rating

Solid, you could hammer in nails with it.
Reliable, comfortable.
Easy to improve.

Out of the box the trigger is a disgrace.

My version of theBeeman Tempest .177 cal. is the Webley (UK) one. It originally had a .22 barrel but I stripped it to polish up the trigger sears and changed to barrel for .177 at the same time. It is a lovely little pistol. The looks are a little on the "whacky" side if you are used to imitation firearms but it has a timeless appeal all of its own never-the-less. Out of the box the trigger is a disgrace. Don't expect it to get much better with use either judging by the state of the sears from the factory. You need to polish the end of the barrel where it meets the sealing washer as well to ensure a good fit, and I opened up the breach slightly so the waist of the pellet (opposite of the business end) wouldn't stand proud of the barrel and be deformed as the barrel was closed. Overall this is a pistol I love to use and often have with me when I am hunting with the Air Arms S410.

Members' Comments oneasilyled's Review

• Twitch on 19th Feb 2006

  I'm sorry i dont understand. how was the trigger a disgrace??

• easilyled on 20th Feb 2006

  Right. Trigger sears. The trigger pull was rough. You had to pull quite hard to get over the rough spots on the sears themselves. As the trigger "catches" on the rough spot then frees itself the aim jumps all over the place. Fortunately it is a fairly easy job to get the sears onto the bench, take off the high spots (you dont alter the profile or remove any metal except the high spots) polish up the surfaces, lubricate and reassemble. You shouldnt lighten the trigger pull, that only makes the gun unsafe. When it is all reassembled the pull will be smooth which will help maintain aim and thus improve the accuracy. My assessment of the trigger as a "disgrace" is nothing to do with the design just the quality of the finish on the actual bits of metal that rub together and make up the mechanism. Just dont lighten the pull, it will make it unsafe. Any other probs just ask.

• Twitch on 21st Feb 2006

  is this with all products of this gun, or was it just that one. Because from what i've seen, there's always something you need to oil or smooth or fix with new guns. and frankly i cant even take apart an airsoft without breaking it/not remembering where bits go/cutting of appendages. How will i handle an air pistol?!!?!?!!?!? argh!

• easilyled on 22nd Feb 2006

  HI, lets put it in perspective, you probably wouldn't even notice the trigger was "rough" unless someone told you about it. The fact is us gun-nuts always like to improve things with our guns. Also we tend to acquire more expensive guns as time goes by and their quality improves so we notice "hey, this trigger on this £1000 rifle is really smooth compared to that £100 pistol". I wonder why!!! So, like we do it gets taken apart, sorted out, put back together and hey presto, vast improvement for a little bit of work. Dont worry about it, its a cracking little pistol.

• Twitch on 22nd Feb 2006

  cool!

• easilyled on 23rd Feb 2006

  .....and the other thing I should probably mention, while my pistol was secondhand it had never been fired. I am sure after a couple of tins of pellets things would improve of their own accord as the trigger mech wore-in a bit. With hindsight the word "disgrace" maybe a bit unfair, I guess I was a bit annoyed that while they were assembling the gun Webley hadnt spent the 2 minutes it needed to just improve things.