Marksman 2000 Review

Overall Rating

Mostly-Metal Construction. Low price. Made in U.S.A.

Sporadic power. Slight inaccuracy. Fake Grip Screws.

I purchased a Marksman 2000 air pistol at a local Walmart store to tide me over until my new Benjamin Air Pistol arrived in the mail. It seemed like a long wait for some reason, since I enjoy shooting for target practice. I began my search for a good pellet or bb pistol to train my accuracy, before going to the range with a genuine firearm.

In my search I initially purchased a Walther PPK by Crosman. It wasn't a bad pistol, but I wasn't pleased with the overly easy trigger pull that I felt did me no good for training and trigger control. I could hit my target every time, but this isn't difficult with a soft trigger. I returned the pistol in exchange for a Gamo P-23. This too was a nice pistol, but for my small hands, that over sized grip was a bit much. This disappointed me because the P-23 has a very true-to-life trigger pull that mimics my NAA Guardian pound-for-pound on the trigger break.

After consulting an online distributor for airguns, they recommended the Benjamin or the Beeman. I decided on the Benjamin for its lower price, and that it's made in the United States, which is important to my family that we always try to buy American, English, or Canadian goods first. I was also impressed with the Benjamin's no nonsense design that didn't have all the mock parts such as fake screws, faux safety levers, etc. I sent the P-23 back in exchange for the Benjamin EB22.

The Marksman 2000 was supposed to only provide a temporary relief for my almost giddy impatience waiting for the mail to run each day, or a knock on the door with my new Benjamin pellet pistol. I have to say that for the $16.88 price tag, the Marksman is hard to beat. It's mostly metal construction seemed a little more practical than the P-23. Naturally the accuracy can't compare with the Gamo, which is in a completely different league, but I kept reminding myself that the Marksman was less than $20 - sales tax, bb's and all. It's completely spring powered, which has its pro's and con's. It's not very powerful, but it's cheap to operate and very quiet. It's also made in the USA.

For an indoor pistol the Marksman 2000 can't be beaten. After an initial test-shot I realised how soft a 200fps bb was, and I set up a little tin-pan alley in my spare bedroom. I had an absolute blast shooting the gun, which fired with very few dry-fires (perhaps one every twenty or so shots). This was easily remedied by shaking the pistol upward to seat the bb into the breech, very much like the older Daisy BB guns that most of us probably owned at one time. It shoots about as hard as our first bb-gun as well. It's a lot of fun for less than the price of two movie tickets, and it gives long after the film has been digested in greasy popcorn.

My only improvement suggestion with the Marksman 2000 is with the grips. They have those wretched fake-screws, which I have always found profoundly unnecessary unless a pellet pistol is copying an exact model of firearm, such as the Walther or the Sig Sauer P-23. If it were my design, I would keep the same grip mould, minus the mock-screws, so that the Marksman 2000 would look more like a serious starter gun than a child's bb pistol. But with its low price, I imagine Marksman's marketing division has to appease the younger buyers so that it mimics the Desert Eagle or Government Pistol that it appears to be a mixture of.

While I don't want to give the impression that it's a perfect pistol, it is a fun, low-cost option that is perfect for indoors. The shots are slightly off from the sights, which are non-adjustable, but I normally adjust for windage on my own, versus making adjustments on a pistol unless it's specifically designed for competition, hunting, or person protection as a firearm. The pressure on the shots is a little sporadic at times. Occasionally a shot won't sink into my cardboard backstop and will ricochet (softly).

I just can't get past the price for a mostly metal bb-gun that also shoots pellets, darts, and bolts, none of which I have tried (I fired bb's only for this review). I did however find that the pistol shoots harder and more reliably when I loaded bb's one at a time, through the muzzle, than with the loader that has to penetrate a small o-ring which slows the velocity down just enough to keep the shots from sinking into the target reliably.

If you're looking for a fun pistol for rainy days, this is a good buy as long as you set the bar congruent with the price of the pistol. You can do a lot worse with a $20 pellet gun. The Marksman 2000 is a great backup for indoor use, back yard family fun, or when your expensive target pistol is in the shop. To the Marksman's credit, I did drop the pistol once on my hardwood floor while changing targets, and it didn't leave a scratch or hiccup when I reloaded and continued an almost endless steam of over 400 rounds. This is a tough little gun that will stay in my collection.

Members' Comments onChristi Leigh's Review

• Gotrice23 on 19th Oct 2005

  I disagree with you, when you say this pistol is SLIGHTY inaccurate. This pistol in my opinion is TOTALLY inaccurate. When I bought this, I looked at the pistol. The recoil is huge, the barrel is WAY shorter then my Walther CP Sport or Nighthawk. And once I found a huge the size of a Loonie and I backed up to shoot it the pellet missed by 5 WHOLE inches the the left. Disappointed by my failure, I reload with BB's this time and I aimed and fired, the accuracy was even worst. The BB was so far off, it wasn't even funny. The BB was 10 inches to the left this time. This was the worst $50 I spent on a pistol. Oh, by the way, I finished off the spider with my Daisy 880 and put the Marksman 2000 away where the sun don't shine after :(

• Christi Leigh on 20th Oct 2005

  As my shots were fired mostly indoors, it's possible that my accuracy was aided by the 10-foot trajectory. My husband has far less experience with pistol target shooting than I, but even he was able to at least hit the target box at 10 feet. If you paid $50 for this pistol, then you have every right to be disappointed with its performance. I only paid $16.88 US as disclosed in my review. That's what the pistol is worth. $50 should buy a significantly better pellet pistol. I feel that many owners of cheaper guns expect way too much from their purchase. From clothing to automobiles, we often get what we pay for. Therefore, it’s difficult to expect too much from a bottom-of-the-line target pistol. I appreciate your comments.

• hotsky on 24th Oct 2005

  It’s hard be inaccurate when shooting at 10 feet, any decent gun should be dead on at that distance.

• Gotrice23 on 26th Oct 2005

  10 feet???

• hotsky on 26th Oct 2005

  Christi said ; “As my shots were fired mostly indoors, it's possible that my accuracy was aided by the 10-foot trajectory” and “but even he was able to at least hit the target box at 10 feet” I assumed she’s talking about accuracy at 10feet... hence my comment.
  
  But I think air pistols should be accurate at 10m as well.

• gyates93 on 7th May 2006

  I own a marksman pistol. The wind TOTALLY blows the pellet/bb way off the target. The velocity is very low, it won't break through thin cardboard at 10 feet. As far as I'm concerned, this gun is not worth the pellets that I fire through it.

• andyman1245 on 23rd Dec 2006

  I just got a Marksman 2000 at wal-mart for 16.88. I took it home and loaded it up, and shot it and it went through two of the three boxes I set up. (I was shooting from about ten feet).

• gyates93 on 2nd Jan 2007

  Well I guess it shows they have great quality control..

• concho on 31st May 2009

  I think being overly critical of a really nice "toy" pistol expecting it to perform like a $200 pellet gun is somewhat unfair. My 12-year old found a "like new" 2000 at a garage sale for $5 and he's having a ball with it. Safe for him to shoot in our backyard at pop cans and small cardboard targets and it's a perfect pistol for me to teach him safe gun handling. The heft and feel of it seems to make him more mindful that this thing shoots projectiles and is not just a noisemaker. It would be a bargain at under $20 at WalMart but $5 is real shrewd buy on his part.