I found the Marksman 2070 air rifle when I was looking for a family friendly all day shooter that wouldn’t break the bank. And I didn’t need it to challenge my patience by requiring 5-7 pumps with every shot! Above: That’s my friend Ron Keller shooting the Marksman 2070 air rifle.
The Beeman QB78 I reviewed recently turned out to be an absolutely delightful air rifle, meeting nearly every one of my requirements for a FUN gun. It was light weight, well made, attractively finished, moderately priced, easy to cock and load, and possessed an excellent trigger. Above all, was accurate in the hands of a beginner. It was a really great target gun!
But I wanted to add a gun to my small but growing arsenal which had a little more PUNCH! A gun which would have all of the benefits of the Beeman QB78, with the additional benefit of dispatching the occasional chipmunk or squirrel without concern for crippling the quarry. That meant a little more muzzle velocity, without sacrificing accuracy, weight and cocking effort.
The HAM team had recently reviewed two moderately priced break barrel, gas/spring piston guns by Beeman, and they received the HAM Gold and Silver awards at their price point. These two guns exceeded my requirements for weight, power, and cocking effort, but the quality of the brand intrigued me. So I decided to explore the Beeman web site and see what else they had available…
I had almost given up when I stumbled on their Marksman 2070 air rifle at the bottom of the web page. Three things jumped out at me. The shipping weight of this break barrel springer was said to be 7.65 pounds, so the weight of the gun – sans scope, rings and packing materials – had to be much lighter.
The advertised velocity level for the Marksman 2070 air rifle was 830 fps, positioning this 0.177 cal gun squarely between the QB78 and my Remington Express. And best of all, the MSRP was under $100.00. Information on accuracy, cocking effort and trigger pull were not available, but one on-line review by a new owner was very positive. He gave it a five star. I decided to give it a go.
One thousand feet per second guns, as a class, are heavy, moderately difficult to cock and frequently a challenge to shoot accurately. I wanted to avoid these characteristics. I was hoping the little Marksman 2070 would address concerns I had for Big Brother.
I won’t keep you guessing. It DID!
First thing I did out of the box is toss it on the fruit scale. Five and three-quarter pounds. Absolutely perfect!
I weighed the 4 power scope and mount: they added an additional ¾ lbs to the weight. At 6 ½ lbs including scope, this should be a fun gun to own if it was easy to cock, had an decent trigger pull and didn’t require a PhD in “springerology” to shoot accurately.
Cocking the gun for the first shot was the next pleasant surprise. I don’t have an accurate way to measure that force, but the cocking effort was – well, effortless. I’d have to guess in the low 20 Lbs range.
Quality Construction:
Beeman.com’s internet photo doesn’t do the gun justice. The quality plastic stock of the Marksman 2070 air rifle is a pleasing shade of grey. But more importantly, it features very appealing, traditional styling. And the metal work is on a par with guns at this price point. Not quite the build quality of Beeman’s QB78, but I found the wood and metal work on that gun to be exceptional. Nuff said!
Loudness:
This is not the quietest gun around, but I don’t find the report objectionable. I would describe the sound as a metallic “CHUNK” ! Not offensive, but a bit more abrasive than gun sounds muted by a wood stock. I wasn’t aware of any spring “twang” reported by other spring gun owners. Other than the noise on firing, the only other sound emanates from the joint connecting the cocking arm to the barrel. It rattles softly when you move the gun quickly. You could probably muffle the sound with a little lubricant. Not a top priority.
Beeman Scope:
Entry level scopes generally get replaced, but there are some features of this scope that deserve cursory comment. Quality of build and clarity of optics is acceptable and standard for this price point.
Outdoors at 25 yards the target is in focus and well illuminated.
The duplex reticle worked well on targets at that range. But at 10 yards, with no adjustable objective lens, the image becomes fuzzy. That being said, it was “good enough” for accurate target acquisition on my indoor range.
On the “Up” side, the horizontal and vertical adjustments were more accurate than I would expect for $10.00 optics. With ¼ MOA clicks, pellet groups responded accurately to adjustments. If I wanted to move a pellet group left half an inch, and up an inch, I dialed in 20 clicks left and 40 clicks up, and the result was close to a Bulls Eye. The accuracy of adjustment was repeated multiple times.
Now for the “Down” side. The gun has a “drooper” barrel. But, it doesn’t come with a drooper mount.
It shot over 4-inches low at 10 yards using the supplied scope rings. I jury rigged the mount by lining the lower half of the rear scope ring with one layer of double face, foam mounting tape. It squished into place when I tightened the top mount rings with GunTite, and brought the POI up to within an inch of the bull. I used the “UP” scope adjustment to bring the pellets on target.
To date, the scope has maintained POI without shifting. This is probably not as permanent as purchasing a drooper mount, but it will get you on target until you can purchase a mount designed to deal with this issue.
Power:
One of the reasons I purchased the gun was the advertised 830 fps muzzle velocity. You’re never sure what you are going to get given the vagaries of air gun power level ratings. I was hoping to get muzzle energies somewhere between those of a CO2 gun and the standard output of 1000 fps springers.
I was pleasantly surprised at the result, and I’ll report them here in tabular form.
The gun topped 800 fps with 7 grain RWS lead Diabolo Basics, and produced near identical 730 fps velocities with H & N Field Target Trophies, JSB Exacts, and RWS Superdomes. Velocities fell off slightly to 710 fps with H & N’s moderately priced Excite Hammer pellets.
And with the exception of the Hammer Pellets, muzzle energy was nearly uniform at 10 foot pounds. Standard deviation for 5 shot velocity tests was very good, ranging from 5 fps for the Diabolo Basic, to 19 fps for Superdomes. The H & N Hammer pellet was among the most accurate tested, so we decided to present it’s trajectory and down range energy in tabular form.
I contacted H & N for the necessary Ballistic Coefficient, but they only provide that data for their premium pellets. So I used my Oehler 33 to chronograph the velocity at the target (25 yds), and combined that data with the muzzle velocity to calculate the Ballistic Coefficient.
By the way, a great Ballistic Coefficient calculator is available on the Airguns of Arizona web site. (Look for Airgun Calculators in the left-hand, yellow, column). The trajectory table will give you a reference point to assess the gun’s pellet flight path and power output.
Trigger and Hold Sensitivity:
Trigger pull characteristics for the Marksman 2070 air rifle were not what I expected initially. In fact, I came close to calling California and asking if I could return the gun. But then I read the Manual for the Marksman 2070 air rifle and learned how to improve the pull weight and let off. Next time we’ll review how I tweaked the trigger, along with my assessment of how beginner friendly the 2070 can be.
You’ll want to come back for Part Two of this Marksman 2070 air rifle review to see how my gun performs in the hands of this novice, without benefit of a “touchy feely artillery hold”. Till next time…
Buy at Pyramyd Air:
Marksman 2070 Air Rifle Combo
Buy at Airgun Depot:
Marksman 2070 Air Rifle
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