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rsterne · Moderator

Recent post from Kevin at Straight Shooters that says Beeman is still around, handling Weihrauch, through Air Venturi....

http://straightshooterschat.com/showthread.php?892-Correcting-some-BAD-information...........3-8-11

Bob

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I don't believe the information posted there is all that complete, but generally (not completely) accurate.

Having spoken with the Beeman product manager in California a half-dozen times in the last year, as well as one of the main guys at "Air Venturi" more than a couple times, the story is somewhat more complicated than what has been presented:

The idea of the ownership change with Beeman and S/R Industries in California is correct- sold out to the "owners" of BAM/Industry Brand/Shanghai Airgun/whatever other entities are part of this manufacturing group.

Weihrauch suspended its relationship with Beeman when this ownership change took place- nobody would say if it was because Beeman was behind on its payments to Weihrauch, or Weihrauch didn't like the Chinese-ownership idea. I suspect it was a bit of each.

H&N also wasn't shipping any "Beeman" branded pellets at that point, likely for the same reason(s) as Weihrauch.

"Air Venturi" (PyramydAir- they are only a name separation- all the same staff, same shipping department, same location(s)), who had imported Weihrauch rifles directly in the past, was obviously not too happy that they no longer had any Beeman pellets (a fairly big seller from what I understand)- so they went directly to H&N and by early 2010 were pushing H&N (no Beeman-labeled inventory to push) heavily. They also negotiated with Weihrauch that they would be the "exclusive" Eastern-US distributor of Weihrauch product-but Beeman somehow managed to retain the Western-US distribution rights. Now in the modern age of the internet, and Air Venturi/Pyramyd being the largest mail/order internet vendor in the US, I'm not sure how this "territory" idea was to be enforced, exactly, but I guess the idea with Weihrauch was not to kick Beeman right to the curb- obviously the Beeman 'brand' has had some good value for all over the last 20 years. As an interesting aside- note that the "Air Venturi" name and it's marketing as the "reseller/distribution arm" of PyramydAir did not appear until mid-late 2009- about the same time Beeman had been cut-off by the Germans (and I don't care what anyone says, having dealt with them, they ARE Pyramyd in all but the label on a few products)- so I don't think it would be unfair to speculate that it was formed entirely for the purpose of signing 'distribution' agreements with the Germans.

Beeman, of course, has been trying to pull itself together since 2008, and the pace has apparently been quite slow- so it seems that in the interim that have either "leased" or loaned their Western-US distribution rights, and their name (Beeman) to Air Venturi/Pyramyd to sell both Weihrauch product with the Beeman name on it, as well as "Beeman" branded H&N pellets. Will this last indefinitely, or will Beeman pick up the importation and distribution for its (now) reduced territory? Who knows...

That being said, Beeman-S/R Industries never "went out of business" as evidenced by the constant supply of Beeman and Marksman-branded lower-end Chinese-made products on big-box store shelves. Anyone who suggested Beeman was "out of business" was speaking out of turn.