by Tom Gaylord

Contender-Series model 89 is a big, beautiful breakbarrel. The dark wood stock contrasts with the rich, deep blue of the metal.

Prepare to be blown away!
Compasseco's new Contender-Series model 89 is one sweet breakbarrel air rifle. About the same size as a Beeman R1, the 89 is a pound lighter, though at 7.7 lbs. it's hardly a lightweight. It feels great when you hold it to your shoulder. The crisp open sights it comes with invite impromptu shooting right out of the box. The generous checkering on both the forearm and pistol grip is a welcome improvement.

Even the forearm screws are sleek and sharp. They require a spanner instead of the more common Allen wrench.

These days, when all the other airgun manufacturers are trying to stuff their budget guns in synthetic stocks to save money, it's refreshing to see a gun as warm and inviting as the 89. It appears that Compasseco is headed in the opposite direction of all the other makers and seriously trying to make a beautiful air rifle instead of one that just shoots.

A rifle with quality craftsmanship & good design
The Contender-Series model 89 is a conventional breakbarrel design without any strange quirks. The piston stroke is very long so it can develop maximum power. Normally, that results in a rifle with a lot of forward recoil, but we'll see. The rifle cocks normally, but the barrel is a little hard to break open. Like the Beeman Kodiak, it helps to slap the muzzle to pop open the barrel. That's when you notice that the detent holding the barrel shut is a ball bearing instead of a chisel detent. It works better than fine, though, because this barrel will not open until you do something deliberate.

The barrel is held shut by a ball bearing detent. It's tight and requires a slap on the muzzle to pop open.

The rifle has a fairly long 17.9" barrel that provides good leverage for cocking. Cocking effort on the rifle I tested was 34 lbs. after break-in. As the barrel breaks open, the automatic safety sets and must be released before taking the shot. It requires a very light effort that can be achieved with the trigger finger without shifting the firing hand. There is no anti-beartrap mechanism, so it is possible to release the safety and uncock the rifle by pulling the trigger while restraining the barrel with the other hand. This is a good feature as long as you know how to do it. Never give the barrel even one inch of slack, because if you do, it will overcome you and slam shut, damaging the rifle.

A long piston stroke is the secret to the Contender 89's power. The barrel comes far back to shove the piston into lockup with the sear.

The stock is rich, beautiful and well-made!
It is the stock that surprises me the most, as I believe it will most people who see this rifle for the first time. It is a deep, rich-looking dark brown with slight reddish tones. The wood has a subtle grain, but the warm color of the stain is the thing you notice the most. European rifles should have a stock this beautiful! The pistol grip and forearm are covered with two generous panels of fine checkering. The forearm screws are spanner fasteners that look sleek when compared to the run-of-the-mill Allen screws normally used. The dark rubber buttpad is perfectly fitted to finish the nicest new rifle stock I've seen in a long time.

The open sights are a cut above the rest
Open sights are one of the first places where airgun makers try to save money, and not without good reason. These days, many owners remove the sights right away because they don't need them with the scope they've installed. That's why I was blown away by the high quality of the open sights on the 89. Both front and rear are all-metal and sharp. I enjoy good sights, and this set is quite good. I know some airgunners will want to see this rifle just because of the wonderful, fully adjustable rear sight, which has a fine scale for the windage adjustment and a crisp thumbwheel for elevation. Both adjustments have fine detents you can feel, and they move easily and smoothly throughout the range.

The Contender-Series 89 rear sight is all metal with crisp detent clicks and sharp styling. It's ahead of every other rear sight on today's market.

For maximum accuracy, mount a scope
Compasseco asked me to put the 89 to the test, and that means wringing out all the accuracy. The only way to do that is with a scope. I selected the Tech Force 3-12x44mm, which I mounted in Air Match high rings. The rear ring was butted up against the rubber cushion on the built-in scope stop and didn't move through several hundred shots.

The built-in scope stop is one more thing you won't have to buy. The yellow strip is a synthetic bumper.

Compasseco's Tech Force 3-12x44mm AO is a good match for the rifle. Note the rear ring abuts the recoil-stop bumper.

Cleaning the barrel
As with the other spring guns I've tested, I cleaned the barrel of this rifle with J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound. I loaded a new .177-caliber bronze brush with the paste and ran it through the bore with 20 strokes in each direction. As always, the brush moved with a lot of resistance for the first 10 strokes but lightened up by the last one. New airgun (and even firearm) barrels always have burrs and rust spots from the bluing salts, so this cleaning takes care of that from the start. It's the same as shooting about 500 shots through the gun, and it lets you get the best accuracy right from the start.

Testing different pellets to find the best one for the 89
I set up a multiple-bull target at 30 yards to see what I could get from several pellets. First, I tried the new Tech Force Match pellets. In the Contender 59 (read more in my article), these were the most accurate pellets I tried. In the 89, they grouped about one inch for five. That might sound okay, but wait until you read the rest of the test! The next pellet I tried was the JSB Exact 10.2-grain domed pellet. It shot better than the light match pellet but was still grouping only in the 3/4" range. Next came the Beeman Kodiak, which usually performs well in powerful rifles. Although I hadn't chronographed the rifle yet, I could tell it was close to the sound barrier with the match pellets.

The best pellet!
Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets were, hands-down, the best-performing pellets in the test. They seemed to love the rifle, and the results speak for themselves. The groups stayed around a half-inch for the most part, and that's when I began experimenting with different holds. I established that this rifle likes to be held as softly as possible with the off hand just forward of the triggerguard. The groups shrank up to their smallest when the rifle was balanced with the maximum weight forward. The best group shot all day was with Premiers, and it measures a scant 0.442" center-to-center of the two holes farthest apart.

It looks like only four pellets went through, but three pellets passed through the smaller hole on the right. Five 7.9-grain Crosman Premiers at 30 yards. Group measures 0.442" c-t-c.

I did go back and try this hold with the other pellets, but only the Kodiaks seemed to respond well to it. I got my best groups with that pellet when using that soft hold.

Knowing that the rifle can shoot, it was time to see how fast it goes! The advertising says 1100 f.p.s., but I take that with a grain of salt. Usually, a rifle will be at least 100 f.p.s. slower when the quote is that high. But not this time!

No vibration, no recoil, no buzzing...stunning in looks & firing behavior!
This is so important in a spring gun, and all the Contender guns seem to be advanced. They don't diesel, they don't buzz or vibrate, and they have very little recoil. However, the 89 is stunning! It acts like it's had a custom tuneup. There is no vibration, and the recoil, which in a rifle of this power should be significant, is almost non-existent! It reminds me of an R1 I had tuned with an Ivan Hancock spring, guide and piston. The 89's two-stage trigger is a little creepy in the second stage, but that will probably get better with time. It's adjustable but requires a very small screwdriver with a long blade, and nothing I had would fit. If I were to suggest any improvements, one would be to make this an Allen crew because of where it's located.

Velocity
Velocity testing came after accuracy testing, so the gun had several hundred shots on it. I normally don't shoot that much, but this rifle is intriguing, so I shot it more than normal. By the time velocity testing came around, I knew it was powerful. The question was - how powerful? Since 7.9-grain Crosman Premiers did so well on target, I tested them first. They averaged 997 f.p.s., with an extreme spread from 991 to a high of 1002. That's 11 f.p.s., which is very stable for a spring rifle. The muzzle energy works out to 17.44 foot-pounds.

Next, I tried the Beeman Kodiaks. At 10.6 grains, they're among the heavier pellets in .177. Remember...they were very accurate in this rifle. They averaged 878 f.p.s. with a spread from 866 to 886, for a 20 f.p.s. extreme. That's about what a good spring rifle should do. The muzzle energy was 18.15 foot-pounds, which is a surprise because most spring rifles get greater power from lighter pellets. It may have something to do with the stability of this powerplant, but it was a surprise.

Then, I tried the 8.2-grain Tech Force Match pellets. I didn't know what they weighed at the time, so I was surprised to see them average 977, or a little less than the 7.9-grain Crosman Premiers. They ranged from a low of 968 to a high of 987, for a spread of 19 f.p.s. and 17.38 foot-pounds.

The final pellet I chronographed was the new Tech Force hollowpoint that ranges in weight from 7.1 grains to 7.5 grains. Being that light, they naturally were the speed demons of the day, averaging 1041 and ranging from 1030 to 1051. Even at that wild velocity, they stayed in a spread of only 21 f.p.s., with 17.57 foot-pounds of energy.

1100 f.p.s. - no sweat!
The claim of 1,100 f.p.s. for this rifle is, therefore, confirmed. There are several lead pellets lighter than 7 grains that would easily go that fast in this rifle without having to resort to novelty pellets, such as the Gamo Raptor or synthetics. The Contender 89 takes its place among the RWS 48/52/54 sidelevers.

Summary
This is an air rifle worth considering, regardless of what the other choices are. It will hold its own with guns the TX200, the Beeman R1 and the RWS 48. It will do it at less than half the price of some of them. True, it's hold-sensitive, but so is the R1. Taking the time to learn how to hold this rifle will only make you a better marksman with all long guns in the end.

The attractive stock, super open sights, accurate barrel and all the other features I've listed for you combine to make the Contender-Series model 89 a worthy air rifle.