Average Review: 4.94 out of 5
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| by BOLIVAR OZORIA |
Date Added: Wednesday 27 August, 2008 |
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Thank you Compasseco for sending out the order out so quickly. I ordered the Tech Force Contender series 89 in the .22 caliber with the the Beeman sting in 15.74 and at 75 yards it placed the shot dead center. The Coca cola can had no chance, but in September when rabbit season starts the jack rabbits won't have a chance, but one thing is true the Tech force Contenders are serious business and the hard wood craftmanship is beautiful. I've heard aweful reviews on Tech Force, but I can tell you they are great and you can't beat the price as well. The price you save you can buy your self a $100 scope and high rings as compared to American or European Air Rifles , but one thin is for sure need a serious hunting airgun Tech Force is the way to go.<br />
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by Art Kitcheyan |
Date Added: Wednesday 27 August, 2008 |
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I, like others, wanted a good rifle but the good ones werent cheap. I had viewed the model 89 on the Compasseco web sight a few times and read the reviews from Gaylord and Eutsler. I wanted a .22 caliber and the cost was kind of marginal to what I would allow myself. An offer came up that I could not pass up. So, placed my order and a week later the package arrived. I am impressed. The rifle is big and when shot I didnt get the "Twang" that I get from my other rifles. I put a Crossman Targetmaster 4X32 scope on it and sighting in was a cinch. The rifle was suprisingly accurate. Ive shot Crossman Copperhead pointed, Premier hollow points, and Gamo magnum pellets from it. With these pellets I was able to keep a very consistent hit on not only the target but the specific spot of the target. The power this rifle generates is very impressive. The "Thud" on impact was loud. No follow up shots needed when I took it hunting and confidence has come from shooting this rifle Practice will make it a tack driver. What a great rifle. I had some people comment about it being a cheap rifle and I would regret the purchase. I am impressed and satisfied with the accuracy, power, and cost of this rifle. The only quirk I had with it is the butt stock pad would move and cause a pinch between the stock and pad - "OUCH". "Tank top" shooters be aware. Well after some "hickeys" from the pinching I applied a little bit of Shoe goo between stock and pad. Allowed to dry and problem solved. GREAT RIFLE. THANK YOU COMPESSECO.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by Flip |
Date Added: Wednesday 27 August, 2008 |
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Fantastic air rifle! It is a very powerful gun for what it weighs. Most other pump guns with this power are heavier by at least 1 lb. It is also a very accurate gun. I get great groups at 20, 30, even 50 yards. I was at the range shooting at 50 yards and several people watching were blown away by the groups I was getting. There was another guy at range with a RWS 52 .22 and I was getting tighter groups. I also love the dark stock and the checkering is much nicer than I expected. The stock screws were loose when I got the gun and gun was much more consistant after tightened. Very happy with purchase!
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by THERON LINTON |
Date Added: Sunday 16 March, 2008 |
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IT IS TRUE WHAT TOM GAYLORD HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE PERFORMACE OF THE GUN. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THE GUN AND SCOPE.IT REALLY IS A PERFORMER. I DEARLY LOVE IT. .
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by michael |
Date Added: Thursday 28 February, 2008 |
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For the price, this is a great gun. I wanted the 177 and ended up buying the 22 cal because the 177 was out of stock until May 08. I wanted a good hunting gun with one shot kills. The gun out of the box had minor flaws on the stock and it needed a through cleaning. It chronys out close enough to the specs using a 10.9 crosman domed pellet. Accuracy is very good and the hitting power is awesome. The scope left something to be desired. It is at almost the limits to get it accurate at 25 + yards and had minor flaws in the optic coatings. It is clear enough and for the price, I will use it on one of my rifles. The contender 89 will get a real good scope when I can afford it. Overall for the price, the weight of gun and the hitting power, this will be a good rifle that will get a lot of use. Compasseco service was good and delivery was timely. I am very satisfied with my purchase of gun and scope.
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars] |
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| by William Lambert |
Date Added: Monday 31 December, 2007 |
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Tech Force Contender Model 89 Back in the early 80’s I purchased a Beeman R 10 in .20 cal.. In more recent times, I have wanted a "springer’ in .22 cal. My problem was that the quality products were more than I was willing to spend and the less expensive modes appeared to be cheap. Then I found the TF 89 on the Compessaco. $189.99 before the 20% discount and they say it will hold its own against the Beeman R1 The price seemed right and the zoomed in picture of the rifle looked real nice. So I placed an order - rifle in .22 cal, 2x7 scope, case, and box of Crosman premier pellets. The total with shipping was almost an even $250.00. I should point out that this is about a third of what I paid for a comparably equipped R 10. A few days later the box arrived. Right out of the box, this is one fine looking rifle. It is big. Definitely built to fit an adult. The stock is stained fairly dark with checkering on the pistol grip and forearm. The R 10 is all metal where the TF 89 has some plastic parts. But, the R 10 has no checkering on the forearm, and lacks the filler caps that the TF 89 has to fill holes in the stock. The TF 89 is holding its own so far. The iron sights on the TF 89 look real sharp, and appear to be well made. I don’t think the R 10 sights were as nice, but I took them off a long time ago. There was an issue though. The cheek piece on the TF 89 is quite high, and even with my cheek bone smashed against the stock, I could not get my eye low enough to align with the iron sights. No problem though. A rifle with this level of power and accuracy deserves a scope, so no real need for iron sights. I got the 2x7x32mm scope because I don’t like high scope rings. That’s just me, I like a low mounted scope. My Beeman Blue Label 2x9 probably cost 6 times the $60.00 price, but the TF scope has the same features, and the view is bright and sharp. There were issues. The Allan keys provided with the scope were not quite the right size and when I first mounted the scope, the bell of the scope was so tight against the chamber that you could not turn the focus ring. Fortunately, I have a set of metric Allan keys that fit just fine, and some shim stock to put under the forward ring. Good to go. By the way, TF supplies the scope stop with the rifle, but it was an extra from Beeman. The instructions said to clean and lube the rifle. The main spring appeared wet, but I lubed it and the chamber with Beeman products. There was an immediate improvement in the smoothness of the cocking effort. Of to the range. The rifle deasled for the first five or six rounds and then settled down. First five shot groups ran around 2" at 25 yards. There would be a small cluster and then one or two hits that would open the group to 2". After around 150 rounds, things were settling down and most groups were running around 1" with the Crosman Premiers. They will probably get better with time. The R 10 does just a little better and has a slightly better trigger. Then I did the power test. The average velocity with a 14.34 grain pellet was 745 fps for 17.68 fpe. Plenty of power, and this will probably improve as things wear in. How about the R 10? A 15.41 grain pellet averaged 598.7 fps for an energy of 12.27 fpe. Not nearly as impressive as the TF 89. The R 10 is smoother, and has a better trigger, but the TF 89 has significantly more power, looks as nice or nicer, and is probably going to be as accurate. And all that at a third of the price. I bought this rifle for plinking and shooting pests. For that purpose, I prefer a .22 cal rifle. I think the TF 89 and I are going to spend many happy hours together. This is an excellent rifle, even if you don’t consider the price. For the price, it is really a bargain. Clearly, it will hold its own with an R1. Bill Lambert
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by Stan |
Date Added: Monday 19 November, 2007 |
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I just bought the Tech Force 89 Contender and I was really impressed at how accurate and powerful it was right out of the box. Normally, all air guns require a break in period to get the maximum accuracy and velocity. The checkered stock was really nice. I was pleasantly surprised at the over all high quality of this rifle. When I fired it, it was almost recoilless. I own more expensive air guns like the RWS and the TX 200. The TF 89 is comparable to both of these and it was almost half the price! It’s the best Buy I’ve made in a long time. Thanks Compasseco for steering me in the right direction!
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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| by Rick Eutsler |
Date Added: Saturday 13 October, 2007 |
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In the world of mediocre air guns it is a real joy to get my hands on a really excellent product. From the first shot, I knew this rifle had a lot to offer. But before I get into the review, let me say a quick word about Compasseco, the exclusive distributors of the TechForce® Contender series. Compasseco has invested a lot of time and money in producing high quality yet cost conscience air guns. Yes their TechForce® line of guns are made in China, but under stringent quality control and continued high expectations from Compasseco and their customers. If it has the TechForce® name on it, it will be a high quality gun. Compasseco has worked very hard to make this a reality and we have all benefited from their efforts whether we realize it or not. By them requiring better quality products, those factories are producing higher quality products overall. What’s more important is Compasseco’s dedication to their customers. They work to make sure you are satisfied with their products. Lastly, I want to personally thank Compasseco for their help in getting www.airgunweb.com off the ground. They were the first vendor to agree to send us products to review and I’m thrilled to finally put their Contender 89 through the paces! The first thing that I noticed when I pulled the Contender 89 from the box is just how large the rifle is. It is 46.5 inches long and with the included scope, weighs nearly 10 pounds. This is a big gun and best used by adults. Compasseco sent the 89 matched with their TechForce® 3Ч12x44 AO scope and a set of high scope rings. The cost of this combo will run you about $269. At first glance, this rifle reminded me a lot of the Beeman GH950 that I have, but once the shooting started the comparisons stopped. The 89 shoots with a lot of force, nearly 800 FPS with RWS 14.5 grn. pellets and right at 800 FPS with Crosman Premier Hollow Point 12.9 grn. pellets. The 89 makes my GH950 feel like a pop gun by comparison. The “out of the box” accuracy was exceptional. I make my own targets and they have a 1/8″ black dot for a bulls-eye. It is an amazing thing to sit back at 20 yards and with little effort on my part drive pellet after pellet through nearly the same hole. Wait until you see the groups…. Now that you’ve got a quick overview of the rifle, let’s talk about some of the aesthetic qualities of the 89. First of all I noticed just how dark the wood stock was stained. It gives the rifle a nice warm look and the highly detailed checkering just adds to the look and functionality of the rifle. Another nice feature are the screw covers for the front of the barrel. They really add to the quality “fit and finish” of the 89. The 89 ships with a decent set of open sights, but I would have liked to have seen some fiber-optic inserts instead of just metal sights. In fact the sights are my only complaint about this rifle, and that needs to be put into perspective. I’m nearly certain that this next issue is unique to THIS gun and not typical of the Contender 89 line, but my 89’s rear sight had some lateral movement to the tune of about 1/16th of an inch. As you can expect ANY movement on fixed sights makes them basically unusable. I noticed that when I cocked the barrel the adjustment screw hit the wood stock. I’m not sure if this caused the problem, but if you look at the picture below, you can see the notch in the stock. Now to put this in perspective, the 89 is just itching to have a scope mounted on it. So I’m not sure how important the open sights are to begin with. I’m sure that Compasseco would replace the sight without question if I simply asked. Compasseco included their 3Ч12x44 AO scope for this evaluation. This scope is only an $80 upgrade when you purchase it with the rifle. The optics are very clear and getting your eye in the right spot for a clear picture is really easy, as this scope seems to be fairly forgiving. By contrast the scope on my B26 is really picky and you have to be in JUST the right spot to get a good picture. The AO feature worked really well and the 12x magnification is a must with this rifle. Because of the power in the 89 you will find yourself taking shots that you may not otherwise take. For example we setup targets out to 60 yards and at that distance the 12x really helps. I would not call this next comment a “complaint” but rather a suggestion. With a rifle like the 89, that has such a long useful range, a mil-dot scope would be a real help for shooting at various distances. The optics in the TechForce® scope are really nice and clear, add a mil-dot reticule and you’ve got a deadly combination. As it sits, you’ll need to do a lot of shooting to get the right “hold over and hope” for various distances. Not that shooting this rifle a lot is a bad thing, I found that it was rather fun. And if you shoot it a lot, you can skip that trip to the Gym. I’m beginning to think that my wife has figured out a way for me to exercise. The 89 takes a fairly strong person to cock the gun. I’m not sure of the exact cocking force, but if I cock the 89 for a while and then switch to my Gamo 440, I about snap my 440 in half. All the pretty wood and checkering don’t amount to much if the gun can’t hit the target. That is most certainly NOT the case with the 89. Not only does it hit the target, it does it with a lot of force. Because of the weight it is not very hold sensitive and it masks the recoil well even though this rifle has a noticeable kick to it. I had many people shoot this gun and they all shot it reasonably accurately. I found shooting this from my MTM shooting rest was the best way to go. I spent two full days on the range shooting several air guns. The Contender 89, BAM B40, and BAM B26 were all fun to shoot. As far as break barrel rifles go, the Contender 89 is by far my favorite. It is amazingly accurate and generates 800 FPS with the most accurate pellet, which turned out to be the Crosman Premier Hollow Point 12.9 grn. The RWS “Super” line of pellets were also decent, but the Crosman beat them out. Here are some tables for your review: RWS Super Point 14.5 grn High - 788, Low - 782, Average -784, Difference - 6 FPS Crosman Premiere Hollow Point 12.9 grn High - 800, Low - 793, Average - 797, Difference - 7 FPS As you can see the Contender’s power plant produces good consistent velocity, contributing to its accuracy. Another important point about accuracy and a topic of some of our most recent articles deals with the trigger. The Contender’s trigger is a lot like my Beeman GH950. It is not like the Crosman or Gamo triggers. While it is not as smooth as the BAM B26 or BAM B40, it does not seem to hurt the shooting characteristics of the gun. It is a nice wide trigger with its own “checkering” and it has a positive release that is very predictable. It is not my favorite trigger, but it is a nice trigger for this gun. There is an adjustment for the trigger, but I did not find that it made that much of a difference. The safety system is automatic and engages each time you cock the rifle. I used to find this annoying, but I’m beginning to see why it is standard on many rifles. Safety is important and on guns like these. They generate almost as much velocity as an actual firearm and safety is critical. Finally, we get to the good stuff. How did it shoot!!! As I mentioned above. I knew this rifle was going to shoot well. After I mounted the scope and got it basically sighted in, the 89 seemed to hit the target all on its own. By comparison the Crosman 800x is fatiguing to shoot when shooting for accuracy, (take into consideration it cost 1/2 as much) while the TechForce® Contender 89 take little or no effort. Just put the crosshairs on the target and squeeze the trigger. The 89 will do the rest. During my shooting sessions with family in VT we shot at everything from paper targets at 10, 20, and 30 yards, to eggs at 60 yards. The Contender was up for any challenge. The most fun were the eggs. Boy did they go splat when they were hit head on. I had been shooting for about 20 minutes with the RWS pellets when I decided to shoot the Crosman Premier HPs. When the first, second, and third shots went nearly in the same hole, I knew I had found the “magic bullet” for this particular rifle. I’m not sure how the hollow point will do at ranges beyond 20 yards, so I guess I’ll have to hold on to this Contender 89 for some “extended” testing! I don’t think the folks over at Compasseco will mind. Ok, so let’s wrap this review up. The TechForce® Contender 89 starts at $189 and is available in either .177 or .22. I specifically asked for the .22 version because all the other reviews on the 89 were the .177. I like .22 caliber better and I like to be a little different from everyone else so that is why most of the reviews you will read here will be on .22 caliber and above. Anyway, the Contender sells for $189 with open sights. In the realm of guns just under $200 the Contender has a lot of company, but not a lot of competition. This rifle is effortless to shoot, is extremely accurate, and generates 800 FPS in .22 caliber. Head shots at 30 and 40 yards should be easy with a good scope. Because of the weight, shooting without a rest will take some practice and patience, but I’ve got a tin can in a tree about 40 yards away with a lot of holes in it from this Contender all shot from the shoulder. When choosing a scope for the 89, make sure you identify your shooting purpose. If you will always be shooting from a fixed distance, i.e. 20 yard range, then the TechForce® scope in this review is a great choice. If you are going to be using the 89 for hunting at all distances, consider something with a mil-dot reticule. Either way you go, you should set aside about $90 for a decent scope and mounts putting your final cost at $279.00. If you look at the Beeman GH950 combo from Pyramid air selling at $269, the Contender is a hands down better deal. I want to thank the folks over at Compasseco again for allowing us to review this product. I look forward to bringing you more reviews on their entire TechForce® line. Written By, Rick Eutsler Editor / Owner www.AirGunWeb.com editor@airgunweb.com Copyright 2007, Dog River Design, LLC - All Rights Reserved. See the full review with photos at www.airgunweb.com
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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