Mrs. Beeman and I were both surprised and delighted when Blue Book editor, Steve Fjestad, called to say that he had written his first ever airgun section dedication in the nineteenth edition of that book which is so basic to the international gun market:

Dedication to Dr. Robert Beeman by Steven P. Fjestad, editor and publisher of Blue Book Publications. Airgun section of the Nineteenth Edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values (1998: pp. 1272-1273):

"In many ways the length and breadth of the Airgun section comes as a result of one man's work, Dr. Robert Beeman, the father of the American adult airgun."   - Steve Fjestad, 1998.

An airgun enthusiast for over 50 years, Dr. Beeman was the designer of the first paint marking airguns used in the 1950's to mark migrating elk. His enthusiasm for airguns and innate scientific curiosity about the technology which placed models designed and manufactured in Europe head and shoulders above American-made air rifles and pistols, led to the founding of Beeman Precision Airguns in 1972.

Formerly a department chairman and a professor at San Francisco State University, Dr. Beeman became the first American to successfully import and market the finest adult airguns produced in Europe, where superior pellet pistols and rifles had been in popular use for years. Those who had come before Dr. Beeman lacked the intense interest and ability to properly educate not only the dealers who would be charged with selling them, but the consumers who had little understanding of adult airguns.

It was the Beeman catalog and its well-written text that explained the difference between BB guns and adult airguns - precision rifles and pistols made to the same tolerances as their cartridge-firing counterparts.

Beeman Precision Airguns became the largest importer of German and English air rifles and pistols in the United States, establishing not only the market but the benchmark by which all others would be compared in the future. Over the past quarter century Dr. Beeman has instituted new standards for adult airguns, advancing both the technology and design of sporting and competition air rifles and pistols through his work with Webley & Scott in England and Feinwerkbau and Weihrauch companies in Germany. Today, airgun competition is an Olympic sport and Americans have a greater awareness and interest in airguns than at any time in our history thanks to Dr. Robert Beeman, a true enthusiast, innovator, and leader in one of the world's oldest, and newest shooting sports."