Bill - You and a couple of others said the Santa Rosa facility closed some time ago in the early '90's? How can this guy claim his is only 2yrs old, purchased from Cobra airguns and he 's the 1st owner? Also what's interesting is that his S/N is only 1# apart from the other guy with the much older looking Kodiak Santa Rosa.
I 'm confused. Maybe they kept naming the Kodias Santa Rosa even after they moved out of that area? And maybe those S/N's are LOT #'s? One is 933298 and the other from several days ago (different seller) is 933297! What are the odds? The "2yr" old gun (S/N 933298) looks like new except for a deep scratch on the butt stock. Says he fired it ~50 times. The other 297 was in average condition and looked older too.
Don't know.. I 'll try calling Beeman on Monday to see if they can tell me what the story is and maybe look up these S/N's. But by then the guns could be sold.. oh well.
Hi Harry, they would be right about Beemans not being in Santa Rosa for many years now, I don't remember exactly when they moved but think it was around the time that Beeman sold the company. We have a HW 30 that we bought this last year and I checked and it has the Huntington Beach address on it. Have you ever looked at the older Rx-1 guns, they had pretty decent power in .25 caliber also I think not like the Kodiak but would maybe another gun to consider also.
That gun was probably New, Old Stock meaning it was laying around the store for a good while. If it's a Santa Rosa, rest assured that gun is 12 - 15 years old. If it looks nice and you've seen pictures and you want the gun, buy it. A Beeman branded gun commands a premium over the Patriot. I haven't seen many that are in nice shape selling in that price range. Generally, guys are asking closer to $600 because they think they really have something. And yes, I personally think a gun with a British pedigree will always be worth more than one with a Turkish background. For one, it's already been stated the metal finishing is much better on the British guns. That's just going to be a fact because to lay in a nice. deep, polished blue you need to spend some time polishing the white metal. That won't happend at the current price points coming in from Turkey.
I think there is a Kodiak for sale right now on the Yellow. Different caliber but they are asking a lot more than the one you have a line on.
"but I'll be needin' that gun, fer squirrels and such."
Bill. He says he has the receipt for the gun which he bought in Feb.'06. Can it be this was an old gun laying around and they just got to selling it 12-15yrs later? That 's really weird. I guess it could happen.
I don't have any doubts that English-made Kodiaks & Patriots are and will be worth more than Turkish, but I 'm not sure they are worth 50-60% more, but if you say there is a big difference in the blueing, then I can see that.
If it's marked Santa Rosa, it can't be newer than early 90's. Not unusual for a gun (especially a high priced gun like the Kodiak) to sit around for years. The dealership probably had a number of them and it took that long to clear them out. Again, nothing wrong with that. In fact, I often look for older guns. I have a number of old Crosman guns dating back to the 20's. The golden age for Crosman was in the 50's and 60's. Quality was superb and planned obsolescence was not something that was thought of. That's why these guns survive today and will continue to live on.
The Kodiak from that period will not perform any differently than a newer one. It just might be that the fit and finish and wood in that older gun might be better.
