laughably bad 760

[ax57]

Sam,

I retired from the Army in 2000, so my military career ended before 9/11 and the Southwest Asia War Games.  Prior to that, we used to go to the National Training Center in Ft. Irwin two or three times a year for training.  The rats there were experts at getting into our bags and eating our "pogie bait".  It got so bad, that at one point I made homemade blowguns that were accurate enough to nail a soda can all the way across a GP Medium tent.  I never ended up getting a rat with it though.  The rats and the coyotes there were brazen and unafraid, they'd try to get your pogie bait right in front of you.

[mav72]

On a little base outside of Mosul, the rats figured out what the pallets with cases of water bottles were. Go up to a pallet, and every bottle was empty, still capped, still wrapped.

Same base, in our "break room" (shipping container), rats lived under the floor of the can. They were getting out of hand, so we cleaned our snacks to starve them out. I was resting on our makeshift couch when I heard underneath me, CRUNCH, "Eeeeeeee." They were eating each other. I never liked rats, but after that deployment I positively HATE and am freaked out by them.

I didn't want to say it, but I am also freaked out by rats. Another animal can be more dangerous but if I understand them, I give them their respect. I just don't understand rat thinking. I had frightened one that was climbing on a wall and instead of running away, the thing jumped towards me. I socked that thing mid air, grabbed a nearby broom and went on a rampge trying to kill it. Lol I'm glad nobody got that on film.

Anyway, for those who don't know, some of the 13xx mods DO apply to the 760. Valve mod, flat top, springs, and other little stuff.

[WiskyT]

Mother wouldn't let me have a BB gun when I was a kid.  All the cool kids had a 760, and I was just going to have to get by on shooting the Daisy 105 with my father.  When I became an adult, I went to buy a 760 and found out in NJ they are firearms lol.  So, I did what any smart 18 year old would do and bought a Marlin 39M since I had to get fingerprinted etc anyway.

Decades later I move to NC and I see it at walmart...the 760!!  Right there on the shelf!  Minutes later I am waiting in line with milk, eggs, 760 all on the belt while the cashier calls me "honey" and rings everything up.  Just like that!  I actually executed evasive maneuvers on the way home to make sure the ATF and my mother weren't following me.

That piece of junk didn't last a few weeks before the plastic stock broke.  I don't remember what part of it broke, but I do remember that the plastic on the old Revel model airplane kits was more substantial.  I could also see the BB's and pellets arching in all directions as they flew through the air too.  The dreams of my youth were crushed.

As for cheap BB plinking, get a Daisy Buck or Red Ryder.  Hang a soda can by the pull tab at 10 yards and you'll hit it most of the time and with only ONE PUMP, you will fire a million rounds in a matter of minutes.

If you want a cheap rat killer, I got a Crosman Blaze XT nitro on sale at Dicks for 79.99 and it will shoot into 1.5 inches at 25 yards all day long off of a rest and it has penty of power for any rat, assuming it's not really a kangaroo...

[avator]

Great post David.
Thanks
Get you a vintage Sheridan and never look back.

[rangerfredbob]

For a kick, it might be possible to use the 2100 tube, valve, piston and pump linkage on a 760... I believe I have the parts to put that monstrosity together right now... maybe I'll try that tonight... I think I might be short a valve but we shall see...

[avator]

For a kick, it might be possible to use the 2100 tube, valve, piston and pump linkage on a 760... I believe I have the parts to put that monstrosity together right now... maybe I'll try that tonight... I think I might be short a valve but we shall see...

Start a thread if you do, I got a pile around here I might make a terd out of myself. I'd be interested in what you do.

[Flint]

good luck with the 760.  its a bummer that the new ones are so junky. 

for Christmas, 1986, my uncle got me a 1377 and my dad a 760.  For a couple years I shot that 760 way more than 1377 as it was easier for me to pump and shoot accurately (because of the stock).  I remember it being pretty accurate and I killed a ton of pests with it.  I got it out just a couple years ago when I was at my parents house and it still worked great and I shot it some, and yup, still surprisingly accurate.  I never even realized it was a smoothbore until recently. 

[anti-squirrel]

I won't deny these modern el-plastico 760s are flat out crummy.  But if I can make one into a shooter like my 1377 for the cost of the gun ($19.98 in my case) and add $11 worth of barrel and support, it means I have a carbine size pumper that can take a scope and use the 5-shot clips.  Add my Rocker1 LDC (which looks pretty slick on it) and yeah, it is a fun little featherweight gun.  With plenty of power to zap sparrows.

If the 1377 could use those clips and had a dovetailed rail, Crosman would sell 'em by the ton.  I know I'd buy them.  But I want rifle ergonomics, and though I enjoy the 2100, that thing is a pain to load for fat arthritic fingers... and you're stuck with single-shot.

The other thing... a 10$ rifled barrel on a pumper you can buy just about anywhere for next to nothing, and like many, I enjoy tinkering.

When I'm done, I hope it isn't laughably bad, I hope it's laughably cheap and delivers the accuracy !

And I gotta hand it Crosman; the interchangeability of parts has given us all a lot of stuff to play with, up to and including the impending release of the Wildfire.

[grimeszee]

I bought 3 760's with the gold metal trigger 19 years ago for something that me and my 2 boy's could play with. They still shoot accurate enough to hit bottle caps every time at 10 yards with open sights.

[johnnyfoos]

Crosman:
Their New Pumper, 1000 or whatever they call it
"the 2100, that thing is a pain to load"
Just like that or I would have one
I Have a Model One,  that thing is a pain to load
And is why it still isn't put back together.
But,
That gun is why I got some .22 round balls
And I love the way they shoot thru a couple of other guns I got
The distance they let you reach is WOW!
I mean, at 50 yards my FDPCP was dropping pellets short
then I put in a round ball, Shooting a 2012 Dex S.E. Idaho phone book.
First shot hit it, Next shot tipped it over,
I go to stand it back up and,
Right next to the binding edge,
ALL The Way Thru it.!!
I am still blown away by that . AIRPOWER!

[Rover]

Well worth the investment in my opinion. Any working rifle you can pay off by bringing a sack lunch to work for a week is a good investment. All the better if it can be made a good shooter with some cheap parts and elbow grease.

[bantam5s]

When my brother got his in 2012 it wasn't accurate either, but when he gave it to me I put an old coleman stock set and the barrel of my m417 that broke and that fixed all of its accuracy issues.
I have since sawn off the barrel just to have something different and its still just as accurate.
My early self cocker 760 is more accurate than the new ones are out of the box, but not a tack driver by any rams.
BTW I think the reason people get broken stocks is from holding it while pumping, I always hold by the receiver and have zero issues.
I would never buy a current so called 760 even at 20$, I'd still save up to 50$ and get a 2100 which is probably the best pump rifle crosman currently makes.

For bb plinking the Daisy red Ryder is a better option for 25$.

[birdmove]

   The 760 I bought last year at Walmart must be an exceptionally good one. I've had zero problems with it so far, and it's not hard to get 1/2", sometimes smaller groups at 11 yards off a rest. It will only do it (of the 20 or so I've tried at least) with Crosman Premier Match wadcutters, but it will do it. Nailed two rats with it one night a while ago.

    Those of you that like multi-pumpers, don't forget the Model 66. It comes with a rifled barrel, and mine shoots well. It, too, takes the 5 round Crosman magazine.  That thing takes the problems out of loading, even in the dark.

[bantam5s]

   The 760 I bought last year at Walmart must be an exceptionally good one. I've had zero problems with it so far, and it's not hard to get 1/2", sometimes smaller groups at 11 yards off a rest. It will only do it (of the 20 or so I've tried at least) with Crosman Premier Match wadcutters, but it will do it. Nailed two rats with it one night a while ago.

    Those of you that like multi-pumpers, don't forget the Model 66. It comes with a rifled barrel, and mine shoots well. It, too, takes the 5 round Crosman magazine.  That thing takes the problems out of loading, even in the dark.

a 66 powermaster was my first airgun, and I recall it being a tack driver. I sure wish crosman would start making them again.

[anti-squirrel]

I would never buy a current so called 760 even at 20$, I'd still save up to 50$ and get a 2100 which is probably the best pump rifle crosman currently makes.

For bb plinking the Daisy red Ryder is a better option for 25$.

If you like the Red Ryder, check out the Daisy 25.  Mine is surprisingly accurate, and I got it for "free" (Amazon gift card)- it's my dedicated plinker.  And while I think the 2100 is a fine gun (especially since you can mount a scope easily), the 39x is that much better still, and the 2100 is very hard to me to load pellets into- that's why I bought a 1377 a while back, but it's now in NC at my sister's. 

In the end, I'm sticking a rifled barrel on my 760 because the barrel and gun were cheap, it takes 5-shot clips, and can mount a scope.  Since some of the piston mods for a 13xx work on the 760, I want to see how good I can make a 760 for minimal cost and some labor.  If I can get it to shoot as accurate as my 1377, I'll be happy.

[WiskyT]

I would never buy a current so called 760 even at 20$, I'd still save up to 50$ and get a 2100 which is probably the best pump rifle crosman currently makes.

For bb plinking the Daisy red Ryder is a better option for 25$.

If you like the Red Ryder, check out the Daisy 25.  Mine is surprisingly accurate, and I got it for "free" (Amazon gift card)- it's my dedicated plinker.  And while I think the 2100 is a fine gun (especially since you can mount a scope easily), the 39x is that much better still, and the 2100 is very hard to me to load pellets into- that's why I bought a 1377 a while back, but it's now in NC at my sister's. 

In the end, I'm sticking a rifled barrel on my 760 because the barrel and gun were cheap, it takes 5-shot clips, and can mount a scope.  Since some of the piston mods for a 13xx work on the 760, I want to see how good I can make a 760 for minimal cost and some labor.  If I can get it to shoot as accurate as my 1377, I'll be happy.

I think modding a 760 just because you want to is justifiable.  In fairness to the 760, my fragile stocked one was from a dozen years or so ago and maybe they upped the quality a bit in that regard.

I also think that out of the box, for $25.00 or so, it kind of doesn't fill any role well.  A 105 for $18.00 at Academy is a better "BB gun" since you don't have to pump it to hear it plink off of a can.  A Crosman Nitro makes a better hunter for only $80.00 etc.  I think what Crosman should do is make a $50.00 760 the way it ought to be, rifled barrel, wood stock and maybe a few other upgrades, but then maybe that is what their other pumpers are for?

[Horatio]

I agree with what a 760 "should be," except I like synthetic stocks.

I like Anti-Squirrels ideas. A snubbed, rifled 760 would make a neat kids gun.

[grimeszee]

Here is what I did to one of my 19 year old models.

[avator]

I chopped one like that before. I gave it away with a 392 I sold. I got a couple more around here somewhere that are still stock. Fun to tinker around with. Hmm.. I even got a couple red dots and other gadgets....... I see a frankenpump in the near future.

[Horatio]

Here is what I did to one of my 19 year old models.

Like that. And chop 3" off the stock with a red dot.