Crosman, why do you tease me?

[nervoustrigger]

Forgive me for the click bait title on this one but I just had to share this experience with you guys.

The other day I was testing various pellets with the Plinkster (SPA CR600W).  It seems to like a few different tins of JSB & Air Arms 8.4gr and H&N Sniper Mediums, producing pretty consistent ragged holes at 25 yards.  When it's not a ragged hole, the outlier isn't far off...possibly the wind, possibly me, or a little of both.

Meanwhile it kept hinting at liking a tin of Crosman Premier Hollow Points.  Some groups were all over the place but many were just one ragged hole...plus one miserable, cantankerous pellet that landed 1/2" to 3/4" away from all the rest.  Prime examples:



And lastly, here's a line of single shots after adjusting the scope.  Notice the wild shot #4:


Alright, so I had to ask myself why this result bothers me.  There were several types of pellets I tried that the rifle would not group.  Many of them were more expensive than the CPHPs.  Yet I'm not disappointed in those.  Why?

Well, I think it's the same reason it was disappointing to see my high school buddy, who graduated in the top 10 in our class, go on to college and flunk out while also racking up a ton of credit card debt.  His failure wasn't due to aptitude, it was discipline and motivation.

It's a bit like that with the Crosman pellets.  I see the potential for greatness.  So close but not quite there.  Capable of being up there with the best of them but either unwilling to put it all together or choosing to compromise to hit a price point.  I have to wonder, could they be as good as JSB if they were willing to charge another $1 or $2 a tin?  How about $3 more?  I mean, wouldn't it be great to be able to buy a quality American-made pellet for less than those made in the Czech Republic or Germany?

The boxed pellets are supposed to be that top shelf product, right?  I bought them once and the quality was terrible---I was willing to accept it as a fluke but I can scarcely recall seeing impressive groups shot with them in recent years so I'm reluctant to try again.  Also, considering they've discontinued the .22 cal, it's not so clear they are committed to producing pellets for precision shooting.

[Mr. Panther]

I didn't know they had discontinued the .22 cal. When did they do that?

[avator]

Morning Jason...
I hope asking this dosen't make you think that I question your knowledge or experience. I've read many of your posts and I almost feel like I should bow in your presence... ok, that's a bit of a stretch...
Anyhow..
How do you find the various pellets cycling through the mag... assuming you are using the mag for testing? Many of us are seeing some harsh loading and I convinced some of the issues are from the pellets passing over the transfer port. We're also seeing the oring that seals the bolt to the barrel being chewed up. Do you think some inconsistencies can be caused by these issues?

[nervoustrigger]

Bill, those are good questions.  I’ve been single loading for all my tests so as to prevent the magazine from being an influence.
 
The hard chambering is something I’m familiar with from the CP1-M which has the same receiver/barrel interface so while I had the Plinkster apart, I chamfered the opening in the receiver and dressed the leade and barrel port.  I do feel some variation in the amount of force required to move the Crosman pellets through the O-ring, but not once it gets into the barrel.  FWIW, the Sniper Mediums need more of a push to get them through the O-ring but although it’s more, it feels more consistent from pellet to pellet.
 
The barrel O-ring seems to be in good shape.  I can’t detect any wear yet.  If it were damaged in a way that’s not visible, I would expect other pellets to go all squirrely as well.   I remember on the CP1-M, the original one didn’t last very long because the bolt has a sharp edge where it steps up to full diameter.  After knocking that edge down, the replacement O-ring has seen about 1500 pellets and still appears to be in good shape.  I did the same thing to the Plinkster’s bolt and it feeds smoothly into the O-ring so I think that part is fine.
 
So yeah, the only thing that jumps out is the variation in force needed to get the Crosmans through the O-ring.  Frankly it’s not unexpected considering the typical size variation we see with Crosman pellets.  If I get motivated, I may try sorting some and see if that makes a difference.  I’m definitely not interested in doing that in an ongoing basis but it would be interesting to see if there’s a correlation.

[nervoustrigger]

Panther, I don’t remember exactly when they discontinued the boxed .22 but I want to say about 2 years ago.  May have still been on the market for a while due to old inventory.

[avator]

Thanks Jason... I have the Plinkster, the CP-1 in carbine, the CP-2 and the Varmint. I soon plan to get the Dragon Fly as well. All cycle kinda ruff and I have yet to address them.

[nervoustrigger]

No problem, here’s a description and photo of the fixes.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=137412.msg1377636#msg1377636

[Mr. Panther]

Thanks Jason. Ha ha I was wondering why I hadn't seen them for a while.

[Mikeflys]

I made a purchase about 2 years ago of Crosman "brown box" premiums in .177. To this day I believe the store messed up, it was an online order from Wally World. I ordered 1 box, I received 1 case of 4 box's. I pointed this out to the gentleman that handed the case to me, he looked at my ticket and said it was right. So I walked out somewhat bewildered. All that to say I have LOTS of these pellets. I have 1 gun that shoots them with fantastic accuracy, my Crosman 2400KT. They are the only pellets I will shoot in that gun, simply because of the accuracy, and I need to use them up eventually. I don't own a chrony, but my assumption is the C02 based 2400KT is shooting at a lower velocity than my spring guns. Or maybe its just that Crosman rifles like Crosman pellets. You also mentioned JSB's, I have 5 rifles and not one of them shoots JSB's well. I keep reading how others have such good luck with JSB, Out of a 10 shot string, 7 to 8 will group well and I'll get 2 to 3 flyers. I seem to get he best performance from H&N pellets. Funny how that works, one brand works well for one person but not another.

[mcoulter]

Ha!  Great title  :-)

It's great when you get a gun that shoots the cheap pellets reasonably well.  My Hatsan Flash in .177 seems to like the Crosman Premiere Ultra Mags pretty well.  But yes, there are always those one or two that don't behave!

[UlteriorModem]

No problem, here’s a description and photo of the fixes.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=137412.msg1377636#msg1377636

Thanks for that. I have a CP2 that has some similar symptoms, especially when it comes to the Crossman domed Premier's seems like every 4 or 5 shots is a flyer.

I will look into doing these mods to the CP2.