What is the "ultimately reliable" airgun?

[19Sheridan57]

   I understood your point.
   Maybe 10-12 years ago, I sold a 1960's Sheridan to a young woman who lives on an island off the Washington coast. She lives in a hut by herself, grows her own food , fishes, & hunts for the meat . About every year she gets in contact with me for some more pellets. She is a survivalist!

[bantam5s]

Y'all are kinda missing my point, or many of you are. No one expects to survive, vs, other people gunning for ya with airguns. But just to be able to hunt effectively with a gun that only needs the lead to shoot is kinda a big deal.

In a REAL survival situation, yeah you're gonna have your firearm(s). Personally I think a 22lr would do everything I need for the most part. But even if you have a ton of 22lr or whatever ammo, you're gonna wanna save that for need. If you have aq ton of pellets too, you're gonna turn to pellets first to reserve your resources. Pellets are also quieter, less likely to draw attention.


So anyway, as just a reliable gun to take down a bird or rabbit for dinner, in a survival or limited resources situation, I expect my new 362 will pretty much fit the bill.

A lot of folks say Benjamin pump rifles, but the soldering scares me. IDK if I'd wanna rely on something so complicated held together by solder. Somehow I think, for all it's plastic, once I get a steel breech on it, I expect the 362 to be a reliable gun.  All the same it's "dang" sad about the 392/397 discontinuation. Looks to me like Benjamin now is purely a PCP rifle company. Oddly I don't even see some Benajamins listed on the Crosman site anymore, you have to go to the Benjamin site.

All in all, IDK that Daisy owning Crosman takes things in a direction Crosman fans will be happy about. I kinda expect Crosman to scale down what they do, offering just a few items, much like Daisy.  I mean Daisy does what they do fairly well, but it's quite a limited range. I knd of expect Crossman to go the same.

Sad, but I don't really see Crosman coming out with much new and cool. Just same old same old, and finding ways to do it cheaper.

Take care of a Racine Sheridan C or St Louis Benji 3xx and it'll take care of you.
No rust, quality materials through & through, and they've got plenty of power with an efficient tube diameter/ piston that takes in more air per pump than the small tube Crosman platform.
It's pretty simple, just don't throw your gun around and it'll be fine, I'd say the same for your 362 as well because they've got that tiny little breech screw and a stock mounting screw which I believe threads into the aluminum valve body.

If you want a gun that could stand being dropped alot with little more than some ugly scars I'd go with a 140 or 1400.
All solid steel with sizable hardware and a stock mounting stud that bolts through the tube.
They don't quite have the power per pump but they are no slouch.