American Airguns Blog
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Old Crosman 760
Last Saturday I had to go back to my hometown of Goshen Indiana to attend my nephews wedding. Like me, my dad enjoys going to gun shows and there just so happened to be a gun show in the nearby smaller town of Nappanee. I have been to this show before and found it to be small but chocked full of interesting guns. There is one gentleman that is always there that has a table full of older airguns. He buys them locally and repairs them and then sells them at this show.
The last time I attended the show I bought a really nice Benjamin 317 from this gentleman and it has been a really reliable shooter. On this trip I wasn't really looking for anything but an old classic caught my eye. There was a really nice older Crosman 760 sitting in one of his gun racks. The metal work had very little wear and the wood was in good shape with the exception of some marks around the butt area. I had wanted a 760 when I was a kid but never had the chance to buy one back then. I almost bought a vintage 760 recently from an on-line auction but I was out bid in the last hour by a couple of others who drove the price up over $100. This one was priced right and I bought it.
Since I was staying with my parents over the weekend, I didn't have any of my usual pellets to test the 760 with. My dad had a box of Crosman pointed pellets so I decided to give them a try. I started at about 15 yards with a soda can and found that with just 4 pumps the can would jump and roll around. That became too easy pretty quickly so I moved the all metal sights up and pushed the can out to 30 yards and on top of a small tree stump. Bam, first shot with 8 pumps and the can went flying. So I walked out and put the can back on the stump but on its side with bottom facing me. My next shot went high so I went down to 7 pumps and the can went flying again!
I got a few more cans out and put them out to 35 and 40 yards with the bottom of the can facing me. This was a bit more difficult for the 760 since the wind was starting to kick up a bit, however with 8 or 9 pumps I could hit the cans more times than not. I decided to really test the accuracy and put an old pizza box out at 50 yards with about a 2.5" bull drawn on it. With 10 pumps in the rifle, I sat in my FT position and put five rounds down range and into about a 3-4" group. I was pleasantly surprised! The rifle wasn't shooting half bad considering the very heavy trigger pull, the less than match grade ammo, iron sights and my old eyes!
It started to rain as I finished my long range test so I gathered up my targets and put them all away save one can. I threw it out around 10 yards and loaded the 760 up with BBs. I blasted away at the can for a while and made Swiss cheese of it. This brought back the memories for me of sitting on my parents back porch with my Daisy Buffalo Bill Cody BB gun and shooting for long periods of time.
It's no wonder so many kids I knew growing up had a 760. The older guns are just wonderful to shoot. It is a shame that the newer models are all plastics and cheap looking. However, my new toy will be fun to shoot for a long time to come. I may just have to give it a try on some 10 yard minisniping targets!
The last time I attended the show I bought a really nice Benjamin 317 from this gentleman and it has been a really reliable shooter. On this trip I wasn't really looking for anything but an old classic caught my eye. There was a really nice older Crosman 760 sitting in one of his gun racks. The metal work had very little wear and the wood was in good shape with the exception of some marks around the butt area. I had wanted a 760 when I was a kid but never had the chance to buy one back then. I almost bought a vintage 760 recently from an on-line auction but I was out bid in the last hour by a couple of others who drove the price up over $100. This one was priced right and I bought it.
Since I was staying with my parents over the weekend, I didn't have any of my usual pellets to test the 760 with. My dad had a box of Crosman pointed pellets so I decided to give them a try. I started at about 15 yards with a soda can and found that with just 4 pumps the can would jump and roll around. That became too easy pretty quickly so I moved the all metal sights up and pushed the can out to 30 yards and on top of a small tree stump. Bam, first shot with 8 pumps and the can went flying. So I walked out and put the can back on the stump but on its side with bottom facing me. My next shot went high so I went down to 7 pumps and the can went flying again!
I got a few more cans out and put them out to 35 and 40 yards with the bottom of the can facing me. This was a bit more difficult for the 760 since the wind was starting to kick up a bit, however with 8 or 9 pumps I could hit the cans more times than not. I decided to really test the accuracy and put an old pizza box out at 50 yards with about a 2.5" bull drawn on it. With 10 pumps in the rifle, I sat in my FT position and put five rounds down range and into about a 3-4" group. I was pleasantly surprised! The rifle wasn't shooting half bad considering the very heavy trigger pull, the less than match grade ammo, iron sights and my old eyes!
It started to rain as I finished my long range test so I gathered up my targets and put them all away save one can. I threw it out around 10 yards and loaded the 760 up with BBs. I blasted away at the can for a while and made Swiss cheese of it. This brought back the memories for me of sitting on my parents back porch with my Daisy Buffalo Bill Cody BB gun and shooting for long periods of time.
It's no wonder so many kids I knew growing up had a 760. The older guns are just wonderful to shoot. It is a shame that the newer models are all plastics and cheap looking. However, my new toy will be fun to shoot for a long time to come. I may just have to give it a try on some 10 yard minisniping targets!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
MiniSniping 33 1/3
I have become fascinated with the game of MiniSniping. The idea of a game that can be shot in the back yard or at a local club with just about any airgun is very appealing to me. The rules are are pretty strait forward and just about anyone can do it. The game lends itself nicely to postal/Internet matches. It would be easy enough to hold matches once a month over the Internet with the results being posted on-line. This would give a lot of guys a fun game that they can participate in without a lot of expense and with the airguns that they already own. With a few simple divisions and classes, airgunners could play head to head with each other from across the country and across the world.
In addition to the classic game of MiniSniping, there are a lot of variations that can be played. Games like MiniSniping FT where the game is shot with FT rigs and from the FT position, 1 mile competitions where the 9mm targets are placed at distances that are proportional to a silhouette target placed at a distance of 1 mile, 1000 yard competitions, iron sight only competitions at reduced distances, pump gun only for those with their old pump up airguns, and probably others. The 1000 yard competition is particularly interesting since most airgunners with a back yard can get the 21 yards across the backyard that is required to simulate a 1000 yard target. It could be a lot of fun.
I thought more about the different pistol cases and realized that once the case is placed in modeling clay, the bottom extraction rim is lost in the clay. So, I measured the 9mm case from the top of the case to the point where the case slants inward to form the extraction ring. It measured 0.630" so with that proportion, it makes it almost exactly match the proportions of a IPSC silhouette target. Even if the clay isn't used, the make aiming area of the 9mm is this area of the case so that makes the 9mm case the right case for use in this game.
I am in the process of getting ready to move into a newly built home. Over the course of the next few weeks I won't have a lot of time to play this fun game. However, in my new home, I will be able to shoot 35 yards out the back of my garage to the rear of my property. That will make for a great MiniSniping range!
In addition to the classic game of MiniSniping, there are a lot of variations that can be played. Games like MiniSniping FT where the game is shot with FT rigs and from the FT position, 1 mile competitions where the 9mm targets are placed at distances that are proportional to a silhouette target placed at a distance of 1 mile, 1000 yard competitions, iron sight only competitions at reduced distances, pump gun only for those with their old pump up airguns, and probably others. The 1000 yard competition is particularly interesting since most airgunners with a back yard can get the 21 yards across the backyard that is required to simulate a 1000 yard target. It could be a lot of fun.
I thought more about the different pistol cases and realized that once the case is placed in modeling clay, the bottom extraction rim is lost in the clay. So, I measured the 9mm case from the top of the case to the point where the case slants inward to form the extraction ring. It measured 0.630" so with that proportion, it makes it almost exactly match the proportions of a IPSC silhouette target. Even if the clay isn't used, the make aiming area of the 9mm is this area of the case so that makes the 9mm case the right case for use in this game.
I am in the process of getting ready to move into a newly built home. Over the course of the next few weeks I won't have a lot of time to play this fun game. However, in my new home, I will be able to shoot 35 yards out the back of my garage to the rear of my property. That will make for a great MiniSniping range!
