More about the Ruger Air Hawk

CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.

Above: I am replacing the scope rings with this set from NcStar.(on the left and below) The new rings have six machine screws each, as compared the the standard rings that have 3 machine screws each. The NcStar scope rings are wider than the standard rings as well. Hopefully these new rings will hold the scope firmly in place.

Above: Now that the scope is mounted, I am ready to go out in the garage and sight it in at 8 yards. Eight yards is absolutely the farthest distance I can achieve inside my garage without moving a ton of stuff. It is winter here and we just had 12 to 13 inches of snow. I'm not complaining, just not the best weather to be sighting in a rifle outdoors.

Above: After about ten or twelve shots at one of those 3 inch RangeMaxx orange spot targets, I had it sighted in well enough to put up a splatter target. The "Shoot N-C Target" has an 8 inch diameter with a penny size Bull's eye. I took three shots and only made 2 holes! So I decided that this was about as good as it's gonna get until I get more comfortable with the Air Hawk. A 1/4 inch 3 shot group first time out. I am more than satisfied. Paul Capello aka Airgun Reporter was very impressed with how this rifle performed "right out of the box". It was his video review that sealed the deal on me purchasing the Air Hawk.

Above: I brought the backstop outside to photograph it. It is a box about 24" tall and 20" wide and about 12 " inches deep. I have packed it full with cut pieces of card board. To see how well it would stop the Crosman .177 lead hunting pellet. I fired one shot off target, to make the pellet easier to find. After about 6" inches deep into the backstop there was only one hole. I pulled out sheets until I found where the pellet had stopped, about 8 inches in. I wasn't sure how well my backstop would handle a pellet traveling at an estimated 900+ fps. The pistol silhouette target on the backstop was from me shooting the custom 2240 the night before, at about 22 ft standing semi rest position.

Above: Once I pushed the bulging cardboard back, the penetration measured about 8 inches. The box is packed much fuller with cardboard sheets than it looks in the photo. I thought I would show this because it is an effective backstop that is fairly easy to make and replace. And I should mention you will need to move your targets around a bit as you will shoot through the backstop eventually. Behind my back stop I keep another made from pieces of 4x4 lumber, just in case I should ever shoot through, and I have. Multiple adhesive splatter targets about 4 inch to 6 inch (depending on your skill level) is a another good way to get the most out of your backstop.

Above: On the left is the .177 pellet I dug out of the cardboard. On the right a pristine pellet. I was a little surprised how much the cardboard deformed the pellet. But at 900+ fps I guess I should have expected this result.

Above: If you are looking for an affordable soft case for your Ruger Air Hawk, you can find this on on e bay. I paid $18.00 for it including delivery. The Brand name is Pit Bull model BD 101.

Above: As you can see it is a really nice fit. Besides the Pit Bull tag there is another that says simply "It Floats". I don't think I would bet the farm on that claim.

Above: While searching for upgrades or mods for the Air Hawk I ran across this muzzle brake. It is available at Archer air guns. I believe Mr Archer said on the Archer web site that the muzzle brake can be used to improve or tune the harmonics of the rifle. There is also an interesting review on the Archer site about how one shooter used the muzzle brake to tune his air rifle.

At one point I stood up an old sports plaque in front of the backstop. I had removed the photograph for sale on e bay. I was sure it was just some cheap particle board and the Crosman pointed hunting pellet would pass right through it. So I placed one shot onto the center of the plaque board. I felt the pellet graze my coat sleeve when it bounced right back at me. I turned to look around and there it was laying on an old towel I had spread out on my portable work table. As always when shooting I was wearing glasses.The pellet had bored a shallow hole in the board and bounced back. I say bounced because it didn't have much speed. It had grazed my jacket sleeve and just dropped onto the table. The lesson here is, be careful what you choose to shoot at. What I thought was cheap particle board turned out to be something much stronger. You can see the flattened pellet above next to an unused one for comparison. CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.

I have (since I started working on the blog post) ordered the muzzle brake from Archer Air for the Air Hawk. I also would like to upgrade the scope. For very little cash I can upgrade to a much more functional scope. Then I plan to reinstall this scope (above) on my 1377 American Classic. After shooting the Backpacker with the Hammers Tactical circle dot scope again and still hating it. So it looks like I'll be selling the Hammers tactical circle dot sight on the e bay. Before wrapping this blog post up I would like to give the new NcStar scope rings a thumbs up. I have not had any trouble with the scope moving around. I would also like to say the Ruger Air Hawk is really a nice shooting rifle. There are a few things that could be better on the Air Hawk for sure. The scope that comes with it is ok but not great. The scope mount rings that come with the rifle are cheap. But for this price range the whole package is a good deal.

So even though you will probably want to make a few upgrades, you really get a lot of bang for your buck with the Ruger Air Hawk Combo. And the scope will be fine on one of my less powerful air rifles or carbines. Who knows? I might even mount it on my old Crosman 66 PowerMaster (above). That's all I got for now. until next time, Shoot Safe. I'm Out, Hugh

Ruger Air Hawk 1200

CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.

Above : The Ruger Air Hawk is a .177 caliber break barrel, spring piston powered small game air rifle. With a claimed 1,200 fps. There we go with the bloody fps again! I'll be using lead hunting pellets so hopefully I can stay below the sound barrier.

It looks pretty sharp without the scope as well. The wood work on the Air Hawk is very under whelming, that's a negative of sorts I guess. However I have a niece who's pretty handy at making wood look nice. I think we'll have to talk about her doing some custom art work on my Air Hawk. And it really is blank, just maybe that will turn out to be a positive.

This is a small decorative sign I had her make for me a while back. She uses a wood burner and I'm not really sure how she adds the color. But it looks really sweet. As you may have surmised I like to tinker with bicycles from time to time.

If the scope looks familiar it should, I was using it temporarily on the 1377 American Classic that I recently did some mods on. The 4 x 32 scope was fairly easy to sight in the first time, so I expect no problems there. By the way today was the first time I fired the Air Hawk. I had not yet installed the scope, it did really well.

< br/> Honestly, not at all impressed with these ring mounts. Yesterday I received delivery of a new set with two screws top (each side) and bottom. I was going to use them on the new scope for my 1377 American Classic custom. I think I will try them on the Air Hawk and if I am satisfied I`ll order a second set. So we'll pick this up latter. Shoot safe, I'm out. Hugh

The Crosman 2289 Backpacker .22 Caliber Carbine

CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.

The 2289 Backpacker was an impressive looking carbine right out of the box. I had just gotten back into airguns about a year before I saw one of these. I remember thinking "It looks like a custom job".

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the 2289 Backpacker was becoming scarce. It was "out of stock" at a couple of the Big Online Airgun Stores. The only way I could get one right away was to order it from Mall-Warts. And they only had it in the "Doomsday Bug-Out Kit". But the Price was pretty good, so I went ahead and forced myself to order it from Mall Warts. Probably a good thing because I think Crosman had already stopped production of the 2289 Backpacker.

The 2289 has that plastic breech that I really don't care for at all. But I have given it a lot of thought, and I have come to think about it like this... The plastic breech is probably one of the things that kept this model affordable. So I'm ok with that. Besides that, It's also a lot of fun to customize a Crosman to suit your personal preferences. I think I ordered the steel breech the same day I ordered the Backpacker. That's why I had to use a stock photograph to show the 2289 in it's original "but still impressive" form.

Alliance Hobby was getting lots of complaints about the directions that came with the steel breech. So they decided to print and include their own directions. Now that's how you handle a problem. Well Done Alliance Hobby!

I love dot sights. My vision is really bad in my right eye and only somewhat better in my left eye. So iron sights are pretty much useless for me after about 6 yards. So if I want to shoot really well (and who doesn't) a dot sight or scope is really a must for me.

So if (like mine) your sight budget is $30.00 or less. But you want something of good quality that functions very well. Then the BSA RD-30 might be the dot sight for you. And I might add the BSA RD-30 looks pretty good doing it's job too.

I have kept the Crosman 2289 Backpacker set up like this for a couple of years now I guess. When I have time I like to look at what other Crosman airgun enthusiasts are doing with their airguns. And I have seen some pretty cool 2289's out there! So I decided to make a few changes myself.

This is what I came up with. I installed a 14 and 1/2 " Crosman rifled barrel, which I am very pleased with. I kept the BSA RD-30 Sight and added a muzzle brake. This set up has worked out fine, I really enjoy target shooting and plinking with it. I think not choosing a black muzzle brake was a mistake. I really like the all black tactical look. But that's an easy fix. I was a little conservative on the barrel length because, I still wanted it to look like a 2289 Backpacker. After all it is a break-down carbine. Adding a 24 inch long barrel would negate that function completely. And that break down feature is one of the main things that made this air carbine so desirable in the first place.

Now I have installed the Hammers 1 X 30 Circle Dot tactical sight. I had tried this sight on my 2240 "Bad to the Bone" custom pistol, a project that I finished just recently. The 2240 was definitely the wrong application for the Hammers sight. As I mentioned on that blog post, this sight is better on a weapon you are going to shoulder, like a rifle or carbine. And it does work well on the Backpacker. Not as good indoors as the BSA. But I'll reserve judgement until I get a chance to shoot it outdoors. If it doesn't work better outside, it will be e bay bound in a New York minute.

Above I fired 1 round at 22 ft. Crosman .22 Caliber Pemium Grade Pointed Lead Pellet 14.3 gr.The target is a Progresso soup can. Round went clean through. And embedded into multi layer cardboard backstop.

Above. The .22 pellet exited the back of the tin can with enough force to split the metal. I think it is safe to say, if this was a head shot hitting a rabbit at close range. It would no doubt be a clean kill.

Above you can see by the profile shot of the exit hole, that the .22 round still had plenty of force after going through the Corrugated tin can. You know fps seems to be the big thing people are concerned about these days. To the point of some converting a .22 to a .177 to gain more speed. Mass x Acceleration = Force. The only problem is, a Crosman 7.4 gr lead .177 Hunting pellet pellet doesn't have the Mass that a .22 pellet has. I think my strategy will be to get a little more speed out of my 2289 BackPacker. I am going to take the same shot at the same distance with my 1377 American Classic with the 18" in barrel. I will use the Crosman .177 version of the pointed lead hunting pellet. Then we can compare.

Above. This is the entry hole for the .177 Crosman lead hunting pellet. I'm impressed other than being a little smaller the hit looks about the same.

above: Again the exit hole is about the same. the .177 round has surprised me so far.

Above: I peeled the target that was taped to my cardboard backstop. Here was the difference. The .177 was embedded in the cardboard, but only to where the back of the pellet was flush with the cardboard. I took a small T handle Allen wrench and carefully inserted it into the .22 pellet hole. The tool was in about 3/8 before I could feel the pellet. This coincides with something I read recently that said this. The heaver .22 round will not loose it's force as quickly as the lighter round. And that would seem to be the difference.

Above The 1377 and the 2289 after the first round of mods a couple years ago. I installed a steel breech and a dot sight On both. The 1377 also received a 1399 carbine stock.
Note: Both air guns have stock power valves and transfer ports. Nothing sneaky going on here.
Now the 1377 has an 18" rifled barrel, a full 7 and 3/4" longer than stock. While the 2289 has a 14 & 1/2 inch rifled barrel, only 2 & 1/2 inches longer than stock. And the 1377 is rated out of the box at 600 fps max. And the 2289 Backpacker is rated at 480 fps max out of the box. So even with the 1377's higher fps numbers (and the longer barrel upgrade) the 2289 still out performed it. Even if you want to call it a tie, How can this be? I know the 1377 is much faster than the the 2289. I would guess about 100 fps faster (at the minimum).
It's FORCE = Mass x Acceleration.
Pyramyd Air has free "Air Gun Calculators" that anyone can access. So before you drop your .22 down to a .177 do the math.(actually that's physics) It is never just about fps when it comes to making a clean kill. It is about striking force or Joules. So check it out. Shoot Safe, I'm Out, Hugh

Crosman 2240 From Basic to "Bad to the Bone"

CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.
     

The Co2 powered .22 caliber Crosman 2240 is a bolt action, single shot pellet pistol. It is a nice plinking / target pistol right out of the box. It is also one of the best platforms for a custom air pistol project that you are likely to find anywhere.

As I mentioned in the last post, I believe the best place to start is with the plastic breech. Before I ordered this pistol from Pyramyd Air I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted it to look like when finished. Luckily I already had a 12 inch .22 cal rifled barrel on hand, left over from a 2289 Backpacker I upgraded. Having the barrel handy was a really good start. I ordered the steel breech on ebay. Here I have installed the new breech along with the longer barrel. The 2240 is already starting to look imposing, although there is still a long way to go.

Note: This style breech is known as the "hidden screw breech" or "The Shorty". The breech screw is hidden under the bolt. The idea is, it makes loading a pellet a smoother process. Read the description carefully before ordering, as this breech does not fit every Crosman pistol. It isn't really much harder to install than the normal forward screw steel breech. If I can install one, your grandmother can probably handle it. This breech comes with a hammer that is designed to work with this breech. And they do work together very well, cocking is really smooth.


And for comparison, here is a typical Crosman breech. You can clearly see the screw in front of the probe. You can clearly see where the hidden screw breech would be smoother loading.

Here is a closer look at the steel breech and the machined 3/8 dovetail rail. If you look at the length of both breeches, you will notice the steel breech is much longer than the original plastic breech. This will make a secure mount for the longer backpacker barrel. The stock 2240 barrel is rifled and is 7 and 1/2 inches long. Remember too, that everything you take off the pistol has value. In fact I just dropped the original barrel at the post office for shipping this morning.

Here I have installed a BSA RD-30 red dot sight. I first tried a Hammers 1 x 30 Circle dot sight. But that sight is more for a weapon you are going to shoulder, like a carbine or rifle. The BSA RD-30 has a 30 mm diameter lens which is big enough that I can see through it when I am holding the pistol with arms semi extended. I found a good home for the hammers tactical sight, but that's a future post. Anyway, the BSA RD-30 is a real nice sight that functions very well for a reasonable price. The Rd-30 sells for around $25.00 to $30.00 US. I have this sight on two of my air pistols.

Above is one of my favorite upgrades, the Crosman Sear Spring Adjustable Trigger Spring Upgrade Kit. This allows you to adjust (up or down) the amount of ft pounds it takes to pull the trigger. The harder the trigger pull, the more difficult it is to stay on target when pulling the trigger. Be Aware, the pistol will fire much easier when the adjuster is dialed down. My kit specs are about 1 ft lb to 6 ft pounds. So this might not be the best upgrade for a new shooter. Of course you should not have your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire. And the same goes for the safety. The gun should remain on safe until the pistol (or rifle) is on target and you are ready to shoot. Range Safety is always important, no matter what type of pistol or rifle you are using. Today's air pistols and rifles are serious pieces of equipment and should always be handled with care, safety and respect.

I found these Grips on the ebay. These are from Alchemy AirWerks I think they look fantastic.

I just checked the ebay and I don't see this exact style today. But a very similar style (Red Dragon) are priced at 27.48 . I don't know the exact process for painting these, but I know the seller will answer any questions you might have.

 Please  Keep in mind, These are just my opinions.  And only meant to be suggestions.....
 Here I have added a "Crosman Power Adjuster". I was reading some reviews one day about power adjusters. One fellow stated that He was adding a power adjuster to gain more power. As far as I know the power adjuster is for dialing down the power when you are shooting targets or plinking and want to get the most shots out of your Co2 cartridge. The Power Adjuster can also be used to tune your air gun. Say your max fps is 500 fps. But you notice (or smell) excess Co2 when you fire your air gun. If you have a Chrony (or can borrow one like I do) you can dial down the power a bit and check it on the Chrony. If the fps hasn't dropped, You are wasting Co2. Continue this process until you notice the fps drop a little. At that point, turn up the power a bit, and if it is back to 500 fps you can lock it in there. Note: you will want make these adjustments the same day in the same environment, with a fresh Co2 cartridge. And take about 5 min between shots. This should give you a fairly accurate results. If what you are looking for by installing a power adjuster is more power. Save some cash and install a heavier spring. Or remove your spring and carefully stretch it out "a wee bit" then reinstall it.

Above is muzzle brake number one. It looks fantastic and photographs really well. But the bottom line is, it's plastic. I just couldn't get past that fact. Fortunately the supplier was kind enough to let me return it.

This is muzzle brake number two. It is aluminum and custom made by Alchemy AirWerks. This muzzle brake has a nice clean look. And the workmanship is to a very high standard. This will likely be the muzzle brake that I will leave on the pistol eventually. But I have one more muzzle brake I would really like to show you.

This Muzzle Brake / Adapter is also from Alchemy AirWerks. Is it necessary? of course not. But the Cool Factor is off the charts! I won't describe the threading, because I'll probably screw that up.(pun intended) But you can read all about that on their ebay store. Attachments might have to come from somewhere far away. But I am sure it would be well worth the wait.

I think that about covers it for the "Bad to the Bone" Crosman 2240. The power valve is stock and other than the sear spring adjuster I didn't do any trigger upgrades. I am very satisfied with the performance of the pistol. So for now anyway, it's finished. I'm Out, Shoot Safe!, Hugh

The Crosman 1377 A true American Classic

CAUTION: Airguns are Not Toys and must be handled with Extreme Caution and Safety at All Times. Handle any Airgun as if it were loaded. Always keep it pointed down range or away from any people. Read all directions and cautions before handling. Adult Supervision is strongly advised. Make sure your back stop is adequate to stop any stray rounds or flyers. Never shoot at a hard surface as your bb or pellet may ricochet and strike someone or something unintentionally.

Why purchase the Crosman 1377 American Classic? First: It is very affordable at around $60.00 US. Second: The 1377 is economical to use, as in no Co2 or tank are required. Third : With the 1377's formidable 10.25 inch rifled barrel, it is also very accurate for any price range.  And another thing, There is a plethora of upgrades and custom parts available.  And in my humble opinion, that's the best feature of all.  And if that's still not enough, it boasts a claimed 600 fps max spec! That's 100 fps for each ten dollars spent. I guess you could call that, an excellent fps to dollar ratio!

The first upgrade was the Crosman 1399 custom carbine stock, it really helps me stay on target and keeps my old hands steady. As for the next upgrade,which is without a doubt the most important. I ordered a Crosman steel breech with a 3/8 Dovetail machined into the top. This breech made it easy for me to install a very basic Daisy Electronic Point Sight. Probably the best "under ten dollar electronic sight" you will ever find. And once sighted in, it's very effective as well. I know there are scope/sight mounts available that attach to the barrel. But I have never seen or read about anyone who kept those on their pistol for any length of time. So I just passed on that option altogether.

A steel breech is also a superior anchor point for the barrel. This will be a particularly important upgrade, should you ever decide to install a longer barrel. I would go so far as to say, The Steel Breech is the very foundation of upgrading or customizing your 1377.

There is a practical reason that the next group of upgrades came all at once. I wanted to install a longer barrel. This  meant I would have to upgrade to a Backpacker barrel band or modify the original. Well, I also wanted to upgrade to the Backpacker style pump-arm grip. I didn't want to take the  barrel band off twice, so I opted to replace the forgrip and barrel at the same time. I accidentally ordered just the grip instead of the whole pump arm assembly. This means I needed to punch out and replace the smaller roller pins that secure the grip to the pump lever assembly. Fortunately, I had been carrying around a Home-Depot gift card for months that still had 12 dollars and some change left on it. So for the first time in my life I purchased a nice set of punches. No more cutting off old screwdrivers or grinding the points of nails! The punches ended up costing me .81 cents over the amount left on the card.

Are these beautiful or what?  I am planning on doing a lot more air gun work in the future. So these punches will surely be put to good use.

The 4 X 32 Scope is off a Ruger Air Hawk  1200 . I tried to position the scope and mount rings where they would give me easy access to the bolt and receiver. If there is a legitimate gripe about the Crosman Breech it would be this.. The breech opening is kind of short. This makes it harder to load than it needs to be. I used to think that a rifle scope on a custom air carbine was a bit much. That is.... until I used it. Wow!  I like a tactical dot sight as much as the next guy. But I could almost drive nails with this thing!

This was at about 25' standing in a semi rest position. Hey it's winter here and that's about as far away as I can get in my garage. I can hardly wait for the warm weather to arrive, so I can see what this little carbine can really do. I have been using the Crosman .177 hunting pellets. But the JSB Match Diablo 7.33 grain fly real nice too. I also tried the Crosman SSP High Velocity 4.0 gr Lead Free. But they wouldn't fly straight. But this air gun is rated 600 fps max. Not exactly high velocity by today's standards. I am thinking with the longer barrel I'm probably exceeding the 600 fps mark. I do not have a Chrony yet. But I am definitely going to need one to assist me in getting some of my enhanced air guns dialed in properly in the future. A Chrony would be a good way to see how different mods are affecting the performance. I do have a birthday coming up......

The custom muzzle brake came from Alchemy AirWerks . I believe I purchased the 18" rifled barrel for them as well. You can find them on the eeeee bay. Real good company I highly recommend them. I think I'll be adding an adjustable trigger spring soon. I scrunched the stock spring and that softened the trigger pull a bit. But it is still a bit harder than I like it

The Backpacker style forearm grip also came from Alchemy AirWerks. There are a few reasons this upgrade was a must. First off, the original grip is much too narrow for my hands. This grip makes it much easier (and more comfortable) to pump the gun up to pressure. Also once I added the carbine stock which is black, it didn't match the original brown foregrip. It made the whole thing look kind of rag tag. I should mention that I also own a Crosman 2289 Backpacker. After shooting the Backpacker a few times, the 1377 wasn't getting much use. Now I equally enjoy shooting both airguns.

 In closing I would like to say that working on the Crosman 1377 American Classic has been a lot of fun, and educational too. I know all the upgrades and mods have made this 1377 a better air gun. It is now user friendly. And it is much easier to shoot tight groups. Although I don't have a Chroney, it is  obvious that the longer 18" barrel  has increased the velocity. I am proud to display my custom 1377 American Classic carbine. I would like to Thank all the You-tubers out there who made all those videos that helped me with this project (and many others). You guys are awesome!  Also thanks to Alchemy Airwerks and Magnum Airpower. And a shout out to Pyramyd Air the folks I purchase my airguns from. I appreciate that they are always willing to answer my questions. And when they don't know the answer, they really do get back to me latter. And thanks to you for stopping by. I`ll be publishing more blog posts soon. I'm out.  Shoot Safe, Hugh