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