Cleaning & Talking about The New Crosman P1322 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.

Above: My brand spanking new Crosman P1322 American Classic. You might assume that your new pistol is nice and clean and ready to shoot. Well it might be ready to shoot (I said might) but it might not be as clean as you think.

Above; These dirty patches are from cleaning my new P1322. Now don't get me wrong this is normal for most new airguns. At least those in the under 100.00 price range. But what better way to get familiar with your new air gun than to clean it?

Above: After cleaning it I took the P1322 out to the garage range to fire it a few times. I fired fine, but I did notice there was a little more resistance than I expected when I was pumping it up. A few drops of pellgun oil on the side of cup (see pic above) took care of that. I will have to go back and check the specs. Because this P1322 feels more powerful than my 2289 Backpacker. Now for the new stuff on the P1377

The newest style grips. I like these grips a lot as far as "the look" goes. They are very stylish for sure, and match the new design of the fore grip / pump lever. But the feel is not as good as the grips on the modern 2240's. But both feel more solid than the old grips that had the Crosman Logo embossed on the grip. Those definitely needed to go. Overall I like these grips. And who knows, I might even get used to the new feel.

Above: As for the new Fore grip / lever design, I like it. It is a huge improvement over the skinny wood grain brown plastic one on my old 1377. And the new style matches the new style grips nicely. And this pump lever is more comfortable to use than the skinny ass woodgrain plastic one was for sure.

Above: The aforementioned 1377 American classic plastic/wood pump lever next to the new design P1322 American Classic pump lever.
But is it as comfortable as the fore grip / lever was on the 2289 backpacker? Well... I have big palms, so for me definitely not as comfortable as the backpacker grip. But I do think it is a huge improvement over the old plastic wood ones for sure. And for smaller hands, maybe just as good? I don't really know.

Above: Those are screws baby! Not pins, but actual screws! I had to double check before saying this. Both my 2289 Backpacker and my 1377 modified carbine with the backpacker style pump lever have pins. Not sayen pins are bad, but change is good too! I should also mention the Phillips Head screws on the Grips match the fore grip / pump lever perfectly.

Above: Ok I checked the 2289 Backpacker had a claimed Max Velocity of 480 fps. And the new P1322 American Classic has a claimed MAX Velocity of 460 fps. Being the 2289 has the longer barrel I'm gonna say they are about equally powered. The specs on the 2289 Backpacker come from Pyramyd Air.

Above: My 1377 American Classic Carbine. I would like my P1322 A.C. to be a .22 caliber version of my .177 carbine. If I go with the same breech and same length barrel it could make for some good comparison tests. Like fps vs Brute Force, which is really more effective? I would like to do a custom wood stock on this one but OMG they are expensive. But then again, the new grips on my 2240 Co2 Pistol (with the finish work) cost as much as the 2240 pistol originally cost me. And I have no regrets about that. Maybe I'll do a tactical stock that would be a little more cost effective. And that would be a first for me.
Until Next Time, Have Fun But SHOOT SAFE, I'm Out, Hugh

Crosman Arms Co. Inc. V-350 Slide Action bb Air Rifle. Produced from 1962 1969

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: MY Crosman V 350 SLIDE ACTION B.B. RIFLE. If what I have read so far is correct, the V 350's were produced from 1961 through 1969. But the technology goes back well into the 1800's.

I have also read that the V 350 indicates that this air rifle was capable of launching a bb down range at 350 fps. And the SLIDE ACTION describes the cocking mechanism.

Above: The Loading Directions. This was taken from a PDF file that Crosman has made available.

Above: This was taken from a PDF file that Crosman has made available online. The Shooting directions. I wonder how many people failed to read the instructions and shot themselves in the palm of the hand. I think the indicator holes for checking if the bb is chambered and another to indicate if the rifle is cocked are both great design features. When I was given this bb rifle from a friend who inherited it, I really had no idea about these features. He knew how to load it and cock it and fire it and that was about it.

Above: Top line reads CROSMAN ARMS CO INC bottom line reads FAIRPORT, NY. MADE IN USA. The engraving on the barrel is deep and also serves as a hand grip surface for cocking the bb rifle.

Above:This was taken from a PDF file that Crosman has made available online.  How to lubricate the V 350 . Which I did immediately after reading this.

Above:This was taken from a PDF file that Crosman has made available online. This diagram shows the lubrication points as well as identifying other parts such as the loading port.

Above: Here you can see the holes that are shown on the diagram above. The extra hole (third back from the front) is the mounting hole for the missing rear sight. I check ebay from time to time for the rear sight, but haven't found one yet.

Above: A view of the V 350 from the other side.

Above: A view of the trigger guard and trigger. I really like that vintage trigger and it is surprisingly comfortable to use.

As for the stock I have not refinished it. I have touched it up with a "Furniture Repair Marker" . These markers come in a set with about 6 different shades. They are great for touching up all your wood work around the house as well.

Above:This was taken from a PDF file that Crosman has made available online.
These safety instructions are pretty basic, but all good advice. I think if you could you go back in time in America, especially in rural America. I think you would find that people were more familiar with firearms, as they were more apart of everyday life. Being a city kid, I first learned to shoot at our Local "Boy's Clubs of America". We might have been shooting air rifles just like this one, but I honestly don't remember. That was after all 50 years ago, but it is definitely possible.

Above: The old V-350 does show some wear. My friend did tell me it was on a farm that he visited regularly as a boy. I am sure it was put to good use.

Above: I do shoot this air rifle from time to time, just enough to keep it from freezing up. At some point I would like to Shoot it through a Chrony just to see how close to 350 fps it can still shoot.
BELOW: I hope you are able to blow up or zoom in on the next diagram. (Also from a pdf file Crosman has made available online) The prices are unbelievable !

Until Next Time. Have Fun but Shoot Safe! I'm out Hugh

CNC Walnut grips and a Stripper!

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: Here I had this muzzle brake / adaptor with 1/2 x 20 tpi (threads per inch) UNF. All well and good, but 1/2 x 20 tpi UNF is not all that common in the USA. So I ordered this really cool Flash Supressor (what every air gun needs lol) from the UK. Unfortunately it never cleared customs. And now I'm probably on someone's list of international arms dealers! Sister Marie Therese would be so proud :)

So one night while scouring the internet for something cool to attach to my 1/2 x 20 adaptor. I spot this Hatsan Air Stripper .22cal 1/2 x 20. Be still my heart! Could this be real? Hey, what do I have to lose? I ordered it. It finally arrived, and then the moment of truth. Will the threads match. Halleluyah! It fits! It doesn't really take much to excite me these days.

Above: Here's that part number. How does an Air Stripper work you ask? Have you ever seen the explosion of Co2 gas that comes out of the barrel, especially when you have a fresh powerlet and the power adjuster is dialed up. That explosion causes turbulence. And just like on an airplane, turbulence can make for a bumpy ride. Anyway, as the pellet or other projectile exits the barrel it immediately enters the cone shaped tube. This separates the pellet from the turbulence. And because the cone gets wider, it diverts the turbulence out the vents and away from the projectile. This allows the pellet to fly flat or correctly. This minimizes wobble and prevents the pellet from tumbling. Is it necessary? Maybe not, However, with the Air Stripper attached and using the new pistol rest, I was able to do something I have never done before while shooting any air pistol in my garage range. Let me find the pictures brb.

Above: After getting dialed in and hammering the kill zone of this silhouette, I took one shot at each of the over the shoulder targets. The bull's eye on these is about the size of a dime.

Above: I hit both sides on the bull's eye with one shot. Then I called it a night. The distance is 8 yards or 24 feet.

Above: this is my garage range shooting table or station. This night I was shooting seated using the pistol rest.

<~This is the view of the target from behind the shooting table. While the distance isn't great, these silhouette targets are roughly about 1/5  the size of the silhouette targets at the indoor range. So I guess this would be like shooting a full size silhouette target at a much farther distance. That is one of the reasons I like these SplatterBurst targets. Having silhouette targets available that are designed for the smaller home range is awesome. And being able to see where you are hitting the target is priceless. Sometimes I like getting out the 9mm  or the .22  cal target pistol and heading off to the indoor range. But it seems like I always end up next to the guy shooting a cannon. It is not only cheaper to shoot airguns at home, it's a whole lot quieter too.

On the left the Walnut CNC machined grip. I like how these grips go over the safety. And how the grip follows the curvature around the back of the trigger guard.

Here is a better shot of that grip. You can find these on ebay. Today I spotted (on ebay) some custom grips made in England and they were "off the charts cool". Hey that's all I've got for now. I am working on a Crosman 2300S that I am real excited about. I ordered the muzzle brake for it today. And hopefully I'm going to be ordering the grips tomorrow. Until Next Time, Have Fun! But Shoot Safe. I'm out. Hugh