Crosman 2100 Classic Chrony & Accuracy update. Also, playing the fps game with the Hatsan Sortie

Airguns are Not Toys.  Improperly used  they can cause severe Injury or Death.Read All Cautions and Directions before handling any BB or pellet airgun. Any mods you do to your airgun will most likely void the factory warranty. 

Above:  The Crosman 2100 Classic is now sighted in well enough to take it out back "when the weather warms up a bit". At some point I will be trying a few other pellets to see if I can improve my accuracy.

Above: This is the information printed on the Crosman 2100 Classic Box. 2 to 12 pumps. Which should according to the box will produce 400 to 800 feet per second. Although I keep seeing 3 to 10 as the "recommended number of pumps" for the Crosman pneumatic air rifles of this design. I wonder if this rifle has a better exhaust valve assembly. I'll have to look into that.

This got me thinking, at what number of pumps does the Crosman 2100 Classic's (velocity) max out? I do Not recommend that you pump your airgun beyond the manufactures recommended number of pumps.

Above: Using the FX Radar Chronograph, I wanted to document exactly what FPS the Crosman 2100 Classic could achieve in the real world using a typical (7.0 grain) pellet.  Starting with (2) Shots at 10 pumps (then increasing the number of pumps by 2 for each 2 shot string. I then recorded the FPS (feet per second) and also the FPE (foot pounds of energy) for each string.

At 16 pumps the Crosman 2100 Classic (above) maxed out at 713 FPS generating 7.90 foot pounds of energy. Nowhere near the claimed 800 fps with 12 pumps. I know Crosman chooses to use extremely light weight pellets to get the max fps. But the higher fps numbers achieved using super light pellets are meaningless. Because the super light pellets have less mass, so they generate less energy.  Lighter pellets will not carry the energy down range nearly as far as a heavier pellet will. Force = Mass X Acceleration.

Above: At the top of the page I entered the information relevant to what I am doing. Keeping a ballistics log for me is becoming a necessity. As the number of airguns in my collection grows, the harder it is for me to remember which pellet works best with each airgun.

Above: I believe I found this Ballistics Log Book on Amazon.com. I would highly recommend keeping a ballistics log book. Especially if you are going to be blogging or vlogging about your airgun experience. Crosman is not the only manufacturer who uses super light pellets in their ballistics testing.

Above: The only "entry level" Airgun manufacturer (that I know of) that uses lead pellets for ballistics testing is Hatsan. It's not the manufacturers fault that we the consumers are all hung up on the fps numbers.

Above: I recently found myself playing the fps game with my Hatsan Sortie. The .22 caliber Sortie is advertised as a 700 fps semi  auto pistol. And it Chrony tested at 675.7 average fps with the H&N Sniper light 14.04 gn.  And 702.6 average fps with the H&N Baracuda Green 12.96 gn.

Above: By the way the Sortie shoots both of these pellets really well at pistol distance.  I was sure surprised to see
the FPE results for these two pellets was exactly the same at 14.21 fpe. With both pellets at 14.21 fpe the heavier pellet wins. This is because the heavier pellet will carry more force down range.

Now lets see what happens when I go to an even lighter pellet. Above: The 11.75 gn Predator GTO .22 cal. Lead Free pellet

Above:  Ok, Shooting the Predator GTO 11.75 gn pellet the Sortie managed a high of  732 fps.  And an average fps of 722 fps. Really impressive, that's until you see the average FPE (foot pounds of energy) is now down to 13.6 . So the 11.75 gn Predator GTO wins the fps race. But looses the Foot Pounds competition. But in the field, where it really matters... The 14.04 gn H&N Sniper Light wins hands down. Because it is going to deliver the most force to the target. That force could be the difference between a quick humane kill or just badly wounding a critter. It could also be the difference between a good meal and going to bed hungry. Food For Thought.  Pun Intended.
   Until next time, Shoot Safe. Cheers, Hugh