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Idaho Airgun Field Target Club
Pocatello Idaho June 20, 2009
Crossman FT Rifle Match By Ron Gill
Under cloudy skies, we held our second annual Crosman match. A lot has changed with Crosman guns and our ability to modify them since three of us independently purchased Crosman guns two and a half years ago. The fun part still remains the same.
The majority of our guns are variations of the Crosman pistol design that dates back to the 19 50s, and most are powered by CO2. CO2 with its reputation for being temperature dependent proved to be no problem even on a cloudy morning where the thermometer hovered in the high 50s. At the sight in range before the match, everyone found that their zero settings still held. Gas consumption varied - Ash changed powerlets twice during the match while Ron changed only once. Ray changed just before the first target and shot the 45 shot match on one powerlet. Two shooters, George and Ron Gill, powered their guns with compressed air. George pumped for every shot (more on this latter), and Ron added 20 strokes on his Axor pump half way through the course of fire.
The lanes started with one in the draw bottom, then ran along the top of the draw for 3 lanes, and finished with a lane back in the bottom of the draw. Five lanes with three shots each at three targets gave us 45 shots to get off before the threatening clouds closed in with predicted rain. Each lane had its own surprises. Shots across the draw were beset with variable winds that were not felt by competitors sheltered by tall sage brush. The first target on lane one was Gorge's snail set very close with a 3/8" kill zone. Ash thought he should have brought pointed pellets to funnel into the small kill Zone. This proved to be a very tough target with only one hit in addition to the three straight shot by George.
George's rifle is based on a 1377 pistol. Besides a longer barrel and a shoulder stock, both stock Crosman parts, he added an aftermarket flat topped piston to increase the pumping efficiency. George pumped 7 to 10 times for each shot depending on the range. That's 360+ pumps to get through the match. At lunch he revealed that he never changes his elevation settings. With every additional pump the zero range is greater. "With another stroke each pellet goes just a little further." It sounds too good to be true, but he won the match with a score 9 points ahead of second place.
| George Gardner | 1377 custom pumper | 2-16X Scope | .177 JSBL | 34/45 |
| Ron Gill | 1760SP compressed air | 6-24X BSA | .177 JSBL | 25/45 |
| Ray Carter | 2300 Custom Shop 14 inch barrel | 4-16X Center point | .177 JSBL | 24/45 |
| Ash Covey | 2300 Carbine | 3-12X Barska | .22 Crosman 14.3 g | 20/45 |
| Ron Roberts | 2240 | 4X15 BSA | .22 Crosman pointed | 17/45 |
Thanks to Ash for the new score cards. The Crosman Match will be back in 2010.