TargetTalk

Has anyone try this?

http://www.crosman.com/airguns/pistols/1700P

It is evident from the image, that Crosman are still using the zinc alloy die-cast frame that they use in the CO2 range 22XX 23XX etc. This has an atrocious trigger and grip and I am sure no one interested in Olympic Pistol would be able to live with such whatever else may be the virtues of this pistol. It is possible to tune the trigger, and the Crosman range are cheap (in the USA anyway) so it may be a low loss intro for some into Pistol generally. I did have a 2300S for a few months so I am talking from experience of this frame.

About a month ago, I had a chance to shoot a prototype from Crosman that was loaned to a Falls Twp (PA) Club member for evaluation. A number of us got to try it out at the monthly indoor silhouette match.

Observations:
-Definitely apparent higher quality build than other Crosman
-Fixed cylinder fill requires hose/quick-connect adapter for either tank or pump
-Sample was supplied with peep sight and high post (for AP silhouette) so no real chance to evaluate as a 10m pistol. There is a dovetail machined on the action to mound scopes/dots/open sights/peeps in whatever position best suits shooter.
-Trigger, as supplied, was very smooth albeit somewhat heavier than that most 10m shooters would find comfortable. That can be adjusted very satisfactorily.
-Balance/weight seemed quite good and stock grips OK. Again, there will no doubt be plenty of opportunity to customize grips.
-Standard velocity seemed plenty adequate; "recoil" very modest
-Bolt/breech/loading very intuitive and easy
-A consensus seemed to be "impressed with the effort by Crosman" and an expected desirable price.
-Lots of options to set this pistol up for a variety of AP silhouette styles and very likely to accomodate 10m as well.
-While obviously not to the level of the higher-end AP's, this pistol should offer another viable "bang-for-the-buck" entry level pistol. For many, there could be no need to go beyond it.

These obeservations are both personal and a recollection of the comments by the dozen or so other shooters who had the chance to get the feel of it.

CraigE

I have a Crosman 2300 from their custom shop, so I am also quite familiar with this model. I had the trigger worked over by a gunsmith and at a nice crisp, single stage, 600 gm it is adequate for someone just starting out in 10M AP. I can get 40-50 shots at full power and I guess that with some adjustment/reduction in velocity it would be possible to get well over 60 shots needed for a match. In my view this pistol, and the new CA version, are good entry level candidates for 10M AP, with the added advantage of being useable for other AP sports like silhouette.

Yeah - the trigger can be improved on. I polished all the sliding surfaces on the trigger of my 2300S using a Dremel buff and 1 micron diamond grit. I also shimmed out all the creepy wasted motion of the trigger blade and fitted a softer return spring - the trigger remained safe and felt a lot crisper after this work. I also fitted a trigger shoe as the blade is far too narrow. The 2300S has Williams sight and this is a very good addition. I got 40 - 50 shots per 12 gram cartridge. The gun is very top heavy and the new PCP looks like it will also be so. I had to import my 2300S into the UK from USA as this model is not sold in UK - sold it after 4 months or so.

The Crosman range are very rough in some of the machining and workmanship - they are not too expensive and are very easily improved on and customised if you are that way inclined.

Hmm Guys, $399 from Pyramid; and that's before you do any mods like
adding a proper rear sight or trigger blade/shoe. Also the grip is ambidextrious
and primitive. $399 puts you into Izh-46M territory that only needs a rasp
and sandpaper. Why cannot Crosman incorporate anything they learned
from their Skanaker pistol of yore? I'd love to see Crosman do some r&d
for a proper 10 meter air pistol.

Tony G

It's also a tad heavy at 1.13kg (2.5 lbs).

This is the kind of air pistol that needs to be under 1 kg so it can be used to get kids involved.

Thats one thing that really annoys me, that you can't buy a cheap light pistol to introduce kids to 10m shooting. They are all either too heavy, too hard to load or too expensive. There seems to be only cheap junk or top line. nothing in the middle.

paw080 wrote:Hmm Guys, $399 from Pyramid; and that's before you do any mods like
adding a proper rear sight or trigger blade/shoe. Also the grip is ambidextrious
and primative. $399 puts you into Izh-46M territory that only needs a rasp
and sandpaper. Why cannot Crosman incorperate anything they learned
from their Skanaker pistol of yore? I'd love to see Crosman do some r&d
for a proper 10 meter air pistol.

Tony G

Did Crosman design and make the Skanaker or did they buy it in and re-badge?

Also - I did not realise that the PCP = $399!!

Part of the higher price likely reflects the QC necessary to safely contain 3,000PSI as opposed to the 900PSi or so generated by CO2.
When you figure a spare HPA cylinder goes for $100-250, a whole gun isn't going to be cheap.

Seems like something ought to be possible. Chinese knock offs of Crosman's 160 rifles have a pretty good adjustable trigger. Adapted to a pistol it would be ugly, but would be better than the triggers on stock Crosman pistols.

Anybody know if Sharps are still in production?

The accuracy of American CO2 pistols has never been in question. Triggers, not so much.

RE: Skanaker, I'm thinking Crosman actually built these. The period of the contract expired and they dumped remaining stock.