Air Gun Home :: View topic

Mar · Veteran Member

Shortly after work I took these shots, 25ft from computer chair to target. No warm up shots, shooting resting one elbow off the chair arm rest and a bit wobbly from a few wobbly pops. Laughing

Direct link as I don't see my picture,
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/Ruckster/Phantom1.jpg

As marked on the target, P for pointed, W for wadcutter, HP for hollow points, all Crosman's. Shot the P's first. W's 2nd then the hp's per ring/target.

5th rd was after a smoke so I might still had smoke in my eyes. Smile

They all seem to group well as in close as I'm not the steadiest person plus I need new glasses.

I can live with this though and the gun seems to be getting better the more I shoot it.

Hurry up trigger.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Funny enough- I have been finding that the Crosman Premier Hollow Points don't do well in my Phantom- the Crosman bulk Wadcutters worked better! I have yet to try some Gamo Master Points I have laying around- so we'll see.

Other than that, I got the GRT-III trigger put in- way lighter than the stock unit, and for quite awhile I was almost surprised when the gun fired there was so little effort required, comparatively speaking. Strangely, the accuracy of the gun seemed to go out the window as well. I have a Crosman 4x32 scope on it and spent some time trying to zero it in. No matter what I did, I would get 2-3 great shots almost on top of one another at 50'(16m) and then 5 more that were 6" away in all directions. Most shots varied vertically, but some were also askew horizontally. I was getting rather upset, think that either the barrel movement vs. the scope was extreme, or that the Crosman scope was buggered, despite no evidence of such.

So, I fiddled around for awhile longer- tried different things, "chased" the scope around the target like I had with the 4x15 Crosman unit I had on it before- then gave up and thought about it for awhile. Next, I grabbed the gun and held it in a gorilla grip to minimize its movement as much as possible- and amazingly enough- now I could shoot consistent 1" groups at 50 feet. Seems I've got used to "casually" holding the gun and the lighter trigger, needing no excessively firm placement of the hand to pull it without pulling the rifle off target- so I was holding the gun rather loosely at the rear and it was only resting on the forearm- which is not enough to control this power-improved Phantom. The tighter I held it, the better the groupings became. Seems maybe there was nothing wrong with the 4x15 scope, and the barrel movement nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be. I still need to check the barrel crown- so I'll get to that sooner or later, and try out some other pellets in it.

All that being said- it is doing fairly well for a $100 gun with less than $50 worth of enhancements (piston and trigger). Hopefully I can get the groupings down and find the best pellet. If so, this could very well be my favorite gun for a bit- at least until the spring when the weather warms up and I can use Co² properly again (or maybe I should just go buy a pumper to play with over the winter).

Mar · Veteran Member

You know what? I also feel I get better grouping if I hold the gun firmly tight against my shoulder and resting it on a softy rest gives me the worst results.

Of course mine is still in stock form. I've shot many a gun with light triggers and I like it that way, you should feel my Savage 99 .308 I bought a few years back, just think about it and it shoots, kind of too light for my liking for a hunting rifle but got used to it and I like it now.

Mar · Veteran Member

BTW, those Crosman scopes aren't the best. If you grab the scope while looking through it and wiggle it from side to side, you'll see movement because of the cheapy scope mounts that come with them.

Just something I noticed myself. I'll be taking my scope back for a refund and order a Rex.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I would do that too- but that Crosman scope has been around for awhile as I bought and used it originally on a Co² gun where it didn't move or matter much. I've been trying to decide which scope is justified on such a gun- maybe a $50 Tasco would be adequate- don't want to spend more on the scope than the gun is worth!