Air Gun Home :: View topic - Crossman Phantom tuned from factory??? is this a gimmick?

BEANER · Member

Want to say hi to everyone since im new and also chat about this Phantom. Here is the story..

I bought a phantom and had to return it because the barrel was crooked, i traded it for another one. The one i got on exchange ended up being a lemon also. The scope ret. kept spinning when i shot, trigger would fire at diff. pull length's. Finally returned that gun today and looked for another replacement phantom(third time's a charm?) These phantoms are 99.00 at Gander Mountain, They have sites and a 4x32 crap scope,not the extreme model.

I looked at every box very carefully making sure there were no dent's, or anything showing if the box had been tampered with. I had about 30 boxe's of phantoms to go through. So i bring this new one home and clean all the light coating of brown oil from it. Clean the barrel. I then notice the gun looks to have shiny handprint's on the foregrip and butt of the stock. They were not mine!

My first two phantoms had horrible twang to them, plastic rear site would jiggle around also. The target i was shooting at in my basement would richochete the pellets off and it was only 10 meter's away(every shot). I thought it was normal cause the wood is hard oak.

So, i get the new gun into the basement and try to crack the barrel, real hard for the first 20 pulls,now very very smooth. The thing that amaze's me is the sound, just a pop and thats it. No dieselin at all NO Twang at all. I couldnt believe it. I would never have thought a cheap phantom would not twang? Also the pellet's arent bouncing back, they are all going in and out the other side. The hole's in my paper target are hole's, no jagged edge's(looks like a small paper puncher got to it. Now for the group's. It hasnt broken in yet and i am shooting dime size holes of 5, 3 touching each other, and not barely either. That's open site's. The scope that come's with these are junk.

The trigger on this isnt very good and im still getting great shots. I also have only 1/4 can of 250 crossman competetion wadcutters left(7.5gm.177cal)Why would this gun have the no "twang" going on? Those mystery fingerprints on the gun werent on the other 2. I really wish i could show the difference. I am going to email Crossman and tell them all about this great $99.00 gun

It really seems like someone else besides China built this one, I thought i was just going to be stuck with a crappy phantom that will need lot's of money for a tune etc. I will buy tuna's trigger though. I wanted a slavia 631 but i cant find one for sale or a beeman ss1000h(heard great things about both). My wife also gave me a limit of 100.00. Sorry this is so long but my wife doesnt want to hear about "the stupid gun" (as she call's it)

Please reply about what the internals could look like by the description i just wrote. Have any of you experience a gem like this?

Mar · Veteran Member

The Phantom can be a scope eater, mine took care of a cheap Crosman scope not rated for the harshness of the Phantom.

I didn't realize they made them in .177, mines a .22 cal. They are pretty accurate, only had to buy one to be satisfied.

Oh...and welcome to the board.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Sounds like Gander Mountain had a pile of "refurbished" or returned items they were flogging if it took 3 tries to get something usable!

The Phantom can be a good gun for the money and due to its synthetic stock and spring and spring guide size changes vs. the Quest, the twang was greatly reduced.

A CharliedaTuna trigger will make the trigger a totally different animal.

And, for reference- yes, U.S.-destined Phantom's are .177 cal., Canadian non-Pal Phantoms are .22 cal. Crosman had discontinued the .22 cal Quest mid-last-year, then apparently changed their mind and were telling people it wasn't discontinued, and eventually it reappeared on store shelves around September/October.

And, Welcome to AirGunHome, beaner. I hope we're not going to catch a pile of crap because someone thinks you're making fun of them with that name! Mr. Green

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Thanks for that Review. Now I have another argument why I hate the Phantom. Mr. Green

Glad I don't live in the US for that matter. Cheap Euro's all the way. Wink

I mean, when you pick up a Rifle the first time, you'd want it to be "alright" to begin with, right?

By the way, Beaner, if you ever happen to stumble across a Slavia, go for the 630. Less parts to break, and the 631 isn't all that better, or go for the 634. It's a dead easy gun to work on too.

BEANER · Member

Beaner as in beaning the target(not a racist). Thank's guy's for responding. I agree that when you buy a gun you want it to be great out of the box. Now about the sound of the gun(a low pop and thats it),,, Why do you think it's acting the way it is? What is going on with the internal's? Is everything a perfect fit? is the spring a little too long? What causes twang so i can get an idea why mine has none. Im just really suprised at the power of this phantom (rated at 1000fps) compared to the other 2. The other 2 phantoms would make the pellet land sideways on the target,and richochet. This one leave's perfect hole's. What causes the pellet's to tumble like in the previous phantom's?
Is there a upgrade to the plastic rear sight? And a front muzzle plastic sight. I have major problem's with the sight's. 1: they are plastic. 2:the rear has a tiny bit of play in it, but it is too small to do anything negative. 3 the front sight has a large fiberoptic with an equally large housing that covers the target. 4 The rear site has 2 small and dim barely visible RED fiberoptic's and the front muzzle fiberoptic is green which makes it worse. I wish there were a kit to switch the rear to green, front to red.

About the slavia, i heard the 631 is the better of the three. The 634 has a shorter barrel(less accuracy or so im told) The 630 has no barrel locking mechanism. I cannot remember right now about everything else i have heard. But since im in the u.s. the shop's don's sell slavia's. Also my wife gave me a limit of 100 and we are strapped for cash. I will return this phantom for a refund and buy a slavia 631 if one is available. I was also contemplating the baikal izh 61 but can't find the older model with metal sight's and reciever. What i am looking for is a target rifle that is very very accurate and that doesnt need any extra money put into it to make it more accurate. I was also looking into the ss1000h made by beeman because of the rave review's about accuracy etc. I can only find these following models in the store's near me:
1.phantom and quest 99.00 with 4x32 scope and sights(not shooters kit with sight delete)
2.daisy red ryder,grizzly
3. rws diana 34 $234.00
4.gamo cfx 200.00 base model with no scope(wanted this one really bad,liked the way it felt and the sites,good balance)
5.gamo big cat 140.00(heard it was junk)
6. gamo varmint hunter 180.00
7.gamo hunter extreme 450.00
8 crossman 1077 co2 79.00(dont want to buy c02
9. Beeman shooters kit some pumping silver gun with muzzle brake and targets+pellets 99.00
10.crossman futuristic pellet rifle that is junk
11.gamo viper very expensive
12.remington genesis 189.00
13 remington new and improved 1000 version 149.00
14 sierra pro or something 189.00

Thats it. So with a 100 dollar limit i cant really be choosy. Im worried that i might just have the best phantom ever built since i had read all the reviews and everyone had twangin. If i return it and buy a slavia, i might kick myself if the slavia is a bad one with barrel droop(i have heard of a couple of slavias with this problem. Also this phantom with the nice pop and the almost zero recoil will treat a scope just fine. I really have bad luck and i almost know with certainty that if i return the phantom i will get screwed somehow. Karma is always out to get me, no matter all the nice deeds i do.

Can you guys answer the questions above and any extra info you can throw at me. Im scared to tighten the screws up on this phantom since i did that with the other one and thats when the trigger went bad. Also scared to throw lock-tight on those bolts too cause i know im going to add the trigger later. Help!

Westonhill · Member

Beaner,
My subject is a bit OT. When you write your post, you keep using apostrophes when they are not needed. For example, you always write "phantom's" as to just "phantoms", or "hole's" as to "holes". Some member of this forum also likes doing that. It is just a little confusing.

Please don't bean me. Just a friendly reminder. Smile

StevieLaner7777 · Moderator

Stevie

22magnum · Member

I just bought Quant 2 Phantoms 0.22 495FPS in Ontario. Both were great right out of the box. I have taken mine apart for a tune and put it back together with a re-lube (the other one was a gift)

I have not completed much shooting as of yet...but I am hoping to do some tonight. I bought myself a scope for it (just today) and a shooting trap (the Crosman one)

Anyway..if your in Canada do not hesitate to buy one of these guns. The feel and weight is great, and I think its well put together for the money.
If you want to mod then get this gun too.

The only drawback is parts...there does not seem to be a parts diagram/listing avaialable yet (I called Crosman)

Cheers

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Just so to say, a gun is never at his best out of the box. Some guns are overlubricated, others are dry.

I think I'm also going to try and compare things if I buy them new, allthough that probably will never happen.

A used gun has a bit of personality, and often doesn't need any more tuning, unless the previous owner was a complete noob or didn't care about twang and such things. Which is perfectly legal in my book. Mr. Green

2RCHA · Veteran Member

Hey Bud's, I know exactly what you mean,When I was reading your post I thought you were describing my gun. When I purchased my Phantom, it arrived in an un-opened,un-tampered with box,still with factory seals, and when I looked at the gun, it had a light sheen of hand prints on the forestock,but other than that, nothing, the gun dieseled for around 100 shots before it settled down, and I went and tuned her up, it's now firing over 750fps w/ lead, and 950fps w/ Skenco's.

Anyway's, you can barely see the mark's in the picture, and I've tried everything to get it out without success, Andy.

BEANER · Member

Sorry about the apostrophes, i will try not to do it anymore. I dont want to cofuse anyone here,hehe. Weird about the fingerprints. I thought it was grease at first but it wont rub off. Im still in awe of the accuracy of this gun,and its also getting better. I am terrified though. I do not want to tighten anything nor adjust the trigger either. I do not want this one messing up cause i know that i will never find another like it.

The gun does however have a square bolt type deal under the rear screw behind the trigger. The square was very loose on the second gun, so i really cranked it tight. Im sure that had something with the trigger messing up too. I did scratch little marks on the three screws holding the stock on to indicate if they loosen up and move on me. I really want a muzzle brake on this to fine tune the accuracy but i think what would help even more is the sites. Someone really needs to figure out a way to get smaller sites on these guns.

No one really answered my questions as to the twang. What causes it? just low clearance? but clearance from the spring to the guide? or what? Im also scared that the twang will creep up, i dont want to jinx myself with this great pop/thud sound. Oh and this phantom isnt hold sensitve at all, other two were. My phantom can be rested on anything, held tight, held loose. I do have a tin of pellets that are not fitting the breech right though. I bought a 300 pack of comp wadcutters made by crossman and about 50 dont want to fit right. The package does stae 250 pellets, then says + 50 more!!! I guess those extra 50 are junk. Or this barrel has tight tollerances, but some just fall right in with no push at all. Someone also said something about the phantom having plastic bushings on breech. Maybe they changed them to metal for my gun? I dont want to take it apart to find out though.

Hopefully someone could give me some input on the twang though, thanks

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Every spring gun has some amount of 'twang'. Typically, the more spacing around the spring, the spring guides, and the tube-i.e. the more slop that is present, the more twang will be felt and heard. The Phantom (and I assume most of the newer guns using this platform- i.e. the Quest, the G1, etc.) is definitely tighter than the earlier versions in this respect and the synthetic stock is fairly thick and full of pockets which likely absorb some of the sound/vibration vs. the wood-stocked versions (the Chinese wood used on these guns is weird stuff normally- thin and weak).

22magnum · Member

Re TWANG

I have heard about using a casing/sleeve made of PTFE plastic (pop bottle ?) around the spring however it would be impossible to have it full length..you could only do part of the spring..the other thing I've heard of is to use a heavy lubricant which will cause damping...I wonder if a silicon grease would be good? That way the lubricate that may wash into the air champer may not diesel so much...I plan on taking the other gun I have and taking it apart soon so I'd sure like to know..I used 3in1 oil the last time and that gun will likely be dieseling for quite some time...I did get the proper RWS chamber oil that I can add into the port (its clear..likely
some sort of high temp silicon oil)

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Mar · Veteran Member

I was lucky enough to get my hand s on a used 630, sweetest shooting airgun so far and ACCURATE, let me tell you.