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jlwilliams · Veteran Member

OK. I'm considering getting BB gun as a knock around gun. My beater airgun for the last few years has been a Quest 22. Good gun for the money. Not the quality of my R1, but that's OK for a gun I leave in the garage.

I have been thinking about a pump up repeater to use for chasing pests. A break action pellet rifle is an all or nothing deal. A pump up gives some step down for those times when less power is more apropriate. I want a repeater so I can leave it loaded. No messing with pellets in the dark or in a rush. Something my wife can pick up, pump a few times and zap an errant whatever in the rump with. I'm leaning toward a Crosman 2100.

Here's the question. Since the 2100 has a rifled barrell, I may get some .177 rounds. That way I can take advantage of the repeater magazine while still taking some advantage of the rifling. At least that's my thinking. Is that correct? Will the lead rounds be better than the slightly smaller steel BBs? The 2100 uses a magnet in the breach to hold the BBs in place. Is the bore tight enough to keep the lead rounds from rolling out the pipe?

I could just load it up with BBs, but if the added cost (about $20 per thousand) will give me better accuracy and not destroy the rifling (leaving the option of shooting pellets from time to time) I'll go for it. Since the 2100 is only about $50, I can get it, load the reservoir with a couple hundred lead rounds (with a life suply on the shelf) and lean it in the corner with no worries and still be under $75.

Anybody here run lead in a 2100? Is there a better option for what I'm thinking about?

lampy · Veteran Member

I tried the Gamo rounds in my 2100 and they wouldn't feed. I loaded them single shot to check accuracy and found them to be less accurate than pellets. I don't remember how much less accurate but it was enough that I never shot them again.

jlwilliams · Veteran Member

That's good to know.

Anybody know of a repeater that feeds the lead rounds?

Slavia · Moderator

The lead rounds are not magnetic, so the magnet in the bolt of Crosman guns won't pull them out of the BB reservoir. Even spring loaded or gravity fed mechanisms often don't feed them well, since they are true bore size (and not undersized, like steel BB's).

One day without thinking I loaded lead rounds into a 760 (magnetic bolt), and had to disassemble the gun to get them out. I tried them in a P10 pistol, thinking the spring-fed magazine would solve the problem - but they were too tight and jammed the gun. On the other hand, a few minutes ago I tried them in the shot tube of a Daisy Model 99, and they fed just fine. (Same shot tube as the Model 25.)

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

The problem I've had, at least with Gamo lead balls, is that they're NOT consistently sized. I use .22 lead balls to great affect, but the .177s all end up being way, way too small.

radar · Silver Status Member

teflon97239 · New Member

radar · Silver Status Member

In my experience, Daisy BBs are far superior to Crosman's, and in pellets the reverse is true. I could never get a Daisy pellet to group well enough to even sight in a scope...no good chasing random holes around and around with the crosshair adjustments. The exception is Avanti match pellets that Daisy sent me for free when I emailed them a complaint about their pointed "hunting" pellet accuracy. Very nice customer service.

If you are handy and know how to safely disassemble your air rifle and modify it, it is possible that it could be modified to accept the larger lead shot. The magnet feeder would be the biggest issue, but before BB guns used magnets to hold the BBs in the chamber, they used a hair spring. You could make that out of fine music wire from a hobby shop or hardware store. The feed hole from the magazine to the chamber needs to be enlarged slightly, and polished. It is, however, doable I think...and I think I've just talked myself into my next workshop project, after the tune-up on my new Optimus .22. Very Happy

cheers
Rob