Crosman 362
This report covers:
- The test
- Ooops!
- Crosman
- Adjusted the rear sight
- Trigger
- H&N Baracuda 15
- H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme
- Not done
- Summary
Today I take the Crosman 362 out to 25 yards. This should be an interesting test.
The test
I shot 5-shot groups with each pellet test. The rifle was pumped 6 times and rested directly on a sandbag. I shot with the peep sight and I will describe the adjustments as we go.
Naturally I shot at 10-meter pistol targets. At 25 yards they are the only bullseye I can see good enough to aim at.
Ooops!
It has been three months since I last shot this air rifle so I had to relearn everything — including the caliber. I couldn’t get any of the three .177-caliber pellets I selected to group at all. I wondered if the .22 caliber 362 was more accurate. Then, as I was returning from downrange, I had an epiphany. Wasn’t the 362 the one that was only offered in .22? Well, then — why was I shooting .177 pellets in this one?
Sure enough, it’s a .22! I guess everyone but me knew that and now I do, too! Like I said, it’s been a long time…
Why do I tell you things like this? I guess it’s to show you that there ain’t nothin’ special about BB Pelletier. He’s just as goofy as the rest of you. Only he does it in public!
Crosman
First up was the .22 caliber Crosman Premier. Five went into 1.423-inches between centers at 25 yards. At 10 meters five went into 0.917-inches, so this is about what to expect.
The Crosman 362 put five Crosman Premiers into a 1.423-inch group at 25 yards on 6 pumps per shot.
Adjusted the rear sight
After seeing where this group landed I adjusted the rear sight to the left. The 362 rear sight adjusts by loosening one screw and sliding the sight left or right. I slid this one slightly left.
Trigger
I have to observe that the 362 trigger isn’t bad. It’s heavy but crisp. That’s something I can work with.
H&N Baracuda 15
The next pellet tested was the H&N Baracuda 15. Had I paid attention to the test in Part 3 I wouldn’t have chosen it, but it’s a good thing I did because it gave the best group of today’s test. In Part 3 five pellets went into 1.271-inches at 10 meters. Today at 25 yards five of the same pellets made a group that measures 1.149-inches between centers. Yes folks — the 25-yard group is smaller than the 10-meter group!
Now we’re cookin’ with gas! Five Baracuda 15s made a 1.149-inch group at 25 yards.
Notice, however, that even though I adjusted the rear sight to the left the group didn’t move to the left. This pellet may shoot further to the right than the last one, but after seeing this I did adjust the rear sight even further to the left.
H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme
The final pellet I tested was the 18.52-grain H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme. I haven’t tested this pellet very much in the past and I wanted to include it in the 362. If it is accurate it would make a fine hunting pellet for this rifle. I also included it because it is the heaviest pellet I’m testing in the 362.
Five pellets went into 1.252-inches at 25 yards. The pellets did move over to the left this time, so apparently it took a lot of rear sight adjustment to affect things.
The Crosman 362 put five H&N Baracuda Hunter Extremes into a 1.252-inch group at 25 yards.
Not done
I’m not finished testing this rifle. I will continue to test it as it came from the factory — no steel breech and I’ll use the sights it came with. The only thing now is, I will remember that it is a .22.
I want to test it with other pellets as well as other numbers of pump strokes. I have read Part 3 again and see that I missed testing the 362 with at least one pellet that I said I would come back to.
Summary
The Crosman 362 offers a lot of value for the money. Readers have been steadily praising its virtues so I have resumed testing.
B.B.
I’m surprised the .177 pellets didn’t fall right out. Maybe try shooting .20 caliber pellets.
Hey, new advertising campaign, “One size fits all, don’t need to change barrels!” lol.
-Y
PS are you sure you did not post the pictures of the .177 groups. Those groups are lousy.
Come on . . . give BB a break. . . he did admit to being human, after all.
Lousy groups are lousy groups. You put a pig in a dress and you still have a pig!
-Y
Yeah,, but it’s a cheap pig.
There are a lot of people claiming theirs to shoot tighter groups than BB’s,, but as we all know,, people are capable of deception on occasion.
Ed
edlee,
From experience only one in 3 or 4 Crosman barrels in the 13xx and 22xx guns was a “shooter” in the old days. The company apparently has gotten better at barrel making according to recent reports by reaming the tubing prior to rifling…but this is a “cheap” gun; did the bean counters eliminate the reaming to bring down costs?
shootski
I picked up one of these rifles a few months ago. I got similar results regarding accuracy with most pellets. After trying maybe dozen pellets, the RWS Superdomes came out on top. I tested with both intermounts and a 4x scope, and the factory peep sight setup. Accuracy was identical with both sight setups. My groups were very consistently just over 1″ at 25 yards. I tested at both 6 pumps and at 8 pumps. Accuracy was the same at both power levels. My velocity with the RWS Powerpoints was nearly identical per pump to what BB saw with Hobby pellets. Since the Powerpoints are a heavier pellet, it is safe to say my 362 is making a bit more power, but will still not meet 800+ fps with any pellet I own. I can say that my barrel was filthy and took some serious cleaning before use. I would recommend any users to do the sme before trying theirs out. Accuracy has slowly improved with use, so I expect it may eventually make 1″ or better groups. Right now it will put 3 or 4 shots into 1/2″ fairly often, but alwasy throw a flier or two that make the whole group around 1.1″ It’s still the king of my multi-stroke pneumatic collection in both accuravy and power, with my Daisy 880 being a little behind it in precision and a lot behind it in power.
BB,
Maybe, considering the number of guns you are testing, you ought to consider putting a tag or even a piece of making tape indicating the caliber of the gun you are shooting.
With Europe pushing for lead free pellets some shooters over there are thinking that the .20 might replace the .177 and the .25 replace the .22 to keep the weight real.
Siraniko
Yes, and put a tin of the rifles favorite pellets in the case next to the gun.
-Y
I use a piece of he blue masking tape, and write the pellet, or pellets that that gun shoots the best on the tape, and stick it on the stock or scope body. It the gun is a multi pumper, I add the number of pumps.
Great idea.
“With Europe pushing for lead free pellets…”
Siraniko, that is most interesting to know; thank you. 🙂
Time to stock up on ’em, which is always a good idea when the pellet and the price are right.
“I will continue to test it as it came from the factory”
Thanks, B.B.,
That’s one reason I find this series so interesting; I bought this gun to shoot it “box stock” for some time, just to see how well Crosman did with this gun…,and I think they’ve done pretty well. 🙂
Blessings to you,
dave
Dave,
This is why I follow this blog. I could not possibly afford to try all of these various airguns. This allows me to pick and choose a few to play with on a regular basis.
“…I could not possibly afford to try all of these various airguns.”
RidgeRunner, I’m with you on that! Me neither, hahaha! 🙂
That’s fine for you younger guys who can still use iron sights. But, the 362, if I got one, would have to get a steel breech for a secure scope mount. Since I already have a 1322 with that breech, a rifle scope, and a skeleton buttstock, I don’t see a 362 in my future.
“That’s fine for you younger guys who can still use iron sights.”
birdmove, without my contacts, I can’t see the irons either. 😉
I really need to dig out my round tuit. I really need to see how that 101 of mine performs compared to these new ones. Just too many irons in the fire.
My grandson and his buddy will be coming over early Saturday afternoon for an airgun shooting session. I know my grandson is going to want to shoot “his Daddy’s” Diana 46, but I suspect his buddy is going to want to dance with some of the older gals here at RRHFWA. I will likely have to load the wagon up for the short trip to the range. I can probably keep them busy for a few hours. Pardon the pun, but this should be a blast.
Now where did I put that round tuit?
Years ago I ordered a .177 B3-4 from South Summit . The rifle came in and I proceeded to fire .177 pellets, I knew something was wrong as the pellets did not seat well in chamber even for a B3 style springers and they flew like a corkscrew. After three shots I concluded it was a .22 and after the usual tuning it turned out to be one of my favorite .22 springers out of all of them included expensive ones. It ain’t just you Mon Friar 😉
SSC,
All of us have been known to have the occasional epiphany, far more than we care to admit.
singleshotcajun,
Well, praise the Lord! I knew there were others like me! 😉
BB
I am another….
Me, too, B.B.! Missing tiny metal spinners at just 5 meters with my custom Crosman 1322 target pistol…it can easily happen…especially when you’re loading her with .20 caliber pellets. Fortunately, as I stood a-pondering, I pointed the pistol down before I fired the next shot…the pellet falling on the floor caused the lightbulb to go off, LOL! 😉
Dave,
Thank the Lord that we all have lights that sometimes do go off! 😉
BB
Yes, B.B., “Thank the Lord”…Amen to that! 🙂
I won’t get into my own epic booboos. Don’t have that much time.
FM got you beat in the Duuuuh Department – as in mounting a scope with the adjusting dials wrong side up, headscratching cluelessly at the weird results, while continuing to make adjustments leading to yet more confusion. Friend Gunfun helped FM sort things out – “send pictures of the scope as mounted” – done; reply: “scope mounted wrong side up.” Duuuuuhhhh! One of these days will also load .177s into one of the .22s, no doubt.
John Wilkes Booth’s last words were “Useless! Useless!.” FM’s will be “Clueless! Clueless!”
This is a great reminder that I have to wrap up my testing of the 362 at 10 yards and get outside to 25 yards. Maybe this weekend….
Also, a good reminder of the limitations of the stock rifle. It was never designed to be a precision shooter. But it’s perfect for plinking and close range pesting. And for exercising your arms and shoulders!
That said, my conclusion is that it is good enough to merit a scope. That’s next on my list….
You are not the only one to try to shoot the wrong size pellet. Sometime back I ordered. QB78 in .177. When it came I ran a patch through the barrel and started shooting. Target looked like I shot it with a shotgun. It was only then I noticed that the vendor had sent me the wrong caliper. Well, I don’t care for .177 anyway, so just kept the gun that is .22 caliper. OOPS! It’s called PAY ATTENTION!
Been there, done that one too!
BB,
…Wrong caliber of pellet – you made me laugh!!
I had my own “doh” event yesterday. We have an infestation of chipmunks so I keep my HW100 close to hand. I’d just refilled the mag and closed the lever (decocked) on an empty chamber. At the next pest, I worked the action, sighted, broke the shot and the chipmunk just sat there. The same with the second shot. Doh, I’d forgotten to engage the mag lock!! Third shot and he was out – lunch for Gomez (our local raven).
Something wierd is that I’m seeing one male for every 25 females. That can’t be typical.
BB, my father used that expression “Now we’re cooking with gas”, do you know where it came from?
Cheers!
Hank
Hank,
No, I don’t know where that expression came from. But I have heard it all my life.
BB
Gents, here is what I found on the origin of that phrase:
“ ‘Now we’re cooking with gas’ originated in the mid to late 1930s as an advertising slogan thought up by the natural gas industry to convince people to use gas, rather than electricity, to power their kitchen stoves.”
You can read the full story here:
https://www.waltongas.com/how-deke-and-bob-started-cooking-with-gas/
thedavemyster,
Great link Dave and oh so timely!
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/indoor-air-pollution-cooking#:~:text=Natural%20gas%20and%20propane%20stoves,toxic%20to%20people%20and%20pets.
We now have GAS STOVE CONTROL!
I CAN unfortunately believe this coming from the LEFT Coast government!
Another case of a statement with a modicum of truth IF your gas stove is not properly tuned!
Out of my COLD kitchen!
shootski
😉
Thanks for that Dave!
Hank, you are most welcome! 🙂
BB
My duuuhh.
I was at the range with my son, 3 grans and some of my extended family from Ohio. They wanted to shoot some of my old military rifles. Since we were shooting my reloads I insisted on being the Guinea pig by taking the first shot with each caliber. None were novices in gun safety but I told them my biggest concern was that the wrong caliber shell would get in a different caliber rifle. Well all was going well until I saw one of my 7 mm Mauser reloads had dumped bullet and powder out of the case at some point in the bolt action’s handling the shell. My yankee buddy looked up at his rebel in law with a look that said I don’t suffer fools gladly. My bad.
Some time before I had reloaded some rounds using brass dedicated only to that rifle. They were not run through a full sizing press. I also wanted the bullet to touch the lands when chambered. The idea is to get best possible accuracy. My error was not setting the die to get the case to grip the bullet firmly enough. Possibly this round had already been chambered and grabbed by the lands and grooves before this happened.
Deck
Yep. Put the .177 pellet in, pointed it down as I closed the action. Pellet fell on the floor. Duh. You’re getting old…
Motorman
St. Louis, MO
FM will know The End Is Near – his – when he loads his .58 cal percussion rifle with a .177 pellet.
FawltyManual,
Why just 1 .177 pellet? I loaded my .58 caliber DAQ Pistol with .177 Lead ball to see if it could be a shot pistol…not so much…with the rifling. Think Blunderbuss at 5 paces, LOL!
shootski
Hi BB! I suffer a similar problem in that I am constantly changing what air gun I shoot. Some of my shooting is pest control out the back door. As a consequence of this, I tend to leave open tins of pellets. To further compound things…… Not uncommon to have an open tin of pellets with missing lid.
When a pest shows up in the backyard,
The scramble to grab a pellet often leaves me with no idea if it’s 22 or 20 cal.
Now I put a penny in any tin of 20 Cal I open and a nickel in the 22…… It’s cheaper and easier than remaining organized LOL
“Now I put a penny in any tin of 20 Cal I open and a nickel in the 22……”
Frank, I really like that idea, LOL! 🙂
I must’ve had five or six tins opened the other day–no lids. Many pellets are now on the floor
Don’t know what is worse, Crosman pellet tins from the factory that you have to use an oil filter wrench and an 18″ pair of channel lock plyers, or a hammer and chisel to pound a hole in the lid, or the RWS tins with no threads. The Crossman is the worst. Say you drove 50 miles to hunt with a brand new tin of Distroyers not to find that you cannot get the ¥¢€£™ lid off!
Frank: I really, REALLY like your idea. It shows that you’ve got good cents, err . . . sense? I’ve heard it said that imitation is the best form of flattery, so consider yourself flattered. Thanks, Orv.
FM
As it goes stuff happens.
The other day I got my Tx 200 out to start shooting again. Couldn’t remember if it was .22 caliber or .177. I have had both calibers in the past. Well guess what my Tx 200 says nowhere on the gun what caliber it is like how my Hw50s and Hw35e does. Now there is something the manufacturer’s should do. Stamp what caliber the gun is on the barrel or action somewhere.
Oh and I tried the bigger. 22 caliber pellet in my Tx 200 first. It was a no go. To big to fit in the barrel. Yep it was .177 caliber.
BB
With the Crosman guns I have had with the plastic breeches the breech moves slightly as well as the barrel. Also check to make sure thefront post sight is pressed on tight and not wiggling around.
Maybe you should really try a steel breech on your 362. I have the Williams rear notch sight that PA sells on my steel breech 362 and I’m definitely getting 3/4″ groups at 25 yards all day long at 5 pumps with JSB 15.89 grain pellets and AirArms 16.0 grain pellets as well as with the Crosman Premiere hollow points.
And here is a picture of the William notch sight on my 362.
Gunfun1,
Yup!
The Peep/Notch sight position on the steel breech gives SO MUCH MORE sight radius increase over the stock location most folks will see significant group improvement. More Fun quick and not all that expensive…of course a barrel upgrade would be good if the one that came with isn’t a shooter!
Shootski
Shootski
Yep barrel replacement if needed.
Gunfun1, so is the rear sight that you can get with the steel breach too far back to use as open sights, so you mounted the Williams rear sight to use on the rail? If so, I’ll save mu money and get the steel breach without the LPA rear sight and spend the extra on pellets. I would imagine a Williams peep sight would work as well. Did you have any issues mounting the Williams rear sight? Was any customizing needed?
RG
It bolted right on the steel breech dovetail. No modifications.
And I wanted the William’s sight so I had the fine adjustment to dail in my point of impact. Plus I was able to move the William’s sight forward to help match it up better with the front post.
RG,
Get the steel breech AND the Williams peep sight. The peep is awesome.
RR
What I have on my 362 is a William’s rear notch sight. Not a Williams rear peep.
Here this one.
/product/crosman-williams-rear-sight-notched-blade-elevation-windage-adj-3-8?a=2008
Thanks, Gunfun. I thought so. The 362 already comes with a peep sight, although perhaps the Williams peep is more precise. I want to play around with a scope, anyway. So now I will get the steel breachvwithout the rear sight.
I think you will be interested in my comment below.
RG
The steel breech definitely gives more options and makes for a more solid durable breech.
I’ll read below and see what you wrote.
GF1,
I see that now. I’ll take the peep.
Is it way better than the stock peep, RidgeRunner?
RG,
The Williams is way adjustable and if I am not mistaken, much more precise. I have one on my grandson’s R7. Nice.
Thanks. I’ll consider it.
BB,
Good news I don’t have to log in twice to comment. Bad news is that the WordPress scheduling is working against your wishes again.
Siraniko
Well . . . just maybe now, we’ll get an extra treat for Saturday at this rate. Orv.
Orv,
BB will be enjoying his long weekend. We’ll see what is new on Tuesday.
Siraniko
WordPress sure is a mess. People should be charging them to use them rather than paying them. They are worthless as tits on a boar hog.
Now, if we could just get someone at WordPress to wake up and pull their heads out and fix this mess. I know, I know. I can dream, can’t I?
I hope and pray it is just WordPress and that B.B. is OK.
Something very strange happened when I tried to fashion a trigger overtravel stop on the Crosman 362. The first shot seemed fine on 6 pumps. The second shot had an anemic sounding report and the pellet hit about 3 inches low. The third shot was even lower. I noticed that the first pump was a lot harder than a typical first pump. So I worked the bolt to cock the rifle and dry fired. A strong report followed. I dry fired a few more times and heard a total of 3 strong reports before the residual air was finally exhausted. I took that temporary trigger stop off and everything seemed to go back to normal. So I think some overtravel is needed to fully exhaust the valve.
Next, I decided to try a session of dry firing and noticed the gun consistently jumped to the left slightly. Changing my grip didn’t really compensate for that. Anyone else experience that?
By the way, hot glue would not stick to the trigger guard. It’s like Teflon coated.
Roaming Greco,
I’m going to try to do some long distance diagnostics. You wrote: “The third shot was even lower. I noticed that the first pump was a lot harder than a typical first pump. So I worked the bolt to cock the rifle and dry fired. A strong report followed. I dry fired a few more times and heard a total of 3 strong reports before the residual air was finally exhausted.” Normally this could be chalked up to the valve not being balanced correctly. You could lubricate the Hammer (Stryker) with some light machine oil if there is an easy way to get to it as a first step. Have you lubricated the pump linkage and the end of the pump head. Your valve stem may also be running dry. Go light on the oiling but do it often…some folks use the Crosman Pellgunoil. But I fell for Mac1 Secret Sauce that Tim sells it seems to not gum up valves like other lubricants. Residual pressure is NOT what you want out of a Multipump… especially at the low to mid number of pumps.
Was it the trigger stop? It might have been but I think you have something else going on and I suspect it is in the valve. It could simply be some dirt that has or will blow out with some repeated oiling and more Dry Fire (with pumps) since that moves the air and lube through the valve faster.
By Dry Fire you are talking about with no pump(s) just cock and press the trigger? Set up a camera and video your face next time you dry fire with no pumping…the results may be telling.
Hope this LD diagnosis is of some help! If not; take a bunch of pellets and shoot them, have a Happy 4th of July and call me next Tuesday ;^) shootski go paddling locally IF’n the weather behave.
shootski
Really appreciate your thoughts.
I will try to lubricate the hammer and valve stem if I can. Will rem oil or ballistol work for that?
To answer your questions: pump head and linkage well lubricated with pellgun oil. When I stated “dry fire” I meant no pumping, just pull bolt back, push forward and down and fire. So there was enough residual air for 2 or 3 shots. I’m lucky I didn’t lock up the valve, I think. Time will tell if it was a too fat trigger stop. I’ll shoot her for a while without the trigger stop and try again after the steel breach is installed. She’s got potential, but I think TCFKAC may have cut some of the corners a little too close. But for $100, a tinkerer’s dream gun. Perhaps this was the beta testing version?
RG
Make the trigger stop big. I used a exacto knife to trim mine into shape and to get the stop distance right.
I haven’t done it on my 362 but I think I will. If anything it makes the trigger feel better when you shoot.
Got it. Thanks for the insights. Gunfun1.
BB, any plans to test the Crosman Drifter kit? I was reading your old 1377 tests and you finished a lament that you wish they would bring back the 1322. Now that was way back in ’08 but now seems a good time to try out the latest version of the venerable 1322 in the 2289!
Bob,
I’ll consider it.
BB