This Crosman 600 was modified into a bulk-fill pistol.
Part 1
Some facts about bulk-filling you may not know
Part 2
This report covers:
- The test
- Crosman Premier
- Benjamin Single Die pellets
- Full auto
- Benjamin Bullseyes second try
- Three wrong pellets
- JSB Exact Jumbo RS
- Summary
Today we look at the accuracy of my bulk-fill Crosman 600. It’s been a long time since I shot this one so I’m learning right alongside you. Let’s get going!
The test
The test today will be five shots per pellet from a rested pistol. The distance is 10 meters. Since there are several great new .22-caliber pellets on the market I thought I would work them into the test. But since the 600 is a complex semiautomatic pistol feeding can be a problem so I started with a pellet I was pretty sure would be perfect.
Crosman Premier
The first pellet tested was the 14.3-grain Crosman Premier dome. I loaded five into the pistol’s linear magazine and fired. When I saw that the first shot was in the 9-ring at 6 o’clock, I knew the sights were as close as I needed. I didn’t look through the spotting scope again.
Five Crosman Premiers went into a 10-meter group that measures 0.701-inches between centers. This is decent accuracy for a pistol!
The 600 put five Crosman Premiers into 0.701-inches at 10 meters.
These pellets functioned flawlessly in the 600. I need to remember that.
Benjamin Single Die pellets
Next to be tested were five Benjamin Single Die pellets that I call Bullseyes. They look so similar to Premiers that some people think they are the same. Well, this test proved they aren’t!
The first pellet shot okay but the pistol’s action didn’t cycle. I manually cocked the pistol and on the second shot I got a full-auto dump. That’s four shots in less than half a second; I call it closer to a tenth of a second! What would the target look like?
Well, the target looks strange. There is one shot in the 5 ring at five o’clock and four more (?) in the 9-ring at six o’clock. I put the question mark next to the four because I have no idea if all four shots went there. They went out fast — in perhaps a tenth of a second — which is why I would have expected them to make other holes on the paper if they aren’t all in that group
The five (?) shots measure 1.484-inches between centers, while the smaller group measures 0.166-inches between centers.
The larger group (of five?) measures 1.484-inches between centers, while the smaller one measures 0.167-inches between centers.
Full auto
When the 600 goes full auto it’s out of gas. So I refilled it. I made a short video showing how it’s done. This is on my You Tube channel, so I made it for everyone.
Benjamin Bullseyes second try
I loaded another five Benjamin Bullseyes and shot a second group. They shot okay, but the pistol would not cycle between shots. I had to manually cock the pistol to advance to the next pellet every time. For this reason I say the Bullseye pellets are definitely not the same as Premiers that feed perfectly.
This time five Benjamin Bullseyes made a 0.772-inch group at 10 meters. It looks like a 6-shot group to me and I can’t explain it. I know I only shot five times. The hole directly above the pellet could be one that was just torn and not a pellet hole.
The second five Benjamin Bullseyes went into 0.772-inches at 10 meters.
With all these feeding problems this pellet is not one for this 600 pistol.
Three wrong pellets
Next I tried AEA 18.3-grain domes. Pyramyd AIR doesn’t carry AEA pellets yet, but they were a hot item at this year’s Pyramyd AIR Cup.
These pellets were too long to load into the 600’s magazine. That told me that the next pellet I would try — the JTS Dead Center 18.1-grain dome — would probably also be too long. AEA makes JTS Dead Center pellets and they are very similar to AEA pellets. I did try them and they were too long.
I also tried Air Arms 16-grain domes and they were too long as well.
JSB Exact Jumbo RS
The last pellet I tried was the JSB Exact Jumbo RS dome. They fit into the 600’s magazine very well and they fed flawlessly. I was hoping to see a super group, but these pellets were scattered in an open 1.863-inch group at 10 meters. They feed fine but the accuracy is lousy. So I probably won’t use this pellet in the pistol, either.
The Crosman 600 put five JSB RS domes into a 1.863-inch group at 10 meters.
Summary
So far the 600 is shooting okay. Some pellets I expected to work did not and the old standard Crosman Premier still shoots great. I am not finished testing this pistol, but I will set it aside for now.
That is an excellent video..
clear, concise, and to the point.
Your new GoPro is performing well.
Can’t wait until you shoot the Meisterkugelns.
Ian.
Ian,
I love the Go Pro! It took me time to learn but it handles both audio and video so well!
I do plan on doing more of these short videos to illustrate things like this one does.
BB
BB,
As you said, the Premiers did well in this pistol. The others, not so well. If the last four “Bullseyes” went into that one hole, I too would be most surprised. I am willing to bet that the other three can be found somewhat higher.
P.S.
Second Sentence
It’s been a long time since I shot this one so I (am) learning right alongside you.
Three wrong pellets
Second Paragraph – Last Sentence
I did try (the)(not needed) them and they were too long.
Look at me, the pot calling the kettle black.
RR,
Fixed. Thanks,
BB
Ridgerunner, you might be right, but what if the barrel rise was perfectly countered by the serendipitous fall in gas pressure?
At any rate, an airgun going unexpectedly full auto in my basement is a scary thought. BB, can you dry fire this gun or de-gas it, if one is in tha habit of counting shots?
Roamin,
There was NO barrel rise! This isn’t a machine gun, it’s a CO2 pistol with very little recoil. And the four shots went out as fast as turning on a light.
Yes the gun can be dry-fired with no damage, but you do need to check that there are no pellets in it. And on a 600 checking that is very difficult, so you always shoot into a target trap — ALWAYS!
BB
If there was no barrel rise with subsequent holes to indicate such when this thing went full auto, maybe you should look on the floor then. Just saying.
B.B., I hear you. Another good reason to have good follow through! Stay on target until you know the thing won’t go full auto on you.
Did the Crosman Nightstalker have the same tendency to go full auto when the gas ran out?
Roamin,
No.
BB
Tom,
That was a curious feeding malfunction. Usually arms jam during automatic feeding and become reliable during single action shooting. And they are also more accurate during slow fire than rapid fire. Results are results and I don’t think a reshoot will change anything.
Siraniko
B.B.
Might lighter pellets than 14.3 grains cycle better in this very unique pistol?
Have a wonderful weekend everybody?
-Yogi
Thanks for the excellent report. The video is well done and I hope to see more of them. The apparently unexpected full automatic burst demonstrates why CO2 can be a problem. Unless you had counted and kept track of how many shots you had taken, there was not a very good way to know that you were about to run out of CO2.
Elmer,
Well, actually there is a way to know the 600 is out of gas. When it gets down to the last gas it goes full-auto. That’s how I knew I was out. And, since I was only loading five pellets into the magazine I knew exactly where I was.
As for the video, now that I’ve found a simple way to film and to edit the videos I hope to do a lot more short videos.
BB
One way is to weigh the gun. If you know the weight of the empty gun, you know how many grams of CO² are left, which gives you an idea of how soon you will be going full auto.
BB
In the good old days, remember them?
We always used wadcutters exclusively. And the crosman ‘ashcan’ was a go to pellet. Domed pellets were generally deemed unreliable.
.
If I had this gun, I would be sure to test it with:
Meisterkugeln
HN Sport pellets
HN Plinking pellets
RWS Hobby pellets
I can’t think of any other .22 wadcutters off the top of my bald head. But with an HW barrel, my bet is on the Meisters, too.
BB,
Thanks for covering this topic, it inspired me to get right with my Crosman 600 pistol. It is a really fun air gun to shoot. I hope you don’t mind me putting all this in, you did say that indexing the barrel was a good experiment, so I did it. I also wanted to be sure to “decouple” Henry Ford Airguns from my own wild shooting.
Crosman 600 Pistol experiment
I did an experiment in shooting the Crosman 600 CO2 pistol. I had it upgraded by Henry Ford Airguns and when I got it back, it was more powerful, more efficient with CO2 use and had the internals cleaned, resealed and reassembled. But it seemed to shoot wild. The POI had changed, but later I found that it was my fault that the gun wasn’t hitting.
Meanwhile, my wife doesn’t like the noise and though the 600 operated better, it seemed that I couldn’t hit anything with it. I put it away and shot it only a few times while she was away.
Well, one day I suggested on BB’s blog that perhaps I could get it to hit better if I indexed the barrel. So I shot it the way it was and I adjusted the sights to where the shot cluster was roughly centered horizontally. It shoots high, even with the elevation set all the way down. But that’s OK for this test, shooting high preserves the aim point.
I shot from 10 meters, standing, 2-hand grip, with my wrists supported on a padded camera tripod, using the 6:00 hold. After shooting about 37 shots, that was one CO2 capsule, I marked the muzzle at 12:00 with an ink pen. I loosened the single grab screw and rotated the barrel to 6:00. I shot 40 more times, exhausted one more CO2, then rotated the barrel to 9:00 and shot 20 pellets. Rotating the barrel up, down and sideways produced no discernible change in point of impact (POI).
I never recorded the initial muzzle speed, but the present speed is around 410fps over ten shots, using H&N Sport wadcutters. At 13.73 grains, the Sports averaged 5.1 foot pounds energy.
The “wildness” of the shots, I’m embarrassed to say, was because I needed to settle myself down and take the time to adjust the sights and then settle into more careful shooting. 😉
Summary
Since rotating the barrel produced no discernible change in POI, this tells me that the barrel is bored true and not eccentrically.
The increase in pellet speed made the gun shoot so high that the elevation is bottomed out and it still shoots high at ten meters.
The fit of the barrel to its housing is too tight to shim, so I’ll have to add material to the top of the front sight to lower the POI. I’ll pile on enough JB Weld epoxy, sand and paint it so hopefully it won’t look like a shark fin. Then I can raise the rear sight from being bottomed out.
I am very pleased with the results of the modifications done at Henry Ford Airguns. The gun has a noticeable increase in power and about double the shot count than before. The gun is better behaved, it doesn’t balk and stutter at the first shot like it used to do, and when it comes to the last shot, it generally only stutters once, shooting two pellets and not three or four as the CO2 is depleted. After the last shot, the CO2 cover comes off easily.
This is when I make sure the gun is not cocked and the safety is on.
Then I use a flashlight to shine down the bore, it should highlight the transfer port if the barrel is empty. Shining the light through the pellet shuttle and inspecting the magazine will tell you if there are any other pellets on board before safely putting the charged pistol away.
Thanks for the platform,
Will
Will,
Thank you for this!
BB
Will S.
You have no need to think this of yourself:
“The “wildness” of the shots, I’m embarrassed to say, was because I needed to settle myself down and take the time to adjust the sights and then settle into more careful shooting. ”
I see folks at the range shooting handguns not even get on paper at seven yards and many don’t even hit the cardboard target backer consistently.
You can do what i was taught to do on days i don’t get to shoot or dry fire; i practice my front sight focus with the tip of a ballpen held out at arms length covering some 16″ wide target. I try to keep my stare on it for at least 30 seconds with no look away and as steady as possible without tightening up my muscles with three to ten repetitions depending on how much time i have. The drill really works on improving focusing on the front sight of any iron pistol sight.
You can do it almost anywhere and only some folks will look at you strangely if you practice in public
;^)
shootski
Going to try this eyeballing exercise, shootski – anything that’ll help FM puncture the target where he wants it punctured has to be good. Some folks, including the Mrs. already believe FM is weird so no problem with the “look at you strangely” part of your advice.
He is FM. He identifies as weird. 😉
FawltyManuel,
See my reply to Will S. below.
This works. The why is that it trains your brain to seek the front sight more efficiently with a pin point dose of concentration.
shootski
shootski,
Thanks for the front sight focusing exercise, I’ll give it its due. I am impressed by shooters who are good with a pistol. The short sight radius makes the sighting more critical than with a longer one.
When you mention a 16″ wide target, at what distance away?
Regards,
Will
Will S.,
Since you are shooting at 10 Meter already that is a good place to start. As your concentration and stability increase move it out some amount. Repeat.
When you get to the maximum effective range of your projectile get a gun with longer range capability.
Since we don’t have OTH (Over The Horizon) capable small arms systems [yet] that can be your upper limit.
shootski
BB,
That short video was really cool; I look forward to seeing more of those. 🙂
Blessings to you,
dave
BB,
Yes, the video made the fill process very clear in just a brief amount of time.
Hi Tom.
Hopefully this allowed, if not please delete.
Derrick is repairing a CO2 rifle I gave him that I had converted to use paintball tanks. Do you know if this was something ever offered commercially? Always thought it was pretty neat idea, but unfortunately I was winding down my shooting time as work was becoming very time consuming when I acquired this one. Thanks
https://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2024/10/volvos-ar2079-co2-rifle-part-1.html
Volvo,
I almost believe the rifle was available commercially — from Compasseco, if I remember correctly. I think they convinced the Chinese manufacturer to make a few that way. I may be wrong but that’s what I seem to remember.
BB
Thanks Tom. I couldn’t remember if I ever ran across one available off the shelf.
This one was a result of me not being able to purchase one. Also at the time affordable PCP’S were rare. I didn’t do a good job of conveying the back story to Derrick.
Tim McMurray used to recommend the RWS Meisterkuguln pellets for the 600. Mine used to shoot them well. Mine is a long barrel as well. I have not shot it in years and I doubt it would hold gas.
David Enoch