The modified Crosman 760 is perfect for airgun darts!
This report covers:
- Dart gun
- Some failures
- Too deep!
- No bolts
- Experience
- Summary
You readers say that you learn a lot from this blog and that pleases me. But sometimes I learn from you as well. Today is an example.
Dart gun
Remember that airgun I said was so unusual? It was a Crosman 760 whose barrel had been shortened. Well I found a use for it. It’s a dart gun!
On three pumps and standing 15 feet from the target this is what the 760 did. They are all together and look how deeply they stuck.
This thing is fantastic for darts! One of our readers had mentioned that he uses his 760 for darts and I thought—why not? But there is a back story.
Some failures
Before this succeeded I had a couple failures. The Chinese Pioneer pistol is one of them. I got the darts to stick in the dart board when I shot from 8 feet, but they were stacking one on top of another. If I backed up any the darts stopped sticking in the board altogether.
Another failure was a Webley Junior air pistol. It performed very much like the Pioneer. I had to shoot from 8 feet, as well. It was okay I suppose but it wasn’t fun. I wondered if any airgun I had could shoot darts and be fun. Then I remembered a comment made by reader jda001 who said a Crosman 760 was a lot of fun with darts. Well, I have that modified 760 and I thought, “Why not?”
Too deep!
Above you see the tight grouping I shot from 15 feet. Those darts want to go to the same place, just like darts from the Pioneer pistol with one difference. These puppies stick! In fact they stick too deep!
On three pumps and shooting from 15 feet the 760 pushes the darts too deep into the sisal dartboard.
I was able to extract the darts easily enough, but they were tearing up the board, So I decided to try jda001’s suggestion of shooting on two pumps. Well that did not work at 15 feet as the darts weren’t sticking. So I moved up to 10 feet and they stuck fine.
Shooting from 10 feet and on just two pumps, the darts stuck fine.
As I was writing this report I wondered if three pumps would allow me to stand back farther, so I tried that. One dart stuck but two more bounced off.
On three pumps the dart stuck from 20 feet.
Note that this dart isn’t sticking very deep in the board. That made me wonder whether four pumps might be better. So I tried that.
On four pumps the dart got to the board quickly. And it stuck too deep. But notice that it’s just outside the center of the board that I was aiming at.
On four pumps from 20 feet the dart stuck too deep in the board.
No bolts
I also tried to load bolts for a test with them, but the 760’s loading trough is too short for bolts to enter the breech
As you can see, the bolt is too stiff and too long to enter the breech.
Experience
I found the 760 delightful to shoot with darts. When it worked (number of pumps and distance to the target) it was so much fun that it was like eating peanuts—hard to stop! It puts me in a good position to test the Umarex Markpoint pistol.
Do I know all there is to know about the 760 with darts? No. I know that on two pumps I should stand ten feet from the target. That’s enough for now. Maybe on three pumps I can stand farther back and still stick the darts reliably without sticking them too deep. That remains to be seen.
Summary
The Crosman 760 got me back into the airgun dart game. Like I said at the beginning, sometimes I learn from you readers.
I believe Pyramyd has a 760 dart kit for sale!
OP,
Yes, they do!
BB
BB,
All that I can say is “Wheee!” You appear to be having fun, shooting darts.
One other thought – will you be trying darts in the FAS 604? (No? I didn’t think so.)
Enjoy the weekend.
Bill
Shooting darts from an airgun doesn’t exactly ‘Trip my trigger’. I need to ask, what for?
Darts is a points game so I could see shooting for points with them. You would save on ammo not shooting at a paper target with BB’s, okay they can be recycled, or pellets and you might even save enough to pay for a worn-out dart board after so many dart hits.
We could shoot almost anything that will fit in the barrel, but should we? Salt …okay it has a use. We would save a dart board for throwing darts and extend its usable life and have no need to replace the darts, saving lots of money. Or get a Blow Gun.
Same with arrows. Save them for bows, less noise.
Bob M,
Airgunners used to shoot darts many, many years ago. The were used for indoor competition. Many of the very old airguns were smoothbore for this reason. An example is the Webley Junior. Most of them were smoothbore so they could be used for indoor shooting and competition. Rifling and darts really do not go well together.
Another thing to keep in mind is back in the early years prior to the mid 1900’s firearms and airguns were very expensive. Groups would form shooting clubs and pool their money and buy one or two airguns to share. Typical ranges in pubs and bars were seven to ten yards.
Ammunition was not cheap either. Darts are reusable. It is also a great way to keep track of scores in competitions with other shooting clubs. This is how dart games in pubs and bars became popular. Not only is it fun, it is a great method to check your sobriety.
When lead pellets became cheap to make, bell targets became the rage. Whichever club rang the bell the most was the winner. Often, they would be competing for a chink of sheep, pig or cow to bring home and feed the family.
Darts used to be serious airgun ammunition. Cheaper lead pellets quickly took their place. The diabolo shape of pellets came from the use of smoothbore. Rifling does impart a spin, which improves accuracy. The quality of pellets has been improving over the years, greatly improving accuracy over longer ranges. Recently, we have seen a marked improvement in “slugs” which will extend the ranges of airguns even further.
RR,
Thanks for the history lesson, but you made my point. “Darts used to be a serious ammunition”
We now have a new bell target … for pellets.
I’m sure some air gunners still enjoy shooting darts for fun, nostalgia or a challenging sport. Just not for me these days.
Bob M,
As I have rebuilt a Webley Junior, I will be playing with darts on occasion.
I do not care much for bb guns, but I have some. At times they are the thing to shoot.
I have some very nice pellet guns. Also, in my collection I have a .457 Texan LSS and an eight mm round baller. Variety is the spice of life.
To each his own.
RR,
I am not too impressed with the performance of BB guns myself. More or less I just consider them plinkers so their accuracy is not all that important to me. I do collect nice replicas and anything that interests me. I have some of the best, to hit what I want, and some of the ‘Not so best’ for fun.
A lot I will never shoot, like my fully engraved gold-plated ones. All show, no go. And I don’t need to shoot every one of my 20 Colt SAA variations in the collection, got rebuilds for that.
I really get a kick out of shooting my somewhat loud plastic Barra 1858 CO2 Cowboy BB Pistol. 400psi, 18 round ‘six shooter’. I am able to fan it easily without too much worry about destroying it. I have no idea how long it would take to hit something on instinct without aiming.
It is nice to know what your chances of hitting what you shoot at are, so we test for that, I guess.
I have lots of airguns only available in Airsoft in the collection too, like an all-metal IMA wood stocked Galil and DSR1 bullpup sniper rifle and a long Artillery Version Lugar with a drum magazine. Still waiting for them to come out as pellet or bb guns like the M1 Carbine did.
And to be honest, I think I would prefer airsoft shooting indoors over darts, Too much leg work, but more power to ya! Have fun.
These kinds of darts don’t do it for me either, but check out Joerg Sprave’s recent projects with them if you want to see some airgun darts that are impressive.
B.B.
The gun shoots fine. The problem is the target! Get a better target!
Have a nice weekend everybody,
-Yogi
Yogi,
If Tom gets his roundtuit he might find the old pan filled with duct seal from way back before he discovered the box full of rubber mulch as a silent bullet trap.
Siraniko
Yogi,
Unfortunately the dartboard I have is top of the line. That’s just what airgun darts do to sisal.
BB
Top of the line for hand thrown darts. Lousy for shot darts!!
Send your top of the line sisal target to the nearest English Pub!
-Y
Possible target material could be:
1. Use an Archery Target.
2. Use a pellet trap with 6 inches of duct seal.
3.Use your cardboard box stuffed with rubber mulch. If that does not work, get some foam similar to what Pyramid Air uses to pack their pellets, and tape that to the front of the cardboard box.
Get a better target!
-Yogi
If I remember correctly, someone suggested muzzle loading the bolts a while back. I don’t have any bolts to try with my 760. But I have tried darts on two pumps and it worked for me pretty much like you show. Have fun!
for close range (10ft/ maybe less, in my living room) airgun dart shooting i use a cheap wound paper dartboard. it handles the impact of the darts better and they generally stop at the flat edged wider portion of the dart. i also braced the reverse of the dartboard with heavy duty packing tape in an asterisk pattern to hold it together better since the rings would bulge backwards with repeated shots. no problems after bracing with tape. i use my two mark iv’s (black and silver) and my buckmark. all three pistols needed a longer m3 machine screw to adjust the rear sight. eventually i’ll find a place with more room for my sisal dartboard and cabinet that got pushed to the wayside the first time i tried it since the darts went in way too far.
Springman
Nice to meet a fellow traveler. I purchased a Mark 4 about 4 months ago and was having the same issue with the rear sights. What is a m3 machine screw.
Kind Regards
jda001
i believe it just means metric. i happened to already have this set of different sizes and it had one that worked.
and here are the screws themselves
Thank you for posting
Kind Regards
jda001
glad to help
Pooky! Now I will have to get a dart board to try out my Webley Junior now that I have fixed it. I have some darts just for it. I have been thinking of getting some of those bolts to try out in it also.
Mrs. RR is not going to like this. 😉
Tom
The 760 is fun. May I suggest a different type target for your lower FPS airguns. I found that wire type dartboards increased bounce outs due to the wires. Paper boards are inexpensive and have the added bonus to use a Shoot NC target that can be easily removed. These are available on line at $5.00.
The bolts can be muzzle loaded with a simple BBQ bamboo stick. I do this with a Daisy Model 35.
I find darts therapeutic since loading is one at a time forces me to slow down and work on my form.
Kind Regards
jda001
Back View- Both sides have no wires
Has anyone shot darts or bolts at 20 to 25 yards? I’m excluding crossbows. I have considered trying it but haven’t out of concern about safety and also losing darts/bolts. If they slow down enough we may could use easy to load break barrel airguns. What about using a .17 dart in a .22 airgun?
What’s the purpose? I just like to shoot.
Deck
Deck,
There is a You Tube video of a guy shooting a bellows dart gun from more than a century ago. I believe he shoots at 15 feet.
BB
B.B. and Readership,
“No bolts
I also tried to load bolts for a test with them, but the 760’s loading trough is too short for bolts to enter the breech”
IF memory serves me the early model 760 had a cast pot metal receiver but the most recent has a plastic receiver. It is under US $40.00 so taking in rasp or rattail file to the receiver would allow it to shoot bolts as well. PA is still selling them and they are SMOOTH BORE.
As far as the power level that could be worked with a spring swap out or after market head space adjuster.
I would try installing a very small O-Ring or plastic washer on the shaft of the nose to decelerate/cushion the dart to board impact as a first experiment.
shootski
shootski,
Would it not be easier just to load the bolts from the muzzle and tap them down with a dowel?
Mike
Mike in Atl,
Sure it could be Mike…but what fun would that be ;^)
IF i were to own a Crosman 760 once again and wanted to shoot bolts i would want to load them from the breech and not need to remember to always carry my ramrod.
Also, one good reason would be that it would avoid the safety issue of muzzle loading a pumped up airgun; not a good idea. Yes you could always promise to load before pumping….
Just my opinion.
shootski
PS: i do however wonder how a dartboard would hold up against a 350 grain .58 caliber hollow point at say 100 yards/meters?
shootski,
I think you would have a hole clear thru the dart board.
Mike
BB,
I’m glad you found a fun use for that modified Crosman!
That vintage short-barreled version looks just plain cool. 🙂
Blessings to you,
dave
Tanfoglio Gold Custom Gen 2 BB BB pistol.
Had a little time before sunset today so I loaded up the pistol with CO2 and some Copperhead BB’s and made a make-shift paper target. Really just wanted to see how it shot.
If you recall it has no sights, came with a 4-screw side attaching picatinny rail, so I threw on a dot sight. No time for sight in, just aimed at a target about 20′ away and let it group where it wanted to.
This replica pistol has lots of recoil with its heavy operating slide and I’m not sure if it affects accuracy yet. It jumps.
A price you may have to pay for being a perfect, and heavy, race gun replica?
I just placed my left hand on the stair rail and sat the pistol on top of my thumb to shoot. Had a hard time keeping the dot on sight. May be the reason for the spread but three of six went into a single vertical hole.
I would need a better rest to get better results. I’m not sure if the spread was me, the pistol or BB. I would guess the spread was me and the group of three was the pistol when I did shoot straight. At least I hope so.
Hope to try again soon with a better hold and various BB types.
Bob M
Thank you for the report. Looks like with a bit of work, it will be a good BB shooter.
Sounds like the recoil was fun to manage, Was it realistic enough for a trainer.
Kind Regards
jda001
jda001,
“One of the most distinct replicas on the market”
I don’t know what you are looking for in this air pistol. It may not turn out to be one of the most accurate bb pistols, most are not, just fun shooting. This is a heavy, all metal pistol that jumps some during recoil. Nothing like a firearm but somewhat disrupting when shot.
I lost the red laser totally and had to recycle it to get it back on and the green dot needed to be found again in the Lense. No quick follow up shots there.
The picatinny rail gold version may not work out too well with close in shooting. It puts optics kind of high. That part of being a “Replica Race Gun” may not come across well shooting BB’s instead of bullets.
I need to look into that more. May depend on the optics used and sighting in. Haven’t got that far yet.
Actually, I just ordered another one that comes with adjustable open sights instead. I had a hard time even locating the small paper drawing sight I mad up. Lost it behind the dot and was mostly just guessing I was on target. Now I know why big black bullseyes are used.
I would order the one that comes with adjustable sights and also order the rail attachment. Can’t have both in use.
The ASG CZ-75 might be another nice pistol to consider.
Her is the first version
Bob
Thank you for the overview. What I’m really looking for is an accurate BB pistol for 5 meters shooting. This may sound silly but the Umarex Markpoint would be my perfect BB type pistol if it was smoothbore and would load single shot BB. I’m waiting for the test since I may want two. One for darts and the other for Gamo lead balls.
Call me silly
Kind Regards
jda001
Well darts are out of the question with a magazine fed pistol and I don’t know of any smooth bore single shot pellet pistols.
Someone else here may be able to help with your exact need if you get more specific about what you are looking for.
jda001,
I have a similar BB pistol that had great reviews but for some reason it did not hang around long. Perhaps there are not enough collectors out there willing to pay for enhanced versions of BB pistols?
It’s the SIG Sauer P226 X5 Open Combo with adjustable sights. To be honest it looks exactly like the Tanfoglio Gold Custom inside. May be made by the same company. Anyway, BB did a 4-part review of it and it may help you decide about getting the Tanfoglio Gold Custom. He described it the same way.
I would not waste too much time deciding. Evidently, they only stock a few and sometimes they never get to restock. Probably what happened to the SIG.
Come to think about it I do recall seeing “A limited production item” some place.
B.B. and USA Readership,
Public Service Announcement
Central PA Airgun Show May 3, 2025 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
May 3, 2025 https://centralpaairgunshow.com/home
shootski
Howdy y’all,
With tufted darts, has anyone encounterd a problem with the tufts getting caught in bolt probes?
Has anyone tried muzzle loading darts/bolts in a Daisy 499?
Off topic: I was just reading this 2020 blog post about oiling airguns:
/blog/2020/11/oil-talk-and-no-action/
In this and previous blog entries regarding cleaning/lubricants I have been surprised to see no mention of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol as a cleaning solvent. It is an excellent solvent of just about every oil/grease/(non-curing) adhesive I have tried it on, plus it evaporates quickly and completely. The higher strength (91% here in the States) isopropyl is what I use for cleaning anything tacky or slippery from small metal parts. It is cheap and readily available, though I have encountered places here in the U.S. where it is overly regulated and only sold with added dyes and bitterants. I am not sure how it effects orings long term but I have never noticed any problem using it on various synthetic materials. I am going to put a few orings in a jar of isopropyl for testing, so I will know.
B.B., did you ever get around to experimenting with WD-40 left on something metal long term?
Jared
Jared
Occasionally a dart probe will cause a loading issue. I’ve noticed this with .22 Cal darts in a Crosman 1322. Best way to address is to give the dart a bit of a haircut. Some people use a butane lighter to trim the Mohair fibers. I would not recommend this process if the tufts are synthetic fibers since the only thing they do is melt.
Kind Regards
jda001
Jared,
I put WD-40 on a rifle that was stored for four years while I was in Germany. It turned to a yellow varnish! Watch and clockmakers tell you to never use the stuff on timepieces.
On the other hand if you have water in your distributor (father—what’s a distributor?) it will displace it. The WD stands for water displacing or some such.
BB
I really hate spell checker putting words in my mouth that don’t belong, and it probably drives you crazy too.
“Watcher in your distributer”. Remove ch and you have Water.
Bob,
Fixed. Thanks!
BB
Bob M,
Well that brought back a flood of memories!
https://www.carparts.com/blog/what-is-a-distributor/#:~:text=Thankfully%2C today’s cars no longer,distributor lurking under the hood.
Never had a Mech/Tech that looked like Mia…maybe they just didn’t clean up as well ;^)
I also thought about Magnetos: https://www.angleofattack.com/what-is-a-magneto/#:~:text=They are still used in, is independent of that system.
shootski
Shootski,
A short end of the blog Sunday night story.
Just when I thought I could analyze and fix anything on a car, my 70’s Jeep Cherokee Chief stalled out in the middle of the desert one night.
No spark going to the distributor from the coil, replaced it, no fix. I recently replaced the points with a magnetic sensor for a “Pointless Distributor” and it had no moving parts, just a rotating spoke that passes by a magnetic sensor in a blue plastic housing inside the distributor. I was stuck not having a meter. Next morning it started right up?
An hour later it stalled again. Left it and went off 4 wheeling with a friend. When we returned it started right up again? Drove it home and it died in my driveway Talk about luck.
Lets see, it stalls out when hot and starts when cold.
Checked out everything with my multi-meter after it cooled down and all was fine. Started it up again and let it get hot and stall again. Low and behold I found an open circuit. The blue plastic sensor had a fine crack that opened when it got hot breaking contact inside it and fixing itself when cold and contracted.
The parts store did not have the Jeep part but did have a Ford part that was the same, and for less money! Seems Jeep used some parts from Ford to avoid reinventing the wheel.
That Jeep saved my life when it rained in the desert with a temp around 110 degrees. It put me in a desert steam sauna when it evaporated from the ground after the shower stopped, I was literally dripping sweat fast and starting to see stars. It really happens. White spots flying around in your vision before you pass out.
The Jeep has air conditioning! Almost forgot about that after panic set in. Finished a gallon of water real fast.