Crosman Vantage Reviews

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Nitro piston. Very solid build quality. Chisel detent. Great accuracy. Easy to tweak trigger. Man-sized length of pull. Great power. I own 14 air rifles, most much more expensive, and if someone were to come to me asking what they should buy, I would point straight to this one. I don't have any airguns for double this price that will shoot with this one. The long trigger pull (an easy fix) and the stiff cocking (a given for the power this makes) are the only things that keep this from being perfect for everyone. If you have good arm strength to cock and shoulder this rifle and don't mind tinkering to tune the trigger, this is the best deal going in a budget air rifle. Hunters should also really enjoy it's flat shooting characteristics, as well as the nitro piston that performs so well in cold weather, can be cocked for prolonged periods without spring wear (because there isn't one), and is pretty quiet too. I just can't say enough about this wonderful rifle. Buy it, shoot it, love it. This rifle just exudes quality that shouldn't be attainable at this price.
The trigger pull has a VERY long second stage even with the adjustment screw all the way in. I substituted the screw for a one a bit longer and adjusted the second stage for a lot shorter travel. Be aware that the second stage is actually the only real stage of the trigger pull. The first stage is just taking up a spring that has no role in moving the sear, so do make sure to leave a decent amount of engagement for the sake of safety. It did not take a lot to get a very crisp trigger pull, even though it is a bit heavy. I haven't measured it, but probably around 4 lbs. It should also be noted that this rifle is pretty stiff to cock and breaking the barrel from lock is tough too. I don't find it unreasonable, but I am 6'2" , 190 lbs, and am pretty strong. Women and younger guys will have a very tough time cocking this rifle, and some may just not want to put up with the effort. My girlfriend cannot even come close to cocking this rifle, even though she can cock my gamo rocket with a bit of effort. My Gamo CFR has the same nitro piston, but I find it MUCH easier to cock. Of course, this rifle seems to hit with more force than my CFR, so it might be more powerful as well.
This is an absolute steal of an air rifle. I wanted an open sight shooter without any frills. No thumb hole stock, no composites, no tactical looking accessories. Just a solid platform that could be tuned up a little and deliver good accuracy. I deliberated between this rifle and the Ruger blackhawk (an rws 34 copy). I have heard nothing but good thing about the ruger, and many recommended it over this crosman. The biggest difference mentioned was the quality of the trigger. Well, I knew that I could get the trigger where I wanted after finding out it was a copy of the old-style gamo trigger, but I heard that the ruger was a bit twangy. Having the nitro piston in my CFR, I knew that I would not be able to tune up the ruger to shoot as smoothly as the nitro piston allows (I don't have a whole machine shop at my disposal, just regular hand tools), so I put my money down on this crosman. I could not be happier with my purchase. There was zero dieseling or smoking from the first shotm, or any after. The accuracy fresh out of the box is on par with the accuracy of my CFR fresh out of the box. Now, this is comparing the two using the factory supplied open sights, and I know with my 24x scope and a good rest that the gamo will do 10 shot .25-35" groups at 25 yards with gamo hunters, but with either rifle my open sight groups are around .50" at 25 yards. I suspect that I could see even better groups from the crosman with a scope, but I doubt I'll ever find out.
Not sure. I gave it 3 for accuracy as I'm not quite sure if it's the gun or the gunner.
See below.
I entered a review on this and typed the info w/o thinking. The gun was shooting way low and I said should I get heavier pellets. I meant lighter ones. Well the arrived today and I expected even lower groups. Nope. NOW so high I had to dial the sight all the way down and still high at 25+ feet. Tried every .22 pellet I have and all were going high and left. Changed holds all over the place. I have shot many of these guns and know they all have a sweet spot. Obviously I'm missing this one if they can go so low I can't cope with the sight on one day and a week later the same thing but high AND so far left this time around that the windage could not cope.
Again, I mis-typed in my first comment. This is the real one.
Any ideas? I'm not saying this is a bad rifle. I'm saying this long time shooter is stumped.
10 of 109 Crosman Vantage Reviews
Gun is well made. The wood stock is nicely finished, but I think a synthetic stock would be more appropriate for this rifle. The fiber optic sights that come with this rifle are very good. However, because I prefer peep sights, I mounted a Williams diopter peep sight on mine. As far as accuracy it prefers Crosman Premier HP and Crosman Pirahna pellets. Both are 14.3 grain. Other pellets fly all over the place.
Replace wood stock with a synthetic stock.
On 9/18/25 I tested 4 different pellets. 10 shots were shot from a bench rest at ~10 yds. The weather was sunny, 81 degrees F and 64% humidity. The results are summarized below: Crosman Premier HP - 14.3 gr 1" c-t-c and 17.4 fpe average energy JSB Exact Diablo - 14.35 gr 1.75" c-t-c and 14.0 fpe average energy Predator Polymag - 16 gr accuracy? and 15.2 fpe average energy H&N Crow Magnum - 18.21 gr accuracy? and 17 fpe average energy As can be seen this rifle clearly prefers the Crosman Premier 14.3 gr HP. But I don't see that as a drawback. I get similar results with the Crosman 14.3 gr Pirahna pellets.
I like the fact that you can still get a very reasonably priced air rifle for under $130. This rifle isn't a rolls Royce by any means, but... It performs beautifully! I have the . 22 version and it does prefer done pellets over others, but in all it shoots very accurately, (1" -1/12" groups at 40 yards depending on pellet and wind conditions It's one of my favorite air rifles. And I have many top rated German rifles that are three to four times more expensive , - and don't perform much better than this vantage. My take is , that , if you're in the field and you need dependability and accuracy down range Then there is no other rifle for the money that equals the Crosman Vantage np. I am going to get the . 177 and test it to see if the quality , shootability and overall satisfaction is the same as my . 22 I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a winner!
Trigger pull and weight are pretty nice and smooth - but the trigger location is a bit too far forward. I have long fingers and I still need to stretch my trigger finger to make it comfortable to shoot. Other than that it's one of my faves.
Just bought the .22 caliber. Fit and finish. Low recoil, low noise. Performance per dollar spent. Solid lock up. Nice smooth trigger and i have not modified anything yet. Hits like a hammer on squirrels. Only took maybe 30 shots before it started shooting strait. Gamo match Training 15.42 gn works well so far. Sights are easy to use. For the dollar spent what more do you want from the least cost entry level air rifle..?
Well, Install the rear sight in the correct position at the manufacture
Make sure all screws are tight. It is not a light weight rifle. Had to adjust the rear sight way off the centerline to hit the sight in target. With open sights you can hit a beer can every time at 40 yards. I believe it can do even better when broken in. A woman or younger person may have issues cocking this one... Good rifles like this will hook you on the sport...
Simplicity of use, all you need is the rifle and some ammo. As for the ammo, the Vantage doesn't seem to be overly picky about the ammo, although I have to sight-in the rifle for some pellets, but after that's done they fire true. It seems to like pellets that weigh around 18-19 gr., and it really seems to love the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme, 18.52 gr. pellets the best so far. And oddly enough it didn't seem to care for the Crosman Premier Domed Ultra Heavy 19 gr. pellets. They were loose fitting and would occasionally fall out while returning the barrel to the locked position. It doesn't seem to care for the H&N Terminator pellets either. It liked the H&N Field, Target, Trophy pellets and even though I wasn't paying attention to the head diameter and thought that they were all the same size, due to my inexperience, I accidentally bought the 5.55 mm head size, but the rifle liked them anyway and fired them with authority and accuracy. So it seems to love pellets that fit snuggly.
The stock is a bit to long for me and can be difficult to shoulder quickly. It also won't take a scope without a scope-stop or it will throw the scope right off the back of the dove-tails. so a Picatinny/Weaver rails would be nice. Other than that, I can't think of anything else I'd change. Although, if you buy this rifle check for loose screws. The rear sight was loose and it took me a few shots and missed targets before I realized this, but after tightening the screws it fired like a champ.
Check for loose screws and if you plan on using a scope you'll need a scope-stop.
This is so much quieter than my old Benjamin 1000 springer. The gas piston makes a huge difference in kick, and sound level. The wood stock is beautifully finished and the gun has a nice tight feel. d I purchased this model in .22 and the box and specifications say "Up to 950 fps with alloy pellets. " There is no way this is even close to a realistic number. I paid for the 10 for 10 service and repeated the testing with my own chronograph with a range of pellet weights after it was broken in. Results are listed below.
I would prefer a more positive closure to improve accuracy and provide a tighter seal. A few of my shots were low and slow because the barrel did not fully close. I now take special care to make sure it is closed. I wish this were made in Bloomfield NY rather than in China and would gladly pay more for it.
After breaking in the gun with about 70 to 100 shots, I measured the velocity with about 6 to 10 shots at each of 7 different pellet weights. I also cleaned the barrel with 2 stacked cleaning pellets after each test string. No result is near the advertised 950 fps. (Maybe you will luck out and yours will.)
Pellet gr. Speed fps Energy (fpe)
11.9 778 16.0 Note: This is the 10 for $10 test result performed at Pyramyd Air
12.65 733 15.1
14.3 684 14.9
15.89 671 15.9
18.0 593 14.1
19.0 587 14.5
21.14 548 14.1
It's a .22 with pretty high velocity, so it's hard hitting for small game. The price of the gun is very reasonable for the features. It's the old adage of you get what you pay for.
The trigger definitely needs work and the plastic sights are not all that great. It takes a strong person to cock the rifle and to hold it to shoot off hand.
The accuracy of this rifle is greatly improved with the use of a scope, especially for my 80 year old eyes.
well balanced,not as heavy as i thought it would be. i plan on customize this rifle to my likings,
color of wood kinda bland, no big deal thou,i probably camo the stock with brushed camo paint
iam a crosman supporter this is a decent budget rifle
This gun is awesome beautiful and perfectly balanced for the artillery hold
Wish I would have gotten the scoped package
Price is not too bad for what it is, I like a wood stock although this one is no beauty queen, but for the price I can not complain. Gas piston is pretty smooth and although I do not a have a chrony it seems to have enough power. I have far better air rifles but I only bought this to try some mods with to see if it can be made to shoot like the higher end rifles. Trigger is long and heavy but I suppose one could learn to use it for plinking.
Trigger could be a lot better by using a much lighter return spring.
In my opinion this gun is too powerful for a youngster to be turned loose with at lease until he/she is old enough to be responsible with it. The gas piston systems are really nice and smooth and quiet compared to even the high end factory springers although the springer can be tuned and made smooth and quiet like a gas piston gun. The chinese made guns are for the most part ok and will get you in the game, but I dont think anyone should expect any stellar performance from it. It will throw pellets with some hits and some close misses and the farther away you get the more you will see this. A good tuned Weihrauch 98 air rifle can hit 2 inch spinners at 100yds over and over again on a calm day. My RWS mod 54 will make about 1 1/4 inch group at 100yds. Over all I think this gun is of the quality one would give to a child, but with the power of an adult air rifle.
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Jun 27, 2026
By John
I took the Crossman Vantage NP out for the first time Saturday June 27. 2026. I shot a group at 10 meters with open sights. Low and to the right, I kept making adjustments. I now have the gun dialed in pretty good now. I might try a Scope? I think the gun has a good feel and shoots well for a gun of this price range. Good power also. Trigger feels OK. What pellets work best? I'm using Crossman Premier HP and JBS Match Diabolo. What distance do people sight the Crossman Vantage VP?
Remember to keep a gun in this price range you probably can't change much with out raising price of gun. I guess the rear sight could be made better,
Seems to be a good buy so far!