Simply the Best?

[Mike Beasley]

After a lifetime of handling very many sorts of air pistols and rifles I just cannot believe that I've have not read anything in either 'Airgun World' or 'Airgunner' magazine relating to the Crosman 167 (.177)/160 (.22) C02 rifles.
Without a shadow of a doubt these guns are the very best that were ever made by the Crosman Company and quite possibly, pound for pound or dollar for dollar the best air rifle produced in the world!
Operating on two Co2 cartridges placed back to back in the tube below the barrel these single shot .177 and .22 rifles had the heft and feel of a really classy rimfire with their slick bolt actions. The gun 'cocked' as the bolt was returned to the closed position and that makes for a great safety feature.
The build quality is 100% and as Dean Fletcher says in his 'must have' book '75 years of Crosman Airguns' "The introduction of the model '160' made a clear statement that Crosman airguns were a serious business. Over forty years later the '160' is still considered one of the finest C02 airguns designs"!
Fitted with a Williams S331 aperture sight accuracy is amazing and the gun will shoot far better than I can justify.
On the down side the gun is a bit of a 'gas guzzler' and you can only expect about 35 full power shots from the two gas bulbs.
That aside, they are a pleasure to both own and shoot and factory quoted velocities are about 600 fps for the '160 and 700 fps for the '167'.
Sure the QB78s etc that are now widely available are a great buy for the money but they don't really compare with what is widely regarded as a true classic air rifle that is almost revered in the U.S.
So why has this great piece of airgun kit been ignored by are 2 leading airgun magazines for such a long time? Perhaps somebody could tell me.....

[RichardH]

Because its an obselete gun there is no potential advertising revenue.

Thus it does not exist, sad but true

Richard

[sal-limpone]

Dear Richard H,

Living as I do in the USA, I have perhaps a bit more legal access to firearms, and air powered weapons. I agree that the Classic you type about Is a classic, one of many made by that fine company. I have in the past, and do still own a number of others made by that fine company.

There was a full auto .22 gas powered pistol that I owned several of, in the 1950s. It fired 13 .22 cal., 13.5 Gr. Pellets, in 0.08 seconds at a muzzle velocity of 463 Feet per sec. @ almost 6.5 Ft. Lbs., of energy Per pellet. Times 13 pellets, = 83.54 Ft. Lbs.

It was a unique way to get around the small power that can be generated by a Co2 pellet pistol. It also did more damage then a single pellet of that weight would have done, due to the cone of fire affect. The multiple holes causing more damage then a single projectile of the combined frontal area of the 13 pellets at that impact velocity.

I routinely took game and pests in the 40/50 Lb. Class, at ranges of from 10 to 50 feet, with Chest shots. The relative quiet of the pistol, did not spook other game, and the one shot often look puzzled, and then lay down as if to go to sleep. At 50 feet the area of the wound averaged 2 to 3 inch’s = 6 / 8 centimeters across.

I know from hospital records that similar size/wt. Pellets at that velocity will penetrate 4/5 inches = 10 to 13 Centimeters of living tissue. With nonhuman’s, it was about the same, except Chest cavity shots often would go through Both lungs, and embed in the off side Rib cage. With smaller critters, up tp 20 Lbs, the pellets would many times go clean through.

This pistol was a slight alteration of a Semi-automatic version that kept breaking a part that loaded fresh pellets into the Breech., and then after the break, would fire all of its pellets with one squeeze of the trigger.

They currently make a Semi Auto .177 gas powered 12 shot rifle, They come in Gray plastic or Walnut stock, it is excellent for Beverage cans, & small pests.
It fires a wad cutter .177, 7 grain pellet at 625 Fps. Lighter pallets faster.

I have as my Prime Back yard Rifles, a RWS model 48 .177 at the same 7 Grains, with a muzzle velocity of 1,120 Fps. Taken @ 10 meters from the muzzle.

I also have a model 350, by RWS, in .22 cal.. That spits out a Crow Magnum 18.2 Gr., Hollow point pellet, with a high Ballistic Coefficient, @ 945 fps. @ 10 feet from the muzzle. That gives 36 foot Lbs.

At 150 feet that pellet is still moving at 718 F. P. S. With 20.8 Foot lbs. The pellet does not go much beyond 1.5 inch’s - 37mm above or below aim point. With decent range estimation, there is no reason to Not get a one shot Kill on anything up to and including Fox.

Have a great day,
sal-limpone@excite.com

[baz]

Believe it or not we have access to powerful airguns over here, firearms too, right up to 50 cal, all you need is good reason to own

And we dont really advocate shooting Foxes with airguns when there are the proper tools for the job available such as .22 CF

Welcome to the board anyway

Baz

[manxteddy]

It would be good to see some pictures of the trigger internals of say a Crosman160 compared to a QB78 .Is there a quality difference.Or mechanical difference?
Graham

[Nige]

Hi Sal,
Yes, January the 27th is a GOOD day!!;)
ATB
Nige

[manxteddy]

http://dtfletcher.safeshopper.com/7/cat7.htm?942
Anyone got this book here in UK ?
Graham