First Look: New 13-22 Pumpmaster Classic

I put one of these into my order at S&A.com last week.

I haven't shot it yet, but that will change soon enough.
Here's a few pictures:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...re001-1847.jpg

That's the new clamshell packaging. There's an anti-theft chip taped to the inside of the clamshell.

If anyone's interested, I can post up photo's of the disclaimers on the back of the packaging- if not, I'll just let them go.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...re002-1423.jpg

There's the pistol fresh out of the packaging. Sorry for the dark photo's- wife's snoring away beside me, and I don't want to wake her with the overhead lighting. Light is from one of those newer fangled 13W squiggle bulbs.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ure003-843.jpg

That's the standard 22-XX bolt and plastic breech- not the flow through bolt that was erroneously posted on some other boards. There are no laser etchings on the gun- lighter-struck roll stamps on the right hand side of the tube, and electro stencilled s/n on the left hand side of the tube.

Somewhere along the line, Crosman changed the bluing process to approximate the ever-popular Jena-Lite Cold Black. If I had my druther's, I'd take the standard gun-blue finish that we've been accustomed to with crosman, up until a couple of years ago. I first saw the new bluing on a 22-40 that I bought in 2010. I guess they gotta do what they gotta do- to keep the gun in the price bracket that makes it popular. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying more for an improved finish, and less plastic, but apparently not all air gun buyers think the way I do...

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ure004-168.jpg

There's the new plastic side plate. Yeah, it's plastic. It's a heck of a lot neater than the warped out one piece aluminum that they were doing before. Haven't enough experience to say if I like it or not. I'll have no bones with it- if it stands up to normal field use.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ture007-85.jpg

Muzzle crown. Looks like there's a bit of Shang-Hai/ Hai-Karate crease to it. I'll be fair, and slip the unit into a packer frame, and good scope, just to test for group. Habit says it'll get a clean-up polishing with the far east valve compound...

I think I've done well, considering the under 70 dollar price.

I'll be back to this soon, perhaps with a slightly unfair side by side with my phase 1 medalist, and a few other things...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc Sharptail

Personally, I wouldn't mind paying more for an improved finish, and less plastic, but apparently not all air gun buyers think the way I do...

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It's not the "buyers" as in Joe Consumer- it's the big-box retailer that are the "buyers" companies like Crosman, Daisy, etc. are addressing (seems the "big numbers" are coming from the "big boxes", and I suspect the only reason Crosman hasn't completely disregarded everyone else is because they realize that would be a fairly direct path to corporate suicide).

Gave it a work-out over the chrony tonight.

First off, there's no way this pistol is going to achieve 460 fps- not in it's bone stock form. The valve stem spring is a little too stiff for that to occur. Best I was able to get out of it was 453.2 fps, and that took 15 pumps.

I had some Die #2 Crosman F/T domes to get rid of- 14.3 gr.

Gun averaged 418.5 fps for ten pumps. That ain't bad, but still a bit of a stretch to the 460 the manufacturer claims.
15 pumps yielded an average of 449.8 fps- close, yes, but 5 pumps above the manual recommended 10 pump max...

I put the gun into a sbk steel breech and packer stock, as promised. Transfer port tube is no longer stainless- it's either anodized aluminum, or incredibly hard plastic. Whatever it is, it's deep dark black inside, and out.

Sear/trigger spring stud in the grip frame has been squared off on one side. Looks to me like it's a base for some kind of adjustable pull-weight system.

The grip frame is a nice tight fit in my heavily used packer stock- a much tighter fit than any other 13-xx I've put into a packer stock.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...re003-1168.jpg

There it is, set up for the bench. Scope's a Tasco 2.5-!0X. I set it at 6X for tonight's festivities.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...re002-1075.jpg

That's not bad at all, considering the modest velocity, and short bbl length. That is close to what I get out of a 24" bbl with these. (the die #1's are much tighter shooting)

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...re001-1518.jpg

That's the steel breeched, steel rear sight base, Phase 1 13-22 Medalist at top.

Oddly enough, velocities are very close for both guns in full factory stock form, with the old medalist slightly nosing the latest iteration by a measly 6 fps. Other than that, the older gun is a lot wieghtier, and a bit easier on the eyes. The sights on the old gun were more cleanly cut, and easier to use. Performance wise, there ain't a lot seperating these two- in as issued form.

I think it was money well spent- but I'm one of those guys with a weakness for the 13 series pumpers- regardless of age.


http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ure004-169.jpg

Current brand and cal. roll stamp, and the "new" finish on the steel tube...


Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Looks great Doc...I like the look.

Is that a shoulder bolt your using for a cocking handle?

I bought a refurbished 1377 from ScopesAndAmmo.com and I'm quite happy with it too. Basically it's the same as a 1322 but in .177 cal.
I too bought a shoulder stock and a steel breech for mine but I don't find a big scope to be very useful, I prefer the iron sights or a Red Dot.
The 13XX is one of those "money pits". You can buy a lot of mods for them and make a lot of mods to improve the velocity & accuracy. Just Google "13XX mods"
https://www.google.ca/#hl=en&output=...w=1440&bih=733

I'm getting tired of the "ten pump" routine so I've purchased the flat topped piston but I haven't yet installed it.

All in all it's a nice accurate air pistol, cheap to shoot and a great upper body workout.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeanMP

Is that a shoulder bolt your using for a cocking handle?

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Yeah, it is. It's either a Montgomery step-chain roller bolt, or an Otis door gib bolt- can't remember which. It's threaded perfectly for the sbk bolts. The sbk bolt handles could use another 1/8" of threads.

I'm impressed with the dimensioning improvements on the grip frame. Crosman must have re-tooled for a few steps of the manufacturing process.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc Sharptail

Yeah, it is. It's either a Montgomery step-chain roller bolt, or an Otis door gib bolt-
Doc Sharptail

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Hmmm. I'll have to ask the Mrs to keep an eye out for one.