Best value for non-pal PCP

[justacanuck]

I think you should perhaps take a second look at CO2.... You can buy a LOT of CO2 for the price of converting a 2240 to CO2, and it's easy for the kids to use.... A pump is NOT a good idea for kids, they simply aren't heavy enough to pump to 2000 psi, let alone 3000, which is the fill pressure on a 13 CI tank.

I was not to concerned about the pumping effort because they will not be shooting without me at this young age, so I was planning on pumping for them anyway until they are a little older... but I don't like having to crack or pump every shot.

... AirGunEric had most of the parts (if not all) to make a non-PAL version of the 2240 running on HPA.... perhaps PM him and inquire.... It would be just what you are talking about building.... I know because I designed it....

Great news. That is the information I was hoping for!

However, the comments about filling still apply as it uses that 13 CI 3000 psi tank.... I would suggest you either plan on filling the tank yourself or getting it filled at a paintball shop, or get your own SCUBA tank to fill from.... By the time you add up all that, CO2 looks pretty inexpensive.... and you can make it even cheaper....

Convert the 2240 to .177 with a 10" barrel from a 1377.... Clip a few coils off the hammer spring to keep it under 500 fps.... You will get over 100 shots per CO2 cartridge, and because the .177 pellets tend to be cheaper you can shoot it cheaper than ANY .22 cal, even a springer.... You can buy CO2 in boxes of 50 at much lower cost, again from AirGunEric.... The only drawback is that if you are shooting in low temperatures you will lose a bit of performance.... Even that can be worked around if you have a Chrony to set the gun up.... With the right hammer spring preload you can get the valve to "self-regulate" the way a PCP does over a wide range of temperatures.... I have a 1750 (.177 cal 2250 carbine) with an 18" barrel that is just under 500 fps and gets ~130 shots per CO2 and the velocity is consistent from 40*F to about 80*F.... and it's CHEAP to shoot....

Bob

Wow.. I didn't know we would get so many shots from the CO2. That is way cheaper than I imagined. I'll have to put some more thought into this.

Thanks so much for your advice. I think I have all the information I need to decide how to move forward.

Just to confirm: Airguneric = scopesandammo.com ?

[rsterne]

Airguneric = scopesandammo.com ?

Correct....

Bob

[SeanMP]

Just to toss in another idea.

On the ULTRA cheap. A QB78D can be a CO2 caplet, CO2 Bulk or PCP for the price of an end cap. They are are extremely light and carbine length. Overall hard to beat at $129

This pairs well with the AR2078 which is a pretty serious target gun out of the box.

And if your serious about target shooting the QB triggers will outperform anything shy of a rekord

[justacanuck]

Just an update: I ended up ordering the Brocock Contour AND the Crossman 2240 with some parts.

I ordered the 2240 and accessories from Airguneric at scopesandammo.com. Eric was very responsive to e-mail questions and handled my order with ease. I decided to hold off on the HPA until I had a chance to play with it in the stock/CO2 configuration for a while. I ordered parts of Wednesday or Thursday and the parts arrives after the weekend. Eric is a pro.

I've put about 80 shots down the barrel of the Crossman. I don't have much experience to make a good comparison but it does seem to be a pretty decent gun for the price. I do have a couple comments about the factory configuration.
- The accuracy is likely far better than I am able to shoot using open sites
- The trigger is quite heavy
- I put the 1399 stock on it. It was very easy to install but doesn't quite fit me as well as I had hoped.
- I'm used to a "regular" style airgun (read: much longer breakbarrel) so I'm having a little difficulty adjusting. The rear site is very close to my eyes relative to the "regular" rifle and focusing the rear site -> front site -> target seems more difficult.
- The plastic breech is, well, plastic. I'm scared the adjustment screw for the rear sight could get stripped fairly easily, but...

The plastic breech will not matter because I've still got the .177 steel breech and a longer 18" barrel to install, then some detuning to bring it back down to 499fps. Once I have the steel breech installed I can try a scope or red dot setup. Certainly that will help me be more accurate. Perhaps I'll post here again regarding the upgrade process and or my experience after the upgrades. Depending on the how the upgrades go, when I finally run out my supply of CO2 (40 bottles) I might pursue the HPA conversion.

Tonight I finally had a chance to shoot the Contour.
- I knew it was fairly small and light... when I opened it up it is smaller and lighter than I imagined.
- The walnut stock is REALLY nice.
- The trigger is light and smooth... SUPER LIGHT compared to the 2240.
- It already had some pressure in it when it arrived. Another 10-15 strokes of the Hill pump brought it up to about 150bar.
- It doesn't have open sights so I put a 3-9X44 Mil dot scope on it.

I used a laser bore sight to get the scope fairly close to proper alignment. 10 shots later and a couple turns of the alignment knobs on the scope it was bang on. At 7-8m it was trivial to stack 6 pellets in the same hole! I'm super impressed.

The only complaint I can come up with for the Brocock is the pellets seem to fit pretty lose in the 6 shot multi pellet clip. I actually dropped a pellet out of the mag after it was already loaded in the gun. I've yet to play with some other pellets so it may be a non-issue with other pellets. On a positive side, the Contour is SO accurate with the scope at 7-10m range that I'm sure I'll still spend time with the 2240 just because it is more of a challenge with the open sights. I curious to try the scope on the 2240 to see if I can achieve similar accuracy results.

I hope someone finds this information helpful.

[averagejoe]

Does your magazine have the o-ring around it? I have never had a pellet come close to falling out of mine.

[justacanuck]

yes it does....

thanks so much for the recommendation. Truly an EXCELLENT choice!

[averagejoe]

Odd, what pellets are you using? Mine will not load anything without a round head and skirted pellets stay in just fine. I usually seat them just a little past flush.

[justacanuck]

I'm using crosman pellets... maybe I didn't seat them far enough in because they seemed to fit kind of loose.

[AirGunEric]

I've put about 80 shots down the barrel of the Crosman. I don't have much experience to make a good comparison but it does seem to be a pretty decent gun for the price. I do have a couple comments about the factory configuration.
- The accuracy is likely far better than I am able to shoot using open sites
- The trigger is quite heavy
- I put the 1399 stock on it. It was very easy to install but doesn't quite fit me as well as I had hoped.
- I'm used to a "regular" style airgun (read: much longer breakbarrel) so I'm having a little difficulty adjusting. The rear site is very close to my eyes relative to the "regular" rifle and focusing the rear site -> front site -> target seems more difficult.

The 2240 is probably the best "bang for buck" out there- even unmodified. To get around your issues with the trigger, and adjustable sear or trigger spring can be used. The removable stock works better if you make is a bit more "semi-removable" - as in you drill holes in the grip section to screw it into the frame like the normal pistol grips- won't wiggle as much or move around/fall off on you.