With all the heated discussion of gun-grabbing politics, CCW ergonomics and wound ballistics that goes on around here, you’ll have to forgive us if we’ve overlooked some of the most popular shooting sports equipment in the world. Our Armed Intelligentsia may find it unnatural to use ‘ballistics’ in the same sentence as ‘pneumatics,’ but airguns are a huge business. They can be a great low-cost practice aid for powder-burning gun guys or a great sport in their own right. Modern break-barrel airguns can spit out .177 pellets with enough velocity to beat a .357 Magnum slug to the target, and a handful of monstrously expensive airguns can toss huge .357 and .45 slugs with enough grunt to drop a small whitetail in its tracks. We’ve recently hooked up with Pyramyd Air to begin bringing you the straight dope from the world of air-powered shooting . . .
The state of the airgun art has come a long way since my magpie-shooting BB gun days in junior high school, but this Crosman 1377 ‘American Classic’ has only seen a few minor changes. It’s got the same multiple-pump pneumatic action and rifled barrel, but Crosman has replaced the sliding loading port and knurled cocking knob with a cocking chamber bolt that combines both tasks in one motion.
Sadly, the dovetail-grooved metal receiver is also gone, which makes scope mounting a real challenge. The pneumatic 1377 is among the few airguns that won’t immediately destroy a conventional rifle scope, because pneumatics don’t have the strong reverse/forward recoil impulse that spring-piston guns have.
Pyramyd sent us this one with a detachable shoulder stock for some non-NFA giggles. I’ll test it with the 1377’s reversible aperture rear sight. The attached chrono printout is a little too small to read in the photo, but it proves that Crosman isn’t exaggerating when they advertise 600 fps from this pistol. This whole kit from Pyramyd cost less than $140, including the pistol and stock, special oil, pre-shipment testing, and enough pellets (1300) to last for years of casual shooting.
How much fun can you have for $140 with a rig like this? I’m guessing tons. Stay tuned.