Crosman 1377 and the garage range :)

[njl]

I bought a 1377 several weeks ago with the idea of using it to dispatch nuisance squirrels that are eating parts of our house. I've had this thing for several weeks, not gotten around to shooting it, and it's just been bugging me. So, the other night, I decided it was time.

Not really sure what it's penetration ability would be, I put together a target and backer consisting of a box from a Costco pack of CFL bulbs (with the bulb separator cardboard flattened and left in...so several layers of thin cardboard) taped to a much larger thicker cardboard, with a pair of worn out jean shorts folded in half behind that, followed by 2 roughly 1'x2'x3/8" plywood boards. This worked great...the pellets penetrated all the cardboard and generally either stopped at or penetrated one layer of denim and then fell between the cardboard and plywood.

The pistol was totally stock...and that trigger really felt stiff. My digital gauge said it was only about 4.5lbs...but for some reason it feels much heavier. I took off the grips last night and using just my fingers, compressed the sear spring such that free length was just a bit shorter than stock. Put it back in and had a 2.5lb trigger.

 

[PainlessWolf]

Good afternoon,
Sounds like a very useful pistol. That is some real seat of the pants airgunsmithing there.
regards!

 

[fpgt72]

A real good and cheap backstop, and we have talked about it here before is some rubber mulch in a box. Works real well.

As to your choice for taking care of your squirrel problem, now that you know just how good that 600fps gun is and what it can go through be sure you can hit just the spot you are aiming at....two reasons, keep from putting pellets into your house and to put the animal down in an ethical manner.

IMHO 600fps is pretty marginal in the power department for a tree rat, there is no shock to do damage in a pellet, it is all about what the pellet hits inside the animal.

 

[danez71]

Ive used my 1377 to take about a dozen cotton tails using 7-8 pumps at anywhere from 25 - 60 ft.

I don't think I ever used a full 10 pumps and only used the cheap flat nose and pointed nose pellets.

Pretty much any hit above the collarbone area resulted in a very quick kill.

I put on a cheap Crossman red dot on mine to help. Ive been meaning to get the Crossman removable stock on it too.

 

[fpgt72]

Ive used my 1377 to take about a dozen cotton tails using 7-8 pumps at anywhere from 25 - 60 ft.

I don't think I ever used a full 10 pumps and only used the cheap flat nose and pointed nose pellets.

Pretty much any hit above the collarbone area resulted in a very quick kill.

I put on a cheap Crossman red dot on mine to help. Ive been meaning to get the Crossman removable stock on it too.

To each their own, but in my book if it will not go through a starling then it is pretty marginal for birds....let alone mammals.

 

[GLOOB]

I put on a cheap Crossman red dot on mine

FYI, this sight attaches directly to the barrel of a 1377, giving a very low profile, if you modify the battery cover.

 

[danez71]

To each their own, but in my book if it will not go through a starling then it is pretty marginal for birds....let alone mammals.

Those 6" tall birds? It will kill those no problem. It doesn't need to go through it to kill it. Ive killed crows instantly, if I can get a neck or head shot, and those are much bigger

I bought it before I read "177 for feathers and 22 for fur" and in retrospect, I agree. I wouldn't try take a cottontail over 50-60 ft.


My next will probably be the .22 with a removable stock.

FYI, this sight attaches directly to the barrel of a 1377, giving a very low profile, if you modify the battery cover.

I had to buy an adapter from Crossman to connect the Crossman red dot to the barrel. Basically it clamped the barrel and had a rail type on top to attaché the red dot.

Is that what referring to or did I miss something obvious?

 

[GLOOB]

What I'm saying is you don't need an adapter. I have those adapters. The Crosman red dot sight sits high, about 2" above the bore axis, when using the adapters.

I took off the adapters and I clamp my Crosman red dot sight directly to the barrel, itself. If you remove or modify the battery cover on the sight, the clamp reaches more than halfway around the diameter of the barrel, with the top of the barrel indexing off the bottom of the clamp. It clamps on solid, and the sight is lower profile.

I originally stuck it on there, investigating the possibility of milling grooves in the barrel, to get the sight to mount lower (for up close and personal tree rats). The glass sits really high on this cheap sight. But I found it clamps on, solid, right out of the box. I have never had to rezero my sight, to date. All you have to do is rig up a way to get the battery on there without the cover. Mine made crappy contact, anyway. I lost power after every shot and had to jiggle the battery. You can bend the battery contacts for a tighter fit and tape it in there, ditching the battery cover. Or you can wire to an external battery, which is what I did, seeing as I also wanted to add a potentiometer to dim the dot for night shooting, as well as fitting a grip-mounted on/off button. (BTW, this sight is so cheap they don't even put any current limiting resistor in series with the laser diode! This is terrible for battery life; it wastes a lot of power without making the dot appreciably brighter).

It's pretty neat. The elevation knob and the battery holder just BARELY clear the top of the barrel, this way.

 

[JohnKSa]

They're fun airguns. Very reasonably priced and easy to work on. After I replaced the original barrel on mine, it became extremely accurate. The original barrel had a large pit in the rifling right at the muzzle.

 

[danez71]

What I'm saying is you don't need an adapter. I have those adapters. The Crosman red dot sight sits high, about 2" above the bore axis, when using the adapters.

I took off the adapters and I clamp my Crosman red dot sight directly to the barrel, itself. If you remove or modify the battery cover on the sight, the clamp reaches more than halfway around the diameter of the barrel, with the top of the barrel indexing off the bottom of the clamp. It clamps on solid, and the sight is lower profile.

I originally stuck it on there, investigating the possibility of milling grooves in the barrel, to get the sight to mount lower (for up close and personal tree rats). The glass sits really high on this cheap sight. But I found it clamps on, solid, right out of the box. I have never had to rezero my sight, to date. All you have to do is rig up a way to get the battery on there without the cover. Mine made crappy contact, anyway. I lost power after every shot and had to jiggle the battery. You can bend the battery contacts for a tighter fit and tape it in there, ditching the battery cover. Or you can wire to an external battery, which is what I did, seeing as I also wanted to add a potentiometer to dim the dot for night shooting, as well as fitting a grip-mounted on/off button. (BTW, this sight is so cheap they don't even put any current limiting resistor in series with the laser diode! This is terrible for battery life; it wastes a lot of power without making the dot appreciably brighter).

It's pretty neat. The elevation knob and the battery holder just BARELY clear the top of the barrel, this way.

GLOOB, do you a pic to share?

I'm having a hard time envisioning using the Crossman clamps that way... unless youre using different clamps.

 

[GLOOB]

I'm not using the Crosman clamps. I took them off, remember?

There's a dovetail clamp integrated on the bottom of the Crosman red dot sight, same as most all dot sights that aren't of the 1"/30mm tube variety which must be mounted with scope rings.

That integral clamp opens wide enough and reaches deep enough to clamp directly onto the barrel of a 13xx pistol. The two clamp screws will rest directly on top of the barrel, and the clamps will reach more than halfway down the diameter of the barrel. And when you tighten it, the sight will not move. The only part of the sight that extends below the bottom of the clamp screws is the cheezy slip-on rubber battery cover.

BTW, the diameter of a 13xx barrel is 0.435". I assume a lot of Crosman barrels are the same OD. This particular red dot should be able to clamp to any barrel that is near the same size or smaller, at least down to somewhere near 3/8", though if the diameter is too small, you might need to put a shim under the clamps screws.

Also, it should be possible to cut 3/8" dovetails directly onto the barrel (3/8" is 0.375"), but some devices will not be able to clear the top of the barrel unless you were to flatten or notch the top of the barrel.

Here's a picture. You can see I took the unused clamps and doubled up on my 1377 pistol scope.
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/DSC_2877_zpswk6uczsg.jpg

Note to others who might try this sight:
As stated, previously, there is no brightness adjustment on this sight, and the dot is terrible in low light. The adjustment knobs are completely random, and sighting it in is a pain. But once set, I have not lost my zero, and brightness control can be hacked in. For $10.00, and no need to buy special mounting hardware, it's a great way to play with a red dot on an exposed barrel pistol, like a 13xx.

 

[njl]

I figured the 1377 would be marginal for squirrel control, but read lots of posts online about people using them for squirrels and even rabbits. The trouble is, we have close/numerous enough neighbors that safe shots are going to be few and far between. i.e. If there's a 2' wide oak tree trunk right behind it, I figure that's a safe enough shot. Most of the time, there's going to be a house or car "downrange" and I'm not comfortable taking such shots...not because I think I'll miss (particularly by enough to hit anything other than the ground next to or just in front of or behind the target), but because to the neighbors, I think it would look like I was nuts / being unsafe. Because of that, I don't know that it'll ever be used for anything beyond cardboard and maybe some cans or plastic bottles.

 

[GLOOB]

and even rabbits.

There are rabbits, and then there are rabbits. Cottontails kill easier than squirrels or pigeons, IME. I read somewhere that they die of a heartattack from surprises and minor injuries. Plus where I live, the cottontails are smaller than a California red/gray squirrel.

Anyhow, check your local laws before popping off on a squirrel. Urban airgun laws can include things like "for target shooting," and there can be game laws on squirrels.

 

[danez71]

Thanks GLOOB.

I was thinking the battery cover was on the top and was confused.

Gotchya... thanks again

 

[njl]

I checked local laws first. I haven't found anything forbidding adults discharging air guns in the city, and according to the state, I am allowed to kill or trap and kill/move "nuisance squirrels". The moving part gets complicated as there are restrictions on where they can be moved to, written permission of the destination land owner is required, and FWS says moving them is likely to end up killing them anyway. The plan when I ordered the 1377 was to trap them and use the 1377 to dispatch them at "very close range." Only problem now is, getting my wife on-board. I didn't realize when I started planning this, that she'd be against hurting the "cute little squirrels"

 

[Kookla]

Happy wife= happy life. Sounds like you are better off with catch and release.

 

[grter]

A few things to keep in mind.

This person (Cutlery lover) seems to have gone down that road in some ways. He had a problem with nuisance squirrels destroying his home and in my opinion came up with a very constructive solution that unfortunately turned out to be illegal.

Some misguided people saw his video and reported him. I find his version of events in the following videos both interesting and entertaining.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMrepcWsraA

http://botar6.inc300.com/f.php?l=aHR0cDovL3d3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbS93YXRjaD92PWNTdUhUOHk1YmFn


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usls_GALFM8

 

[jlr1962]

I have one myself. My rear sight won't adjust down far enough. Gotta use Kentucky windage. I have not jacked with it yet to try to get it perfect. Any thoughts? You all seem very familiar with the 1377.

I found that the small Otis pull through cleaner works very well. No luck with jags of any kind. I find that it shoots best if swabbed every 50 shots or less. I use red tipped pellets of some kind. I forget what they are called.

My backstop is a 2 ft. square cardboard box filled with cut up boxes. I pin pistol targets to it.

 

[danez71]

jlr1962

Is your pellet hitting low or high compared to where youre aiming?

 

[Evil-Twin]

if you compressed the spring with your fingers and it took a set then, that spring is of very poor quality.