half-inch. The claimed adjustment affected the length of the fi rst-stage takeup, but not the letoff weight or the overtravel. As near as I could measure it, the actual letoff ran just under 4 pounds. Aftermarket triggers are available for this rifl e, and many shooters would opt for one very quickly after trying the factory trigger. The gas spring deserves some explanation. The closest
analogy to it would be the gas strut that lifts the rear hatch on your SUV. In such a gas strut, nitrogen gas under high pressure pushes against a tightly-fi tted piston that in turn drives an action rod. In the gun’s Nitro Piston™ (a product of Crosman –
www.crosman.com), the piston is held against this pressure until released by the trigger. The piston then compresses outside air and directs it to the space behind the pellet. The nitrogen gas inside the spring unit is never released — which is what separates this type rifl e from well- known pump-up gun designs. In short, compressed nitrogen replaces coiled steel. Claimed advantages include the ability to retain full
power despite being cocked for long periods of time, reduced recoil and gun vibration because of greatly reduced moving mass, and smoother cocking. All three claims seem to be true. Pellet velocity was consistent whether the gun was fi red im- mediately after loading, or the gun was allowed to sit cocked and loaded for as long as an hour. The gun also produced almost no recoil or movement whatsoever upon fi ring; what motion there was seemed to be caused by the abrupt move- ment of my trigger fi nger hitting the overtravel limit. Finally, cocking force was steady throughout the stroke with no buildup. Cocking force was a smooth 35 pounds, as nearly as I could measure while cocking it on a bathroom scale. The hand-fi lling noise reducer makes a natural and effective hand grip, making the cocking sensation seem even lighter. I endured several weeks of impatience waiting out the
bad weather in the top of Utah but fi nally got to the gun range. Sighting in at 25 yards revealed the puzzling fact that the scope’s windage adjustments were labeled backward: turning the dial toward L moved the pellet impacts farther right. The elevation dial worked correctly. Optically, the scope itself is serviceable for this grade gun, but generally falls within what one would expect from budget optics. For ammunition, I took along several samples of pellets.
I had ordered tins of H&N .177 lead pellets with the gun in two styles I thought best suited for fi eld use: Crow Magnum 8.8-grain hollow-points and Silver Point 11.6-grain conical tipped. I also took along some pellets I had on hand. Those were Crosman Copperhead in pointed and wadcutter shapes that both run 8.0 grains and some very inexpensive imported pointed pellets weighing 9.4 grains on average. Non-lead pellets and other shapes and weights are available from several suppliers, but I thought the fi ve listed represented a good selection. The generic imported pellets fared worst, as expected. I did all shooting at 25 yards, using an MTM front rest,
in as close to calm winds as possible. Groups were initially disappointing, running 3 inches or so with all pellets tried, but showed improvement as the gun was shot. That trend continued until groups began averaging just over an inch with the Crow Magnum hollow-points, after perhaps 200 shots had been fi red. Group sizes in the table were recorded
Author used fi ve lead pellet types for the review. From left: Crow Magnum; Silver Point (both by H&N Sport); Copperhead wadcutter; Copperhead semi-pointed (both by Crosman); generic imported pointed. The generic pellet, as expected, was inconsistent in both velocity and grouping. The hollow-point and the wadcutter were most accurate. The heavy H&N Silver Point was the slowest, clocking only about 650 fps.
Pellet Used
Crow Magnum 8.8 gr. Silver Point 11.6 gr.
Copperhead WC 8.0 gr.
Velocity ES SD Avg Group 802 26 9
659 10 3 824 22 8
Copperhead Pointed 8.0 gr. 828 24 9 Generic Pointed 9.4 gr.
746 40 12
0.75 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.4
Results based on at least three fi ve-shot groups at 25 yards. Groups recorded after 200-shot break-in period.
www.varminthunter.org Page 127
Shooting was done at an unsupervised public range under all kinds of weather conditions. Note two-sided cheek piece that makes the rifl e ambidextrous.
Heart of the “Whisper” is this rakish noise reducer. Foam inserts are said to reduce sound by about half — and seem to do just that. The device also makes a hand-fi lling grip that eases cocking effort considerably.
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