Crosman Fire Nitro Pellet Rifle - Accuracy Issue

[lazyMlazyK]

A year or two ago, I picked up a break-barrel air rifle - a Crosman Fire Nitro piston in .177 caliber. Bought a couple of different weights of pellets for testing. Went to sight it in at 30 yards and ended up chasing holes all over the place. Figured the scope must be garbage, so I ordered a different one. Not a real expensive scope, but $30-$40 and rated for a piston rifle. No change in accuracy. This thing shoots all over the place. All action screws and scope screws are solid. Crown looks decent. Any ideas what the heck could be going on? This is my first break-barrel, so maybe there are some tricks that I don't know about. All the springers and pump-type bb guns I grew up with seemed to be at least fairly accurate. Advertisements say this one can reach around 1200fps.

 

[moorepower]

First off, most all of them test with alloy pellets and add on 50-200 fps. Look on YouTube for artillery hold, because spring piston/ gas rams shoot much better using it. Many cheaper air rifles take several hundreds of pellets for the barrel to settle in. You might not to hear this, but JSB and H&N pellets often shoot much better than Crosman, Gamo or Daisy pellets. You can PM me for a little more in depth discussion if you like

 

[ronemus]

Was the gun new? If not, the barrel may need cleaning to remove lead deposits. If it is new, it could probably be polished with JB Bore Cleaning Compound followed by Bore Bright; as received the bore is probably somewhat rough.

 

[justinp61]

High power springer/piston air rifles are hard to shoot well. Generally high velocity and pellets don't mix well. For the most part I wouldn't expect much out of a sub $150 air rifle.

 

[moorepower]

High power springer/piston air rifles are hard to shoot well. Generally high velocity and pellets don't mix well. For the most part I wouldn't expect much out of a sub $150 air rifle.

That's why I went the PCP route

 

[justinp61]

That's why I went the PCP route

I haven't gone to the dark side yet, my resistance is strong, LOL.

 

[Mark W]

My Benjamin Trail Nitro Piston eats scopes like candy otherwise it shoots pretty good. I practice offhand shooting a 3” steel gong at 40 yards and I can hit it pretty consistently. It’s surprising how hard it hits.

 

[lazyMlazyK]

It's a brand new rifle and cost me around $175. I'll look into some better pellets and learning the artillery hold.

 

[moorepower]

What pellets have you tried? High velocity is not ideal with pellets. You want around less than about 880 fps normally for best accuracy. Check out the Gateway To Airguns, Crosman forums.

 

[dgeesaman]

How’s it going w this?

I once spent way too much trying to get a friends Crosman Nitro thing to shoot and never got anything useful from it. His was too light, too poorly made, too powerful to do anything useful. But some do shoot.

Springers (gas ram or coil spring) create a set of challenges. They can be overcome, but with the cheap ones, not always.
- clean the barrel. No oil in the chamber or barrel or else it can ignite (diesel) and tear things up.
- don’t trust the scope. Most scopes and mounts can’t handle the springer double recoil. Specifically shop for a magnum springer scope and mount. Degrease thoroughly and use blue loctite.
- watch for loose action screws.
- never fire without a pellet. If that’s been done a few times the seals could be shot out.
- try various pellets. I’d start with the JSB sampler in your caliber. I’ve found airgun accuracy to be extremely sensitive to the pellet.
- The “1200fps” is pure garbage. They must be shooting spitballs through an oily dieseling barrel to get that. With lead pellets it should settle in at 750-900fps depending on rifle and caliber.
- springers jump in your hands before the pellet leaves the gun. The artillery hold usually works but my method is the find a hold that makes the gun jump consistently and hold its point of aim during the shot cycle. It can take a while to find the right hold and you the shooter need to be perfectly consistent.
- If you can get yours to shoot, there are trigger kits that upgrade the Crosman trigger.

I know some folks say to get a PCP but there is a lot of ground to be gained by buying a quality German springer. PCP is kind of a whole thing and it’s not the be-all end-all.

David

 

[lazyMlazyK]

**UPDATE**
It has taken me quite awhile to get back to wanting to shoot this pellet gun, but I finally grabbed it from storage and played around a little after looking into the "artillery hold". I can't believe the difference! I rested my left hand on a rest, palm up, and set the forearm of the rifle on it. At 15 yards, I can shoot 1" groups! I've been giving the pest birds in my backyard a run for their money, and have downed a few of their comrades. It's crazy to me that just holding the forearm in a different manner makes such a huge difference. Letting the forearm rest on my palm and not gripping it really lets you feel the forward recoil of the piston. Thanks everyone for the help!!!

 

[450BM]

Get the heaviest pellets you can buy. JSB’s are the best I’ve found and I think they weigh 10.34 grains. High velocity is an accuracy killer. I have an RWS 48 and a Benjamin Marauder, both will shoot tiny groups with the JSB heavies, both will also shoot shotgun patterns with 7-8 gr pellets.

 

[450BM]

How’s it going w this?

I once spent way too much trying to get a friends Crosman Nitro thing to shoot and never got anything useful from it. His was too light, too poorly made, too powerful to do anything useful. But some do shoot.

Springers (gas ram or coil spring) create a set of challenges. They can be overcome, but with the cheap ones, not always.
- clean the barrel. No oil in the chamber or barrel or else it can ignite (diesel) and tear things up.
- don’t trust the scope. Most scopes and mounts can’t handle the springer double recoil. Specifically shop for a magnum springer scope and mount. Degrease thoroughly and use blue loctite.
- watch for loose action screws.
- never fire without a pellet. If that’s been done a few times the seals could be shot out.
- try various pellets. I’d start with the JSB sampler in your caliber. I’ve found airgun accuracy to be extremely sensitive to the pellet.
- The “1200fps” is pure garbage. They must be shooting spitballs through an oily dieseling barrel to get that. With lead pellets it should settle in at 750-900fps depending on rifle and caliber.
- springers jump in your hands before the pellet leaves the gun. The artillery hold usually works but my method is the find a hold that makes the gun jump consistently and hold its point of aim during the shot cycle. It can take a while to find the right hold and you the shooter need to be perfectly consistent.
- If you can get yours to shoot, there are trigger kits that upgrade the Crosman trigger.

I know some folks say to get a PCP but there is a lot of ground to be gained by buying a quality German springer. PCP is kind of a whole thing and it’s not the be-all end-all.

David

This is awesome advice, all of it! PCP’s are great and fun to shoot but, pumping by hand is a chore and a half. And ask yourself this, if 1200 fps is so great, why is all the 22 RF target ammo at 1080. And even that is probably too fast for most pellets. My FWB 124 (39 years old) shooting around 700-750fps has killed lots and lots of starlings, english sparrows and pigeons…