Welcome to my airgun and antique firearm blog.
I post photo's of my personal collection, and a myriad of pic's and information on Air pistols, air Rifles, and pre-1898 Antique Black Powder Guns... and occasionally I will post images of various confiscated, improvised, modified howmemade firearms from around the world.
Crosman's "357" .177 caliber Co2 pellet revolver was not the company's first Co2 revolver, but it has been the one in production the longest.
I bought a model 357-6 when I was 22 years old, it was my first AirGun.
I purchased my 357-6 and additional rotary magazines plus the rare full metal 8" rifled barrel at Canadian Tire.
Unfortunately, being young & poor, I was forced to sell my 357 less than three years later.
The Crosman 357(1st picture) is styled after the legendary Colt 357 Python(2nd picture).
A Crosman 357GW Shooters Kit popped up on Kijiji for $100 CDN in 2014, and the seller turned out living four doors down the street from me!
My 357GW kit included the 4" barrel & an 8" full metal rifled barrel, plus a copperhead red dot sight + removeable dove-tail mounts, a number of rotary magazines, a pellet case with belt loop and the Revolver.
The fibre optic sights are phenomenal! They make aiming the PMR-30 a breeze...
I love this air pistol.
I first bought one from pyramydair last year. It was the last one they would ever have in stock, and being from the USA, it had an orange barrel.
I shot it nearly every day for six months, and it shot .30 gram .24 cal/6mm aluminum BB's over 400 fps and .25 gram polymer BB's as high as 460 fps and .20 gram polymer BB's over 500 fps!!!
One day the blowback action caused the slide to crack, and I was heartbroken.
A year later, I was looking for help to repair it, or buy a replacement slide at the "socom gear" website and linked to the authorized Canadian parts and repair company called airsoft parts.ca, and sent an email explaining my situation with my Kel-tec PMR-30 Co2 pistol.
The owner surprised me by offering to sell me the factory demo model he had stashed away since it was a new product over 5 years ago for $100 including shipping!!!
Obviously I couldn't refuse, and within a couple of days I opened the package, and upon inspection I discovered that this factory demo model had an all black barrel, NO ORANGE barrel!!!
This I one of the most realistic replica air pistols that I have ever seen.
The real steel PMR-30 is chambered for .22Magnum, and the co2 replica is .24 caliber/6mm, it's actually a tiny bit larger than the original handgun!!!
Anyhow, now I own two SocomGear Kel-tec PMR-30's, and I still plan to repair the slide myself, and disable the blowback action so the slide won't break again.
The blowback is basically just recoil simulation, and has no other function. It is a double action only pistol, so disabling the slide won't affect anything important.
If this fails, at least it will be good as a spare parts gun.
I did some chronograph testing with my newest .24cal/6mm Kel-tec PMR-30 Co2 air pistol last weekend, and was very impressed with how consistently it shot .25 gram polymer BB's around 450 fps.
I decided to see if it could handle 1 gram 6mm steel slingshot ammo.
All I can say is WoW!
This air pistol shoot 6mm steel ball slingshot ammo as high as 312 fps & over 4 fpe(foot-pounds of muzzle energy)!
I am not going to shoot this ammo on a regular basis because it may damage the guns barrel, but out of curiosity, I had to try it out.
My new factory demo Socom Gear Kel-tec PMR-30 Co2 pistol is a sharp looking air pistol:
The Beretta APX 4.5mm Co2 semi-automatic air pistol from Umarex is an excellent replica air pistol.
It looks great, feel great in the hand and shoots suprisingly straight for having a non-rifled barrel.
The metal slide has all the expected, engraved Beretta trademarks in the right places.
The blowback slide action is strictly for simulating recoil, with the DAO trigger loading and firing the rounds.
This air pistol is the type which the barrel acts as the hammer, and as you squeeze the trigger, it pushes the barrel forward, allowing a round to enter the breach, then the barrel slams rearward, hitting the firing pin and releasing Co2 to blast the round out the barrel and down range around 400 fps.
I have tested the muzzle velocity, and it certainly lives up to the manufacturers claims of 400 fps!
Umarex has a nice looking, very basic 6 mm Ruger P345PR Co2 airsoft replica pistol and I have been considering buying one for a few years.
The muzle velocity is 380 fps with .20 gram BB's, which is reasonable, but I would have preferred 480 fps from a non-blowback co2 pistol.
All controls are molded into the frame and slide, including the hammer.
It is still a very cool looking air pistol replica.
I have a .177 cal/4.5mm crosman "1088" Co2 pellet/BB pistol that is definitely based on the appearance of the Ruger P345.
Too bad it is not a great air pistol.
It could have been great.
This 495 fps" Crosman Phantom .22 caliber break barrel spring piston air rifle was my first .22 caliber airgun.
I have owned it for ten years, and also have a full power piston & spring upgrade kit for it, but I can't install it until I get a firearms permit.
I was looking online for tips on making a homemade AirGun, and this on uses a simple bicycle pump and strong rubber bands as a spring piston type of powerplant!
I hope to spare the time to build something similar this summer.
Thanks to this tutorial, I should be able to build one with ease.
"Mechanical AirSoft" pistols are spring piston powered AirGuns.
They generally have a low muzzle velocity between 180 fps and 300 fps with .12 gram or .20 gram 6mm airsoft ammo.
They are easy to use, have few moving parts and are very durable and reliable.
In Canada, the laws are unfortunate for enthusiasts of this type of replica air pistol.
Typically, our spring airsoft pistols need to be half clear plastic because they are too underpowered to be classified as a "sub 500 fps and sub 4.2 fpe firearm"
KWC makes a line of 'metal slide' replica pistols with a muzzle velocity up to 328 fps with .12 gram BB's.
I own a few: Sig Sauer p226, Taurus pt92, Smith & Wesson 4505 and a BlackWate SiG BW1911.
Umarex makes an H&K P30 which I own that has a metal slide, but it is rated up to 240 fps with .12 gram BB's.
Other all plastic mechanical AirSoft replica pistols that I also own are:
-Beretta mod.92fs(260 fps)
-Walther PPQ(300 fps)
-Walther P22(260 fps)
-Sig Sauer GSR 1911(328 fps)
-Sig Sauer P226(pink frame & black slide)(328 fps)
-IWI UZI pistol(with folding stock)(240 fps)
I also own one metal frame & slide M1911A1 lookalike, the UKARMS G13 (250 fps)
It is a cheap gun, not accurate at all, and not all that fun to shoot either.
The .177 caliber Colt Defender semi-automatic Co2 pistol from Umarex is a simple and inexpensive air pistol.
It shoots steel BB's over 400 fps, and as high as 440 fps.
Accuracy is good for me, thanks to a predictable double action trigger.
The out of production Quackenbush .380 caliber Co2 Shot pistol was chambered for Crosman Trapmaster 1100 shot shells that are reloaded with .36 caliber 85 grain lead roundballs. It had a muzzle velocity around 300 fps, and was effective for small game hunting.
The .380 caliber shot pistol was built on a Crosman SSP-250 pistol frame, and once Crosman discontinued the SSP-250, Quackenbush had to discontinue the shot pistol.
Following Crosman's release of the 2240, Quackenbush released an upgraded 2240 chambered in .25 caliber.
The "2540" shot 20 grain .25 caliber lead pellets around 450 fps and could get 30-35 good shots per 12 gram Co2 cartridge.
Tom Gaylord reviewed this amazing Co2 pistol in his "AirGun letter" publication :
I wish that these were still available!
Here in Canada both air pistols would not require a PAL firearms license because neither gun breaks the 500 fps muzzle velocity threshold.
