Canadian Airgun Forum

My first experience with the Canadian Airgun Forum, as a member, was to buy a Crosman 600 CO2 pistol from Mil-Dot.

Except for a misspelled e-mail address which slightly slowed down the process, the balance of the deal went smoothly.

During the time I was waiting for my package to arrive, I checked the review section of the CAF and couldn’t find anything on the Crosman 600 so I decided to write one.

I collect airguns and shoot them for fun. I am not involved in competition and I informally shoot standing up and offhand using mostly stock iron sights. I shoot with a rest only when adjusting the sight of my rifles.

I have a 20 feet shooting range for airsoft guns and a 25 feet range for airguns. Both are in my garage and are used mostly from Spring to Fall for plinking. As the distances are short, every time I get better I switch to a smaller target. Currently penny sized targets are used for rifles and the bottom of pop cans for pistols.

For the winter season, I have a 31 feet range in my basement. This being fairly close to 10m, I use modified 10m rifle and pistol targets shrunk down to 93% of the actual size. Indoor shooting in the house is done strictly on paper as I don’t want pellets scattered all over the place.

As mentioned in my post in the “Introduce Yourself” section, I have a large variety of airguns (rifle and pistols, covering various mechanical systems). To make my life easier and also because I am money conscious, I do not use a large assortment of pellets. I just try to buy my pellets locally at the best price I can find.

I am currently using Crosman Competition Wadcutter .177 (in the1250 pellets milk carton), Crosman Premier Hollow Point .22 (500 pellets tin can) and Daisy Flat Nose .22 and Hollow Point .22 (both 500 in tin cans). At some point, when the store had been sold out of wadcutters, I tried a pack of Crosman Hunting Pointed pellets (.177) and didn’t notice any shift in point of aim. I guess they are the same weights.

Trying to find which pellet would give the super best result in each of my airguns would represent a huge undertaking and a big database to keep track of which pellet goes with which airgun. So it is the same as having a big family, don’t expect several different menus to be offered at dinner time. Everybody is fed the same diet.

When I received the Crosman 600, there was a CO2 cartridge already in it and the pistol was under pressure. This allowed me to confirm that the resealing job done by Mil-Dot was holding and was able to shoot about 12 shots from the residual CO2. This also allowed me to know in which direction the cartridge is inserted in the airgun (fat end toward the trigger).

The model I received has a button piercing cap so it is probably a Third variant which means that it was manufactured closer to the 70’s than the 60’s. It is a Canadian version and has a fairly blank frame. The Crosman logo and Model 600 is only stamped on the U.S. models. Mil-Dot told me the mechanism was tight meaning that the pistol was not too badly worn off. After trying it, I can confirm that he was right. This could be said of the paint too. There are several nicks and scratches but overall it is fairly good.

The mechanical system is very clever. From what I saw on the “Another Airgun Blog”, it is driven by a twisted square section shaft. The pistol needs to be manually cocked for the first shot but afterward; the blowback pressure will re-cock the internal hammer which is tied to a guide ring.

This ring seems to activate the loading gate when it travels along the twisted shaft. Basically there are 10 pellets in a built-in magazine on the left side. With the magazine spring pressure applied to the stack, the first pellet is pushed in the hole of the gate (it is aligned with the magazine when the hammer is cocked). When the shot is fired, the gate swings toward the breech just in time to have the pellet propelled through the barrel by the CO2, another valve sends backward a portion of the pressure to re-cock the hammer and re-align the gate with the magazine. It is now ready to repeat the cycle.

On a safety note, it is important to be aware that a hidden pellet can be left in the gate after unloading the pistol. When the 600 ran out of gas with the cartridge that came with it, I had several pellets left in the magazine. I removed all of them, checked the breech from both ends and confirm the barrel empty. I uncocked or decocked (I am not sure which one is right) the hammer by manually pushing the slide backward until it stopped, pulling the trigger and releasing the slide slowly forward.

A surprise was waiting for me when I prepared the pistol for my next shooting session. With the pistol uncocked, I installed a fresh CO2 cartridge and tightened the cap. In order to get enough strength to push the piercing button I held the grip in my left hand with the barrel pointing toward the right and pushed with the palm of my right hand toward my left hand keeping the pistol parallel to my belly. What I didn’t know is after the cartridge is pierced when the button is released the airgun is automatically pressurized and a sound can be heard. A small puff of CO2 is also discharged through the valve at the same time.

How do I know that? I know because I got poked in the arm by a pellet.

With the hammer uncocked, the loading gate was in front of the breech (with the unnoticed pellet hidden in it), so the puff of CO2 (briefly released when it pressurized) shot it right in my bicep. I didn’t hurt but it startled me.

After finding the instruction manual online and reading it, I discovered that the pistol should be COCKED and on SAFE before pressurization (the safe will engage only when the pistol is cocked). Be careful if you buy a Model 600 if it doesn’t come with the owner manual, I hope this warning will be enough.

Recommended pellets are wadcutter or domed type, my first experiment was done with the Daisy Flat Nose .22. They worked relatively well but caused a few misfeeds. I shot 3 cartridges of CO2 or about 90 pellets and got maybe 4-5 pellets not feeding.

I also tried the Crosman Premier Hollow Point and this time it worked better. No jam at all after more than150 shots.

I can have about 37 puffs of CO2 from a cartridge. This being said, 35 shots is the acceptable limit as shots 34 and 35 have a noticeable lower point of impact. After 35, the risk to have a pellet jammed in the barrel makes me simply dry fire it until empties (which is only about 2 shots).

Although the pistol seems fairly accurate it is not a competition airgun. The power curve is not constant enough. With a fresh cartridge, the first few shots are more powerful (high point of impact), a whole string in the middle is OK and the last few shots are starting to be slower (lower point of impact). This is also typical of CO2 airguns in general but is more apparent due to the limited number of shots.

A 10m pistol target has a black center (rings 7 to 10) about 60mm in diameter (2.362 inches). After reduction to adjust to my available distance of 31 feet, the black is now about 55.8mm (2.197 in.). To save paper I use only rings 5 to 10 (7-8-9-10 being black) and I get 4 targets in a letter sized sheet. Ring 5 measures 83.7mm (3.295) and ring 6, 69.75mm (2.746 in.).

At the distance of 31 feet, I can tell you that the black dot is the same width as the front sight blade. I shot standing up, offhand with a two hand grip and after getting used to the pistol, managed fairly constantly to keep the 10 shots inside ring 6 with a majority of them in the black. This means that the average grouping is about 2 ¾ inches or roughly 75mm. Keep in mind that it is not the distance center to center since all the shots are inside the circle. Because the shots are not necessarily spread in the whole area, the actual groups are smaller. The smallest group of 10 shots I got was about 40mm or 1.575 inch from outside edge to outside edge.

Remember that I am not an Olympic Competitor but just a guy enjoying myself. This pistol is plenty good for plinking.

Pop cans beware.

R-Gun Pete

That's a pretty darn good review there Pete. You can count on Clint for a well cared for pistol. I have a Mark 1 that I purchased from him a couple of years ago and it still functions perfectly.
The 600 is an excellent gun and could be the most fun pistol that Crosman ever made.

Thanks for your post Red Ryder.

Today I would like to add to my Crosman 600 review of last week.

The stock pistol comes with molded plastic grips for right hand shooters. With my rifles and pistols I try to be ambidextrous and there are only a few that I cannot shoot on both sides.

The Crosman 600 being an excellent plinker, I was interested in modifying it so I could shoot it left-handed too.

I made a set of symmetrical wooden grips sculpted to fit both hands. Naturally the next step was to power it up and have some fun.

From what I learned at 10m, I decided to shoot at a reactive target in my 25 feet range in the garage. My average target size for pistols at 25 feet is the bottom of a pop can. Sometime for BB guns I have to use the pop can in its upright position but for some other airguns I can go even smaller than my average target size.

Typical of some older Crosman models (150, Mark I and now the 600) or newer like the 2240, tighter groups can be achieved (plastic cap of large juice bottle).

Maybe I was a bit ambitious but I decided my target of the day would be a beer bottle cap. I just punched a small hole with a nail so I could hang it up and I got started.

The shooting arrangement was as before: standing up, offhand and two-handed grip.

I would like to say that I put all my shots on my target but that would be a lie. What I can truly say is that I had a lot more hits than misses as proved by the mangled cap.

This is a purchase that I am very happy to have made and a nice addition to my collection.

R-Gun Pete

These are awesome guns. My 22 yo daughter is getting to be a pretty good shot with it, and believe it or not, my wife wants to try her hand at it.

Lucky you Grizzlypeg!

My wife is not interested at all.

My oldest son is more of the intellectual type. He is at the University and splits his time between studying and his gilr friend.

My youngest son is not very much in airguns for now, he prefers paintballing and going to the field with his friends. Its understandable, I was not hanging with my father either when I was a young pup.

What kind of airguns do you have? I understood that you have a 600 but are you in pistols, rifles or both?

Have a nice day.

R-Gun Pete