Crosman 781 Review

“I picked up the Crosman 781 as a step up from my old...”

Written on: 12/09/2004 by Jagori (1 review written)

Good Points
Inexpensive; light; shoots BBs and pellets; simple to use; short time interval between shots

Bad Points
Too light to keep steady; fit is completely unadjustable (and it doesn't fit me); not the most accurate out there

General Comments
I picked up the Crosman 781 as a step up from my old Daisy Buck. It's decent, but since buying it as a step up from 'toy' airguns, I realize that I didn't take a big enough step. Not that I regret buying it; it's just that the difference between it and my old gun was immediately noticeable, and it got me wanting something that's another step better. To elaborate:



Pros:

The gun cost me $60 Canadian. I would have expected to pay at least $100 or more for a gun like this. Maybe that's not saying much, but this gun is CHEAP and it shoots decently. Not great, but decent, and definitely worth the cost.



The fact that it shoots BBs as well as pellets is good for my purpose, since half the time I'm shooting at pop cans, and the other half at scoring targets. It's quick to shoot because it's single-pump powered, and because of the 5-shot pellet clip/20 shot BB magazine. This, combined with the gun's lightness (under 3 pounds) makes it a fun gun to take out to the acreage.



Cons:

The lightness of the gun is due to the lack of barrel weight plus the hollow stock. This makes it awkwardly balanced and hard to keep the gun steady, as small muscle contractions aren't damped out. At 10 meters, I can keep the crosshair inside a 1" circle when shooting offhand. Off the bench, this gun groups 1/2" to 3/4" at 10 yards, and seems to have a lot of fliers. Not awful, but it definitely won't do for competition.



Overall, the gun is great for the reason I bought it - to head out to the acreage with my friends and shoot cans. It's accurate enough that it gave me a taste of competition shooting, but not accurate enough to be a competition gun. When I bought it, I had no idea that I'd be getting interested in competition, though, so maybe that's unfair to say. Either way, I'll have to pick up something else while I save up for an Anschutz :)