benjamin crosman eb17 co2 pistol review

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Picture courtesy of Bertie.

Average Ratings

Value for Money	8.8/10
Reviewer Rating	8.6/10
Overall Rating	8.8/10

88% Recommended7 out of 8 Reviews

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By jgriggs177 on 4th Dec 2005

jgriggs177's Ratings

Value for money	7/10
Overall value	7/10
jgriggs177's recommendation

Good Points

Looks nothing like a "real" handgun - this will appeal to some
Reasonable accuracy
As powerful as an air pistol gets
Great sound when fired indoors
Well built for the most part - all metal and wood construction

Bad Points

Poor trigger
Small grip
Rearmost frame screw will injure you if you don't file it down
Poor sights
Cocking bolt will injure you if you don't protect your fingers
Paint / Chrome finish not that tough
Random

General Comments

I bought the Benjamin Crosman EB17 Co2 Pistol (after much online research) for shooting at my local indoor ten metre range - the reviews I found suggested it was accurate, powerful (which seemed a good idea at the time), CO2 powered (which made it score higher in my mind than the reputedly hard to cock Wiehrauch HW40 pneumatic, and within my budget at around £105.

I'd ordered a Sheridan Prohunter in .177", but what actually arrived was a Benjamin EB-17 - which is totally identical as far as I can see - the only manufacturer name that appears on the pistol is Crosman anyway.

Something else that surprised me was just how small it is - an impression that isn't helped at all by how small the grip is when you actually pick it up. It's very narrow and not tall enough in my opinion. The latter could be "fixed" by taking the grips off & fashioning some spacers, but the grip is always going to be short. Think of it as a 3/4 scale grip & you'll get the idea.

A further problem with the grip is that there's a hex head screw underneath the end of the frame at the rear end of the grip: before firing the EB-17 you'd be well advised to attend to the rough edges with a small file or wet 'n' dry paper, as if not it'll soon wear a painful hole in the skin on the top of the web between thumb & trigger finger of your firing hand.



The small grip could be thought of a benefit for younger shooters, if it wasn't for fact I'm sure they'd be put off by the very stiff cocking action and very heavy trigger.

I found the best way to deal with the chafing that cocking will cause was to wrap masking tape around my index finder on my left hand, just in front of & just behind the middle knuckle, as it's the side of this finger that will bear the brunt of the abrasion from the knurled bolt.

I found the trigger something of a bar to accuracy - it's way too heavy and doesn't break cleanly, but I found that by taking off one of the hand grips it's possible to make a quick modification - ping one leg of the sear spring off the frame.
This makes the trigger somewhat lighter, without making the gun unsafe (use common sense if you try this yourself - make sure the gun is unloaded, uncocked & has no gas in it before you try this).



Loading a CO2 capsule is straightforward - unscrew the cap underneath the muzzle. As this brings your hand into close proximity with the end of the barrel, make sure the pistol is uncocked (if the bolt can be moved back without effort, with the gun pointing in a safe direction, keep a firm grip on the bolt, squeeze the trigger, and continue squeezing while easing the bolt forward), and apply the safety (the sliding cylinder behind the trigger hinge pin - the pistol is on "safe" when no red band is visible on the bar on the left side of the pistol).

Keeping the thread on the steel plug lubricated (I use "coppaslip" grease) is a good idea - thanks to the brass receiver, the thread can get gunked up quite quickly. If the plug were to get cross threaded, it would be the receiver that would suffer - it's the softer material of the two ... and isn't available as a replacement part.

Once you've inserted a standard 12g CO2 capsule, replace the cap & screw it up as tight as possible. I found that it was necessary to fire the pistol without loading any ammunition until I was sure that the gas was flowing correctly - it seems that the action of cocking pierces the capsule, and this doesn't always happen on the first attempt (this problem also seems to have got worse as the gun gets older). Furthermore, the amount of gas released the first time is around 1/2 what it should be: this will make you first shot slower (and the point of impact lower) than it should be.

Early in my EB-17's life, I found that there was a problem with the capsule seal - around 1 in every 3 capsules would spew their contents the second time the gun was cocked. This problem has lessened as the gun has got older, although perhaps this is down to me using higher quality gas capsules, and always applying silicone gun oil to the capsule - one drop on the end, and one on the neck.

CO2 capsules don't seem to last that long (no doubt due to the 5.5 ft/lb power) - 35 full power shots seems to be all you can reliably get, after that the gun gets less and less powerful. The power isn't completely consistent either - the first ten shots are very loud and powerful, but it drops somewhat after that ... in fact the 21st to 30th shot is where the pistol is at it's best - not so powerful, but much more manageable.



The sights on the EB-17 are on the small side, but more problematically, the rearsight is only adjustable for elevation ... and only over a short range. A lot of pistol shooting is done at close range (6 yards and/or 10 metres), only really stretching practically to twenty yards - it seems surprising then that the sights cannot be adjusted to use the pistol at the 6y/10m range - even at full downward deflection of the rearsight, shots still hit too high.
I had to modify the front sight (by extending the blade upwards) to set the sights properly for ten meters. Even after I'd done this, I was having to aim to one side, so I also modified the rearsight to allow windage adjustment, by filing off the part of the sight that stops it rotating in the receiver.



Accuracy is pretty good - I was regularly getting sub- two inch groups at ten metres, firing one handed. The only problem was that random "fliers" could often ruin an otherwise good grouping. When a poor shot is down to me (snatching at the trigger, twitching, distraction, etc) I admit it, but it can be very disappointing to see a shot go three inches away from where you aimed when you know your technique was good.

Accuracy is also affected by recoil - if you see an EB pistol being sold as "recoilless", don't believe it - there's an appreciable amount of muzzle flip, which amplifies the effect of the heavily sprung trigger and CO2 release mechanism. It's nowhere near as bad as your average springer pistol though.



Firing outdoors the EB-17 is not particularly loud, but on the indoor range it was very unusual for the EB-17 not to be the loudest gun there ... I know it's a little childish, but this did add to it's appeal - pulling out a mild looking pistol which makes a big bang is quite satisfying :D



After nearly a year of use, the woodwork is still as good as it ever was, but there are several chips in the paintwork allowing you to see the brass underneath - this is even with keeping the EB-17 stored in a foam lined case, and cosseting it with a couple of bar towels while on the range.





I know a lot of responses to these criticisms will be "well, it's not a target pistol ..." No it's not, but if a pistol doesn't perform well on the range, it won't in the field either. I'd hesitate to recommend the EB-17 - not because it's a bad gun, but because there are better options out there for the same money. Overall, the biggest problem is with the lack of sight adjustability - a pistol's natural range is a short one, but the EB-17's sights can't be adjusted for less than 20 yards. This means it's a poor choice for target shooting, and although it would be and ok choice for backyard plinking and CQB with rats, you'll have to aim low all the time if you want to hit anything without making modifications.

Total Respect: +3