Benjamin Crosman EB17 Co2 Pistol Review

Overall Rating

Powerful, Accurate, Fit and Finish

Low Cartridge Life, Rear Sight, Trigger

I purchased the Benjamin Crosman EB17 Co2 Pistol after reading the reviews on several sites, and on the recommendation of a friend. I paid $89 US for the pistol at a local sporting-goods establishment, and was immediately impressed by the quality of the fit and finish. There is not a single piece of plastic that I can locate on this pistol, and the metal components are machined very nicely. The casting that forms the grip frame and the trigger guard is slightly rough in two places, but not excessively. The wood grip panels are beautiful, and match up with the grip frame very well.

Loading is quite easy, simply rotate the bolt knob on the back of the pistol and pull it back until a double 'click' is heard. You can then release it and load a pellet into the opened chamber. Return the bolt forward and rotate it to lock the breach.

Some of the reviews here have mentioned the rear sights on this pistol, and I must say they are correct. The rear sight will not adjust downward far enough to place the shot correctly at ten meters. However, the offset is predictable, and it is not difficult to simply alter your hold position to compensate. The trigger pull is rather long and has two distinct steps, but the release is consistent and predictable. I think the two-step element might be correctable with disassembly and some gun grease applied to the correct places, but I have not had a chance to try this yet.

The complaint about the setscrew on the back underside of the frame is not endemic to the pistol series as far as I can tell, I did not even notice its presence until it was mentioned here, even after several hundred shots. The bolt knob is knurled for a better grip, and after about a hundred shots it begins to abrade the skin on the thumb of the cocking hand, but this is corrected by the simple expedient of wearing shooter's gloves.

The grips are smaller than most airguns I have used in the past, but are comfortable to hold. I suspect that they would indeed be perfect for a shooter with a smaller sized hand; my mother and sister appreciate the smaller cross-section.

Thus far I have only had the chance to fire my pistol at ten and fifteen meter ranges, and in both cases the rested accuracy was very good, averaging a five-centimeter diameter at ten meters, and a five-centimeter diameter at fifteen when rested on a sandbag. For these tests, I used Beeman wadcutter pellets and Crossman Supermatch. I also tested Gamo pointed field pellets, but they did not perform as well in terms of accuracy as the former two.

Finally, the CO2 cartridge life is short, to the order of 30-35 full power shots, and the pistol is fairly noisy, but not excessively so. I accept the low life of the cartridges as the price for the gun's high power, and I do not consider it a concern.

Overall, for the money, I am well pleased with this pistol in terms of accuracy, handling, finish, and power. There are some corrections Crossman could make in the area of the sights and the trigger, but they are not too severe, and do not detract at all from the enjoyment of this fine air arm.