Crosman 2260 Rabbitstopper Review

Overall Rating

The Crosman 2260 (Rabbitstopper in the UK) is loosely copied from the classic Crosman 160 CO2 rifle. Both are .22 calibre, CO2 powered airguns with rifled steel barrels and bolt-action loading and cocking.

The newer model, the 2260, incorporates features that save money for Crosman during manufacturing, and compromise the experience of owning and shooting the rifle. The old 160, for example, had a vastly superior trigger and sear assembly, a steel breach, steel sights (and the rear sight was mounted midway between the shooter's eye and the front sight, instead of right back on the breach as with the 2260 - more on this later).

Luckily, this is still an outstanding platform, and an excellent rifle, even if it is not strictly an improvement on the breed.

The stock is basic, but is nicely formed "American hardwood" (Crosman's words)and the inletting on most examples is accomplished very competently**. The stock is solid, but light, and the entire rifle weighs less than 3 kilos (about 6 pounds). The 24" barrel would be out of place on a heavier gun, but the overall lightness and otherwise "compactness" of the 2260 make it very nimble and easy to point.
**Some early production stocks had off-centre inletting, but Crosman has a superb customer service department, and they will gladly help owners out with quality control issues like these.

Pellets are fed singly using a bolt and trough arrangement. The bolts are sealed at the rear by an O-ring. The standard production 2260 has a plastic breach which, while capable, is disappointing. If for no other reason, it makes it difficult to mount a scope, as there are no dovetails in the plastic (special "intermounts" can be purchased from Crosman to mount scopes to the barrel...). Crosman does produce an upmarket SE model with a longer steel breach that is dovetailed. This not only allows the owner to mount a variety of scopes or sights, it provides a better port seal by allowing a tighter attachment to the gas tube, and incorporates a longer bolt probe for better seating of pellets in the bore. It also supports the breech end of the barrel much better than the plastic (utilizing both a better metal-to-metal fit and set screws). In fact, the longer steel breach holds the barrel so securely, the owner can remove the barrel band from the front of the gas tube - this "free floated" barrel then does not receive stresses from the gas tube or stock changing shape and size slightly in different temperature and humidity conditions (remember, the gas tube is full of CO2, and will very quickly cool down when shooting).

The 2260 can be expected to shoot standard (~14.3 grain) .22 pellets at around 500 fps (for around 8 fpe). Greater velocities can be attained by working on the valve, using stronger hammer springs (or heavier hammers), and by opening up ("flow-porting") the exhaust port of the valve. All of these procedures will result in using much, much more CO2, though.

One complaint voiced by lots of shooters is that the trigger on the 2260 is too stiff. As stock, I agree - but it is pretty easy to tune, there are a multitude of articles online addressing this. While stiff, the trigger is not "bad", and it does smooth out over time as parts wear upon one another. This is true of almost all airguns (and absolutely all airguns in this price range) and is a minor complaint.

Since the power comes from CO2, there is almost no recoil when firing (what very little there is can be attributed to the movement of the hammer, which knocks open the valve). As such, this rifle is very accurate with good pellets and good shooting technique. The barrels are not match-quality, but they are generally well made with good rifling**. **New owners would be well advised to check the crown on the muzzle and to check that the bore is concentric to the barrel.

The sights included with the rifle are pretty basic, and honestly, rather bad. Both front and rear are plastic. The front is a nonadjustable ramp and post, incorporating a fibre-optic bead. The rear is very limited in adjustment in any direction, such adjustments accomplished by loosening a tiny screw and bodging the sight in the appropriate direction by guesswork or trial-and-error. As mentioned briefly earlier, the rear sight assembly sits altogether too far back on the receiver, which makes proper focusing on the sight notch, front blade, and target virtually impossible. As this is an inherently accurate platform, it simply begs for better sights. With a higher front sight, a diopter rear would yield spectacular results... As it is, the rifle is best served by mounting a target scope. As there is no appreciable recoil, even a budget scope will be excellent, as long as it gives a clear image and has no parallax issues (can focus at short, "airgun" ranges of 10 meters or so). Crosman often bundles a very nice 4x32 scope and rings with many of their guns, and these are quite adequate for CO2 or pneumatic guns (they are too weak for extended service on spring-piston guns, however). For the 2260, the Crosman 4x32 Centerpoint scope and medium mounts is superb (as long as you have a steel breach with dovetails to mount them on!).

For the price (less than $100 here in the USA), this is an outstanding buy.

Members' Comments oncole5169's Review

• backgardener on 31st Jul 2009

  The peephole sight gives me just as good accuracy at air rifle ranges of 10-15m as a low magnification telescopic sight. The big advantage of the peephole sight is that you look through the hole at the front sight and the eye automatically finds the correct lineup.The hole itself does not have to be in focus you only need to be able to see through it. It is not possible to focus 2" in front of your eye as well as the front sight 24" away and the target, as with the notch sight. Hence the advantage of the peephole mounted at the end of the breech close to the eye giving a great lineup. It may be simple and basic but works just fine and is highly accurate.