How many of you remember your first BB gun and maybe later a pellet rifle? My first was a Daisy lever BB rifle, but my first gun of any real power was a Benjamin pneumatic pump pellet rifle. If I pumped it eight times it would dump even a Texas Jackrabbit with a well placed pellet. Lots of squirrels, rabbits, rats along with other pests and vermin fell to that little rifle. I do not even know what happened to it but I have wished many times I still had it.
I have been watching for some kind of pistol I could carry on river fishing trips to take out the odd snake or shoot a frog for the pan when needed. Even though I often carry a side arm I need something not quite so loud that would not spoil the quiet and solitude of the river like a large caliber pistol. I also wanted something that could be carried without worrying about the expense if something happens to it on the river. While Christmas shopping for my grandson and nephew I ran across an inexpensive pump pellet pistol made by Crosman Company which also manufactures the Benjamin pump rifle which is today’s representative of the old Benjamin I carried all those years ago. The pistol is the 1377 model pneumatic pump also known as the American Classic pellet pistol. It is a light weight pump pistol with a 10.25 inch barrel. The whole package is about 13.6 inches long and will stow in my boat easily. It comes in .177 caliber pellet and with a full load of 10 pumps will shoot around 600 fps depending on pellet weight. The .177 caliber pneumatic air pistol features a single-action bolt design for easier cocking and loading, a rifled steel barrel for accuracy and an easy-pump forearm for variable pump power. The 1377 features a fully adjustable rear peep or open sights and a fixed blade front. The variable pump power lets you control the velocity for whatever shooting you are doing
The little gun is extremely accurate and I can place five shots in a cluster, that can be covered with a quarter, at 10 yards without much trouble. This gun cost me $49.99 at my local Academy Sports store. A tin of 250 .177 caliber hollow point pellets was $2.49 so shooting will be inexpensive. Since it is a pneumatic pump there is no need to buy Co2 cartridges, only pellets and my own manpower to pump the pistol for each shot.
There is a complete industry based on after market accessories for Crosman airguns and you can modify them to unbelievable extremes if you desire to do so. You can even buy a shoulder stock to turn it into a legal short barrel carbine as it is not classed as a firearm by law. I plan on putting a steel breech on this one and converting it to .22 caliber pellet so I can have a little more knock down power. I want the steel breech as it is grooved for mounting optics and I want to put a holographic reflex type sight on it for my ageing eyes. This is one little pellet gun I plan on keeping and even passing on to someone someday. Go get one for you and the kid inside you, Wild Ed
