Crosman Nitro Venom

[jh45gun]

Nice air gun for the money. I think the gas ram is easier to shoot than a Springer. I have not shot it a lot yet but what I have is impressive. It is a 177 and it likes the Crosman 10.5 gr domed pellets and the JSB Exact Monster Diablo 13.4 gr. pellets.

[jh45gun]

Only reason I bought it was an other alternative instead of 22lr. Not that I don't have no ammo I refuse to shoot up what I have. I wonder how many air rifles have been sold in the past couple years for that reason.

[Silverboolit]

I have one of these in .22. Great gun. I did replace the trigger with the CDT one and it made a major improvement.

[rking22]

Only reason I bought it was an other alternative instead of 22lr. Not that I don't have no ammo I refuse to shoot up what I have. I wonder how many air rifles have been sold in the past couple years for that reason.
I hear you, I have plenty of 22Ammo, but have "slowed down" on consumption due to replacement cost. Also that piston gun will make you a better shot. Follow thru is manatory with any air gun and moreso with piston guns. Same with a flint gun, learn to shoot it well and cartridge guns get easy!
Enjoy our new hobby, bet it wont be the only airgun you have a year from now :)

[Ithaca Gunner]

I dusted off mine yesterday, shot 15 pellets through it and put it back in the closet. 3" groups at 25yds just doesn't do much for me since I got my RWS and am used to 3/4-1" groups at that range.

[dtknowles]

I dusted off mine yesterday, shot 15 pellets through it and put it back in the closet. 3" groups at 25yds just doesn't do much for me since I got my RWS and am used to 3/4-1" groups at that range.

3 inch groups at 25 yards is useless, needs to go out the door not in the closet.

Tim

[Silverboolit]

Ithaca Gunner...Want to sell it? I may be interested in a project to work on.

[jh45gun]

Try different pellets. Heavier is usually better.

[gloob]

I seem to be able to hold minute of 12 gauge hull at about 20 yards with mine. Out of the 3 pellets I have used, the regular Crosman Premiers shoot the best out of my .22. I don't shoot it all that much, but it has held its POA in the 3 or 4 years I have had it, once it was broken in.

For the money, I feel like it has been worth it. I wanted to try the Nitro Piston and get it relatively cheap. But if I could go back in time, I would probably just have gotten a Beeman R8, or something like that. The Venom is still pretty loud, and the only other really nice feature aside from the Nitro Piston is the integral picatinny rail. The rest is a bit lacking.

The trigger can be fixed, but there's only so much you can do with the stock. It has the fattest, most uncomfortable rifle grip I have ever felt, and the brown paint on the stock is a bit disappointing. It took me 6 hours to sand off the paint and finish carving out the grip. If I had to do it again, yeah, I'd just buy a Beeman. It probably doesn't help that in hindsight, I prefer open sights for this kind of rifle.


Only reason I bought it was an other alternative instead of 22lr.
A lot of folks are in the same boat. I have shot my 22LR once in the last two years! But rather than shooting my air guns more, I have found my perfect plinking gun is really a small 223 bolt rifle. It's smaller, lighter, and more accurate with cast bullets than my Venom, and my 6 cavity Bator mold keeps it fed at close to the market cost of 22LR. It doesn't hurt that I'm sitting on a couple thousand 223 cases.

[jh45gun]

Some thoughts. Many pellet rifles need a break in period of at least a 100 shots or so to settle in. Some don't
Mine appears to shoot well out of the box. Artillery hold is recommended for shooting spring pellet rifles. If you don't know what it is look it up. Shooting pellet rifles from what I have read definitely has a learning curve. Yes the triggers on many are not near a target trigger just a long second stage trigger. I got used to it easy enough.

[gloob]

I finally found my card reader. Here are some pics of my Venom as a natural blonde. I'm usually partial to brunettes. But in my experience, when a wood stock is painted brown, it's because the wood won't take a stain, evenly. So I omitted the stain and just gave it an oil finish.
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/DSC_1773_zpsmsbpwwfc.jpg

I reduced the angle and thickness of the grip with a carving knife, particularly on the left side. This asymmetrical diet plan preserves the trigger angle and reach to where I wanted it.
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/DSC_1778_zpsioi6siy4.jpg

Scooped some extra thumb relief on the right side. Didn't remove quite all of the "checkering".
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv241/gloob27x/DSC_1779_zpsyhhvxuvn.jpg

It's still far from perfect, but it doesn't feel quite as much like a 12th century ballista, anymore.

I have long planned to route out the forestock to hold a flush mounted 5 rd pellet holder. Maybe sometime soon.

[gloob]

I just shot for the first time since a tune-up. Swapped out for brass washers and also messed with the live jam some more after finding some vertical play had returned.

I forgot my shooting chair, so I shot seated on the ground from 19 yards in near dark, with just a porch light glaring into my eye more than onto the target.

After adjusting more than 80 clicks down (!), I finally got a couple groups on paper. First was 1/2", which brightened my eye... but I can only find 4 holes. I might have counted wrong. So I lined up 5 pellets and did another string that measured .77". Both groups were pretty circular, well dispersed, without any wild flyers. I can reasonably take responsibility for a lot of the group size. I was interrupted twice on the second string when the target fell down, and the crosshairs were fading in and out the whole time. Under the circumstances, I don't think I could have shot much better with anything... other than benefitting from a larger objective and a lighted reticle.

I shot a group a little over 1" the other week from a more stable position and much better light. I'm pretty happy with the tune-up, and judging how high the gun was shooting as well as how tight it feels, I think it's safe to say I tightened up the lockup quite a bit.

In all I spent about 20 min installing the washers and maybe an hour messing with the live jam. I haven't even touched the trigger, yet. :)