Crosman Trail 'nitro piston' non pal

fat tony

fat tony

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I heard these were 'pretty good' rifles, but the trigger on them is very crude. It's like a single stage trigger with an incredibly long travel, which is one of the drawbacks of them. In NS, you can only use air rifles for range use (rolleyes). I have also heard with the right licensing, you may be able to use them for such uses as farm pest destruction. A more heavy duty gun like a Weihrauch is probably more practical for that use though.

I am mainly interested in shooting tests of the .22 non pal version.

Thanks, Tony
 
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I actually dropped the piston on a pellet or two, I really liked the let off with no twang as compared to a Crosman Phantom non pal, which is exactly the same as the Pal version except for the detuned piston. The only drawback to the Trail I is the trigger, so I might have to pick one up someday. :p
 
I bought one a while ago from CT and love it. I did replace the trigger with a grt-III and it works great. I try to keep my shots to 10-15m as I feel that it lacks power for reliable take down beyond that. A thread I posted a little while ago shows the groupings of three different pellets I tried.

I also tried to order a up rated piston for it to get it over the 500 limit, but the only service listed on their web site is out in Quebec and they would only send me a sub 500 piston for some reason. I think now though that if I am going to get a pal airgun it will be a pcp.

~C~
 
mephiskapheles6 said:
I bought one a while ago from CT and love it. I did replace the trigger with a grt-III and it works great. I try to keep my shots to 10-15m as I feel that it lacks power for reliable take down beyond that. A thread I posted a little while ago shows the groupings of three different pellets I tried.

I also tried to order a up rated piston for it to get it over the 500 limit, but the only service listed on their web site is out in Quebec and they would only send me a sub 500 piston for some reason. I think now though that if I am going to get a pal airgun it will be a pcp.

~C~
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scopesandammo.com will sells you any crosman parts you need. I think you might need a new spring too, ask the owner, he knows his stuff.
 
Nitrogen experiences less pressure change with temperature swings, that is why they are using it in tyres. I have not noticed any significant change in power during the winter with my rifle.

I did contact airgun source (a local shop to me) about a new piston, but they asked me to contact gravel industries to get a part number for it so they could order it and I have yet to hear back from them with a part number, I believe scopes and ammo asked that I do the same...I will have to check my email as it was a while ago that I asked that question and have kinda lost interest in up grading this rifle.
 
mephiskapheles6 said:
Nitrogen experiences less pressure change with temperature swings, that is why they are using it in tyres. I have not noticed any significant change in power during the winter with my rifle.

I did contact airgun source (a local shop to me) about a new piston, but they asked me to contact gravel industries to get a part number for it so they could order it and I have yet to hear back from them with a part number, I believe scopes and ammo asked that I do the same...I will have to check my email as it was a while ago that I asked that question and have kinda lost interest in up grading this rifle.
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Are you sure about S&A asking your for part number? They have the kit ready to go on their website: http://scopesandammo.com/storefront...an-nitro-venomlegacy-shockey-repair-kit-p-837 I'm not sure how the sub 500 nitro guns are detuned, but if it's same as spring version, plug the hole on piston without change the spring will get you 600ish fps, whereas changing both will get you 700ish fps.

As far as nitrogen goes, all gas follows the same law of physics, the reason it's used in tires I believe is the tanked stuff has no moisture in it which can wreck havoc to pressure when temperature changes rapidly (i.e. airplane landing gear and race cars). I recall pyramyd air has done a test on it actually, don't remember the result though.
 
Just checked, it was another company that wanted a part number before they would order the part for me...how odd. I have contacted S&A to see if I can get one there.

The NP is not detuned as far as I can tell. I did look for a hole in the piston to plug but I could not find one. As far as I know it is the piston itself that is detuned with less internal pressure. The ones I have can fairly easily be compressed with my body weight against a solid surface, the 900 fps piston cannot be so easily compressed I am told.
 
mephiskapheles6 said:
Just checked, it was another company that wanted a part number before they would order the part for me...how odd. I have contacted S&A to see if I can get one there.

The NP is not detuned as far as I can tell. I did look for a hole in the piston to plug but I could not find one. As far as I know it is the piston itself that is detuned with less internal pressure. The ones I have can fairly easily be compressed with my body weight against a solid surface, the 900 fps piston cannot be so easily compressed I am told.
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I can barely make the full power piston rod move with my full body weight, you probably need a spring compressor to put it back in (a big F clamp would work).
 
jzmtl said:
I can barely make the full power piston rod move with my full body weight, you probably need a spring compressor to put it back in (a big F clamp would work).
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The Nitro pistons don't have much pre-load on them. There is maybe about 1/4" you have to compress, at least the ones I have seen.
 
fat tony said:
I heard these were 'pretty good' rifles, but the trigger on them is very crude. It's like a single stage trigger with an incredibly long travel, which is one of the drawbacks of them. In NS, you can only use air rifles for range use (rolleyes). I have also heard with the right licensing, you may be able to use them for such uses as farm pest destruction. A more heavy duty gun like a Weihrauch is probably more practical for that use though.

I am mainly interested in shooting tests of the .22 non pal version.

Thanks, Tony
Click to expand...

Install a GRT-III trigger and the Crosman will feel way better
 
Woody-to said:
The Nitro pistons don't have much pre-load on them. There is maybe about 1/4" you have to compress, at least the ones I have seen.
Click to expand...

Yep they have very little preload, but the only way you can make them move that 1/4" is with a clamp lol. You'll notice it when cocking it too, the resistance is about the same from start to finish whereas spring is very easy at first.
 
jzmtl said:
Yep they have very little preload, but the only way you can make them move that 1/4" is with a clamp lol. You'll notice it when cocking it too, the resistance is about the same from start to finish whereas spring is very easy at first.
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No clamp needed when I did it (more than once). I have been working on guns for years, have never used a compressor. Toughest was a Diana 34, that was one good wrestling match.

Get a good set of punches, use a tapered punch to get eveything ligned up, easy peasy. The Nitro Pistons is even easier, the 1/4 is not hard at all, put end against floor or table, put a towel or something at other end to protect your chest. Push down with all your weight with gun against your chest. Line everything up and put in your pin.
 
Well I got the upgrade parts installed last night. I did not get a chance to sight in or put some shots through my crono but everything went well. Just a note of interest, the upgraded piston is 45mm shorter than the original one, this threw me for a bit of a loop. After contacting S&A to verify I got the right upgrade kit, I put it all together and it worked like a charm...now the barrel breaks to an acute angle before it cocks as opposed to the obtuse angle it did before.

Thnkx S&A for the speedy delivery of the kit and the friendly email responses to my questions.
 
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