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Crosman 1077 AirSource
Just when you thought they couldn't make it any better

By Tom Gaylord
exclusively for PyramydAir.com. © Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved

More: Crosman 1077 review by BB Pelletier

The 1077 with the AirSource adapter makes a very versatile sporting airgun. It has accuracy and can use either 12-gram powerlets or the new 88-gram AirSource tanks that give hundreds of shots.

Every so often a product that is just about perfect hits the market, and this is a report about one of them. Crosman has been making their 1077, which is a .177-caliber copy of Ruger's popular 10/22 semiauto rifle, for many years. It's a 12-shot repeater that features a large rapid-change magazine, an integral scope-mount rail and fine accuracy - all for a terrific price.

You would think they had taken the design as far as possible. But, a few years ago, some outside shops began making the rifle even better by adding an external paintball tank. Instead of the 50 shots the rifle normally gets from a 12-gram powerlet, the gun gets over 300 shots from a 3.5-ounce refillable tank. If the owner is set up to recharge the external tank at home, the cost of shooting drops to just slightly more than pellets alone, because CO2 gas can be purchased in bulk for very little.

There is historical precedence for this conversion. In the 1940s, Crosman manufactured its own series of bulk-fill rifles named CG, for compressed gas. They used 4-z. CO2 canisters originally designed to inflate large life rafts during WWII. The rifles were pneumatic models that had their valves adapted to the lower pressure of CO2.

These guns were made in both .22 caliber and a proprietary .21 caliber that never caught on. Today, Crosman CGs are a collector's delight, but now you can own the same thing in a modern 1077 without the collector's premium.

In the 1940s, Crosman adapted their pneumatic rifle to use a 4-oz. CO2 tank. In those days, the owner of the gun had to refill his own tanks. This is the collectible compressed gas gun, or just CG.

Airgun enthusiasts have been converting the 1077 to accept a small paintball tank for years. The layout of the gun bears a strong resemblance to the older CG. Crosman borrowed this great idea for their AirSource device.

Let's take a look

The 1077 is a .177-caliber repeating air rifle. It's constructed of many plastic parts, but they're made from tough engineering-type plastics also used in some firearms. The barrel is a well-rifled tube that gives accuracy in the quarter-inch range at 10 meters (33 feet). That puts the 1077 on a par with the finest Spanish sporting air rifles costing several hundred dollars.

A magazine within a magazine. The round 12-shot magazine fits into the larger boxy magazine, which then fits into the 1077. This arrangement makes the rifle easy to load and unload. Part of the firing mechanism is inside the magazine, so the rifle's trigger performance will change with each magazine you install. Over time, the mechanism wears in to a smooth double-action pull in all the magazines.

The magazine system requires an explanation because there are two separate parts. A large box fits easily into the rifle's action and a separate cylinder loaded with 12 pellets fits inside the box. You first load the cylinder with pellets, then insert it into the magazine box and lock it down. The large size of the box makes loading the rifle a breeze. The 1077 is actually a revolver. Each pull of the trigger not only fires the gun, it also advances the cylinder to the next pellet. This gives the shooter a rapid-fire capability without costly mechanisms, but it also adds some weight and length to the trigger pull. The trigger behaves like a revolver trigger. As you squeeze it, it travels back to a certain point where it seems to stop. With the addition of more force, the trigger breaks crisply and the rifle fires.

The open sights are conventional post and notch, with a bead on the front post. The front sight has recently been upgraded with TruGlo fiber optics, so under many lighting conditions, the bead glows bright green. The post that houses the green dot is larger and squared off on top, so precision shooting is also possible. The rear notch seems to be the same size as the front post, so there is no light on either side of the post when taking aim at a bullseye.

The front sight has a TruGlo fiber-optic tube that gathers light to make sight acquisition fast whenever the light hits it.

The rear sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation, so some pretty good shooting is possible with what comes on the gun. However, many owners will upgrade to red-dot sights or a scope.

My advice for a scope is to use one with low magnification, like 4x. That will give you a wide viewing area for faster target acquisition. Of course, a dot sight can be even faster under some circumstances, but there is seldom any magnification at all. Remember - this is a fast-shooting airgun, and you'll rapidly move from target to target much of the time. I mounted a Leapers Compact scope on the test rifle. Its small size and light weight compliment the gun without overpowering it, and the cost is very reasonable.

How much power?

The 1077 is CO2-powered. CO2 performs within a narrow range of possible power. With a barrel length of about 20", the rated velocity is 625 f.p.s. using a light- to medium-weight .177 pellet (6.5 to 8 grains). That will increase with lighter ammo, such as the Skenco lead-free 5.9-grain pellet. It will also increase in warm weather - like on 90+ degree days.
You can slow things down with heavy pellets like the Baracuda/Kodiak (10.6 grains) and by shooting in cold weather (below 70 degrees F). Below 40 degrees F, however, the rifle's velocity really drops off, as does any CO2 gun.

How accurate?

The rifle can be sighted-in to hit a dime reliably at 30 feet. At 60 feet, an American quarter stands no chance. A quarter is almost one inch in diameter, so use that as a guide. This is about the maximum accuracy you can expect from the rifle, and it will take a scope sight to get it. With open sights, expect your groups to be at least one-third larger.

Hunting?

The 1077 is not meant for hunting. It will kill mice reliably at ranges to 20 yards, but let that be the largest animal you go after. And, please don't try to "sting" animals with it. With the velocity it has, a shot out to 100 feet is almost guaranteed to penetrate the skin of any animal, so a hit would be torture. This is a fun sporting airgun, to be used on all sorts of action targets, cans and paper bullseye targets.

Something really special!

The 1077 has been around for many years, and all that time it's used 12-gram powerlets. This year, though, Crosman has REALLY improved it by adding their AirSource system. Remember the aftermarket conversions to bulk CO2 tanks that I mentioned earlier? With AirSource, Crosman now gives you that and more. You don't need to spend the extra $100 to buy refill equipment, because Crosman sells the AirSource tanks already filled! Each tank holds 88 grams (3.1 ozs.) of liquid CO2. A regular powerlet holds 12 grams. Twelve goes into 88 about 7.33 times. If you multiply the 50 shots a powerlet gets by that number, you get 366 shots. So, the claim of up to 400 shots per tank with this system seems very reasonable. The tanks are sold in packages of two.

The 88-gram AirSource tanks come two to a package and hold a lot more CO2 than the standard 12-gram powerlet. Crosman sets the gun up to work with either one, so you're never far from what you need.

AirSource and adapter

Another benefit of the AirSource system for the 1077 is a shutoff valve in the adapter that lets you remove the unit with gas still in the system. The rifle can then be safely stored without gas. Put the Crosblock trigger lock on the trigger and no unauthorized shooting can occur. The AirSource system can be stored indefinitely with the gas valve closed until you are ready to shoot again.

With the rifle comes the standard fill cap that holds one 12-gram powerlet in place. There's also an adapter for the large AirSource tank. At the bottom of the adapter, a valve allows the shooter to shut off the gas supply and take the tank off the gun while still partially filled. Crosman also chose to let the big tank serve as the rifle's forearm, instead of hanging straight down the way the CG rifles and the conversion guns did it.

This new model 1077 will also function with a regular powerlet. That's what's so great about the new model - you can make it work however you choose! If you have AirSource tanks, you can use them; if you have powerlets, use them. Conversion takes just seconds. This gives you the best of both worlds, something the aftermarket bulk conversions did not allow.

The 1077 was already a lot of airgun before this change. Now it's a classic. If you do a lot of backyard plinking, you'll want to consider having one or more 1077s with AirSource adapters in your collection.


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