by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
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Crosman 600 CO2 pellet pistol.
This report covers:
- Feeding problems?
- Crosman Premiers
- JSB Exact RS
- RWS Hobbys
- Shot count
- What we have
Today is the day we discover the health of my new/old Crosman 600. Since I first filled it I have been keeping it filled and shooting several shots each day to keep the mechanism in good working condition.
Feeding problems?
Crosman 600s can be fussy about the pellets they will feed. I’ve had a few that would swallow anything put into them and others that only wanted one or two pellets. When that happens you’d better hope the pellets that feed are also accurate. Let’s get started.
This particular gun wants to be cocked before the CO2 cartridge is pierced. That is due to the design of the valve. Most guns need to be cocked first but some don’t don’t. It’s a good habit to get into with a 600. Slide the cocking button back until the sear catches and you’re good to go.
Crosman Premiers
I loaded 11 Crosman Premiers first. They drop one at a time into the front of the magazine tube with the follower pulled back and locked. Tilt the muzzle up and they slide back. Ten pellets will fit, but with some pellets like Premiers you get one extra.
Premiers fed fine except for one pellet fourth from the end that jumped out of the mag and jammed the feed. Once I pushed it back in, it fed fine. There were no other feeding problems with this pistol.
Image may be NSFW.
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This is what the pellets look like in the magazine. These are Hobbys.
Eleven Premiers averaged 390 f.p.s. the low was 385 and the high was 395 f.p.s., so only a 10 foot per second spread. This is about the velocity I predicted for the pistol. I waited at least 10 seconds between shots to keep the gun from cooling too much.
JSB Exact RS
Next up were the lighter JSB Exact RS domes. Like the Premiers, 11 of them fit in the magazine tube. At 13.43 grains I expected them to be faster than the Premiers but they weren’t. They averaged 376 f.p.s. and the spread went from a low of 354 to a high of 402 f.p.s., so a 98 f.p.s. spread. That’s not very impressive.
RWS Hobbys
The next and last pellet I tried was the lightweight RWS Hobby. These have always fed well for me in 600s and this time was no exception. But the gun was also running out of gas. I loaded 10 pellets but had to drop 2 out of the magazinewhen I saw the velocity dropping fast. I will explain why.
Instead of giving an average velocity for the RWS Hobby, I will show you the velocities of each pellet in succession, from 1 to 8.
Shot Vel
1…………..358
2…………..344
3…………..331
4…………..319
5…………..302
6…………..284
7…………..260
8…………..250 dump
Whenever you see a linear velocity drop like this you know the gun is out of liquid CO2 and running on residual gas. In a 600 that’s dangerous, because this gun will jam in a heartbeat. Someone asked me about the steel rod in the box with the gun — with the 600, you need it!
Don’t play around like I just did. When you see the velocity falling off, or hear it, stop shooting immediately and unload the magazine. It isn’t easy, but it’s easier than unjamming the mechanism when pellets get stuck.
Incidentally, the word “dump” after the eight shot means the pistol automatically dumped the remaining gas after that shot. In a typical Crosman 600 fashion, it went full auto for a couple shots and was out of gas. This pistol is notorious for going fiull auto when the gas pressure drops.
Shot count
The Crosman 600 is a gas hog because the semiautomatic mechanism goes through gas fast. Just to demonstrate that I’m right about the gas pressure, I installed a fresh CO2 cartridge and fired another Hobby pellet. This one went out at 408 f.p.s., which is about where it should be.
Based on these results, I would say there are 25 good shots in a single CO2 cartridge with this gun. Shot number 4 in the string above was the 25th shot for the first cartridge.
Trigger pull
The single-stage trigger has a lot of travel, but breaks at 2 lbs. 5 oz. If you ever feel one you will be amazed!
What we have
This Crosman 600 is performing exactly as expected. It gets 25 good shots that are mostly in the high 300 f.p.s. range. It feeds many pellets well.
I will continue to test it exactly as I received it. Yes, it is possible to boost the power and, yes, you can run the gun on bulk CO2 for a lot less money, but there is nothing wrong with the gun the way it is now.
I will leave the gun under pressure at all times, because that is what a 600 wants. I will put it somewhere I can quickly grab it to fire off a couple shots now and then. A 600 needs to be used regularly to stay in top condition.