The Crosman P1322 I recently ordered from ebay.
Getting Started With Airguns and Firearms
The Pew
It all began when I was but a wee child. We lived high up in mountains in rural Arizona. There wasn't a whole lot to do other than go play outside. And there was space to roam.
My earliest adventures came in the form of following my older brothers out into the woods to do some rabbit or bird hunting, to build forts or to look for artifacts, like arrowheads and pottery shards, left behind long ago by the native peoples of the region.
An older brother would almost always bring their BB gun or pellet gun along, in case we saw some small game or needed some form of protection. We were often successful on our hunting trips and brought the meat back to the house for dinner, which we skinned and cleaned and usually cooked ourselves.
Even though I didn't own my own gun at the time, I had ample opportunity to shoot, and my brothers and I developed good skill with the tools we had.
A close-up of the bolt, handle and trigger of the Crosman P1322.
Then we moved from Arizona to Oregon when I was seven years old. And when I turned eight, I was eligible for a gifted BB gun for my birthday as many of my brothers had received before me. I made it very clear to my parents that my intention was to get my own BB gun and thankfully they were able to deliver that highly anticipated gift on my eight birthday. It was a little Crosman pump BB/Pellet rifle. Wish I still had the thing as a keepsake. Not sure what ever became of it.
I shot that BB gun in my back yard or down at the creek, just out of town. Again, I like to think I became very skilled in the use of this tool and enjoyed being able to accurately hit my targets.
The Crosman 1322 Air Pistol - An Accurate and Powerful Choice
One of my older brothers had a Crosman 1322 pump pistol, like the one in the photo above. It was a slightly different looking version of this same pistol. It had "wood" colored composite handle and pump and the "bolt" was different. What made this pellet pistol particularly interesting to me at the time was that it shot a .22 caliber pellet.
In fact, my mind was blown when I realized that not all pellet guns are .177 caliber. The larger pellet was harder-hitting than the .177 caliber and penetrated the various targets I shot at quite impressively. It also took down birds and rabbits much more handily.
I offered to buy the pellet gun from my brother. He had purchased it used for something like $15.00 (this was in the 90's) and didn't use it much any more as far as I knew. I was surprised when he declined my offer. He knew the value in what he had. I don't know if he has it any more. I sure hope so.
Needless to say I shot this pellet gun often and really enjoyed it. For some reason when I moved away from home, I kind of just figured that I would never get another chance to shoot one like this again. But I was wrong.
It wasn't high up on my list of things to purchase as I got older and got interested in rimfires and larger caliber firearms. As I grew into adulthood, I occasionally saw these pistols for sale and often thought about getting one but never did pick one up. Oh well.
According to online reviews the Crosman Pemier .22 Cal Hollow-Point pellets shoot very accurately in this gun. I tend to agree.
For some reason, moving to our new home in February of this year and staying at home a lot during the pandemic has stirred up the desire in me again to get one of these Crosman 1322 pellet guns. Since I had a little extra money, I went ahead and ordered one from ebay. I ordered from there because it was easy and I had the money in my PayPal account. Serious airgunners would probably laugh at the venue I selected for my purchase, but that's okay. I love ebay. For my next purchase, I may try one of the more serious online stores, like Pyramyd Air or Airgun Depot, to help make up for it.
Why purchase a pellet gun?
The attraction here is, I can shoot this in my back yard or in my garage and scratch the itch when I can't make it to the woods or the range to shoot my bigger guns.
These Crosman airguns are highly customizable and Crosman even has a Custom Shop. People spend hundreds of dollars modifying their 1377s and 1322s. And that's not even touching the Pre-Charged Pneumamtics (PCPs) that can cost in the thousands of dollars.
Custom Mods for the Crosman P1322
Along with my airgun, I purchased a "custom shoulder stock", seen here and a couple of tins of Crosman Permier 14.3 grain .22 caliber pellets.
Whole package. The Crosman P1322 with the shoulder brace that I ordered separately, and a tin of pellets. The shoulder stock is easily installed by removing the two screws from each side of the pistol handle and using those same screws to secure the stock.
In Most U.S. States Airguns Can be Delivered to Your Door
It was kind of funny. I ordered one tin of pellets from ebay and when the seller sent a reply a few minutes after I ordered saying that there was going to be a big delay in fulfilling my order, I went on to Amazon and ordered an identical tin of Crosman Premier hollow-points in the hopes that they might come sooner. Now I had 1,000 rounds of ammo on the way for my new gun! All for around $20.
Well, the first thing to show up was the stock. Okay, that was fine. I hid it away before my wife would question me about it. Hid it in plain sight that is. It worked too because she didn't notice it. Not that it would have been a big deal, though. It's just that I didn't want to hear her critique on my spending habits. Not that she has room to talk.
Then both of the tins of pellets showed up the same day in two separate packages. It was obvious that the ebay seller had "drop-shipped" my order from Amazon, lol. So, both of them came in padded Amazon envelopes. I was able to keep these items to myself as well.
And the pistol itself was the last thing to arrive, of course. It took about two weeks, which was longer than I thought it should have taken. And it was intercepted by my wife, of course, who respects no boundaries, and who quickly proceeded to open the package herself, knowing it was for me but not knowing what it was. Oh well!
I do find it kind of neat that, unlike firearms, these airguns can be delivered to my door, here in my home state of Oregon, so that is a plus in and of itself. Despite the risks that brings with my wife potentially meddling in my business...
The pistol took about two weeks to arrive. It was shipped inside the plastic store display case which was thrown into a poly bag. No padding or bubble wrap of any kind.
I thought about complaining to the seller for both the delay and poor packaging, but I refrained.
Airgun Plinking in Your Back Yard or Garage
At the next opportunity, I took the pistol out of the package, worked the bolt, opened a tin of pellets, loaded 'er up, set a can in the back yard and shot at the can at five yards. Missed right. Bad.
Well, I had some sighting in to do. I theorized that something had maybe gotten out of whack in the shipment, seeing that it wasn't very well protected.
A few days later, I spent an hour or so zeroing it in out in the garage. I set up some cardboard boxes and loaded them with more cardboard to effectively catch the pellet. Most of my shots were at 5 pumps of air pressure rather than the maximum factory recommended limit of 10 pumps, which can send the projectile out the barrel at a respectable advertised maximum velocity of 460 Feet Per Second.
Sighting in and Testing Accuracy
I believe something did get out of whack with the sights or the barrel, because I had to adjust the rear sight all the way to the left and it was till shooting about 1/4 inch to the right.
As you can see, I had to adjust the rear sight as far to the left as it would go. Unfortunately the front sight doesn't appear to be adjustable, so this was the best I could do for now.
But, it was shooting excellent groups, so that was good.
One of the many groups I have shot from a distance of 6-10 yards, inside my garage.
Overall I am pretty happy with my purchase and the stock is nice to help stabilize the pistol and help me hit my intended target more consistently.
I also let my kids take a few shots, under very careful supervision, and they didn't too too bad either.
It is nice to be able to do some shooting without having to go anywhere during these uncertain times. Also, it does bring back a little bit of nostalgia from my youth.
"Modded" Crosman P1322 with shoulder stock installed.
And that's how The Pew began for me.
I will continue to shoot my bigger-bore firearms for many years to come, but it is nice to have the opportunity now and then to shoot a pellet gun like I did in my younger days. And when I get too old and feeble, I may resort to only shooting airguns and rimfires. I guess we'll see. I'm hoping those days are still a long way off.
Happy shooting!