CROSMODS Discovery .22: First day in the field

I was eager as usual for this day to come.  And when it did, i was as happy as a kid in a candy store.  I had done my usual check of the weather and all seemed like it was gonna be pretty good.  The CROSMODS Discovery 22 (aka CD22) had turned out to be such a wonderful looking rifle that i could not wait to shoot it.  I won't bore you too much with EXTRA DETAIL so i will start the story of my day.

Lets start with a couple of pics of the gun:

Sadly, after arriving at my locale (shooting area), i found that the wind was far off from what the weathermen had predicted.  They said 3 mph but, it was more like 13 mph at certain points throughout the day.  But what was very nice was seeing a few jack rabbits and ground squirrels running about.  That is always a sign of "IT'S GONNA BE A GOOD DAY".  My 1st task at hand was to sight the gun in at 50 yards.  I pre-sighted the gun in at 13 yards previously and this usually always puts me on paper when i get into the field and sight in at 50 yards.  The first shot landed to the right of the bullseye about 3" and the next landed just to the left of that shot by about 3/16".  I thought i was off to a decent start but, the one thing that i try not to do is sight a gun in "IN THE WIND" cause i truly have no idea of were the pellets are truly supposed to be hitting once the wind either slows down or stops all together.  After taking my third shot and noticing that my paper targets were blowing off my target stand, i decided to pack it up and to move to another area and focus on hitting reactive targets instead of paper targets.

Here are a few pics of one of my shooting areas:

Once here, i set up my target stand along with some reactive targets that i made at home.  It was not as windy up here as it was at my first location.  But, it was not WINDLESS.  So reactive targets it was to be.  The targets included my usual array of water filled plastic bottles and some plastic Easter eggs filled with flower, 12 raw eggs sitting on golf tees, and a few balloons that i filled with water.  All of these make great targets as when you hit them, you know it..lol:

By now, it was much later in the afternoon and i had decided that the gun was as sighted in as i could get it for the day without putting it on paper.  After all, i was smashing raw eggs out to 66 yrds.  So off to my hunting area to see how the gun would perform on live quarry.  After arriving, i knew i did not have too much time...maybe and hour tops.  The wind was also picking back up.  After walking out into the field about 100 yards, i found this little fella perched up right in front of me about 46 yards away.  He was pretty husky too.  One of the biggest Ground Squirrels i had ever seen.  I was actually nervous a little as this was my CD22's first potential kill.  Upon the shot, i quickly heard the very audible "THWOCK" and the squirrel tightened up at the shot and dropped like a brick.  It was a very well place eyeball shot:

It was getting late and i still had about a 45 minute drive back up to the main road.  I packed up my gear and headed out.  Upon reaching the front of the area, i spotted a big Jack Rabbit running right in front of my truck.  I slowed down to see if i could spot him and he was about 85 yards aways to my left.  I parked my truck and grabbed my CD22 and stalked up to what i thought might have been 45-50 yards away from him.  I could still see him hiding behind the brush.  I snuck around till i could clearly spot him and BOOMMMMM...the Jack fell to the CD22.  The pellet landed EXACTLY were i aimed..between the eye and the ear:

All in all i had GREAT 1st Field day with my new gun.  Its a blast to shoot, seems to be very accurate with a handful of pellets.  But i think it really likes the .22/15.9 gr JSB Exacts.  The finished gun minus the camera and camera mount in the picture weigh in at 7.8 pounds and has a OAL of 40", so it makes for a very comfortable, easy to hold steady, pointable and compact rifle.  CROSMODS did a really great job on CNC machining the custom parts for the Discovery rifles.  The neat looks, the quality of parts, and the overall weight make it all worth it.

Here is a video of MY FIRST DAY IN THE FIELD WITH THE CD22:

Thanx for reading and watching and as usual...................................
STAY TUNED!

PROJECT: CROSMODS Discovery .22

Some might call it a HOBBY and others might call it a SPORT.  One could even say that I COLLECT airguns.  But i say, "It's an ADDICTION"...lol.  Seriously though, airguns are a huge part of my life and have been since i was 9 years old.  It all started with the Crosman 760 pump pneumatic.  After all, it's what my uncle always had and let me shoot.  Years later when i was in my mid teens, i finally got a Benjamin 392.  Wow, what a gun it was and it was definitely an "upgrade" to the 760.  I was in the big leagues.

Today, at 41 yrs old, i find myself coming right back to the Crosman/Benjamin family (Crosman owns Benjamin now).  Recently, I bought a Benjamin Disco .22 and it's the second Crosman/Benjamin that i own.  I also have the well built 2240 pistol that is highly modified and a tack driver so i expect nothing less from the Discovery.  The Discovery is the first "Duel Fuel" air rifle on the market.  Duel fuel means that it works off of 2 air sources.  HPA or CO2.  One of the attractions to this rifle for me is the fact that the rifle is a lower fill pressure than normal and is rated for 2000 psi fills with about 25-30 shots per fill.

Enter CROSMODS.  These guys make custom accessories for a variety of Crosman/Benjamin airguns.  You can check out their website at http://www.crosmods.com/index.html.

Since i did not have time nor did i plan on testing this gun in its stock form, i will start the story of the project.  Here are a few pics of the new Disco .22:

After unboxing the gun, i was very happy to see such nice quality in an American product.  The stock had very nice grain and i was surprised at how thin and light it was.  The barrel and air tube bluing was deep and very well applied.  I also liked the fiber optic sights on the gun.  It's a nice addition and i even had time to take about 25 shots in my garage range using the open sights.  Of course at only 13 yards though, the sights were dead on.  The only real disappointment in the entire gun was the plastic trigger.  Even though plastic, i can't form a honest "performance" opinion about it as i did not thoroughly test the gun in stock form but, the thought of anything plastic on a airgun is a turn off.  So now, after doing a little shooting at paper in my garage, the next step was to refill the gun back up to 2000 psi and do a shot string.  The only pellets i had on hand were the JSB 14.3 grain Express pellets.  Even though i plan on tuning the gun for 18.1 gr JSB Exact Jumbos, the Express would do.  All i needed was a shot string.
The numbers were as follows using 14.3 gr JSB Express pellets:
25 Shot  string:
1 - 801.6 fps    6 - 812.5     11 - 840.5     16 - 848.1     21 - 848.6
2 - 798.1          7 - 824.7     12 - 843.0     17 - 849.4     22 - 842.0
3 - 801.0          8 - 831.5     13 - 842.4     18 - 859.2     23 - 840.3   
4 - 811.8          9 - 824.6     14 - 844.4     19 - 845.4     24 - 842.3
5 - 812.0        10 - 830.7     15 - 849.7     20 - 847.3     25 - 840.6
This is an average of 833 fps and 22 Foot Pounds of Energy.

Now, lets also look at some other numbers from the stock Disco .22:
Weight (postal scale):  5 lbs, 0.7 ounces (empty tank), 5 lbs, 1.4 ounces (2000 psi fill)
Overall length:  39 1/2"
Trigger pull:  3 lbs, 8 ounces average
.22 caliber/24" rifled steel barrel

Now that i had all the info i wanted from the stock Disco, it was time to start the modification process.  Let take a look at all the CROSMODS parts i purchased for the installation:

 

*NOTE:  CROSMODS can anodize all or any of the parts in basic colors as well as CUSTOM colors.

Once assembled, and man was it fun putting this gun together, i could only sit there and smile.  The gun came out looking exactly the way i wanted it too.  Albeit different from the traditional wood and steel look, it was exactly what i wanted.  The feel of the gun was also everything i could have hoped for.  The modded gun only gained 2 lbs 7 ounces including the scope over the stock Disco.  I should have weighed the CROSMODS Disco without the scope but, i can do that later.  I also could have weighed the stock Disco with the same scope but, honestly, i forgot that also....lol.  So the gun actually probably only gained a tad over a pound total, stock vs. modded.  Lets take a look at some numbers from the CROSMODS Disco .22:
Weight:  7 lbs, 8 oz with TOTAL/a gain of over 1 pound
Overall length:  40.0" (gun has adjustable butt stock)/ a gain of 1"
Trigger pull:  2 lbs, 5 oz (has adjustable trigger)/decrease of 1lb, 3 oz
Replaced mainspring with stiffer one for more power
All o-rings in the entire gun were replaced with VITON o-rings for a better seal life span.

As I've yet to sight this gun in and run her through her paces, the power is set at 31 fpe using the 18.1 gr JSB Exact Jumbos.  As I've mentioned above, these are the pellets of choice (which can change at any time) and i really wanted to focus even more on the speed of the projectile which i sought after 880 fps.  This gun is also mainly for hunting and this is the beginning test phase of the rifle.  Lets look at the numbers that i have so far with the 18.1 gr JSB Jumbos (880 fps target velocity):
1 - 874.6     6 - 889.4
2 - 879.1     7 - 887.6
3 - 880.1     8 - 880.6
4 - 882.6     9 - 879.1
5 - 880.2   10 - 870.7 with 1400 psi left

Again, this is all initial testing after the assembly and more field testing is required to get the gun dialed in.  There are more options or ways that i could go with this gun.  1 is, the barrel (24") comes to the end of the shroud therefor the shroud is just for looks for now.  I could shorten the barrel by 4" and install a baffle system into the shroud but, i would loose roughly 60 FPS.  I could switch to a lighter pellet than the 18 gr JSB's like the 14.3 grain Croman Premiers to gain the speed back but, as i've said, i've got a ton of testing to do yet to this gun so, time will tell.  In saying that, my end results with this rifle just could be to cut the barrel down, then install baffles, then switch to a lighter pellet at the same set velocity of 880 fps but adding a few more shot.  The future will tell.

*NOTE:  880 fps is for testing/theory purposes.  I will not get into that speed designation # at this time.

Here's a video of me putting the gun together.  ENJOY!!:

STAY TUNED!!