Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Dusted off a 40 yr old springer from storage and ordered a 1322P

Had an old Beeman Webley Hawk III in .177 with a Beeman 3-7x scope stored away since moving here in '94. No clue as to when it was last shot. A conversation with a friend got me curious so I dug it out, dusted it off, and lubed it. Found the power bell was slightly bent but the scope was still adjustable and functional. Tested the gun and everything works as it should. It was louder than I remember and only puts out around 650 fps. Had a lot of fun with it back in the '70s when it was bought new. Pretty darned accurate too. Lived close to Beeman's store in NoCal in those days and spent far too much time there drooling over the higher priced offerings. Had a young family to take care of so the inexpensive Webley was more budget friendly.

At near 70 I don't get around like I used to so range visits are much less frequent than in years past. Plus during the winter I don't much like venturing out. An air pistol for backyard and downstairs shooting sounded like just the ticket so I have a Crosman 1322P coming. Had thought about the Crossman Custom Shop 1300KT but wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy / use this so I went basic first. As an aside I had an old Crosman 130 in my teens and had fun with it.

This friend that sparked my interest has both a RWS 48/P01 and an El Gamo Compact Match pistol. They're both at least 10 years old and haven't seen much use in recent times either. He's dusting them off too as a result of our conversations.

Anybody else getting back into air weaps?

As a kid I had a Sheridan air rifle. I was given this gun to secure food for the family, not recreation. I killed hundreds of edible animals and birds during my youth with that rifle. Ducks geese rabbits, raccoons, turkeys, a couple fox, pheasants, quail, anything I could stalk close enough to and make a perfect head shot.

With those 9-10 pumps it was not much for plinking but was deadly accurate and plenty powerful. I still have this rifle today 40 years later, still works with flawless perfection! No expensive European springer could last that long with as many shots over 40-50 years and still function as well.

However I now have a Air Arms TX200 in .22 caliber. It's a dream! Astonishing accuracy and power with a single rather easy pump stroke. Anything reasonably sized to 50 yards is dead with this air rifle. The down side is the 11 pounds it weighs! With my Primos Trigger sticks, and the Vortex 4-16 power scope it's able to reach out and flatten rabbits with ease.

I own a farm and could shot a firearm anytime. However I go to the air rifle almost daily, no noise, recoil, and cheap to feed!

Not exactly getting back into it - I really never left, but these things are the fountain of youth for me. They just put a silly grin in my face and I enjoy the heck out of them.

FedEx delivered the P1322 earlier today. First took it in pistol form and fired a round with 6 and 8 pumps each. Nice. Not overly loud either which is a plus. The old Beeman Webley is much louder FWIW. This after checking the crown with a Q-Tip to ensure no burrs needing attention. Found the trigger quite crisp and not heavy at all so I'll leave it be. Along with that I'll defer polishing the inside of the air tube, hammer, etc. for now. Mounted the 1399 shoulder stock, removed some minor plastic flash around the hand grip, and added a tube of dense plumbers insulation foam to act as a cheek piece. Also rotated the sight blade from notch to peep which I prefer. That was a PITA as the screw is very tiny and I'm an old fart. Only nit with this gun is the pump arm linkage which is really sloppy where it connects to the air tube roll pin. I can see where the roll pin should be replaced with a removable solid with either C clips, O rings, or nuts and the two blades on the linkage spread and possibly shimmed to alleviate play. It is also said that a metal breech and stronger barrel band obviate some play with the barrel and pump linkage too.

Intend to put up a few "targets" outside and see how accurate it is. Weather is nice and tomorrow will be even warmer unlike the cold yesterday. Don't want to go with the bullseye targets downstairs until it is somewhat broken in. The pumping is more strenuous than I recall the old Crosman 130 being but of course the newer gun generates a lot more oomph too. And the bolt handle is TINY. I see why there is a market for bigger ones.

Decided to do something about the stock play with the punp arm and ordered the barrel band/ brass front sight pin / solid pivot pin combo package from Alchemy AirWerks. Dayum it makes a huge difference. No wobble or play at all and pumping actually seems easier since I'm not fighting to keep things straight. The sight pin is da bomb too adding better visability to the peep sight set up.

It really is a fun piece!

Well the old Beeman scope was toast upon further examination. Couldn't adjust elevation and the power knobe was exremely tight. So it was retired in favor of a Leapers UTG 3-9x32 Hunter AO TF2+ 1" tube Mil-Dot scope. The pairing is working quite well.

And although the factory peep sight on the P1322 works well allowing me to get sub inch groups easily, I decided I wanted to try a scope. Especially after finding an old Bushnell Sharpshooter 3-9x32 #72-0039 salted away. A search on the Net indicated that this scope worked quite well with springers so mating it to the P1322 shouldn't present any problems. Awaiting the 459MTC adapter and a set of rings with which to check things out.

An interesting aside is the barrel length of these two. The old Webley is 17" and the P1322 has 10.25".

Received the 459MTC intermounts today and installed them using a thin strip of a non-adhesive insulation tape between them and the barrel. Gives a nice secure fit.

That said I noticed that the barrel will move slightly when changing the magnification on the scope. Need to keep an eye on both the breech screw as well as the rear sight mount screw to ensure they both stay tight.

The old Bushnell is light at 11.2oz which works well for this application.

Been having a lot of fun with these two. FWIW the old Webley specs at 8FPE with 8.6g pellets @ 650fps.

Decided I wanted a modern springer with more power and hopefully better accuracy. (The Webley has been fairly consistent with 5 shot groups in the 3/4 to 1/2" range at 10m. The trigger is seen as the obstacle to better groups).

Anyhow, I did a lot of research and compiled a list of possible acquisitions and although I would love a TX200 III or a LGU but simply can not justify the cost for my usage.

I spotted a sale price ($179.99 shipped free w/ a bonus metal interactive target) on the Gamo ACCU 22 underlever this morning so I popped. Lots of positive comments out there on this 15 fpe class .22. Basically a reincarnation of the CFX model with some improvements like the SAT trigger, etc. Even the supplied 3-9x40AO scope is alleged to be doable unlike most scopes tossed in with an air rifle from the factory.

I picked up a 1322 recently and cannot believe how accurate it is. The peep was tried but it blocked too much sight picture for hunting so went back to the notch, which leaves a lot to be desired. Trigger pull was 5.5lb as received and the "spring compress" mod dropped it to 3lb. After seeing the accuracy potential I ordered a steel breech to allow mounting a scope. Will probably try a Bushnell Trophy crossbow scope that I have laying around.

I did some pellet testing at 20 and 30 yards from a rest over the last couple days with the factory sights.
Most accurate pellets out of ten varieties tested:

#1. JSB Exact Jumbo Diablo 15.89gr (3 shot groups at 20 yards were 0.50", 0.32")

#2. Gamo Rocket

#3. Crosman Premier HP

#4. Benjamin HP

It certainly doesn't compare to my FX Cyclone but it sure is a lot of fun for $55.

kenoh2,

Interesting that you mentioned a crossbow scope. Cabela's has CenterPoint 3x32 scopes on clearance for $9.99. Quite a few on airgun forums have lauded its performance as a big step above the normal CP stuff. I have one coming to replace the Bushnell on my P1322. The 100 yd parallax on the Bushie is irritating where the 30 yard setting on the 3x32 folks say presents no issues at even 10m. For $10 WTH!

BTW I concur about the peep. Not serviceable when using the 1322 as a pistol BUT add a shoulder stock and its da bomb for the carbine!

Installed the steel breech mounted the crossbow scope. Consistent 0.5" three shot groups at 20 yards. Had just enough daylight for a few shots on a steel plate at 50 yards. Three shots at just under 1".

Ordered a carbine stock. Next improvement will be a solid pump pivot pin. The factory roll pin keeps shifting to the right.

BTW: The Bushnell Trophy crossbow scope is kinda crappy. Parallax is much further than 30 yards. The outer edges are clearer than the center. I loosened the objective lock ring and was able to adjust it better but still not great. Now I see why they are discontinued and Natchez has them on sale for $50.