I’ve done something I never thought I would .....

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Richardo

Member
Mar 20, 2018
146
7
NZ, New Zealand
Over the decades I never wanted to own a co2 air rifle. They just never took my fancy. Not only not wanting a Co2 rifle, I most certainly would never consider buying a Chinese made air rifle. 

Well I happened to be browsing the net and came across the Chinese made Artemis CR600W Co2 .22 rifle. From the pictures it looked a nice looking gun, so I did more research and discovered some very good write ups. The manufacturer even got a great write up in the Hard Air online magazine. I never realised that they were most likely the largest manufacturer of airguns in the world.

Having done all this reading, and noting the the price of the Artemis was very competitive I decided to bury my prejudices and purchased the gun.

It arrived today and my first impression is very favourable. The packaging was excellent. The finish on the metal work and stock is very good.

The proof on whether or not I wasted my money, will be in how accurate the gun is. Over the coming days I will test it out and let you know. First up though I need to buy some .22 pellets and some Co2 12g cylinders. 
 
I love my .177 model. It had smeared rifling at the muzzle however. I decided to chop and recrown it rather than return it and as annoying as that is, it was the right decision. After some fiddling, it gets a little over 50 shots at 6fpe with H&N FTT and puts them into little clusters about MoA at 25 yards. Great gun for the kids to practice with, and the one I reach for when a house sparrow lands on the feeder outside the kitchen window.

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=143793
 
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An update ..... I spent yesterday preparing the CR600W to shoot. I cleaned the bore to remove the grease like substance that had been used to keep it rust free during the shipping and storage process. I removed the stock and very lightly lubed the trigger pivots. I discovered that one had come part way out from its housing, so I reinstalled then it fixed all four so they wouldn’t ever come out again. The trigger is unlike anything I have seen before. It appears to have quite a long stage one. More on the trigger after I shoot the gun.

I refitted the stock and mounted a Hawke Vantage scope, It fitted nicely, but the gun became, well seeming to me anyway, a bit unbalanced. So I removed the scope and fitted a Hawke Red/Geen dot scope. The gun feels to be much more nicely balanced now.

My last task was to order CO2 and some pellets. Because I hadn’t used them in the past, I was surprised to see the wide variation in CO2 pricicing. Powerlets ranged from $1.14 each for Crosman to $2 for powerlets manufactured in Japan by Leland. Needless to say I ordered Crosman.

Airgunner Magazine had a nice review that found RWS Superdome pellets shot well. So for want of any other information I ordered a can of 500 for $15.50 plus shipping.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable day. Now I need to sit back and wait for the orders to arrive over the next couple of days.

Richardo
 
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Nice, glad to hear you got it in but at the same time sorry to hear you could not shoot it yet.

Regarding the absurdly long trigger pull, there are a couple of options. You can slip a bushing over the lowest pin in the trigger housing to occupy most of the take up (what I did), or I’ve read where others reversed the grub screw to extend down and rest against that same pin. The grub screw on mine was holding like grim death with a high strength threadlocker. Had to use a torch to help break it free, and once that was done I didn’t want anything to do with it any more. Instead I added a spring plunger to the trigger guard to give me a nice wall just before the sear breaks. That has made it delightful to use for offhand practice. When I’m waving around like a flag in the breeze, I can release the shot just when I drift back over the bull.
 
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Another update. I shot the Cr600w at the Club today. I shot over 25 yards. To zero the gun I sat, rather than used a bench rest. Being mindful that this is a budget co2 and I used a red dot sight I felt that it shot reasonably well.

The gun produced consistent 1/2 groups over 25 yards. Much to my surprise the suppressor worked well and damped down the noise quite well, although not as much as a more expensive suppressor.

As predicted the trigger is the gun’s main weakness. It has a long first stage with no really discernible release point on the second stage. This didn’t faze me at all as the trigger pull is light and very smooth. I always maintain that given practice a good marksman can master any trigger.

To get better accuracy I need to rethink the use of a scope, rather than continuing to use a red dot sight though. 

The shot count was 30 meaningful and consistent shots from one powerlet over 25 yards. There was Co2 remaining beyond 30 shots but I opted to change the unit. Richardo 




 
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