My Bulldog thus far. (added graphic content)

Hey aj, Just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one with a good Bulldog!

I have had mine for over 6 months and I can honestly say I think it is Crosmans best product! That is saying a lot because the Marauder is a great gun... Some people online that have reviewed the Bulldog are biased, were using the wrong ammo, Or just plain ignorant..

I got into an argument on the GTA with Manny (nomadic pirate) who is a known Crosman basher since the early days of the Marauder... he called the synthetic stock on the Bulldog "cheap plastic"! Lol, he didn't even know what polymer meant when I told him it was pretty well made.

And get this...I just saw that he did a review on a Nitro piston where he says it has a nice polymer stock! Lol Wtf? Make up your mind buddy...Does Crosman make cheap plastic or not? I swear you guys....do not trust these so called "airgun experts"!

If they did not buy the gun themselves you really can not trust their review because they have more bias or are bought to review. Where as people who actually own the guns they review, they have been tested with different ammo, broken in, and Hopefully owned for a while to give an honest review..

But anyways rant over...back to my Bulldog! Only about 300 rounds through my barrel, mainly because I have to go to the gun range to actually shoot this thing. I have mined zeroed with the 145g. Nosler at 50yards. Mine does however really like the 81g. JSB making 157 fpe with those and 180 fpe with the Nosler.

It is also very accurate with both ammo, hole in hole @25 yards, under an inch@ 50yards and under 2 inches @ 100 yards!

You guys like Rick Eustler shooting 9mm (.354-.356) and then talking crap about the rifle! Shame on you for calling yourself an expert... The only reason why the 9mm JSB work so good in the Bulldog is because the skirt is bigger around .360 and engages the rifiling.

So when shooting cast bullets in your Bulldog use (.357-.358) for best accuracy potential. I personally plan to self cast bullets with a .38 special lee mold for my Bulldog, making it a great survival weapon with a pump. But also I plan on finding a replacement bullet for the Nosler, Midwayusa has a wide selection of lead bullets for .38 special or .357 that will work in our Bulldogs' for much cheaper.

Just a matter of ordering and trying which bullet works best for your gun! The Birnell hardness of the Nosler is at least 12-16 and that works great! Which means our options for ammo is quite vast, and being able to switch from a Diablo style JSB pellet to a cast bullet makes the Bulldog the coolest airgun I have ever owned!

And P.S. some people are also saying the Bulldog is "loud"... Actually when you shoot the heavy ammo ( 145 grain Nosler) it is kinda quiet! ..Dare I say backyard friendly even? But when you shoot the 81 grain JSB at over 930 feet per second... Yeah it Barks! Lol, so honestly even if it might be "backyard friendly" probably not a good idea to be shooting a 150-180 foot pound energy gun in your yard!

 
billydjannI am up in the air about getting a bulldog or any big bore...
Has anyone out there have good results casting their own ammo...

My Black Powder days I had great results.... but air guns are a different breed..


I have never casted bullets before, but have done enough research on the process that I feel confident. However... if you know who MrHollowpoint is on youtube he does cast his own ammo and sells to the public as well... He has multiple videos of a Bulldog that he tested and also talks about bullet sizing in the video. Check it out :
 
ztirffritzHe has/had a Bulldog tuned by WAR that was slinging 140gr hollow points at 800+fps making 230-240 fpe. He also had some 155gr slugs but they were actually producing less energy because they were so slow. It was pretty impressive.


Yeah, he was also the first guy with an LDC on a Bulldog made by Neil.. But he also had clipping issues, and in my opinion it does not need an LDC... It made the rifle too long! And the point of a bullpup was to be short as possible.. Plus it is quiet enough for the intended purpose

On that "tune" he had done from Travis at wicked air. I personally think anyone who is familiar with tuning a Marauder could have done what he did... (There is a hammer spring adjustment under the buttpad)

The gun can already do 200 fpe from the factory if you choose to shoot a slow 190-200 grain bullet. If you turn up the power then your shot count will suffer, and probably lose the bell curve.

Basically what I am saying is... What can you kill at 230-250 foot pounds that you can not kill with 180-200 foot pounds? But everyone is different... Some people may want to tune for more power and less shots.

The Bulldog is clearly setup to be balanced for power and shot count. Do not think I would want to shoot anything heavier than the 145 grain on a factory tune. As I am maxing out at 750 feet per second.

And just like MrHollowpoint said I want to be in the 800's feet per second...So for me instead of going up in power, I would just come down in bullet weight (100-125 grains) should be perfect.

All the other .357 air rifles are struggling to shoot the 81 grain JSB @ 750 feet per second. Meanwhile the Bulldog from the factory is spitting them out over 930 feet per second!

Nothing needs to be changed, just find the right ammo and stock up :)
 
I have a good bell curve and shoot the jsb's at an average of 919fps. The gun is very accurate, but I dont like decending big bore shot strings. I like that I get 5 very consistent shots that actually have a curve.

Diablo makes a great point about tuning!! I can tune and blueprint the Marauders as good or better than anyone. The Bulldog is no different.
 
ztirffritzMine has no bellcurve at all, but honestly when I'm shooting a huge projectile shot count isn't what I'm after. I want a big hole at the point of impact. I should only need 1 shot, and maybe a follow up to finish the job.


I am not after shot count either, as I have unlimited supplies of air. It is however very nice to be able to take a clip full(5 shots) without worry of POI change. 150+fpe is more than enough for groundhogs and coyotes. Having 5 shots at that level is great. Blueprint and tune could make that even better, but I just don't need much more than what a simple turn of the hammer spring gave me.
 
ztirffritzMine has no bellcurve at all, but honestly when I'm shooting a huge projectile shot count isn't what I'm after. I want a big hole at the point of impact. I should only need 1 shot, and maybe a follow up to finish the job.


Sorry to hear you see no bell curve.. I would double check over a chrony, and make sure fill pressures are correct. Rick Eustler was the only other person I saw who posted no bell curve just a declining shot string.

Everyone else who posted their shot strings, like: Jim Chapman, Tom Gaylord, and Airgundepot show bell curves.

I will share my experience...When I first got my Bulldog I was actually over filling the gun to around 3,500psi.! Because I trusted the gauge on my pump more than the gauge on my gun.. It was not until I finally ran the gun over the chronograph that I could actually see when I was getting some "valve lock" and where my actual "sweet spot" was.

I am not new to PCP'S so I was just trusting the gauge with the wider sweep range over the gauge on the gun... Turns out the gauge on the gun was spot on, and my pump was reading low! Honest mistake that I was filling to around 3,500psi. And leaving it stored for months before I even knew... But guess what? It never leaked a drop of air! and I am pretty sure nothing was damaged. (guys use to accidently over-fill their Marauders' to 4,500psi. with no problems and send them to Greg Davis)

Which brings me to my next point I personally do not see a problem with filling to 3,200psi. to flatten out a shot string or improve the extreme spread. That issue was debated years ago when the Marauder was first being tested and tuned.

However the Bulldog was not even intended to be a benchrest gun that you are just shooting paper. It just happens to be accurate enough to be interesting and gives a decent amount of shots for the energy it puts out.

In a hunting situation ideally you would have your gun filled to its sweet spot. Assuming you would be taking a few shots anyways,(medium-big game) But if you were shooting ground squirrels like those guys on youtube using the 81 grain JSB and a Bulldog. Then you would probably want as many shots as possible, and that is when I would fill to 3,200psi.

Considering that the .25 Marauder gets 16 shots @ 45-50 fpe. from a factory tune.

10 shots @ 170-180 fpe is quite impressive in my book. In reality it can get more usable shots.

And there were several people killing deers with the .25 Marauder (head shots). This thing makes over 3x's the power of that! Which is why I will never sell mine and honestly I think the goverment will start coming after our airguns. Look what happened to Scotland! Or all the other countries that consider them firearms. Currently our laws are written well enough that their is distinct difference in what is the definition of a firearm and airgun.

But with guns like the Texan and Bulldog that blur the lines in respect to ballistic performance we are bound to get attention. Case in point everytime I go to the gun range, I have a line of guys asking me about my Bulldog.

"An airgun, can shoot 100yards?"
"Did you have to wait ten days?"
"What is that?"
"Wow, the power of a .38 special?"
"Wtf?"
"Why?"

Then I turn around and shoot a better group then them at 50 & 100 yards! Guys with AR-15's are the most shocked of all. Had a military guy there last time I went with his buddy and I heard his buddy make a "gay" comment about my Bulldog!

But the military guy was actually intrigued by what the hell I was shooting and kept asking me questions.. So I answered politely and just let him hang on to the Nosler bullet and flip through a PA magazine I had with me.

Went about about my business shooting my Bulldog, and I turn around to them and 3-4 guys just watching me shoot in silence...one with a spotting scope watching my groups. Lol.. Well if his friend wasn't a smartass maybe I would have let him shoot it ;) ignorance is bliss

No bother telling him the real first military issued repeating rifle was an Airgun! (1780-1815) Austrian army used the Girandoni against the Turks and in the French wars. 80 years before the Henry or Spencer repeating rifles of the Civil Wars.
 
Unfortunately I can't shoot my gun in the normal spot for a few months so I'll have to wait to put it over the chrono. I was in the process of checking it when a WDFW officer told me I wasn't allowed to shoot there until May. Oh well. My few shots that I did get showed it was shooting JSB pellets around 930-940. I shot about 8 rounds before I had to stop. I think it might be by definition a bell curve but functionally, it was a descending curve. I think it was something like 935, 940, 930, 925, 915, 905, 890, 880. I didn't write down the numbers cause I was trying pack up and leave in a hurry before the officer decided to write me a ticket, but that's about what I remember. 
 
Those are not bad numbers Ztirffritz! Looks like that shot string started in the sweet spot... And would probably have a more pronounced bell curve with a slightly higher fill pressure.

For PCP air rifles: the definition of "bell curve" is when the shot string starts low, rises peaks and settles, then starts back down.

Also PCPs' are most efficient when using heavy ammo.. (this applys to all pcp's)

You notice this when you have a quiet gun, and you shoot different ammo. Heavy ammo uses less air, produces better shot strings. And make less noise.

But I think those JSB 81 grains are a heaven send for the Bulldog! And I personally wouldn't shoot anything lighter than that ammo... Although I have seen people online using the 67 grain air venturi .358 round ball shooting almost 1000fps! But they were making less power than the JSB Diablo and were less accurate...

The Nosler is a great round though! And I am going to shoot whatever is the most accurate out of my gun which right now is the Nosler and the JSB. Plan to stock up on thousands of JSB in the future, few hundred Nosler and also try out some other bullets...From Hunters Supply, Hornady,Mrhollowpoint,Oregon trail, and self cast from lee molds.

We are kind of the beta testers! Time will tell and I am confident I can find another "bullet" my Bulldog likes for cheaper than the Nosler. Even though I love how accurate the JSB pellets are, compared with the Ballistic Coefficient of the Nosler it makes me want to use a "Bullet" instead of the diablo pellet. Choices, choices... Gotta love options

Btw Crosman finally released the parts diagram! So if you are like me and need to know how things work, go to their website to get the Pdf file. You of course need that if you ever needed to order parts, I got a spare breech o-ring just in case!


 
"DiabloSniper"Those are not bad numbers Ztirffritz! Looks like that shot string started in the sweet spot... And would probably have a more pronounced bell curve with a slightly higher fill pressure.

For PCP air rifles: the definition of "bell curve" is when the shot string starts low, rises peaks and settles, then starts back down.

Also PCPs' are most efficient when using heavy ammo.. (this applys to all pcp's)

You notice this when you have a quiet gun, and you shoot different ammo. Heavy ammo uses less air, produces better shot strings. And make less noise.

But I think those JSB 81 grains are a heaven send for the Bulldog! And I personally wouldn't shoot anything lighter than that ammo... Although I have seen people online using the 67 grain air venturi .358 round ball shooting almost 1000fps! But they were making less power than the JSB Diablo and were less accurate...

The Nosler is a great round though! And I am going to shoot whatever is the most accurate out of my gun which right now is the Nosler and the JSB. Plan to stock up on thousands of JSB in the future, few hundred Nosler and also try out some other bullets...From Hunters Supply, Hornady,Mrhollowpoint,Oregon trail, and self cast from lee molds.

We are kind of the beta testers! Time will tell and I am confident I can find another "bullet" my Bulldog likes for cheaper than the Nosler. Even though I love how accurate the JSB pellets are, compared with the Ballistic Coefficient of the Nosler it makes me want to use a "Bullet" instead of the diablo pellet. Choices, choices... Gotta love options

Btw Crosman finally released the parts diagram! So if you are like me and need to know how things work, go to their website to get the Pdf file. You of course need that if you ever needed to order parts, I got a spare breech o-ring just in case!



I've been to Crosman's web site tonight and can't find the PDF's for the Bulldog, I cleared cashe even. Could you tell us where you found them? Regards, Tom
 
"DiabloSniper"Those are not bad numbers Ztirffritz! Looks like that shot string started in the sweet spot... And would probably have a more pronounced bell curve with a slightly higher fill pressure.

For PCP air rifles: the definition of "bell curve" is when the shot string starts low, rises peaks and settles, then starts back down.

Also PCPs' are most efficient when using heavy ammo.. (this applys to all pcp's)

You notice this when you have a quiet gun, and you shoot different ammo. Heavy ammo uses less air, produces better shot strings. And make less noise.

But I think those JSB 81 grains are a heaven send for the Bulldog! And I personally wouldn't shoot anything lighter than that ammo... Although I have seen people online using the 67 grain air venturi .358 round ball shooting almost 1000fps! But they were making less power than the JSB Diablo and were less accurate...

The Nosler is a great round though! And I am going to shoot whatever is the most accurate out of my gun which right now is the Nosler and the JSB. Plan to stock up on thousands of JSB in the future, few hundred Nosler and also try out some other bullets...From Hunters Supply, Hornady,Mrhollowpoint,Oregon trail, and self cast from lee molds.

We are kind of the beta testers! Time will tell and I am confident I can find another "bullet" my Bulldog likes for cheaper than the Nosler. Even though I love how accurate the JSB pellets are, compared with the Ballistic Coefficient of the Nosler it makes me want to use a "Bullet" instead of the diablo pellet. Choices, choices... Gotta love options

Btw Crosman finally released the parts diagram! So if you are like me and need to know how things work, go to their website to get the Pdf file. You of course need that if you ever needed to order parts, I got a spare breech o-ring just in case!




I've been to Crosman's web site tonight and can't find the PDF's for the Bulldog, I cleared cashe even. Could you tell us where you found them? Regards, Tom