Recommend an $150 or less Co2 rifle

I bought one of the Amazon QB78S .177 on sale. I cleaned it before I shot it, and there was a lot of nasty brown gunk in the barrel. I guess I was lucky; its capability is beyond my ability.

I had a couple QB78s, didn't care for them. Hated the Crosman 1077. Sold it less than a month after buying.



Hopefully the Xisico XS60C "Flying Dragon" .177 co2 pellet air rifle makes it to the "keeper" list.





Sadly not a repeater, but I haven't found one yet like the 1077 that's still under $200.



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What is the extra air tube cap for?

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lol, same question I had. i assume, but maybe it's a plastic one that came with the gun and part of the upgrade was the metal version as a replacement?



shot it a bit yesterday, it's quiet and accurate. best trigger i've had on a co2 gun.



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best trigger i've had on a co2 gun.

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It’s a clone of the Crosman 160 / QB trigger group. Vastly superior practically anything else in its price class. And if you really want to be spoiled, polish the contact surfaces and install a lighter return spring.

Another mod I like is to replace the overtravel screw with an M5 or M6 spring plunger (requires drilling and tapping). That provides a tactile wall like a 2-stage just before the trigger breaks. Perfect for timing the trigger pull in between heartbeats.

got mine from and tuned by Mike M at flyingdragon. I do notice the two-stage trigger, perhaps that's done already by him? anyway, i'll get into it after the warranty expires.

FDAR warranty:

“We will repair or replace defective rifles tuned by Flying Dragon Air Rifles for the life of the rifle.”

Looks like you’ll be waiting a long time

FDAR warranty:

“We will repair or replace defective rifles tuned by Flying Dragon Air Rifles for the life of the rifle.”

Looks like you’ll be waiting a long time

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Got me there. But since "Customer modification of rifle voids warranty.", guess I'll wait until needed to get into it.

Mike is a stand-up guy. Going by people’s experiences with him, unless you call up demanding he fix the specific thing you just broke, you’re gonna be fine. Not saying it to persuade you to start tinkering but I think you’ll be fine if and when the time comes. 

Regarding shot count, a decently tuned CO2 rifle should give you about 300 - 350fpe per 12gr cartridge. Less if it’s set up for max power, or more like 400fpe if it has a modest tune.

Simply getting the hammer spring tension adjusted correctly goes a long way but the best results will be obtained with some sort of anti hammer bounce feature like an SSG or a bstaley O-ring buffer.

Personally I like a CO2 rig in .177 at about 6fpe for casual target shooting. Seldom do I bother to set up a CO2 rig for pest control, I’d rather grab a PCP for that purpose. Though it is enough for gray squirrels with brain shots, or house sparrows with center mass shots. At 6fpe we are taking at least 50 shots per cartridge (100 for a dual cartridge) which is enough that it never feels like I’m constantly swapping cartridges, even if I’m the designated CO2 guy helping kids learn to shoot.

A few other nice things about this kind of tune. It’s quiet. Really quiet with any sort of LDC fitted. Also, the velocity is less sensitive to temperature changes. And you don’t get the self-cooling problems with continuous shooting the way you do if it’s blowing a cloud of CO2 after each shot. 

Just talked to Mike. It is the original cap. It does let you degas the gun without having to shoot the gas out. It is backwards threaded. Under the cap is a knob that when screwed in degasses it.

How many shots is everyone getting with two cartridges?

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Thanks for verifying that!

I'll let ya know when I do the shot count. Mine is set for "medium power". I'd speculate, oh, 40-50 good shots. I'll find out soon enuff and come back with that.



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Probably at least as good and accurate as any in the price range, and in my opinion the best looking (by far), the SPA has been distributed in the U.S. branded as MRodAir, Diana, and (I think) Beeman.

That said, any Co2 rifle in your price range benefits from some fiddling and monkeying; and accuracy of any given example can range from surprising to laughable. My MRodAir shoots 3/4 - 1" groups at 35-40 yards. I look forward to dragging it out of the moth-balls for Co2 season soon (Texas Summers).

I agree with Ron on the SPA CR600W and its variants (Diana Trailscout, Chaser, etc.). One caveat though, the factory has a habit of mangling the rifling at the muzzle when crowning the barrel. Not always but they’ve burned me 2 for 2 on guns purchased years apart so I have little confidence anything has changed.

One such example:


Just be on the lookout for it and get an RMA straight away and if you are one of the unlucky ones.

Or if you have the motivation to chop and re-crown, the barrels seem to be fundamentally good. Both my CR600W and Chaser group really nicely after fixing. The Chaser after fixing it:

"IN STOCK", but not really.

One caveat though, the factory has a habit of mangling the rifling at the muzzle when crowning the barrel. Not always but they’ve burned me 2 for 2 on guns purchased years apart so I have little confidence anything has changed.

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I only plan on using mine as-is, so I cut all that "extra" off. Shoot fabulously at 10M, haven't tested any further yet.

Yeah for what it’s worth, the pistol barrel that came with my Chaser was fine. Only the rifle barrel was chewed up.

I like the Crosman/Sheridan 2260MB, Steel Breech, as this gun has all Spare parts through Crosman, For Mine I bought the GravMags S9, 10 Shot Gravity Fed Magazine, I have Never had a Miss Feed Ever, so you can Have FAST Follow up shots, It is Light weight, also want to Upgrade trigger, No Problem, Add a scope, want to get better Iron sights, It is Completely, and Easily Upgradeable. I also have the Umarex Fusion2 it is only available in .177 cal. But Parts availability isnt as good with the Umarex. To me getting a Gun that is Very Easy to work on, and learn to work on as you go is a Big Plus, and a Lot of Parts from the factory and from the aftermarket are available in the Crosman 22XX series. You could get a 2240 even and a Carbine stock add the Gravity Fed Mag, and a cheapy Scope, I would NOT suggest a Chinese No available spare parts from the Factory. Because you will Have to at Some point fix something, probably seals/o-rings, at the Minimum. Learning a Easy to work on gun with a Great availability of spare parts makes the Most and best amount of sense to me.