........ i found one of these break barrels in a local pawn shop , just as this one photo'ed from the bluebook ( i have deleted the values as an effort to avoid controversy ). i had always wondered that this might actually be the first american-made break barrel . the benjamin superstreak came out a year later. it looks so similar to air rifles of this type made in china that i put my curiosity on the back burner. and that was due to the open sights - do not be mislead, yall - this is nothing like a crosman quest, or a benjamin titan or prowler. i passed over opportunities to buy one for $125. although it clearly says 'made in america' , i was told by those in the industry that only a certain percentage of parts need be made here to be named as made here in the states. sometimes i DO get a good chinese barrel, possibly one-third of the time, but they just havent gotten that part of making airguns (which are readily available to us) down pat yet. ...and really... who actually wants another b18 or b19 chinese gamo 440 clone ? ..idk...maybe in .20 caliber... so, i got this specimen in at least 95% overall condition - it looked unused. and the wood stock has a swollen palm grip that just feels awesome. once i got it home and had a closer look - no way this was anything like the chicom air rifles mentioned above. i contacted crosman and sure enough, everything was 100% made here (and thus, an american barrel). then i read up on some older reviews. after that first hinderance of effort was dissolved, i took it out to my (clandestine, reverse wind-tunnel) shooting area for some real-time experience. chrono'ed 920-930 fps with 8 grainers, and grouped well with the same walmart premier hp pellets. " well - ok - now let's see what we can do here ", were my thoughts. the tube is a large diameter, much the same as an np2 rifle but shorter in length. the trigger is a plastic bladed clean break trigger (cbt) , which i think i like better than the metal benjamin nps, or np2 trigger blade. the spring is about that of an hw80 (r1), but shorter. and the top hat still has me in bewilderment as to what these were reasoning as it made it past proto-type into mas production....it's the biggest, heaviest friggin tophat i've EVER seen.... - wow ! - i lube-tuned it and it was largely unused, very little wear inside. i ripped out the baffling factory arrangement inside , and installed a new mainspring for an izh 513m rifle (these were about $6 from pyramyd and work great in many guns - like the fwb 124) . no top hat. everything seemed well enough until i ran it across my old, beat-up, shot, green f1 chrony ( old faithful ). not even 700 fps and crunchy during cocking , but smooth enough to actually see the pellet going to white target cardboard. and oh yeah - by this point, i'm using a good 3-9x40ao scope and hearty mounts. i knew this experiment was only temporary because i needed that izh 513m spring for a fwb 124d rebuild , and i tried one new webley valuemax (hatsan striker 1000) spring , once again without tophat. ...and that wasnt much better. i had ideas to put in a gas ram - even ordered an end plug for the np2 guns only to find out that the pin for the legacy 1000 is much thicker in dia than the np2 pin which holds all together. heavy lithium axle grease (mobilux ep111) as thick and tacky as roofing tar really helped , but that darn huge tophat was punishing my shoulder and my scope. in the end i took that huge 12 gallon tophat to the machine shop that lathes down my .25 trail xl barrels into 7/16" o.d (so they fit into 22xx co2 guns) and had them drill out the inside - cut the weight in half. i used a perfectly cut 2 liter soda bottle side to make a sheath for the lubed spring inside of the piston, so that lube will not get into the compression chamber , as well as dampen the vibes a bit. i used hardened bronze bearings , which look like washers, to replace the plastic pivot washers that come on most under $200 break barrels today. i used blue locktite to secure the barrel pivot bolt's threads in an effort to keep the lock up from loosening. ---- after about 2 mos of finagling around with this american break barrel , it chrono's 860 fps with 8 grainers , it groups about dime-size at 25 yards (and may get better with a cbt trigger tune kit off ebay for $15) , and it doesnt crunch or twang and is pleasant to cock and shoot for a while. i'm glad i tried it and now i am after a benjamin legacy 822 , which is the .22 caliber version. the crosman corp could easily produce a carbine-type professional pest controller from this model , similar to diana pro-compact....... there's lots of room inside these things for other arrangements - lemme know if you find one that works better !! - raneman . sept 2018 .
LEGACY 1000 MODEL B1K77X
- .177 cal., BBC, SP, SS, rifled steel barrel, blue finish, 1000 FPS, checkered Monte Carlo style hardwood stock, vent. rubber butt pad, fiber optic front and adj. rear peep sights, 4x32mm scope, 43 in. OAL, 6.5 lbs. Mfg. 2004-2007.
LEGACY 1000 MODEL B1K77X
- .177 cal., BBC, SP, SS, rifled steel barrel, blue finish, 1000 FPS, checkered Monte Carlo style hardwood stock, vent. rubber butt pad, fiber optic front and adj. rear peep sights, 4x32mm scope, 43 in. OAL, 6.5 lbs. Mfg. 2004-2007.
