Comparison Crosman F-4 NP 4x32 vs Crosman Phantom 1000

The type describes the basic principle of operation of the rifle. Nowadays, you can find pneumatics with a spring-piston principle of operation (with a conventional or gas spring), with pre-pumping (PCP), with pumping before each shot ( multi -compression rifles), powered by carbon dioxide cartridges and with an electric drive. Here is a more detailed description of each of these types:

— Spring-piston. As the name suggests, the basis of the mechanism in such rifles is a spring-loaded piston moving in a cylinder. The weapon is cocked manually (usually by a lever or a broken barrel), while the piston is retracted and fixed, the cylinder is filled with air, and when the trigger is pressed, the piston is released and moves forward under the action of a spring, pushing air from the cylinder into the barrel. Rifles of this type have simplicity and reliability of design, low cost, unpretentious maintenance, as well as ease of repair and tuning; they are considered an perfect option for beginner shooters, as well as for lovers of entertaining "shooting" at short distances, there are also models for airsoft among them. It is also worth mentioning the excellent repeatability of shots (with each cocking, a strictly defined portion of air enters the cylinde...r) and insensitivity to heat and cold. On the other hand, such rifles require cocking (and most often reloading) before each shot, which can be quite tedious; and the operation of the piston mechanism creates a specific recoil, which adversely affects accuracy and makes it difficult to select optical sights (requires special optics, originally designed for this application). In addition, pneumatics of this type cannot be kept charged for a long time — with prolonged compression, the mainspring loses its properties.

— With gas spring. According to the general principle of operation, rifles of this type are similar to the spring-piston ones described above. The difference lies in the fact that instead of a conventional metal spring, they use a sealed reservoir with a special gas, which plays the role of a spring — shrinking when cocked and expanding when fired. This design has a number of advantages over conventional spring-piston. Firstly, the whole mechanism is much smoother and quieter, and the recoil is softer, which improves accuracy and simplifies the selection of optics. Secondly, the gas spring does not change its properties as it wears out, and such weapons can be stored even in the cocked state. Third, repairs and maintenance for gas springs are less frequent and less expensive (in terms of the number of shots between workshop visits). The disadvantages of rifles of this type, in addition to the need to cock the spring before each shot, include a slightly higher cost than that of classic spring-piston rifles, as well as sensitivity to cold: when the temperature drops, the gas pressure in the spring decreases, which worsens efficiency.

— PCP (pre-pumping). The energy source in rifles of this type is a built-in reservoir containing air (or other gas) under very high pressure — about 200 or even 300 atmospheres. Such a reserve is enough for at least several dozen shots, and a compressor, a scuba cylinder or a special high-pressure pump can be used to fill the tank (sometimes such pumps are even supplied as a kit). In general, PCPs are considered the most advanced type of pneumatics, and these are the rifles used by professional hunters and sportsmen. This is primarily due to the fact that such a design allows you to achieve a very high speed of the bullet, and the recoil is almost imperceptible — all this allows you to accurately shoot even at long distances. On a fresh gas station, the rifle gives excellent repeatability of shots; however, as the gas is consumed, the initial velocity of the bullet decreases, however, in advanced models, a gearbox may be provided to compensate for this phenomenon (for more details, see “Air supply by the gearbox”). PCP pneumatics can be easily multi-shot and provide very simple and convenient ways to feed the next bullet into the barrel. The main disadvantage of such rifles is the high price.

— Multi-compression. Another variety of rifles with a built-in reservoir; however, unlike the PCPs described above, the reservoir must be inflated before each shot. To do this, the design provides for a built-in pump controlled by a lever or other similar device; to pump enough air, usually, you need to make several movements. In such rifles, there is practically no recoil, while they are noticeably simpler and cheaper than PCP pneumatics, but they are inferior to it in terms of power. In addition, pumping up the tank before each shot is quite a tedious task; and the volume of air supplied to the tank at each filling (and, accordingly, the working pressure in the tank) will depend on the number and amplitude of movements made by the pump lever. On the one hand, this allows you to adjust the power directly “on the go”: for example, for a short range where maximum bullet speed is not required, you can not fully pump up the rifle in order to save energy. On the other hand, the actual volume of air and the pressure in the tank will be somewhat different with each recharge, even with the same number of lever movements. This negatively affects the repeatability of shots. Due to this combination of features, multi-compression models are not very popular nowadays, and their purpose is mainly recreational shooting.

— Gas balloon. A type of pneumatics powered by interchangeable cartridges of gas, usually liquefied carbon dioxide. As in PCP, such a tank allows you to make a lot of shots — even a traditional 12-gram can is usually enough for several dozen; and some models use 88g carbon dioxide containers. At the same time, the rifles themselves are cheaper than PCP, but they have less power. It is also worth noting the rather specific characteristics of carbon dioxide as an energy source. On the one hand, it maintains working pressure for quite a long time — it does not decrease as long as carbon dioxide remains in liquid form in the cylinder. On the other hand, the actual gas pressure depends on the ambient temperature, and the initial velocity of a bullet for such pneumatics can change markedly even with daily temperature fluctuations. And of the unambiguous shortcomings of such rifles, it is worth noting that for them you have to buy not only bullets, but also gas.

— AEG (electrically driven). Pneumatics that uses an electric motor drive as a power source. According to the design of the working mechanism, it is similar to the spring-piston mechanism — the basis of this mechanism is a cylinder and a spring-loaded piston. However, the piston in this case is not retracted manually, but with the help of the mentioned electric motor. For the shooter, this means, first of all, that the rifle does not need to be cocked due to muscular strength — for a shot, it is enough to press the trigger, the rest will be done by the electric motor. In addition, in such pneumatics, automatic firing mode can be provided without problems (see below). Note that for a number of reasons this principle of operation is practically not found in traditional pneumatics, but it is very popular in airsoft models; such rifles (“drives”) often copy real military weapons.

The type of sight the rifle is originally equipped with. Note that many models allow the installation of other sights — in addition to standard sights or to replace them. And the optics or collimator can initially be combined with a mechanical sight (front sight + rear sight), which in such cases plays the role of a spare. However, these features are not available in every rifle, so when choosing, it is best to focus on the type of complete sight.

Nowadays, in addition to the traditional sighting bar with a front sight, in air rifles you can find diopter, optical and collimator sights, and in some models regular sights are completely absent. Here are the features of each of these options:

— Aiming bar and front sight. Devices in the form of a front sight and a rear sight, which has the form of a horizontal bar with a slot; when aiming, you need to combine these devices so that the front sight is visible exactly in the middle of the slot and flush with its edges. Such sights are extremely popular in modern pneumatics: they are as simple as possible, inexpensive, compact and reliable, besides they do not depend on batteries and are quite resistant to shock and shock. In addition, the front sight with a bar is not as restrictive as an optic or a collimator, and is better suited for shooting at moving targets....The main disadvantage of this option can be called the fact that effective aiming requires a certain skill — after all, you need to control not only the aiming itself at the target, but also the relative position of the front sight and the slot. On the other hand, this moment can turn out to be a virtue — in particular, when learning to shoot: having learned how to shoot effectively with such devices, the shooter will feel quite confident with other types of sights. It is also worth noting that the front sight does not give any magnification — this makes it difficult to shoot at small and/or distant targets; however, again, this feature is not always a clear disadvantage.

— Diopter sight. A kind of mechanical sighting devices (that is, front and rear sights), using the diopter principle of operation. The rear sight in such devices is a plate with a small hole through which the shooter looks at the front sight. Such a rear sight is easier to use than a traditional slotted rail, especially for beginners: even without special skills, the shooter subconsciously chooses the position of the eye in which the front sight will be in the centre of the hole (as it should be when aiming). In addition, the small aperture gives a slight zoom effect and enhances target definition, which is especially important at longer distances. On the other hand, diopters noticeably limit the view, are poorly suited for low-light conditions and are easily clogged with various contaminants. Therefore, this type of sight is used extremely rarely in pneumatics — mainly in powerful long-range rifles, mainly for sports purposes.

— Optical sight. Traditional optical sights in the form of a "spyglass" with a reticle applied in the field of view of the shooter. Initially created for high-precision long-range shooting, mainly at fixed targets; in the same role are used for pneumatics. However not every air rifle with optics is a powerful long-range weapon — there are also relatively “weak” models. But even such pneumatics can be a good training tool for high-precision shooting: a small distance in this case can be compensated for by a small target size. On the other hand, optics significantly affect the price of the rifle and require careful handling. Of its features, it is also worth noting that such sights necessarily have a certain magnification; due to this, they allow you to better consider small targets at the same time limit the field of view. It should also be borne in mind that optics are not well suited for offhand shooting and require careful insertion: the eye must be exactly on the optical axis of the sight, otherwise the aiming point may not coincide with the point of impact.

— Collimator sight. The working part of a collimator sight is a glass window onto which a luminous aiming mark is projected using a special optical system — a dot, crosshairs, a circle with a dot, etc. Sights of this type usually do not have magnification and are intended for shooting at short distances, including on moving targets and offhand. So in application, the collimator is similar to the front sight with the whole; and its key advantage lies in ease of use: no need to combine the front sight and the slot, just find the aiming mark in the window and aim it at the target. At the same time, unlike optics, it is not necessary to keep the eye strictly opposite the centre of the sight: the parallax effect (see "Adjusting parallax") in collimators is very weak, if not absent at all. The main disadvantage of this type of sights is that they require batteries to operate; in addition, collimators are noticeably more expensive than traditional mechanical sights, and also require more careful handling (although they are still less delicate than optics).
It's worth noting that these attachments are especially popular with airsoft guns like most AEGs (see "Type"): collimators are great for fast-paced fights.

— Is absent. The absence of any sighting devices in the original delivery set — there are only mounts for installing such devices. See below for more details on the different types of fasteners; here we note that such equipment does not allow the use of a rifle “out of the box”, however, it makes it possible to choose a sight for it at your discretion, without relying on the choice of the manufacturer. This is especially true if you plan to use optics — nowadays a wide variety of such sights are produced, for different tasks and usage scenarios. Actually, most air rifles without a scope are designed just for the installation of optics, although the possibility of using collimators is often also allowed; and in airsoft pneumatics, removable front sights with rear sights are also used.
It is worth noting that spring-piston rifles and models with a gas piston have a specific double recoil, which not every sight is able to transfer — even if it can be used with powerful firearms. So when looking for optics or a collimator for such pneumatics, you should be especially careful — for it you need to choose sights that were originally designed for such rifles.

The ability to adjust the features of the trigger triggering of the rifle — first of all, the idle (before triggering) stroke of the trigger and the force on the hook. This allows you to optimally adjust the characteristics of the weapon to the personal preferences of everyone: for example, it is usually difficult for beginners to shoot with a tight trigger, but for trained shooters, a too soft hook that “falls through” under the finger may be inconvenient.

The degree of magnification provided by the rifle's complete optical sight; for models with variable magnification, the entire adjustment range is indicated, for example 3 – 9x.

For sights of this type in general, see "Aiming Device". And several points depend on the degree of increase at once. On the one hand, a higher magnification allows you to better see small and/or distant targets and facilitates high-precision shooting; on the other hand, it limits the angle of view and significantly affects the cost of the sight, and sometimes also its dimensions and weight. And since air rifles are mostly not designed for long distances, the magnification of complete optics in them usually does not exceed 9x, and one of the most popular options is 4x. However, there are exceptions: in powerful high-end pneumatics, you can find sights with a maximum magnification of 24x and even higher.

Actually, the manufacturer most often selects the magnification of optics for the ballistic characteristics of the rifle. So, when choosing this parameter, it often turns out to be secondary, and it makes sense to focus primarily on the muzzle velocity of the bullet and the firing range for which the weapon is designed — usually, the capabilities of complete optics are quite enough for this. It is also worth mentioning the variable magnification sights mentioned at the beginning, which are quite common nowadays — they are somewhat more complicated and more expensive than fix...ed optics, but they allow you to adjust the magnification to the specifics of the situation.

The diameter of the front lens (objective) in the optical sight, which is equipped with a rifle.

For sights of this type in general, see "Aiming Device". And the diameter of the lens depends primarily on the amount of light entering the scope. Thus, other things being equal, a larger front lens produces a clearer and brighter image; this is especially noticeable in low light. On the other hand, a larger lens is noticeably more expensive, and it also affects the weight and dimensions of the sight; and in bright daylight, the difference from the “smaller” optics may not be fundamental. In addition, recall that the actual image quality is determined by a number of other factors; as a result, high-end optics with a relatively small front lens may well be more effective than a large low-cost model.

In view of the foregoing, it is worth paying attention to the diameter of the lens in cases where the sight is planned to be used in low light conditions — in a dense forest, at dusk, etc. In this case, it is worth considering not only this indicator, but also other features of the optics (and it is best to focus on practical reviews). If the rifle is bought for recreational use in the daytime in good light, the size of the lens will be a purely reference parameter: in such conditions, almost any optical sight works normally.