Crosman Silhouette 2300S .177-Caliber Pellet CO2-Powered Target Air Pistol

The pistol ships in a plain brown cardboard box lined with egg-crate foam. The Williams sight is packed in a plastic pouch with its instructions. The pistol's instructions are tri-colored and printed on heavy 11x18" paper. One side is English, the other side is Spanish. All-in-all a very informative set of instructions.The pistol looks nice. All printing on the tube is done by laser etching into the black finish. This looks much better than the ugly stamping that is done on the less expensive guns. The barrel band is a substantial piece of metal and is firmly attached. The barrel is rigidly supported.I'm no fan of the silver muzzle "brake". This bit of bling seems to be anodized aluminum. I would rather it were black to match the barrel. Crosman says its function is to provide weight up front to balance the gun. Be that as it may, it does protect the barrel front from impact, so that's nice.The grips are disappointing. They tend to creak and move as the hands adjust position on the grips. There is a sweet spot in tightening them so the movement is minimal but still there. Once properly tightened you are still left with cheap-looking plastic grips.On examining the pistol I was dismayed to find that the muzzle brake was loose and rotated off to the side. The gun is expensive so why is it shipped like this? I used a 5/64 hex key (not included) to break loose the set screw on the brake and straighten it. I tightened it and it has stayed that way.The Williams sight is packed with a little hex key for attaching it to the pistol. A flat blade screwdriver is also need but you have to supply your own for that.With the sight mounted it was obvious that it, too, was tilted slightly. I was concerned that I was experiencing the same problem others had warned about with a "canted" breech. Sighting down the base of the Williams sight I could see that the movable mounting foot was not flush against the sight base. This causes the sight to be tipped. The fix is to loosen the two hex screws and tighten the top screw so the movable plate is snug against the base. Then use the hex screws to tighten. Follow this with a final snugging of the top screw and the sight will be true to the breech. Problem solved.I loaded a CO2 cartridge (always with a drop of Pellgun oil on the tip) and put a Crosman Super match pellet in the breech and fired off my first shot indoors at a target about 10 feet away. I was about 2 inches off the mark vertically so I dialed in some correction. The next shot was much closer. The final correction put me into the bullseye. I fired off several more rounds and was getting concerned that I was missing badly or the pellets were not leaving the gun. It turns out that I was putting rounds into the same hole. I was very pleasantly surprised with how accurate the gun is. The trigger was quite heavy and had a bit of creep. I'll adjust it later.Getting back to the CO2 cartridge for a second, I've seen experienced shooters really cranking down on the filler cap when they install a new cartridge. I think this is a holdover from those guns where you pierced the cartridge with the tightening of the cap. On these Crosman's you tighten the cap only finger tight. The idea is to get the nose of the cartridge bottomed against the sealing gasket. This should be where the cap is finger tight! (Not tightened with a coin, screwdriver, or hammer drill.) Then, the gun is dry fired usually 2 or three times until a satisfying report from the gun that indicates the cartridge has been pierced. Note: Firing the pistol pierces the cartridge! You can tighten that cap down until the threads strip and you still will not pierce that cartridge until you fire the gun.I dialed the power adjuster to it's lowest setting. As you crank it out you can feel the point where the spring is no longer putting pressure on the hammer block. This is about 7 turns from max to min. I get far more shots on a cartridge than advertised at the lowest setting. If I told you how many you would think I am exaggerating. I'll just say you will not be disappointed.Low power is good for plinking as it saves CO2. It's not that great for target shooting, however. I've found I get the most conservative use and more consistent FPS at two turns tighter. Ten shots will measure with a standard deviation of only 2. At full power, I measure 405 FPS with Crosman Super Match. These weigh 8 grains apiece. The standard deviation of a 10-shot group indicates a standard deviation of less than 1. So if you want to do target match shooting, full power is for you.I don't know how Crosman specs 520 FPS for this pistol. That would be the spec with a typical Crosman power valve such as is used in a 2240. The 2300S and 2300T have special reduced power valves that strive to maintain greater FPS consistency by using less CO2 charge for each shot.Now to adjust the trigger pull. I turned the adjuster to the lightest setting. I measured the pull at 3-1/2 pounds. This is far from the 1 pound Crosman promises in their ad copy. Opening up the trigger housing reveals the same crudely stamped sear that Crosman has been using for years. Crosman never shims the pivoting parts so that they will stay true to the pivot axis. There is a lone spring washer for the trigger and that's it. The sear just wobbles alone on its pivot. One day I'll ad some proper shims here.After polishing the trigger and sear the pull was much improved down to 2 pounds. Not too bad but not as advertised. At least the polishing cleared up the slight trigger creep I had felt. Still, if they say it goes to 1 pound then that is what it should be. I'm confident I could install a lighter spring or shorten this one and get it down to one pound. Two pounds is fine for my shooting. One pound is too light for me, anyway. I'm just annoyed that it is not as advertised.There is a trigger over-travel adjustment. It is adjusted by turning a very loose-fitting set screw. This mechanism is very poorly done and is a disappointment in such an expensive pistol. It's just a wobbly, loose-fitting, sharp-edged set screw that juts out to a ridiculous degree. I grew tired of it painfully scraping my hand every time I shifted my grip on the gun. Annoyed, I ground it down and slotted it with a Dremel tool. Now it sits just below the surface of the trigger guard and can be adjusted with a flat screwdriver. I doubt if it will ever need adjustment again but it works fine now and is no longer painful.The bolt feels a bit stiff when the gun is new. I feel that is working in nicely now since it has already improved after a few hundred rounds. Don't oil the bolt trying to make it smoother. All you will do is make a mess.The only place I put Pellgun oil is on the bolt o-ring and the tip of the CO2 cartridge. I've learned that oiling everything that moves is a big mistake with air guns. As long as oil is put in the critical spots the manufacturer recommends, the oil tends to vaporize during a shot and travel to all the places it needs to go. If you start putting oil everywhere you will simply have an oily gun that is dirty all the time and wearing itself out.This pistol shoots more quietly than a stock Crosman 2240 or a 1322 at 10 pumps. If you are familiar with those pistols than that should be meaningful to you. This is a good gun for an indoor range if you have one set up in your living space.The Williams sight is a joy to use. Very adjustable and responsive to each click.I like this gun. As much as I have harped on about the shortcomings, let's be clear that this gun is a proven design. It has minimal parts and works well. It is rugged, dependable, and most of all, accurate. On the down side, if you want it to be a first rate performer you'll have to finish the gunsmithing operations yourself (such as polishing the sear). Parts are readily available and reasonably priced which is very important. The pistol is made in the USA, which is nice. I don't really regret the purchase because this pistol is a well balanced shooter I rather enjoy tinkering.

I received this pellet pistol yesterday and have shot between 100-200 pellets through it. It is impressive and a much better pistol than I am a marksman.Out of the box the Williams sight has to be mounted, a relatively intuitive and simple process, allowing setting the sight's distance from the chamber to personal preferences. I set it back far enough to not hinder retracting the bolt and to minimize hitting my hand in the process while keeping it from not extending exposed unnecessarily behind the breech. The factory setting on the sight adjustment seems accurate and was left alone. I may fine tune the adjustments as needed as, and if, I improve.I was concerned about the barrel length but the pistol feels well balanced.I was also concerned about the relatively slender front post sight, but sighting with it is a pleasure; and, in my opinion, probably enhances the overall accuracy of using the pistol.I chose to purchase this pistol on Amazon because, as far as I can tell, it's configuration is currently unavailable at the Crosman Custom Shop online, specifically the adjuster for velocity is currently unavailable on that site unless I missed something.Cons: functionally, none.Loading the the small pellets can be tricky but that's not the pistol's fault.Cosmetically, I would have preferred a black "muzzle brake" instead of the "silver", a choice available on the Crosman site; but an insignificant trade off to have the ability to adjust the velocity.This pistol is simply a pleasure to shoot.

Just received my pistol a few days ago. It took me some 40-50 rounds to adjust the accuracy. The rear sight has shifted about 5mm to the right of the rear barrel. It looks very strange. I will contact Crosman and ask why such huge shift. It is very difficult to put a pellet in because there is not much room. I have small hands and still find it difficult.What is great is an accuracy. I can easily hit a small match box within 10 yards distance. My teenage daughter who had never before shot a gun has an impressive success also.I would recommend this pistol to a friend.

I've had my 2300S for about a month now, put nearly 500 rounds through it, and it's become my new favorite. There were two possible minor issues I was aware of before purchase. Like other's guns, the rear sight on mine sits canted a couple of degrees off to the left as is out of the box. The sliding steel bar that engages the right dovetail slot is a little too thick. Slightly thinning this part out by about 5 thousandths on a medium stone fixes this problem. 15 minutes, and done. Sits perfectly square now.I knew that the trigger would probably need some smoothing up. An hour's worth of work with a fine stone on the relevant surfaces made a huge difference, and the trigger is even better now after a few hundred rounds. Accuracy is phenomenal, and I've got excellent results with both the cheapy Beeman and Crosman domed pellets. With the power setting on max, I get 60-65 consistent shots before velocity starts to drop off on a 70-80 degree day, more than acceptable.The mostly steel construction gives a good sense of heft and balance, and the overall fit and finish is very nice. The Williams rear sight is a gem, and the adjustable over travel stop and trigger weight adjustment are simple and effective. The 2300S is a lot of gun for the money, and after some minor tweaks, a fine shooting air pistol. It's simple, durable, reliable, and very easy to work on and customize (I'm going to install wood grips and a trigger shoe). Highly recommended.