Earlier this week I took my Sierra Pro back to Wal-Mart for an exchange. I had read that maybe there were some quality control issues around this air rifle. The lady behind the returns counter was not going to let me exchange the Crosman; something to do with a no gun exchange policy. In the end, after calling her manager and the sporting goods department, I was allowed to exchange the airgun. Luckily for me, there was one other Sierra Pro in stock.
Yesterday I opened the new gun and two things immediately noticeable. First, this gun was new; it contained some extra packaging that was not included with the first gun. I am pretty sure that the first gun was used because the seal was not tight, muzzle break was not clean, and in retrospect it was definitely missing some of the extra packaging described above. Second, the included scope does not have any markings on the horizontal and vertical dials that will allow me to zero in on a neutral (or default) setting before trying to tune the gun.
Out of the box, without the scope, I was shooting much better compared to the first gun; groupings were tighter and I was much closer to the bulls-eye on my targets at 10 yards and 20 yards.
I put the scope on earlier this afternoon (halftime of the Falcons’ game), and I was quickly back to not being able to hit the side of a barn. While the first gun was always too low (at longer distances) and almost always too far to the left, this new gun seems to be always high and to the left.
I run out of daylight, and while I am still making some adjustments, I am not encouraged because the vertical dial did not “click” when I first turned it. The two screws holding it in place were sat at an odd angle, so I decided to take them out and reseat the top of the dial; now it clicks. The documentation mentions taking off the protective caps, but this scope does not have any caps. At least I cannot find any removable caps. The cover that I took off did not have anything that could be easily adjustable, so I must be missing something. I really have no idea where the dials should be set to start shooting. For what it is worth, the scope included with the first gun had some sort of range indicator that showed clicks to distance, but this one just includes click numbers. If I cannot figure this scope out, I may have to call Crosman to see if they have some advice, or maybe exchange the scope.
A squirrel hunting I will go … after I get the gun sighted in correctly.
