My XL finally arrived Thurs. afternoon. I didn't have any more time that night other than to mount the scope and to fondle it. Friday morning before work I was able to get off about 50 rounds. A couple of things were immediately apparent.
1) The cocking force has to be felt to be really appreciated. All who have stated that this is a hunter rather than a plinker are absolutely correct. I'm 5'3" tall and 165lbs. I own a remodeling company and am fully involved in the day to day work. I do intend to use this as a hunter-plinker-target gun. When I was 9 I got my Sheridan Blue Streak. I can remember how difficult it was at first to pump it up. As time went by, and with frequent use, the pumping got easier. This may have had a bit to do with breaking-in but I believe it was mainly due to the fact that my muscles were becoming stronger. The muscles that are used to cock a break barrel or pump are rarely used in normal activity. With frequent repetitive use they will quickly become more developed; regardless of age. That said, I agree that this is definitely an adult rifle.
2) I can't for the life of me figure out what in the collective minds of the folks at Crossman when they decided which stock trigger to put into this rifle. I think my first gun(a Daisy lever-action "mud slinger" pop-gun) had a better trigger action. After the first round I made the decision not to even try to adjust the trigger; dismissing it as wasted effort and just went through the motions of getting some rounds through the gun to do a bit of breaking in. This morning I installed the GRT-III I got from Bob, one round and I knew that the 10 min. install was going to bring many years of joy. If you have or are planning to get an XL, you really need to get one of these. Worth every bit of $100 bucks and he's almost giving them away!(Thanks Bob!!!!)
I'll keep you posted as to how things go in the days to come as I get a couple of hundred rounds through it to see if the accuracy tightens up. I won't be doing any chrony testing as I'm not as interested in speed and feel that the groupings will determine how good a shooter this will become. If it doesn't settle down, I'll go after the seals and do a bit of polishing etc. The chrony would only affirm that these rifles are REALLY powerfull.
