Author Topic: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review  (Read 8061 times)

Offline hodgjy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 485
    • http://
Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« on: August 18, 2008, 03:32:18 AM »
I recently took receipt of the Crosman Quest 800 .22.  I got it from PA and it arrived with immaculate packaging.  The rifle received no shipment damage.  Here are some of my impressions of the rifle after playing around with it for the last 5 days.

It came with a scope for the huge price (tongue in cheek) of $116.  It's exactly what I expected for $116, and perhaps even a little more.  First, the wood working on the stock isn't anything to call home about.  It's a low grade mystery hardwood from China, but it was finished very smoothly and there are no knots or burls in the wood.  The finish is a little to be desired as the stain and clear coat have some unevenness to them, and there are a few low spots from uneven sanding.  The blueing on the metal is deep and adequate, but there are several light scratches from the manufacturing process and perhaps packaging and shipping.  But, this is exactly what I expected for $116 .22 springer.  Not bad, and not out of the ordinary.  I'd be ticked off if this was how a $300 rifle showed up, but for the price I paid it was exactly within my expectations.

The machining seems to be pretty good.  The pellet loading bore is exactly centered in the breech and so is the air transfer port on the other end--the two holes match perfectly.  The action closes very tightly, is extremely hard to break before cocking, but seems to close very consistently.  There have been some conversations that the breech seal is very hard and causes the action to not close consistently after each cock.  I am only using the iron sights, so I can't fully say if the action closes consistently that would be shown from scope shooting, but from my eyes it seems to close very consistently after each cock.  I'm sure the chamber has burrs in it because I haven't tuned it at all, but the cocking action seems pretty smooth.  It doesn't sound like there is any unnecessary or horrible grinding going on.  Of course, there is a copious amount of Chinese oil all throughout the action.  This might have something to do with it, but the cocking action seems very smooth to me.  I've not yet cocked a supertuned rifle, but I have no complaints of the way the Quest seems to operate.

Speaking of Chinese oil, let's talk about shooting and detonation.  The first 5 or 6 shots out of the rifle sounded like a .22 rimfire.  There was some serious detonation going on.  The first shot went clear through a 3/4" piece of plywood.  After 6 shots, the detonation and loud bangs went away, but the dieseling continues, even after about 100 shots.   The dieseling seems to be declining with each round fired, but after about 100 rounds that I put through it so far, there are still faint traces of smoke in the barrel after each shot.  I'm sure this will get better after each successive round.  I haven't taken the rifle apart to inspect the seal or spring, so I can't say if the detonations did any damage, but the rifle seems to be a hard hitter as it drives pellets into plywood to the same depth as my Baikal 513.

The shooting action is quite smooth, and it's certainly a lot smoother than my Baikal IZH 513 .22.  It's a lot quieter and has less torque, too.  It's very similar to the Gamo firing action (which makes sense because it's a Gamo clone), but there isn't as much twang.  Perhaps this is because it's still burning out the copious amounts of oil, so the twang might show up once I put some more rounds through it.  All in all, it shoots pretty smoothly without large amounts of torque or harsh recoil.  It has recoil, but it seems to be a lot more "under control" than my Baikal rifle.  I was surprised that it had no torque when firing.  It's very comfortable to shoot off a rest or freehand.

The Quest 800 is very accurate out of the box using iron sights.  First off, it seems to have absolutely no hold sensitivity.  I'm able to get clover groups with iron sights at 10 yards shooting off a rest.  Freehand, I'm able to shoot cockroaches off trees at 10 yards.  That's pretty good for my limited talent.  The rifle is more accurate than I am, so in my opinion, that's a good thing.  Once it breaks in and settles down a little more, I expect the accuracy to be good down range, too.

All in all, it's a good rifle, regardless of the price.  It's accurate and fun to shoot, and it's great that it happens to be only $116.  Of course the initial quality isn't what you'd expect from a $300+ rifle, or even the $190 Diana Panther 34, but it was never meant to compete with those rifles.  It's an inexpensive starter rifle, and it exceeds readily in that category.  If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive .22 springer that will be good for target shooting and small game hunting, I highly recommend the Quest 800.  I'm 100% certain that it would respond highly favorable to a professional tune, but that begs the question of why you'd want to tune a $116 rifle in the first place (unless you want to do it yourself, which is another story).  Don't expect the rifle to look like a $300 rifle out of the box.  Don't expect the trigger to be any good.  You can, however, expect the rifle to shoot very accurately.  It's fun to use and a great value at its price.  If the rifle was the same price as the Diana Panther 34, then it would not be a good deal.  However, at $116, I can fully recommend this shooter.  It far exceeds its price point in shooting ability, but it matches its price point in physical appearance.  So, in the end, you're getting more rifle than you'd expect for $116.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (as long as you know what you're getting--an inexpensive starter rifle).




Slavia CZ 634 .177, Crosman Quest 800 .22, and Baikal IZH 513 .22.

Offline longislandhunter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8204
    • http://
RE: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2008, 04:34:32 PM »
Enjoyed your review  :)

Glad you like your new shooter.....

Jeff
\"If it was easy it wouldn\'t be hunting, it would be shopping.\"

Offline hodgjy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 485
    • http://
RE: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2008, 09:40:38 AM »
Cool, thanks for reading it. :)
Slavia CZ 634 .177, Crosman Quest 800 .22, and Baikal IZH 513 .22.

Offline RCnMo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 576
    • http://
Re: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2008, 01:08:00 PM »
Glad it turned out to be a good shooter. I have one in .177 and it is one of the most hold sensitive rifles I own.
CFX .177, RWS 34 Panther .177, B26 .177, B30 .177, B40 .177, Crosman Quest .177(gave it to my brother),Crosman G1 .177, B3 .177, B2 .177, QB 78 .177, TF89 .22, Crosman 1377, P17

Offline hodgjy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 485
    • http://
Re: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2008, 03:18:56 AM »
Really?  That's odd.  Maybe I got lucky with manufacturing process tolerances.  The trigger sucks, so I'll probably be putting in a GRTIII trigger soon, but I found it to have almost zero hold sensitivity even with the sloppy trigger.  I was quite shocked.  I don't know if you are I are the exception or the norm.  Maybe others can chime on????

You might want to check your breech seal.  From what I've read, it often causes inconsistent lockups, which will cause the pellets to walk up and down the target paper.
Slavia CZ 634 .177, Crosman Quest 800 .22, and Baikal IZH 513 .22.

  • Guest
Re: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2008, 12:33:38 PM »
I shimmed up my breach seal on mine and my groups tightened up by about 1/4" at 20 yards and the fps went up a bit as well. No actual numbers but its a little faster now. Also likes heavier pellets now where as before it wouldnt group them at all.

Offline RCnMo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 576
    • http://
Re: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2008, 05:21:39 AM »
I worked mine over awhile back and this is what I did.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=9381&posts=9&highlight=fixed&highlightmode=1#M70346

It tightened up the groups, but it's still not my favorite shooter.
CFX .177, RWS 34 Panther .177, B26 .177, B30 .177, B40 .177, Crosman Quest .177(gave it to my brother),Crosman G1 .177, B3 .177, B2 .177, QB 78 .177, TF89 .22, Crosman 1377, P17

Offline mackeralboy

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 153
    • http://
Re: Crosman Quest 800 .22 Review
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2008, 03:50:16 PM »
I bought my Crosman Quest 800X about two years ago and love it. In my opinion it is a far better gun than the $100.00 price tag that I paid for it. Because it is a Gamo knock off, one of the first mods i did to mine is drop in one of Charlies GRTIII triggers. It took all of 15 minutes and easily dropped the speard on my shots in half. I also took off the front site and put on a baffled muzzle break so it is much quieter now. Last i have topped mine with a Leapers 3-9x40 Gen 5 scope. I can consistanly put out 1/2" groups without hardly any practice. I love the shape and feel of the stock and it's light enough to lug around out in the field hunting. The following are some Chrony data I got a while back with my 800.

Beeman Kodiak Match                21.5gr    526 fps
Beeman Crow Magnum              18.4gr    589 fps
Beeman H&N Match Wadcutter 15.1gr    704 fps
Crosman Primiers                       14.25gr  687 fps
Crosman 175                             14.28gr  688 fps
Logun Penatrators                     20.4gr   569 fps
RWS Superdomes                      14.3gr   707 fps

I presently shoot the RWS Superdome pellets from my 800 and I have yet to chrony some of the JSB Pellets through it. I have taken out about a dozen crows, 3-4 rabbits and a number of squirrels with my 800. It's a great shooter out to about 35-40 yards and I think with a tune and practice it would be a great shooter out to 60yards.
Air Arms Prosport .22 cal
Beeman SS1000H .22 cal
Beeman P1 .20 cal
Benjamin Discovery .22 cal
BSA Lightning Tactical XL .22 cal
Crosman 1377 converted to .22 cal by Tim McMurry
Crosman Quest 800X .22 cal
Crosman Nitro .22 cal
Gamo 1250 .177 cal
Gamo 1250 .22 cal
Gamo Whisper .177 cal
Theoben Eliminator .25 cal
Walther Falcon Hunter .22 cal