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Slavia · Moderator

I gave in to Black Friday madness and bought a Crosman P10 for $20.00 at Walmart. Purchased on Friday, disassembled on Saturday, and tuned on Sunday.

This is a 20-round, magazine fed, CO2 powered BB only handgun. Mostly plastic, but more metal parts inside than my 1008. Smoothbore. The sights are fixed, and the trigger is DA only. The grip is very comfortable for adult hands, and the slide safety is located within reach of the (RH) trigger finger. The innards are the same as the C11 and T11, although this is the Walmart version and lacks the internal weights that come with the C11 (colored yellow in the diagram). Only the T11 has a scope mount.

The design is interesting because it slides the barrel forward to cock and fire. Squeezing the trigger brings the barrel forward, allowing a BB to pop up out of the magazine. When the trigger breaks, the barrel springs backwards, scoops up the BB, and hammers the exhaust valve.

A couple of quirks that I noticed: First, don't let the magazine follower snap into place. It will overwhelm the spring-loaded BB retainer at the top of the magazine and spray BB's all over the place. Second, the CO2 capsule is pierced before it seals, losing gas in a great whoosh. Once the clamp screw snugs up be prepared to give it a quick 3/4 turn to minimize gas loss. The DA trigger has a long pull, but the BB "clicks" into place just before release, signalling that things are about to happen.

The gun came with several problems. The magazine would not fully engage the release button, and BB's wouldn't feed right. The safety wouldn't completely disengage the trigger, and was stiff to the point of being nearly inoperable. There were huge, visible burrs at the muzzle, and accuracy was about as poor as a Marksman 1010. Once inside I found rust forming on the outside of the barrel, and no trace of any lubricant anywhere. The bore was rough. To call it a "smoothbore" would be as far off target as my test group.

But that's not why I took it apart one day after buying it. Trust me; Gamo Rounds will not feed through this gun. Anyway, to get it apart remove the two screws at the front and back of the "slide" (circled in red on the diagram). Move the top "slide" backwards 1/8" and lift the rear up to remove it. The barrel parts will all then slide forward. What remains is two clamshells with the rest of the parts pinned in between. Separate them under a towel or in a bucket, because the spring (part #26) will try to escape.

I polished everything that rubs with a Dremel. The magazine problem was solved by slightly tapering the little tab on part #12 so it would enter the magazine properly. Polishing the two ears on the trigger blade solved half of the safety problem, and a few swipes of a file on the red area of the left clamshell fixed the tightness. The muzzle was crowned with the Dremel and an abrasive-impregnated rubber bit. The bore was smoothed with abrasive compound and a cotton swab chucked in the Dremel.

The barrel spring was really large compared to the barrel O.D., so a Bic pen barrel contributed the spring guide. A junked bicycle brake provided the 10mm thrust washer so the spring wouldn't bear against soft plastic (green in the diagram). Instead of cylindrical weights I poured in a mix of epoxy and BB's for extra heft. A light snythetic grease was used for assembly.

I grooved the trigger face and polished off the black color:

The grips got bicycle inner tube non-slip panels:

I painted the sights with high visibility colors for my aged eyes:

Group diameter at 10m went from 4.85" before the tune to 1.57" after. Velocity increased from 388 FPS to 411 FPS (it's rated at "up to 480 FPS"). I got 57 shots from a capsule of CO2, and the gun is louder than my 2240.

I would never pay Crosman's M.S.R.P. of $50 for a C11, nor would I pay Walmart's regular price of $35 for a P10. For $20 I'm happy with it.

Big Ern · Veteran Member

Great write up and pics Slavia. BB gun pistols are so much fun for plinking, I wouldn't mind picking one of these up myself. Thanks for posting.

Ernesto

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I have one of these too. I have been thinking about tearing it down and tuning it, and now you have proved my efforts worthwhile. Thanks for the writeup slavia!

Slavia · Moderator

oddtodd - I'm serious about that little spring flying out. Otherwise it's not bad. I got the diagram from the Crosman website, and the accompanying parts list specifies the dimensions of those two cylindrical weights, should you want to duplicate them. It still won't feed Gamo Rounds; stick with steel. Finally - I grooved the trigger by dragging a tap sideways, with a visegrip clamped on as an edge guide.

Slavia · Moderator

P.S. - If you remove the magazine this thing makes a festive holiday candle snuffer. Shoot from a yard away to minimize splashing wax.

ZipSnipe · Veteran Member

know this post is old but I wanted to ask ya how hard was it to get the gun back together after taking it apart? Mainly that little spring you're talking about?

Slavia · Moderator

ZipSnipe · Veteran Member

Well, I had to replace the button that releases the clip. After putting it back together, I could not get the slide to go back an 1/8 like you said and instead I man handled it and its back together but loose by a 1/16.

Now I see what should be the proper way to put this gun back together is a jig is needed. Yes its assembled with the left side you put all the guts in but the slide should also be put on the left side this is where the jig comes in so that it holds the slide on and keeps the spring compressed. then you put the rightside on and wala.

So I guess you were lucky and was able to pull your slide back even though when I look at the slide I just don't see how it goes past the back of the gun when the front of the slide has the 90 degree front cap of the barrel on it?

Oh well least its back together but if anyone else is going to take one apart, I would make a simple jig that holds the slide in place to the leftside of the gun while you screw the rightside back on.