Definitive Guide to Crosman 362 100 Year Anniversary

There's a lot to talk about with the 100 Year Anniversary Edition 362, starting with the beautiful ambidextrous Turkish Walnut stock and foregrip. The length of pull may be a little short for a larger shooter, but it's probably ideal for older teenagers or smaller adults. That said, we had no issues getting into a usable shooting position for our shooting tests. Let's continue with the other features on the stock. There's a 100 Year Anniversary metal plate inset into the right side of the buttstock. Moving forward, we find a texturing on the grip and forearm. Crosman really did a beautiful job pulling this stock together.

Starting at the back of the action, we find a fully adjustable Williams Peep rear sight. The adjustments aren't micro-click, but they work just fine, and you can easily get on target. The Wiliams sight rests on a steel breach with an 11mm dovetail, making the Anniversary 362 scopeable for shooters who prefer to run scoped. The barrel is a 21-inch rifled steel barrel from Crosman. At the end, you'll find a fiber optic front sight. The combination of the Williams Peep sight with the front fiber optic makes it very easy to achieve quick target acquisition and repeatable accuracy.

Under the barrel, you'll find the integrated pump for the 362. The wood forearm provides a great feel when pumping, and you never feel like it's going to slip out of your hand during the process. Having spent time with the older Silver Streak, the entire process brings back fond memories.

Let's move on to operation. The Crosman 362 is a multi-pump pneumatic, requiring multiple pumps between each shot. The shooter gets to choose how many pumps based on the needed velocity or energy. The manual states that you need at least 2 pumps with a total of 8 pumps for maximum power and velocity. We used Crosman Premier Hollow Points for our velocity tests, which we'll share a little later. We did not find any difference between 2 pumps and 3 pumps, but there was a steady increase with each additional pump up to the max of 8. We did not find it hard to pump through pump 6, but it did get noticeably more difficult for pumps 7 and 8. It was not unmanageable, but you'll probably want to save going to 7 or 8 pumps for hunting and target shoot down around 5 or 6.

Before you start pumping, you'll need to cock the cocking bolt, which allows you to put air into the gun. Also, you'll find a simple crossbolt safety located in the trigger guard. Let's move on to usage.

To get started, and as mentioned above, you'll need to cock the bolt for your pumps to put air into the gun. You don't need to load a pellet just yet, but be sure to put on your safety before getting started. Once you've pumped your desired number of pumps, load your pellet and get set up to take your shot. When you are ready, release the safety and gently squeeze the trigger.

The trigger is a non-adjustable single-stage trigger that breaks at around 3 pounds. Both the trigger and cocking bolt are metal with an aesthetically pleasing gold color. They may be brass or anodized aluminum, as we can't tell, and it's not specifically stated in the product description, but they look and feel great to operate.

It would be nice if the action utilized a magazine, but we understand going with a single-shot design given the comparative nature of the product. So to take your next shot, you'll need to repeat the process of engaging the safety, cocking the bolt, loading the pellet, and taking your shot. It's really like the good old days of airgunning. One last point of note for usage: The noise increases with more pumps. But we did not find it to be overly loud, even at the top end. But you'll ultimately need to be the final judge of that.

Performance and Accuracy

Now, let's talk about performance and accuracy. On paper, the Anniversary Edition 362 is supposed to get up to 850 FPS with an alloy pellet. We could not test alloy pellets, but we used the 14.3 grain Crosman Premier Hollow Points and got the following results.

While we were not able to confirm 850 FPS with lightweight alloy pellets, seeing 641 with 14.3-grain pellets was very encouraging. That's 13.05 foot-pounds. And to put that into perspective, the UK has a 12 Foot Pound limit without a license. Given that the 362 has zero recoil and is very accurate, there's no reason that you couldn't do some serious small-game hunting or pest abatement with this airgun.

Now, let's get to the accuracy results. We shot four different pellets and found that the Crosman Premier Hollow Points and the JSB Hades delivered the best results at 15 yards with open sights. It was a little windy, and we were losing our light, but we expected that taking this out to 25 or even 35 yards would be very practical, especially for someone who shoots well with open sights or those who wanted to scope it. Here are our results.

Here is our 5-shot group from the bench using 7 pumps with Crosman Premier Hollow Point .22. Velocity was stable around 615 FPS with an energy of 12.01 foot-pounds. These results are easily achievable due to the precision Williams Peep Sight. It makes all the difference.

Following up with the JSB Hades .22, here's our 5-shot group. Again, we shot from the bench using 7 pumps for each shot. Velocity was stable around 585 FPS with an energy of 12.08 foot-pounds. The more we used the Williams Sight, the more we liked the experience. If you've never shot with a peep sight, this may be a great airgun to start with.

As you can see from these results, the 362 delivered on both accuracy and energy. If you want to do more than punch paper, the Crosman 362 100 Year Anniversary Edition will deliver.

Summing Up

That's a wrap for this definitive guide on the Crosman 362 100 Year Anniversary Edition. We feel that Crosman captured the essence of the traditional, old-school 362 multi-pump airgun. With the addition of the amazing Turkish Hardwood Stock, Williams Precision Peep Sight, and steel breach, Crosman has combined the best of the old school with features enthusiasts of the sport really want. Only a limited number of these are available, but you can get a non-commemorative Crosman 362 anytime. And if you have questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We are always here to answer your questions and help you get started.