Crosman 3576W

As I mentioned in the review of the Smith and Wesson 686, the other CO2 airgun that I wanted to try was the Crosman 3576W. These are CO2 revolvers with similar specs - both have 6" barrels and use 10 pellet clips. They both also have very good reviews and the Crosman costs about a fifth of the cost of the Umarex revolver, so I was curious to compare them, especially since I liked very much the Crosman 1377C, so I knew that Crosman can provide great quality for an affordable price.

The style of the Crosman 3576W revolver draws inspiration from the Colt Python, but it replaces the swing out cylinder mechanism of that revolver with a top break mechanism that I first saw in the S&W Schofield; also, the Python did not seem to have contoured grips, so those are probably inherited from some other revolver model. As such, the 3576W is not a firearm replica - it is just styled to look like a firearm.

Crosman has quite a history of producing CO2 revolvers. The 3576W comes from a series of 357* revolver models that goes back to 1983 - 30 years! I imagine that the "357" part of the name hints to revolvers using the .357 Magnum round and I know that the "6" stands for the 6" barrel, but I do not know what the W is meant to suggest - perhaps higher power compared to previous generation? As with the S&W 686 airgun, this Crosman revolver also used to come in versions having different barrel sizes, but now only the 6" version is available.

Operation

One other aspect where the 3576W shows that it is not a replica is the presence of a safety. This safety takes the form of a bolt that can be pushed in the path of the hammer - to engage it, you have to pull the hammer slightly, to allow the safety to slide in front of it; to take it off, simply push it out of the way of the hammer.

As usual, the CO2 powerlet can be loaded in the grip of the revolver. The grip mechanism is rather unique in that both sides come off. First pull the right side by holding it from the middle and pulling it away - it should detach with little effort and once it comes off, the left side will be easy to remove too. What remains is a grip skeleton that is shaped to receive the CO2 powerlet. The piercing mechanism is a simple screw - this needs to be unscrewed first to make place for the powerlet. After oiling the tip of the CO2 cylinder and placing it in the grip, you can turn back the screw to pierce it. Do that by turning the screw firmly once you feel stronger resistance. As I mentioned in the review of the Walther PPQ, which uses a similar piercing mechanism, I like to turn the screw a bit after it pierces the cylinder, but then I unscrew it just a tiny bit. Now it is time to replace the grips. I do that in the reverse order in which I removed them - I first fit back the left grip and then the right one - when they are fitted correctly, pressing them together will result in a snapping sound and they'll get secured. Removing and putting back the grips requires very little force - if you find it to be otherwise, you are doing something wrong. The grips are made of plastic, so you should never apply excessive force - it is not necessary and it can break the attachment clips.

As mentioned earlier, the clip loading mimics a top break mechanism. To break open the revolver, you need to push a lever on top - keep it pressed while pushing down the barrel and release it only once the barrel is clear of the lock. You can now mount a clip on the short protruding pivot at the back of the barrel. Once a clip is loaded, I press again the top lever while pushing the barrel back to its normal position. I always press the top lever during this operation, to avoid wearing the locking mechanism.

The revolver is now ready to fire either in single action, after cocking the hammer, or in double action with a longer trigger pull.

Package and build

As usual for airguns in its price range, the 3576W came in a plastic wrap that I cut with scissors. One clip was included besides the manual and warranty cards. As it seems to be usual with Crosman packaging, the manual was rolled so I had to roll it in the opposite direction to get it to sit flat. I recommend getting one set of extra clips - they are inexpensive and make recharging easier.

The Crosman revolver is built from metal and plastic. The grips are plastic and attach to a metal frame, the clips are made of plastic, and the barrel is shrouded in plastic. The safety bolt is also plastic, but the rest is metal - the trigger, the hammer, the grip frame, and the barrel. I liked that a metallic piece was also used in the top break locking mechanism to protect the plastic of the shroud. Basically, all essential parts that suffer wear and tear are made of metal or protected by a piece of metal. The only parts that may get worn out are the attachment clips of the grips, but so far I saw no issues with them. This is a very nicely built revolver.

I also like the plastic parts - they look and feel very nice. They also make the 3576W very light, especially when compared with an airgun that uses more metal such as the Smith and Wesson 686.

Adjustable settings

The front sight is fixed, but the rear sight adjusts for both elevation and windage via a couple of screws.

Performance

The 3576W does a very good job of regulating CO2 use and it provides pretty constant power over the use of one powerlet. I can get 80 shots per CO2 cylinder, but after the first 60 shots, the power starts dropping and the pellets no longer cut clean holes in the paper targets, so I stop after 6 clips. This revolver definitely maintains constant power better than the Beretta 92FS and the Walther PPQ.

The Crosman 3576W handles very nicely - I really like the shape of its grips and its light weight also makes it easy to handle it for extended periods. The sights are also very good.

The trigger is crisp and precise in single action mode. In double action mode, it requires a stronger pull, but it still works very predictably - I was quite impressed with the overall performance of the trigger.

Given all the above observations, it should not come as a surprise that the accuracy of the 3576W is excellent and that this revolver is very suitable for target shooting. Everything works great here.

Conclusion

Crosman has engineered another classic airgun in the 3576W. No wonder it is so popular. Even ignoring its very affordable price, this revolver offers pretty much everything that you could expect to find in a CO2 revolver.

I am impressed with Crosman - they offer excellent features in very affordable models.

In my next post, I will attempt to answer the unavoidable question - how does the Crosman 3576W compare to the Umarex Smith and Wesson 686?