Crosman 362 Review: The Budget .22 Multi-Pump That Earns Its Keep

The 362 is a single-shot, bolt-action, multi-pump pneumatic: you stroke the forearm between two and eight times, chamber one pellet, and every shot is recoilless compressed air — no spring slam, no CO2 cartridges that go soft in the cold, no 3,000 PSI reservoir to fill. It wears a rifled, fluted steel barrel, a fixed front sight with a fully adjustable rear, and a weather-resistant textured synthetic stock with a ridged rubber buttpad that gives you something to pull against while pumping. At roughly 35.6 inches and 4.5 pounds, it is short, light, and genuinely handy — a rifle a new or younger shooter can actually manage.

Crosman rates it "up to 875 FPS" with alloy pellets and about 13 ft-lbs of muzzle energyat maximum pumps — which, as we cover below, is honest small-pest power, not magnum-airgun power.

The feature that makes a multi-pump more than a cheap alternative is that you set the power every shot. Two or three pumps makes the 362 a quiet, low-energy basement-and-backyard plinker that will not bury pellets in the fence. The full eight pumps turns the same rifle into a legitimate close-range small-game and pest tool. No break-barrel or PCP gives you that range with a flick of intent.

The flip side is baked into the design: eight strokes take real effort and perhaps twenty seconds, and then you have exactly one shot. The 362 enforces a deliberate pace — Crosman itself frames the gun around deliberate shooting and control. As a training rifle that is a feature; as a fast follow-up pest gun it is the whole limitation.

Ignore the 875 FPS box number — that is a light-alloy best case. With the lead pellets you should actually shoot, published testing is consistent: Crosman's own lead figure is around 700 FPS, and Hard Air Magazine chronographed a five-shot string averaging 611 FPS with heavy 18.13-grain lead pelletsat full pumps — tightly bunched between 596 and 619 FPS, which speaks well of the pump system's consistency. Work the math and the 362 lives around 12-14 FPE at maximum power: right at the common field standard for squirrel-sized game, provided you keep shots close (inside roughly 20-25 yards) and place them precisely.

Accuracy reports follow the same pattern — Field & Stream's testing called it light, handy, and reasonably accurate. The recoilless action means it has none of a break-barrel's hold sensitivity: rest it, squeeze, and it puts pellets where the sights point. The open sights are the limiting instrument, and quality domed lead .22 pellets tighten groups more than any other dollar you can spend on it.

A $100 rifle makes $100 compromises, and the 362's are well documented. The breech, bolt handle, and trigger internals are plastic; they work, but they feel like what they are, and the plastic breech is the reason scoping the stock gun is awkward. The trigger is a basic non-adjustable affair — usable, not match-grade. There is no sound moderation, so full-power shots produce a distinct crack the neighbors can hear. And there are no sling mounts or other niceties on the base gun.

None of that is a dealbreaker at the price — it is the price. What matters is that Crosman spent the money where it counts: a rifled steel barrel, a consistent pump assembly, and a stock you can actually pump against.

Part of the 362's appeal is that it plugs into Crosman's decades-deep multi-pump aftermarket. The single most popular move is the steel breech upgrade— a factory-supported swap that replaces the plastic breech with a metal one carrying a proper dovetail rail, turning the 362 into a scope-ready rifle for modest money. From there the hobbyist path runs deep: aftermarket triggers, flat-top pistons and valves, and more. Few $100 guns double as a platform; this one does, which is why airgun tinkerers adopted it almost immediately after launch.

Buy the 362 ifyou want the most genuinely useful air rifle the least money buys: a first rifle for a new or young shooter (with supervision), a truck-and-garden pest gun, or a cheap, cheerful trainer that builds real marksmanship habits shot by deliberate shot. It is also the right pick if you want zero support gear — no CO2, no pumps-and-tanks ecosystem, nothing but pellets.

Spend more if you shoot volume or hunt seriously. Eight pumps per full-power shot gets old across a long pest session, 13 FPE runs out of authority past close range, and the crack of an unmoderated .22 limits where you can use it. The Benjamin Marauder .22solves all three — quiet shroud, 10-shot magazine, nearly triple the energy — for roughly five times the price plus fill gear. That gap is exactly the decision our air rifle buying guide walks through.

The Crosman 362 is what honest budget gear looks like: it spends its few dollars on the barrel and the pump, wears its plastic openly, and does exactly what it claims — quiet plinking on two pumps, real 12-14 FPE pest work on eight, and recoilless accuracy throughout. It will not keep up with a PCP and was never meant to. As a first air rifle, a trainer, or the knock-around .22 that lives by the back door, it is the easiest recommendation in the category — and the standard against which every other $100 air rifle should be judged.