Put in my Custom Shop order today . . .

[SmilinKev]

Thanks to the advice and information I found here over the past few days, I made my way to Mike Tiehen at TKO Airguns for help with selecting a Custom Shop gun and a way to make it a bit quieter.  Mike is a very knowledgeable, direct and helpful guy!  I followed his suggestion and, instead of ordering a "CO2 Pistol," ordered a "CO2 Carbine" with grips instead of a stock.  I went with an 18" Crosman barrel, for which Mike will be build half-shroud (as soon as I get the gun and can make some exact measurements for him to work with).

When I get the "Pirate Plinker" together - sometime in the next couple of months - I'll post a couple of photos and some chrony and accuracy results.  I'm really looking forward to shooting it!

Thanks again to all of you who replied to my threads in which I introduced myself and asked for information about loudness, performance, etc.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Keep shootin' and keep smilin',
Kev

P.S. Those two fluffy curs in my avatar are highly deceptive lap dogs.  Connor (12 pounds) and Chloe (4.5 pounds) can spot a squirrel moving in the trees 100 yards away - and they find me and let me know all about it!  They aren't exactly "hunting" dogs . . . but I sure wouldn't have nearly as good a squirrel-sniping record without their help! 

[ChokingVictim]

Awesome! I have a long shroud on order from TKO as well.

[swclemmons]

gratz man i love mine even though i just got it. it's almost 11pm here and im plotting to shoot somewhere now just no where inside atm...

[1377x]

Congrats

[Mebits]

Mike was very helpful to me too. I couldn't be happier with my gun thanks to him and Crosman's Custom Shop.

[T191032]

wouldn't by chance say : "Property of Smilin' Kev" would it?

Crosman posted that on FB as "favorite inscription from the Custom Shop #552"

[SmilinKev]

Yup . . . that would be me!   

I'm almost always in a good mood and grinning like a fool about something.  As a result, I got the nickname "Smilin' Kev" when I worked at a motorcycle dealership for a few years after I retired from teaching.  If I just couldn't seem to get a potential customer interested in a bike, then I would offer them the "Smilin' Kev Special":  any motorcycle in the shop for just $50 down, $50 a month, for 50 years!  When they stopped laughing, it was sometimes pretty easy to help them pull the trigger on a more reasonable deal!

Keep shootin' and keep smilin',
Kev