It doesn't appear as if it's really been "suddenly". If you look through the last few months worth of posts- there have really only been maybe a couple dozen real "questions". I've posted a pile of stuff to get people to come look at http://www.airgunhome.com - but if you notice there is only one or two topics there about the 1077.
Perhaps being dedicated to only one specific type of gun is really the issue. From what I can gather, the 1077 was really popular for a year or two around 2003-2005 but for some reason not so much anymore- perhaps the rise of the Chinese airguns has been part of this.
It would be nice if there was more activity in here- but perhaps it's become more of an "archive" than anything else, I dunno.
You pointed out the main problem, the fact that this forum is only devoted to 1 gun. I would reccomend Expanding the forum to include the crosman NightStalker, the nightstalker is based on the same design as the 1077 just with a few differences, mainly body style.
Yeah I know what your saying, Introducing a few more different guns to this forum like the Nightstalker, But in the end your just going to end up with a forum almost identical to the crosman forum, Enless you introduce only crosman rifles and not pistols, As the crosman forum is mainly dedicated to pistols.
But if something is not done quick to improve this forum it's just going to be forgotten.
But the Crosman 1077 is a real nice rifle to mod and upgrade, As I'm planning on when the warranty expires.
When I was buying the Crosman 1077W I couldn't decide between the 1077W, 2260 or the QB78.
First I ruled out the QB78 as it is quite thirsty for CO2 and I didn't like the look of the wood work, Even though it was the most Cost affective.
Then I ruled out the 2260 as I was mainly looking for a .177cal target rifle which led me to the 1077W, I read a few reviews on the rifle which were pretty positive towards the rifle, Then I found out about this forum that is completely dedicated to the rifle which finally perswaded me to get the 1077W.
But i'm begging to regret it slightly as the prformance is low (out of the box) for the price of it, And there is always a bit of a CO2 leek which im not sure if I can have it repaired free, as I had to cut the front sight off to fit the silencer so I'm unsure if this invalidates the warranty.
I know that the rifle is obviously semi-automatic, But I don't see the point in having a semi-automatic CO2 air rifle, As you have to wait 1-3 second between each shot to let the CO2 warm up for the next shot, so why semi-automatic, There's just no point of it realy, As it takes about the same time to load a pellet into a bolt action which are loads more accurate than a semi-auto.
As for me, I will be going for some real CO2 power.
I'm going to get me the Umarex Airmagnum 850. I didn't like it at first, but using a bit of camo and adding a nice scope and a silencer (which isn't a bad idea at all, forumers told me of the bang it can give) I though, what the hell, I can get some real nice gun now. Just have to wait one more month and I'll be able to get the one without any extra's. In actuality, the Airmagnum is actually a CO2 version of the Walther Dominator. So it costs a 100 euro's more here, but I bet it's money well spend.
Looking out for a gun really made me spend less money. It tought me to safe money a bit.