Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Benjamin Marauder In .22

So after bitching about the cost, I finally joined the PCP club. I bought a Benjamin Marauder in .22 with the Lothar Walther match barrel. It arrived this week and I finally had time to slap a scope on it. Yesterday I was able to launch a few rounds down range to dial in the scope at 40 yards.

A few things were immediately apparent:

1. This rifle is quiet. Even more so than a suppressed .22 bolt gun shooting subsonic.
2. The LW barrel is accurate. 10 shot groups left one ragged hole with the average string at .5" groups. I shot both H&N Terminator Hollowpoint in 16.36gr and Crosman Premier in 14.3 gr. Both were equally accurate with the edge going to Crosman.
3. Based on the pass through on 3/4" plywood, there’s plenty of power. I have not chronoed the two pellets yet but based on YouTube videos, 800 fps seems pretty typical.
4. The Benjamin trigger sucks, but breaks clean enough.

I am filling from a SCUBA tank so pretty simple to recharge. According to most of the reviews it takes 300 - 500 rounds to settle the velocity SD but I really don’t care too much as most of my varmint control will be within 50 yards. A half inch kills pretty much anything.

Once the squirrel and chipmunk eradication is complete, I will mount a thermal scope for some rabbit control. That should be fun.

Anyhow, I am sold. PCP is sweet and I won't have to clean my suppressor as much. We have snow on the ground so the squirrels will be out - trigger time.

Sounds like a nice air rifle.

It works as advertised. It hits hard and is plenty accurate. The backyard has suddenly become quiet over the past two days as the tree rats are no longer an issue. I am sure this is only a temporary situation as the population density around here is strong.

I bought a Marauder in .25 when they first came out. The logistics of a PCP are kind of a PIA but boy does it shoot! Any starlings, ground squirrels or woodchucks that linger in the back yard are in serious trouble.

This guy took one behind the ear from about 80 yards

Well done.

Nice, but beware the rabbit hole is deep, I started with a Maurauder and ended up with a FX Crown and then a FX M3

I bought a Marauder but made the mistake of getting it in .177. I wish it were a .25… It shoots great as long as there isn’t any wind.

What scope did you put on it?

I put a Burris 3-9 x40 with a ballistic plex reticle only because it was sitting idle at the time.

My backyard has suddenly become devoid of squirrel and chipmunk life.

Would love to have a scuba tank for mine, pumping it up wears me out…

What kind of pellets did you settle on? JSB’s were the best (by far) in my rifle.

Had a .25. Nice to hear the 22’s have LW barrels now. My first thought when I purchased the .25 was “sure is big and heavy”. Any lighter now??

The synthetic stock version is about 9.5 pounds without scope.

I am just beginning to look at PCP rifles. How many shots per fill/charge?

With my 22 cal marauder semi auto i can get 40+ between top offs, i fill to max 3000psi then shoot down to 2200 or so
Absolutely love mine, more accurate at 50 to 75 yards than any 22 lr I’ve ever had
50 yards 10 shot group dime size all day

Depends on rifle, caliber, and operating pressure. Also read the difference between regulated and unregulated rifles - https://daystate.com/regulated-pcp/

But as IA fog stated, 40 shots is typical. Your method of refill is also important to consider. If you are refilling from a tank or compressor it's no big deal to top off the pressure, but if you are filling from a handpump, you will want to top off more frequently as hand pumping takes awhile if the pressure drops too low.

PCP air guns are addicting…Marauders have been one of the most reliable, accurate and quiet rifles to start out with.

As STRSWilson said, there are many variables. Caliber, reservoir size, max reservoir fill pressure, regulator setting, hammer spring setting, are all factors.

Some of the big-bore 50-cal guns or larger only get 2 or 3 good shots on a fill. A regulated 22-cal dialed down to 1100 psi on the reg, can get 100+ shots on a fill.

My Air Venturi Avenger, 22 cal is only one example of many. It has a 180cc reservoir, max fill is 4500 psi, it has an adjustable regulator, and adjustable hammer spring. I have my regulator dialed to 1200 psi. Hammer spring one turn in. If I fill the res to 4500, I can get over 100 shots before the res drops to 1200 psi. Those are shots that push the Crosman 14.3gr to around 830 fps, with about 22 ft-lbs of energy. That crushes starlings, chipmunks etc with authority, and shoots one-hole groups at 25 yards.

I fill with a hand pump. So what I typically do is pump up the res to about 3200 psi, and shoot until it drops to about 2000 psi. This gives me about 45-50 good shots.

Refilling with the hand pump is not difficult up to 3000 psi or so. When I've pumped it up to 4500 psi, it definitely gets more resistance, and putting your weight on the pump handle is the best technique.

With my gun, and my pump (Hill MK5) I can raise reservoir pressure by roughly 600 psi for every 50 strokes on the pump. So when I refill from 2000 psi, back up to 3200 psi, that equates to about 100 strokes on the pump.

OP,
Nice rifle. I plan on buying the same one, 22, Lothar barrel, in wood pretty soon.
What can be done to improve the trigger?

take it apart and work on it, got mine lite (10oz) and smooth

Do you think the extra $100 for the LW barrel is worth the cost over the standard barrel? I'm in the market and know the M-rad is what I will probably buy.