Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Benjamin marauder

Any one have one? Likes/dislikes?

I have one in .25 cal. Awesome airgun for the money. Much quieter than a .22 rimfire and incredibly accurate. The .22 and .177 are quieter and use less air per round, but hit with less authority if hunting is on your agenda. This summer I have taken 3 adult woodchucks and a couple muskrats from 35 to 60 yards, not to mention countless starlings. The initial setup with an air supply can be a little daunting, but once set up it's a piece of cake. I would recomend visiting the forum link below to learn more.

http://www.marauderairrifle.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

Thanks for the info. Looking for an accurate plinker that is fun to shoot.

Just be carefull......they are addicting!

I sold my Marauder mainly because my local dive shop went out of business. It's just too much work to hand pump. That's the biggest negative I can see. My Discovery is much easier to hand pump.

That is one of my concerns. No dive shops around.
Have the .22 marauder barrel issues been corrected?

That's the only downfall to a PCP... securing an air supply. I've read were some people get their local fire departments to fill their bottles. I had mine filled at a paintball shop 5 miles away until they went out of business and now have a dive shop 15 miles away do it. Fortunetly I have a good size tank and don't have to do it very often.
Not sure if the .22 issues were sorted out, I haven't kept up with the chatter. The .25 barrels were made by Green Mountain and seemed to be the accuracy champ. It was therorized the .22s were Chinese made and it was hit or miss whether you got a good one.

I'll add plus 1 to tmitch's comments at the top, though I've only fired my .25 Marauder at feathers, no fur. Everything very dead, very fast. Using a very field expedient "rest", aka humping myself over a conveniently located boulder, I shot two consecutive 3 shot groups of 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" at 105 paces. Likely 110-115 yards.

I hand pump using an FX pump and don't find it onerous. Maybe 2 minutes to get up to full 3000 psi, after 16 shots. But my Marauder isn't a plinker, it's dedicated to bloodletting. I'm lucky and have a .177 springer for plinking.

Were I to go for a Marauder just for plinking, I'd go .177 and hand pump. Throw in the bstaley O-ring modification, then tune for about 12 foot-pounds of energy (around 825 fps) and get a huge number of shots per fill. Supposedly over 100 with an extreme spread of 30 fps or less.

Scott

I have the .22 version and it is perfect for starlings and pigeons.

It's a little bulky feeling to me, but its not bad, just not trim to carry like a .22 rimfire or even a spring rifle like my 440 gamo.

I have shot a few groundhogs with it with mixed results. First one died instantly with a head shot, but the following ones took more shots. So much for that.

I would love to try a 25 but would not want to give up my .22, as starlings and pigeons are the main focus for me with an air rifle.

I use a Hill hand pump which works very well for me. The Benjamin pump was fine while it lasted,but after 2 rebuilds it just wouldn't pump well anymore.
Don't worry about hand pumping if you have a good pump, of course everyone's expectations are different.

As to barrel issues, I bough mine within 6 months after they hit the market and mine shoots well.

I received my synthetic Marauder yesterday(.22). I mounted and zeroed the scope this morning and bagged three squirrels this afternoon. Longest shot 45yards,the distance from my back porch to the fence line(squirrel was sitting on the fence post). With this very limited use, I have no complaints so far with the rifle. However, I'm not too sure I like the Benjamin hand pump the rifle was packaged with.

I got a Marauder .177 last year for Christmas. I love it, but the squirrels, not so much. I've heard horror stories about the pumps, but mine has been good so far. It's just a little exercise. I pump mine up to 2500 psi and shoot til it gets down to 2000 and just pump it back up. Takes just a few minutes. Dang thing is accurate as all get-out. It's got some weight to it but that just makes for steady off-hand shots. I know of some folks in Air Rifle Benchrest that use some modified ones in competition.

I am waiting to hear some reports back on the new .22 synthetic stock model. Any one have one yet?

I just got a .25 Synthetic and, so far so good. Did a Bstaley O-ring tune, cranked power valve out 4.5 turns, the hammer spring all the way in, and set the hammer throw about the halfway point. With a 3000k fill and JSB Kings, it will do two full mags starting at around 875 fps, and get down in the low 800's for the last round or two....got a few 80 yds pigeon kills the other day. big wallop & not a twitch.

wish I could help with the 22 version, but if its anything like the 25 (which it probably is) I think its a winner for the price. I fill it SCBA bottles.

Just for general consumption:

I just did the "Lawyer spring removal" operation on my .25 and a newly purchased refurbed .177.

One word: "WOW!"

Just stinkin' WOW!!

105 paces = 110-115 yards. ??
Maybe you are a big guy. But a stride of more than 36 inches is a loooong step.
Most of us have strides at two to two and a half feet. I am 6'2" and my stride is 30" .....but maybe you have long legs.
Trying to get the distance guess correct. 105 paces for me would be about 80 yards.
I like the Marauder.,I have the pistol version. Smack accurate in .22.

It probably varies on an individual by individual basis. I'm only 6' even, but when pacing things out, go about 36"-37" per stride...

My inseam is a good 34" though, maybe that's part of the equation.

I've yet to know of anybody that wishes they had a.22 or .177 vice their .25 mrod. I installed a hammer debounce device ($30), tuned it down to 40 ftlbs, and fill 100 psi over recommend 3000psi which gives me 4 magazines or 32 shots. Pumping is very doable if you aren't shooting all day in high temps, then it becomes work. Truly devastating performance on small game.

Today I saw an interesting thing. There was this White-footed Deer mouse running around in circles on the frozen river behind my house. It just ran around and around, did this for about an hour. I looked at my Marauder over in the corner and said to myself "I wonder." I stood on the top of the bank, set the scope to 6X, adjusted the AO to 15 yards, shooting off-hand - I started to fire. The first 10 shots were misses, as I tried to time my shot with it's circles. I noticed it was shooting a little high. Second clip inserted, aiming a bit low, second shot nailed the little bugger. Twenty min. later a squirrel came into the yard and eyed our bird feeders. It was a good day for the .177 Marauder.

I am having a custo being built in 30 cal with a bottle and custom stock. Can't wait for it to come in so I can get the LDC made for it and take it out. I can cast .300 cal bullets but I can't cast .308 pellets for it like most can. I wanted to be able to run JSB pellets and also cast and this was built following a couple of Airgunsmiths' advice. It should run at 950 fps and have 100 fpe of energy with JSB's I hope. More with cast pellets and even more if I pushed it to .308 but 100 fpe should be good considering most guys running .22 Marauders ( I have one in a Synrod) are looking for 30 FPE. I agree with the above poster that a 25 cal is better known for accuracy but the .22 barrels are better now supposedly. Plus the pellets are cheaper. If you are going to hand pump get a .177 or .22 it is easier to pump I have heard. I run SCBA gear because I can't pump. There are a few good forums dedicated to Marauders. Good luck with your endeavor.

Nerp. Both the .22 and .177 barrels are now showing signs of very poor manufacturing processes during crowning. Do a search over on Gateway to Airguns.

.25 barrels are still coming from Green Mountain, and still good...