Hello and thanks. Oh man, I bought a Benjamin trail XL 725 and I am having the worst time with this thing. Bore sighted the scope, crosshairs dead on the laser dot. Set target at 25 yards. Aimed and fired. Hit the target 8 inches low and two inches left of POAim. Two more shots all within three inches of each other. Made adjustments. Aimed and fired. One inch left POAim. Two more shots 8 inches low about one inch apart. 50 shots later and i cannot get a group at all. Shots are everywhere. Change of scope and rings. Level Level Level on the new scope. Bore sight, crosshairs on laser dot. First shot 6 inches low POAim. Adjust scope. Second shot, not a clue no hole. Third shot grass flies. Center of target to grass 12 inches. Four more attempts to group three rounds with no more scope adjustments. All over the place or no hole. Been shooting 40 years. Never seen anything like it.
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Chasing my Donkey.
- Thread starter Wardback
- Start date
My first guess would be your barrel is massively messed up in some way. Take a look down the barrel and look at the rifling. Make sure the barrel is firmly attached to the action and not wobbling all over the place. others may have some ideas too.
Dan
Dan
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Airgun pellets fly at a rather low speed so boresighting has pretty much no value to airguns. From the moment the pellets leaves the barrel it'll start to deviate from the bore line due to gravity, this happens at a much faster rate than using firearms so it result in a much faster drop. Therefore it's pretty logical that when using bore sighting to set up a scope your point of impact will be (much) lower than your point of aim.
Second guess: you're using the wrong pellets probably. I once tested a tin of H&N rabbit magnum power for somebody at 25 meters and it was very difficult to shoot it within an A4 size paper target. When I switched to decent pellets the groups shrinked to within an 1 inch immediately.
I don't want to be a dick but if your point of impact is 6 inches low and after turning it's 12 inches low you're probably turning it the wrong way...
The barrel most likely is fine, the benjamin airguns are not the top notch in airgunning but they should be able to stay within 1 inch at 25 yards with the right pellets easily.
Second guess: you're using the wrong pellets probably. I once tested a tin of H&N rabbit magnum power for somebody at 25 meters and it was very difficult to shoot it within an A4 size paper target. When I switched to decent pellets the groups shrinked to within an 1 inch immediately.
I don't want to be a dick but if your point of impact is 6 inches low and after turning it's 12 inches low you're probably turning it the wrong way...
The barrel most likely is fine, the benjamin airguns are not the top notch in airgunning but they should be able to stay within 1 inch at 25 yards with the right pellets easily.
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Bunch of bad information in this post ^, ignore it. Boresighting works fine for airguns. Its only about getting close enough to stay on paper, and for that, you don't need supersonic velocities. I would start closer than 25 yards though...
Wrong pellets is a distinct possibility. For example, if you're shooting wadcutters out of a magnum springer. What pellets is the original poster using?
There's nothing wrong with the quality of H&N Rabbit Magnum pellets. It's only a matter of having a gun that will shoot them hard enough to be accurate. They're made for airguns that can't keep normal 'heavy' pellets subsonic.
"I don't want to be a dick, but..." --> means you're about to be a dick.
Benjamin has had barrel quality problems for a long time. They've allegedly just fixed the issue with the Maximus, but I know from personal experience on a person Marauder Pistol that at least some of their barrels are no good. 1"+ PCP groups @ 15 yards with the BEST pellet... I've never seen a barrel that was as bad as the OP described, but it is possible. My brand new NP2 has a hard time staying within 1" @ 25 yards. I think the barrel's OK. (not great, but OK) I know the scope and mounting setup are good. The rest of it is hold-sensitivity and a bad trigger. My best group ever was about 1" at 35 yards, but that was a miracle group for this gun. 2-3" is more typical.
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Now onto my own advice:
- Move back to 10 yards, so you can stay on paper easily while you troubleshoot.
- Check your stock screws and the screws holding the rear of the action, usually through the trigger guard
- Check your scope ring screws and scope mounting screws. These NP XLs have a history of being real shakers. I know mine is. Everything has to be done right to have a fighting chance of success, and even then, it is not exactly what I would call a success, compared to a properly accurate airgun.
- If you want to really avoid frustration, take the screws out, clean them with alcohol, and put them back in with blue Loctite. Skip this step if they're already Loctited in place.
- Shoot a group of five, to see what the gun is capable of
- Don't clamp the gun in anything; rest it on something soft and let it move a bit
- Experiment with how you hold it in your trigger hand and against your shoulder; see what gives the best groups. At 10 yards, just be consistent and your groups should be well under an inch. If not, wrong pellet, try another.
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The only time I've heard of such accuracy issues that were not screw or barrel quality related was when the spring was broken in a buddy's springer, It would still shoot, but not consistently at all, and it was down on power. Since this is a nitro piston gun, that's not a possibility.
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I never meant to say the rabbit magnums were poor quality, it was meant to say that he might be using the wrong pellets.
Regarding the bore sighting, it sounded like he expected the pellet to hit where his bore line was pointing. With a firearm this is pretty likely at this distance, with an airgun it isn't. With most new scopes and proper mounting you're already somewhat on paper (at least on an A4 size target), therefore I think it's useless.
My conclusion wasn't dickish, it was a somewhat logical one and some people might find that dickish/blunt sometimes. If I'm shooting low and I adjust and afterwards I'm shooting even lower it means that I possibly turned it the wrong way. In the worst case, the scope might be broken internally or something similar.
Ok, you might be right on the 1 inch being small for these guns, so let's make that 2-3 inches.
So after all no bad information, maybe slightly misinterpreted info or typed not completely right (could be due to me not choosing the right words, not a native English speaker)
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Good advice smaug but lets not forget break barrels are notorious for barrel droop wich will cause you to run your scope out of elavation adjustment at wich point you scope retical setttles in different after every shot changing point of aim and will never be consistent.
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Thanks guys I am going to spend a few hours this week tweaking this gun and paying close attention to the process. I am putting a set of lower rings on the scope. 8 tins of of pellets and the encouragement and advice from you guys. Thank You. I will keep you posted. What better way to get to know the members and your rifle.
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Wow, Ward; I feel for ya. Lord knows I've had my share of zeroing issues. Have you Chrony-ed your rifle? The o-ring(s) or valve seating may be whackadoo. It sounds like you are getting a ridiculously high SD in your fps. I tend to side with MN'S opinion. If you are going high-tech with laser bore-sighting, perhaps it's time to take a technological leap into regulated PCPs, as well.
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My Diana 56th (fixed barrel) had the worst barrel droop of any springer I've had. It's more inherent to the production or design than actual droop.
- Diana 56th - bad droop; could not zero without a drooper mount
- HW30s - Some droop, This one may be actually drooping a little, due to the ball latch for the barrel. Won't zero with all scopes. Lock-up is a bit iffy, but it doesn't seem to affect accuracy.
- TX200, no discernible droop
- NP2 Summit, some droop and points left. Can't zero with all scopes due to left alignment of barrel or scope rail. Great lock-up, so it's not real droop.
- Stoeger X20 no discernible droop; great lock-up.
Just my experiences; not bad mouthing.
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I do have a question. Has anyone ever chamfered the crown of the barrel on their air rifle? Do you think there may be an advantage to this process? OKAY that's 2 questions.
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The NP2 isn't a Donkey !..... it's a Jackass and acts just like one too a hard dependable worker as long as it is doing the leading and moving in the direction it wants too
Clean the gun, buy a tin of cheap 200 count pellets and shoot the whole tin then sit down and start working on your zero, use benji pellets they usually will get you the best results
If you use a rest do not rest on the barrel only on the stock
Stay loose let the gun buck don't grip the neck and keep your off hand loose and semi open don't hug the gun
If your rest is rubber padded put a dishtowl between the stock and the pad so it isn't sticking. If you are shooting off hand practice the artillery hold keep those hands loose let the gun rest easy. The key to accuracy with the NP is consistency letting the gun move the way it wants to.
The same hold every time, shoot both lite and heavy I think you will find the heavy pellets work best
Clean the gun, buy a tin of cheap 200 count pellets and shoot the whole tin then sit down and start working on your zero, use benji pellets they usually will get you the best results
If you use a rest do not rest on the barrel only on the stock
Stay loose let the gun buck don't grip the neck and keep your off hand loose and semi open don't hug the gun
If your rest is rubber padded put a dishtowl between the stock and the pad so it isn't sticking. If you are shooting off hand practice the artillery hold keep those hands loose let the gun rest easy. The key to accuracy with the NP is consistency letting the gun move the way it wants to.
The same hold every time, shoot both lite and heavy I think you will find the heavy pellets work best
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