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First PCP - low noise and high accuracy - Prod, Mrod, Fortitude, Artemis?

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martis880

Member
Aug 1, 2021
85
9
California, United States
Primary use will be pesting <30 yards, I want the noise to be discrete and I want confidence that any shot will land on target for ethical dispatching.

I think I would go with the regulated Fortitude if it had a better trigger. Since it doesn't, and I'm not sure how easy it is to mod, I'm leaning towards the marauder pistol or the marauder rifle.

Do people feel the regulated marauder rifle is worth the extra $$ over the unregulated version? If I don't get the regulated rifle would I be better off with the Prod?

I've also seen the Artemis pistols. I'm turned off by the noise compared to the benjamin options, but maybe with a silencer it wouldn't matter? Not sure what noise level that would bring them down to.
 
I have a P-rod pistol converted to collapsible carbine and its very accurate. Its not going to give a constant shot string though meaning your first shot could be substantially less powerful then say your 5th shot which could lead to an injured animal.

You could get the prod regulated afterwards but at that point might as well get the mairauder rifle.

My first 2 pcp were unregulated then I got a regulated FX and its a different game.
 
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The Fortitude G2 has a so-so trigger and a crappy hollow plastic stock. If you are only doing close pest control, it is accurate and quiet. I highly recommend finding a wooden Benjamin discovery stock to put it in and replace the plastic. I have the gen2 and if I recall correctly it was doing best with JSB 15s. Haven’t had it out in a couple years now so I don’t recall. I haven’t gotten it out in..I don’t know how long, so take that for what it is. 
The Marauder is great out of the box, and can be made better with an abundance of aftermarket parts. (But the custom marauder parts market may be seeing some shrinkage nowadays.) Tim Hill of hillairgun is a good source of parts to upgrade your marauder performance. The marauder trigger is one of the best out there, I have done the lawyer spring removal on my marauders.. what a difference it makes. You’ll also find that getting a solid barrel band from Tim Hill is a very worthwhile addition. 
Have you considered the Benjamin Kratos? It’s powerful and quiet and in .22 you get a ton of shots on a fill AND it’s so consistent you won’t be able to believe it’s not regulated. For a critter-getter it’s got everything you are looking for. My Kratos has outstanding accuracy at 50yds. Dime to quarter sized groups using JSB 18gr, and I am constantly hearing others echo the same results from their own Kratos. It’s no fluke. Highly recommend you check it out. 
 
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Unless you’re a complete trigger snob, the fortitude trigger isn’t that bad. I’d compare it to your average hunting rifle trigger. Under 30yds it’s very accurate with air arms diabolo field 4.52 8.4 gr. It also does well with crosman 10.5gr. As for the noise, I think it’s quite. My hw77 springer makes more noise from the spring twang. It’s backyard friendly for sure.
 
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under 30 yards on small pests, prod .. its not loud by any stretch but if you want it quiet enough nobody will even look up you can put a sumo on it later ... a reg does nothing for pesting around the house imo .. you want to be dialed at the optimum fill pressure, 1 or 2 mags is all you need ... for larger pests though you will want something more, that would be my only reservation ... squirrel and under the prod is the grim reaper lol ...
 
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The main reason why I no longer recommend the Fortitude Gen2 for a lower powered pesting rifle is the recent price increase. About 1.5 years ago I bought one for ~$236 from Crosman delivered. Now, they are about $200 more and the AGNATION 25% discount and "free shipping Friday" are gone.

However, if anyone decides to get one, call Crosman and ASK FOR A DISCOUNT! You *may* be surprised. (maybe)

Anyway, here are the things you will need to know about it and required modifications from my perspective.

The Fortitude is based on the Prod but with a Maximus/Discovery stock.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/thoughts-on-benjamin-fortitude-gen-2/#post-1047827

The Benjamin Fortitude Gen2 in .177 is STILL my main pester for my backyard. Still working on (getting up the courage to work on - grin) the new DAR Gen2 .177... sigh.
 
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My Prod has dropped the last 9 squirrels I shot it at with one shot. Some but not all were head shots. I've turned the power up a bit and just did a Bstaley tune on it. Both my previous and current tune average 16-17 fpe. The before Bstaley would do this over 3 magazines but the velocity spread was over 60 fps. The way I had it sighted in the POI only went up 1/4 inch and down 1/4 inch. But with the Bstaley I get at least 30 shots with a velocity spread under 30 and no discernable POI impact.

I've measured the sound and it was only 80 some decibels. Pretty back yard friendly without a moderator.

The tune it comes with will give you more shots but energy is only about 13 fpe. Worked fine for head shots but body shots sometimes let them run off. With 16-17 fpe even body shots drop them with no more than a few steps. I usually use H&N FTT copper plated but have also taken squirrels with Crosman domed and HP. The HP does not expand at Prod velocities.

My tuned Prod has less velocity variation than my regulated Avenger.


 
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My Prod has dropped the last 9 squirrels I shot it at with one shot. Some but not all were head shots. I've turned the power up a bit and just did a Bstaley tune on it. Both my previous and current tune average 16-17 fpe. The before Bstaley would do this over 3 magazines but the velocity spread was over 60 fps. The way I had it sighted in the POI only went up 1/4 inch and down 1/4 inch. But with the Bstaley I get at least 30 shots with a velocity spread under 30 and no discernable POI impact.

I've measured the sound and it was only 80 some decibels. Pretty back yard friendly without a moderator.

The tune it comes with will give you more shots but energy is only about 13 fpe. Worked fine for head shots but body shots sometimes let them run off. With 16-17 fpe even body shots drop them with no more than a few steps. I usually use H&N FTT copper plated but have also taken squirrels with Crosman domed and HP. The HP does not expand at Prod velocities.

My tuned Prod has less velocity variation than my regulated Avenger.

Click to expand...


Precision is everything. My favored shot is a heart shot and I rarely have a chipmunk, rat or squirrel (tree rat) run far, if at all. I shoot at ~12fpe or less all the time using .177 Benjamin Fortitude Gen2 using CPUM 10.5 @ ~750 for ~12+fpe most of the time.

If you have very much blood at all on a heart shot, you missed the heart. (smile)

P.S.

Most of my shots these days are 30 yards or less, but I still have the occasional shots from 35 out to ~60 yards. If I do my part, the effect is the same.

Almost all of the blood you see in the link below is from me prodding and searching for the entry hole.

Rat #18 for the season, #2 for August
 
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Maybe a 1720?

Low power but also low noise. Lothar barrel stock so very accurate out of the box. Crosman carbine stock fits it.
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1720T will out shoot PRod or any guns on the list all day, every day and twice on Sunday! Just use 10.4 grain hades at 600FPS -700FPS and it is deadly!!! Plus it’s very quiet if tuned right with a descent moderator. 
 
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The Marauder has an excellent trigger (near match grade) once the "lawyer" spring is removed, which is super simple to do. It is a time tested platform as well, and the quietness of it has set the standard way back that most guns have tried to match, or at least try to come close to.

At 30 yards and well tuned you want have to worry about it being regulated. The bell curve will not be and issue with POI at that distance. The fortitude is much less of a gun quality wise compared to the Marauder, but still gets good reviews from some.
 
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I have a P-rod pistol converted to collapsible carbine and its very accurate. Its not going to give a constant shot string though meaning your first shot could be substantially less powerful then say your 5th shot which could lead to an injured animal.

You could get the prod regulated afterwards but at that point might as well get the mairauder rifle.

My first 2 pcp were unregulated then I got a regulated FX and its a different game.
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Yeah, the P-rod is not regulated but that does not matter if you shoot between 1,500 - 2,600 PSI for 32 shots. In that range the FPS only deviates by 10 FPS or so. Meaning it not being a regulated PCP does not matter. Because YOU are regulating it by only shooting in the sweet zone and number of shots.

FX is a premium rifle and for 30 yards you really don't "need" it! The Benjamin P-rod doesn't have all the bells and whistles but it works great for 25 yard shots on squirrels and IMO due to the low price and accuracy for what you get it cannot be beat. $400 vs $2,000 for an FX Impact or Edgun Leshiy.
 
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I have a Prod and an Artemis PP700 .177.

The PP700 is $150 less than the Prod and I like the PP700 more.

They are both accurate.

The PP700 being regulated is much easier to adjust at your desired velocity.

To be quiet they will both need LDCs.

The Prod has a shroud and the PP700 has a thing to stabilize the barrel (not a shroud).

The Prod will come with the stock and you will to buy/make one for the PP700.


 
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I have a Prod and an Artemis PP700 .177.

The PP700 is $150 less than the Prod and I like the PP700 more.

They are both accurate.

The PP700 being regulated is much easier to adjust at your desired velocity.

To be quiet they will both need LDCs.

The Prod has a shroud and the PP700 has a thing to stabilize the barrel (not a shroud).

The Prod will come with the stock and you will to buy/make one for the PP700.

Click to expand...




PP700 is hands down better than PRod except for single shot. 
 
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Hi Patrick,

I haven't owned a ton of pcp guns yet, but the ones I have, I've spent a lot of time really getting to know them. I had a Marauder in.22 for a couple years. I removed the trigger spring and did the bstaley mod. Both easy to do, inexpensive and produced great results. It's super quiet as well. It was fairly big and heavy.. I could never find a pellet that shot as accurately as i hoped, so I ended up selling it. 

I currently have both a prod and a 1720. I did the bstaley mod on both of them. Again, easy and provided great results. The 1720 is in pistol form. Out to 40 yards, it shoots lights out with a variety of pellets. It's a single shot in .177. It's tuned at about 10.5fpe. It also is quiet enough that a moderator isn't needed. Although it could be used for pessting and small game out to 40 yards, it wouldn't be my first choice. 

The prod is perfect in my opinion for light shooting and pesting. I have it in carbine form with a Barska 2-7 $50 scope that works great.. I have mine tuned rather light.....12fpe for 40 good shots. With bstaley, it's simple to turn up the power to 16 or 18 fpe if you want.. It's borderline backyard friendly. Definitely louder than the mrod and 1720. A $30 moderator from eBay and it's now the quietest gun I have. I only found one pellet that it shoots very well. H&N field target 14.66 in 5.53 shoots minute of squirrel head out to 40 yards, zipping along around 625fps. Both prod and 1720 have nice triggers right out of the box. The prod is the most enjoyable gun I have and the one that gets shot the most, including the couple high end pcp guns I have.

My nephew has the Fortitude. It's a great gun for what it's intended for at the price point. Stock trigger is a hard single stage. We did the trigger mod, which improved it, but not to the point that it's as good as any of the other guns mentioned. It's also very quiet as is. Accuracy is pretty good with jsb 16 and 18s. I prefer my prod, but the Fortitude would suite your needs just fine. 

I can't speak to the Artemis brand as I've never owned or shot one. Some points worth mentioning about the Crosman/Benjamin brand is the simplicity to work on, easy to get and cheap parts, tons of info and support and the fact that they're designed and assembled in the USA. Have fun making your decision and welcome to the rabbit hole.
 
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