My story starts many years ago. I was introduced to PCPs by a friend of mine. He bought a BSA sportsman‘s HV. I thought to myself. Why are you spending so much money on an air gun?
He talked me into one. And begins the rabbit hole of the PCP world
. I was very impressed with its accuracy. I shot it for many years. And then kind of fell out of the PCP world for a while.
I got the itch again. This time I ended up buying a Benjamin Marauder in 22 because it just checked all the boxes that I had wanted. I like that it had a bolt which reminded me of my powder burners, I liked the way the magazine worked, the foster style fitting for filling it with air and it had an air gauge for how much air pressure was in the rifle.
When I first got the Marauder I could not believe how quiet it was. I thought at first something was wrong with it (yes fully shrouded barrel). But the most unfortunate part. I was not getting very good groups with it. As I mentioned it is in 22 caliber. I thought OK well this is like powder burners you just have to try different projectiles/pellets. I tried many many different brands and weights of pellets. I had no luck with grouping. It was horrible. At 35 yards it was literally about a 3 inch or larger groups
. I later discovered that was a problem with the Benjamin Marauders back then with the 22 barrels. They just didn’t shoot for sour owl Sh#t.
I even sent the gun back to Benjamin. They claimed nothing was wrong with it. Very disappointing. I discovered a guy in California that said he could put a new barrel on my Marauder. I sent it down to him. Nothing ever happened. He literally had it for two years and kept claiming he could never get a barrel for it. So, I finally had him send it back. I was kind of at my wits end not knowing what to do with this horrible shooting Marauder.
Luckily I discovered this forum. And ran across a guy by the name of Roy with Mountain Air Custom Airguns out of Georgia. I called him up and told him what I had with my Marauder. He said Yep you need a new barrel. He gave me two choices. I can’t remember the name of the first barrel but the second barrel I decided to go with was the Lothar Walther. It took him about three weeks to get it done. He sent it to me with good directions and I installed it myself. I was a little apprehensive but it all worked out (not that hard actually). By the way Roy is a great guy to talk with. And I can highly recommend his barrels.
Ok, FINALLY for the hunting part of the story
.
Yesterday morning I took out the Marauder and managed to do some starling population control. The first picture is a 10 shot group (the target dot is 1 inch) out of the Marauder with the new Lothar Walther barrel at 25 yards. I’m shooting the JSB Match Diabolo exact jumbo heavy 18.13 grains. I was tickled pink when I got these groups. The second picture is of the Marauder and the starlings taking naps.
Well that was a long story but I decided to share.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
He talked me into one. And begins the rabbit hole of the PCP world
. I was very impressed with its accuracy. I shot it for many years. And then kind of fell out of the PCP world for a while. I got the itch again. This time I ended up buying a Benjamin Marauder in 22 because it just checked all the boxes that I had wanted. I like that it had a bolt which reminded me of my powder burners, I liked the way the magazine worked, the foster style fitting for filling it with air and it had an air gauge for how much air pressure was in the rifle.
When I first got the Marauder I could not believe how quiet it was. I thought at first something was wrong with it (yes fully shrouded barrel). But the most unfortunate part. I was not getting very good groups with it. As I mentioned it is in 22 caliber. I thought OK well this is like powder burners you just have to try different projectiles/pellets. I tried many many different brands and weights of pellets. I had no luck with grouping. It was horrible. At 35 yards it was literally about a 3 inch or larger groups
. I later discovered that was a problem with the Benjamin Marauders back then with the 22 barrels. They just didn’t shoot for sour owl Sh#t. I even sent the gun back to Benjamin. They claimed nothing was wrong with it. Very disappointing. I discovered a guy in California that said he could put a new barrel on my Marauder. I sent it down to him. Nothing ever happened. He literally had it for two years and kept claiming he could never get a barrel for it. So, I finally had him send it back. I was kind of at my wits end not knowing what to do with this horrible shooting Marauder.
Luckily I discovered this forum. And ran across a guy by the name of Roy with Mountain Air Custom Airguns out of Georgia. I called him up and told him what I had with my Marauder. He said Yep you need a new barrel. He gave me two choices. I can’t remember the name of the first barrel but the second barrel I decided to go with was the Lothar Walther. It took him about three weeks to get it done. He sent it to me with good directions and I installed it myself. I was a little apprehensive but it all worked out (not that hard actually). By the way Roy is a great guy to talk with. And I can highly recommend his barrels.
Ok, FINALLY for the hunting part of the story
.Yesterday morning I took out the Marauder and managed to do some starling population control. The first picture is a 10 shot group (the target dot is 1 inch) out of the Marauder with the new Lothar Walther barrel at 25 yards. I’m shooting the JSB Match Diabolo exact jumbo heavy 18.13 grains. I was tickled pink when I got these groups. The second picture is of the Marauder and the starlings taking naps.
Well that was a long story but I decided to share.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
