Tell me about the Benjamin's

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WNYBill

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Mar 17, 2022
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New York, United States
I am looking at the Marauder F&T, the Cayden and the Kratos. I see where they all have a Picatinny (Weaver) scope rail. All have a 5 year warranty, Is the Walther barrel worth the extra price on a Marauder? I kind of like the side lever on the Cayden and the Kratos. Is a regulator that important and can one be put on these rifles? I think I want a 22 cal.

Just what are the differences?

Will be used for plinking and target out to 100 yards and I expect MOA accuracy.

I live within an hour of the Crosman factory.

Bill
 
I am looking at the Marauder F&T, the Cayden and the Kratos. I see where they all have a Picatinny (Weaver) scope rail. All have a 5 year warranty, Is the Walther barrel worth the extra price on a Marauder? … I think I want a 22 cal.

Just what are the differences?

Will be used for plinking and target out to 100 yards and I expect MOA accuracy.

Bill
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@WNYBill I was curious about this very thing and read this thread on it yesterday https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/benjamin-marauder-field-and-target-177-which-barrel-option/

Different caliber, but hope it helps some.
 
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So Marauder and Kratos/Cayden are made from completely different factories regardless of the name they are selling under.

There's other guns on the market Nowadays that I would look into in the price range and less,



Also rather then getting the Turkish guns from Crosman I would buy Turkish products from Troy Hammer,...you will get a gun in your hands that is good to go of the bat with excellent support.
 
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100y is pushing it with any of them .. my conclusion having quite a bit of experience with all of them is the craftmans are just a teeny tad more accurate than marauders .. at least with the guns i got ... i would say you can realistically hit a 1" square at 50 just about every shot with most shots within 1/2", like that ... the difference between thecakela, cayden and kratos is one, youll get noticeably more mags out of the kratos if you rack alot of pellets through on a bench ... the akela is bulky and short, the cayden handle like a standard rifle but is unmoderated out of the box .. a marauder is probably quieter than all of them ... 

..and oh yeah, the sidelever is much nicer to deal with than a bolt ... mrod is probably a better choice for handpumping to, and i dont have one with a lothar barrel, that likely puts one pretty much equal with the craftsmans, given individual guns can definitely vary on what theyll do .. some better some worst ..
 
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This might put me in dutch with a lot of members here, but as much as the legacy of the Marauder may mean to so many, IMHO it is a dated design. It's advantage right now remains that is one of the best models to upgrade and tinker with. If wrenching on your rifle is not your goal, again, my own humble opinion is, that the Craftsman are a far better buy and shoot option. They are lighter, more elegant, less cumbersome, and lets face, they are not 15 year old designs. The two I own have been very accurate out of the the box. Many threads on this forum concur. I have not shot my Marauder once the last year. The Kratos, Akela (and my Kral for that matter) are just more fun.

There IS this really cool subculture of modding marauders, and it's amazing. So many fantastic personalized examples can be found on this forum. If that's of interest, then by all means!

It's just not where I am at right now, and not everyone looking to get into PCP is up for that. It's my feeling that if you just want to shoot it as is, there are better options.



Now, are ANY of them up for really accurate shooting at 100 yards? I couldn't tell you that.
 
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100y is pushing it with any of them .. my conclusion having quite a bit of experience with all of them is the craftmans are just a teeny tad more accurate than marauders .. at least with the guns i got ... i would say you can realistically hit a 1" square at 50 just about every shot with most shots within 1/2", like that ... the difference between thecakela, cayden and kratos is one, youll get noticeably more mags out of the kratos if you rack alot of pellets through on a bench ... the akela is bulky and short, the cayden handle like a standard rifle but is unmoderated out of the box .. a marauder is probably quieter than all of them ...
Click to expand...

This might put me in dutch with a lot of members here, but as much as the legacy of the Marauder may mean to so many, IMHO it is a dated design. It's advantage right now remains that is one of the best models to upgrade and tinker with. If wrenching on your rifle is not your goal, again, my own humble opinion is, that the Craftsman are a far better buy and shoot option. They are lighter, more elegant, less cumbersome, and lets face, they are not 15 year old designs. The two I own have been very accurate out of the the box. Many threads on this forum concur. I have not shot my Marauder once the last year. The Kratos, Akela (and my Kral for that matter) are just more fun.

There IS this really cool subculture of modding marauders, and it's amazing. So many fantastic personalized examples can be found on this forum. If that's of interest, then by all means!

...Now, are ANY of them up for really accurate shooting at 100 yards? I couldn't tell you that.
Click to expand...



Seemingly good suggestions from @dizzums and @CyberDyneSystems about the Craftsman line of Benjamin (Crosman) air rifles. The sole reviewer on this Crosman page says he's hitting 1.5-2 MOA at 100 yards and sub-MOA at 50 yards shooting a .22 Benjamin Cayden with 18 grain Air Arms pellets https://www.crosman.com/product/benjamin-cayden-22

On Airgun Depot's site a reviewer states that he likes his Cayden better than his gen 2 Marauder. Another reviewer says he's punching through both sides of a tin can at 90 yards. https://www.airgundepot.com/ben-cayden-pcp-air-rifle-22.html#AGD-BJBPC22W

Looking at reviews for the .22 Cayden on Pyramyd Air's site it seems that there are quality control issues with these rifles coming from the factory. Therew are complaints of dirty rifles, crooked barrel bands, canted barrels, and more. But it seems that if you receive a good one you have a good rifle. A reviewer named "Steve" compares the Cayden to his Marauder and favors the Cayden. https://www.pyramydair.com/product-all-reviews/m/benjamin-cayden-pcp-air-rifle/5158

Didn't see a much about 100 yard shooting with this rifle. From what I gathered, the Kratos is very similar to a Cayden with a bottle for a reservoir instead of a tube and they offer a .25 version of the Kratos as the Cayden only comes in .177 and .22 cal. The Kratos appears to have a higher shot count.

@WNYBill I don't have a lot of personal experience with these guns, but I learned some things from looking into them. I hope some of this information is of use to you.
 
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Bill,

No matter what, go for the side lever rifle as the bolt actions have been superceeded. Among others I enjoy my modded Cayden 22 and wouldn’t part with it. With all my rifles I still struggle with 100yd consistent accuracy. Sub moa accuracy at 50yds, moa at 75yds on most days, but they all seem to open up at 100yds and beyond. The problem doesn’t seem to lie with the rifle at long range but the inherent design of pellets in general. If longer ranges are your goal you should be looking at slugs and guns that will shoot them.
 
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I can echo so many of the prior responses with my Cayden, it's a great rifle and no issues with it as yet. I started my pcp journey with a standard model .22 Marauder several years ago and it shot well but not as "consistently" well as the Cayden. I prefer to use my air rifles for pest shooting and plinking out to 50yd + or - distances and for me the Cayden is a bench rifle - long with moderator and heavy. Only side-levers for me after experience with a bolt action Mrod. Good luck making a decision.
 
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Thank you for all the information. Several said they thought there was a better option than the Benjamin (Crosman). What are they? Is a regulator really necessary and how much of a problem and cost to install aftermarket? The Marauder is made in USA and the rest are made in Turkey? Where do you get service for the Turkish ones?

Thanks again,

Bill
 
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Crosman offers 5 years warranty and I’m sure they’ll not be sending it to Turkey.My experience is only with the Akela but once I somehow sheared a pellet and it ended up blocking the hammer from striking.I had to take it apart to fix it and honestly it was simple and straight forward and I got to adjust the trigger.

On a side note I have 2 Armadas .177(2018)and .25(2019) I’ve only change a o-ring on the .177 so far.

Ask yourself this; who else is gonna give you a (5) year warranty? And their guns ship from New York.
 
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I posted this before but here is what the Benjamin Akela is capable of at 123 yards.12 shot mag,first shot missed,next 3 were to see where I was hitting, then 8 for 8 on soda cans at 123 yards.Don’t know if that’s MOA but that is pretty darn good shooting Pellets(18.13 JSB),no slugs.





https://youtu.be/hzMHYICiRXA



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very nice

Looks pretty dang consistent at 100+ yards for a crappy old Benny ;)
 
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Thank you for all the information. Several said they thought there was a better option than the Benjamin (Crosman). What are they? Is a regulator really necessary and how much of a problem and cost to install aftermarket? The Marauder is made in USA and the rest are made in Turkey? Where do you get service for the Turkish ones?

Thanks again,

Bill
Click to expand...

Marauder is not really made in the US, they did try to put the label "made in USA' in the past and had to take it down, yes the others are made in Turkey and just re-branded by Crosman.

like many mentioned the sidelever compared to bolt action is soooo much nicer to operate.

The 5 years warranty is a bit of a Joke in my opinion, that is why is I was to get a Turkish gun I would go with Troy Hammer, either with one of those that he's selling or with a Kral he can set up for you that way you will have a gun that comes to you with no problems and you don't need warranty.



........As for other offerings if you want a lightweight regulated rifle for 400 bucks I would look into the DAR gen III, reviews are really good about them guns.
 
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I posted this before but here is what the Benjamin Akela is capable of at 123 yards.12 shot mag,first shot missed,next 3 were to see where I was hitting, then 8 for 8 on soda cans at 123 yards.Don’t know if that’s MOA but that is pretty darn good shooting Pellets(18.13 JSB),no slugs.







https://youtu.be/hzMHYICiRXA





Click to expand...



@Freak-eye That was impressive.


@AirArcher66 Good suggestion. They’ve been hard to find in stock in recent months.  Scratch that. Saw this today after reading his post. Drop $500 and you too can own a DAR Gen 3 https://www.dynamicairrifles.com/product-page/dar-22-gen3
 
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No, I am not "set" on a Marauder, but the factory is only an hour away from me. But, I understand the Marauder isn't made there. Not sure about repair.

It looks like the DAR Gen III is very comparable to the Marauder and for less money. Sounds as if they are testing every rifle before shipping and ship with the air tank full. My DIL is the manager at the local Air Gas facility, so I am considering getting nitrogen from her. Would there be a problem using nitrogen? And what do I need to re-fill with nitrogen?

Please keep the information coming.

Bill
 
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