Marauder Bundle - Ready to order - Ammo Recomendations

H&N Field Target Trophy, Kodiak

Always start with JSB. They are the most accurate pellets 90% of the time. Get 15.8 and 18.1 grain. 

"rustysocket"Thank you. This is what I needed to know.

Another member messaged me about .22 Marauder having a bad barrell. I guess I should research more?

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I don't own a Marauder, but from just about everything I have read the .25 cal is the one you want.

I have got personal messages when I was interested in buying a used Marauder and the guys that were selling 22 call Marauders all had custom barrels. The 25 cal barrels and the 22 cal barrels are made by two different companies.

Just my 2 cents.

wll2506

Mrod 177 and 22 barrels are made in china. Some of the 22 Mrods have barrels with accuracy issues, the 177 not so much. The 25 cal barrels are made in the USA and most are very accurate. That said Crosman has excellent customer service, if you get a barrel with accuracy issues call or email Crosman and they will ship you a replacement barrel free of charge.

Pumping a .25 Mrod becomes a chore after a few fills and you will not want to shoot it much. 16 - 20 shots and its time for a refill. The 22 cal gets 32 - 36 shots for the same amount of pumps. If you are filling with a scba tank the tank will last almost twice as long with a 22 cal Mrod. 

The pellet my 22 Mrod shot best was JSB 15.89. Try Crosman 14.3's they cost $8 or less for a 500 count at Walmart.

Hi, i have just recently bought a synthetic marauder in .25 and let me say i am very impressed with the gun! Have only shot a couple hundreds of Jsb, haven't even cleaned the barrel yet but there is a ragged single hole at 45 yards! And she is very quiet, used to the sound of my Bt65.25 and there is a signifikant difference...

I have a Marauder that is shooting around 28FPE. It prefers the 15.89 JSB's although it shoots the 18.1's very well. Every rifle can be different. When I first ordered the rifle I ordered the Crosman domes which it also shot well but they are a lighter pellet and at 14 gr had trouble with accuracy shooting past 50 yards. I might suggest ordering a sampler pack from Straight Shooters where you can try about 25 different pellets and see which one it likes the best. It is a fun process!
If you are starting out, I would still suggest the .22 dispite the possibility of a poor barrel. There are after market barrels and people on this forum to help you get the rifle shooting well. The .22 caliber gets about 35-40 shots per fill while the .25 only gets 16-20 shots. Now if you have a tank to fill, no problem, but if you have a pump, it might take the fun out of shooting. You will be shooting a ton when you first start! If your main goal is just to plink-shoot, I see no reason to get a .25 caliber, however if your main goal is to hunt then there is an argument to get the .25. caliber. I believe. it is difficult to have one rifle do all things, many on this forum have more than one rifle.
I think the .22 Marauder is a great first gun. Many on this forum had no problem with their .22 Marauder.
While I had a lot of problems to start, it led to a great learning experience and now it is my most accurate rifle at 50 yards. Yesterday, I shot my best group at 50 yards which was a .158 inch center to center 5 shot group.
Best of luck with your decision,
NM
PS- if you are just starting out, I would pick up 1-2 tins of the Crosman domes ( very inexpensive) and shoot at 30 yards to sight it in just get to know the rifle. I think it takes about a 1,000 rounds to "get the feel" of the rifle. Then I would start testing other pellets ( at distances from 30-100 yards). 

My .22 Mrod did start out shooting great made 2 100yd shots in a row on 2 collared doves with the stock barrel with the JSB 18.13s. Bought 2 more tins of them and those shot horrible. Bought a sampler kit and only 2 shot well then bought a tin of each of those and no real luck. So I gave up and bought a Marmot Militia hammer forged barrel and now is stupid accurate. Have been seeing quite a few with stock barrels and darn good accuracy lately. If it was me I'd take the chance again and can exchange the barrel with crosman if it turns out to be bad cause I love my .22

I recall that Crosman acknowledged some early problems with .22 Marauder barrels. Those issues were remedied. But like many things on the web, the echo chamber continues long afterward.

My .22 Marauder is quite accurate. And I've seen that Crosman has great customer service. 

As a hand pumper, shot count is important. I also just don't need the power of a .25 for my shooting and hunting needs. 

R

You got a lot of good advise here, NMshooter was pretty well right on. I would like to school you on the scuba tank route. The gun fills to 3000 psi as does the tank. You'll fill the first to 3k than each additional fill drops about 75 psi. So if you have a gun shooting good with say a 2800-3000 psi in initial fill your filling a few times at best.(Read tuning and fill pressure for shot strings) I originally entered the sport and ordered a scuba fill from PA. After using a fill chart calculator, and speaking with informed folk I saw just how useless any one of my 6 on hand tanks would be. The small CF tanks will fill a Marauder about 13 times the larger 88 cu ft. are specked at 60plus fills. It's usually the same cost to fill either tank. Simple math not counting fuel costs and traveling time. My first 22 Marauder was a nightmare, shot horribly, and leaked out 4-500 psi in 20 minutes Even with that experience I would recommend the gun and with aftermarket parts available you have a lot of options

"rustysocket"EMrider,

I have a feeling your likely spot on... But damn, now that seed is planted and it would be just my luck to have something go sideways. I also understand internet forums and that rarely do the majority of happy people get on and talk about it, but rather those couple of people with issues that are unresolved and looking for a reasonable solution tend to gather the most attention.

When you say Crosman has great service, what interaction have you had that makes you feel this way. That is important to me as well.

And yes, While accuracy and build quality are top on my list, shot count is right there at the top as well. I've watched enough video to know that hand pumping is a stop gap for me until I figure out the best solution for fills . Likley sooner rather than later.

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I have ordered a lot of spare parts for both my Disco and 747. Their prices for spares are very moderate, cheap may be a more accurate description, and shipping is quick and inexpensive.

My point is that I read far more internet warnings about inaccurate .22 Marauder barrels, than I do first hand reports of the problem. None of us have any facts, and there is an error rate above zero for any manufactured product. But I have no reason to consider current production .22 Marauders as sub-par in any way.

R

If you are planning on entering the PCP world, I would almost invest in a tank to start first. I have a carbon-fiber tank from AirHog, great investment! If you don't have a fill center close by you will eventually be looking at a compressor. Each caliber has it's pros and cons. As far as rifles, if you want one to shoot right out of the box, you will be paying over a grand (ex.-Cricket, FX, Daystate, Vulcan). To stay at the price of a Marauder, it's competitor is a Hatsan. Many people are happy with them but , in my opinion, both brands tend to need additional adjustments to shoot laser accurate. Again, I had two rifles from Crosman that did not shoot well, but I made the necessary modifications and now I have an extremely accurate rifle. AJshoots is our go to guy for Crosman on this forum and has always been willing to help guys out. The Malitia Marmot barrel is guaranteed to shoot accurate. I would really plan on adding it right away if you have any problems. I would also add a HUMA regulator as well. Both of these mods can be done by you and there are how to videos on U-tube. Like guod123 said, it still is a good first rifle and doing the mods. help you understand how these things work. The barrel is just one component of shooting accurate. The pellet (size and weight) and the velocity (shot string) that it shoots are also extremely important to accuracy. For me, learning about all this has facinated me.

PS- BWalton would be your go to guy on this forum for Hatsan if you go that route.

Be aware that it is the sponsors that help make this forum work. There is a reason for that…... to promote their products. If there is a great deal somewhere by all means post your findings but understand it could be pulled down if it is from a direct competitor of the sponsors. Some may have a problem with this but it IS business and we need to understand the sponsors have a monitary stake it this and we should be sensitive to that. When you look on e-bay, you will find that Pyramid Air and Airgun Depot will still have the best prices for the Marauder. They also offer refurbished rifles at a discounted rate. Many of the top rifles brands are only sold new from specific dealers. So, you may not find a wide variation with price across the industry. Several months ago Cabelas offered a great deal for the Marauder.

"NMshooter" Several months ago Cabelas offered a great deal for the Marauder.

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They must have gotten a VERY good deal from Crosman because I still can't figure out how they could offer the price they did. Kind of makes me wonder just how LOW Crosman's production cost actually is. I am sure we will never know.

Thurmond

I'm glad I didn't pay any attention to the "don't buy a .22 synrod". At 50 yards (well really 55 yards) the English sparrows and starlings are batting zero. Good thing to have a tall tree near the deer feeder that ranges 57 yards from my rear deck. And I also did the o-ring fix on the non-touching barrel band. I need to quit fixing problems I don't have and removed that and went back to original not touching band. I had ordered a Maximus and a hill pump, and while waiting for that rifle I ordered the synrod. I pumped it up one time and was on the phone with Joe buying a great white tank with all the bells and whistles. A little over $900 but it makes shooting go from a job to fun.


Edit: Sorry I didn't comment on the OP's question. I use JSB 18.13 most of the time but have a stack of .22 pellets to test when it cools down a little. I'll do that off of my bench with a front and rear rest to take out the mistakes I make.