Benjamin PBN17 Trail Mark II .177-Caliber NP Break Barrel Hunting Air Pistol

Edit: End of 2022, 9 years later and my second P-rod. 2" "pool noodle" cheek rest and some serious quiet courtesy of Mr Donny :). .110 tx port, 800 fps, ideal fill 2600 psi. 5/8 inside the 1" target dot @ 30 yards. The rifle, still hitting tacks. Best bang (or no-bang) for the buck! Edit: Tinkering a little with the accessories: Two low-profile dove-to-Pic adapters Ultradot MatchDot II red dot w/ Warne quick-detach rings BugBuster 3-9x w/Warne quick-detach rings One-slot Pic rail installed in a shallow inlet at the forward forestock screw (need longer 8-23 for this). Lightweight Pic-mount bipod The whole thing switches out in about 30 seconds. Yes, the Ultradot is a little over-the-top, but I have an "excuse" --- taking some time off from target while a hand injury fixes up. So I raided a target pistol and put the Ultra on this. Shazzam! The MatchDot II has non-shifting reticles from a pinpoint up, with a ring/dot and a ring/crosshair/dot ... AND an indexed, re-zeroable target elevation turret. So, the same principle as using different practice loads with .22's --- just keep track of the clicks. Verrrry nice on this (or any decent air gun). Right now I'm zeroed at 650fps with Crosman 14.3g; Exacts hit 4 clicks high at 50 feet. JSB Jumbo 14.6 are about 2 clicks. Now I'm getting to use up around 8 lbs. of lead. ;) I'd love to up the velocity and reduce the noise. This is noticeably louder than the rifle, and with less smack. The rifle is running at 875 fps. It would be incredible if someone came up with an aftermarket thread-on baffle extension, save me the hassle of making one. This little rig not only has potential --- it's been producing. If I'm going to play sit-and-wait, I'll take the rifle. But for all of the quick-grab snap shots I've never picked up on, this is absolutely hellacious. Working through the pellet assortment, the old Crosman Field Hunting 14.3g's are not giving me what I want. A shame, because they run perfectly in the Rifle version. My copy of this gun seems to like things over 14.3g --- no matter what the tin says. Premier HP's run a smidge heavier, you wouldn't think that alone would make a difference ... but those pellets do. 30 yards, golfball-size targets, side-braced only. Not too shabby for a "pistol." (The Benjamin Discovery HP's were awful ... no idea why.) 1-inch fluorescent dot on oak end grain from old limb removal, at exactly 25 yards. 3 shots inside a dime, slight right; a couple of clicks correction; two clovers on center. 3/8 inch penetration. This was with Premier HP. Original coments below: I've been using a Marauder rifle for a couple of years, and I'm a huge fan (as posted elsewhere). I just got this pistol yesterday ... and wish I had last year. The rifle is incredible ... and also feels like I'm toting a Garand sometimes. This item changes the close-in game, with the stock or without. Face it ... the "big girl" doesn't swing too easily. This one feels tiny by comparison. I'm not touching the hammer settings until I run this through the chrony in out-of-the-box condition. I'll post what I get. Crosman claims 700fps with 14.3, and theirs have been favorites of mine for some time. Mixed in my tests will be JSB Jumbo, Beeman, and Predators ... which DO fit these magazines. So far I find this gun very quiet ... enough for the backyard. As for its pistol feel ... it really isn't that heavy two-handed. If you shoot a 40-ounce target .22 you'll find this just manageable. The grip feel and trigger shape are fairly "Ruger-ish," I think. The trigger on mine is an excellent two stage, from the box. Just front resting you can whip 8 shots into 3/4 inch in less time than it takes to read this sentence. I deducted a half star for the shoulder stock. Hard to believe, but the length of pull (trigger to butt) is about two inches MORE than the rifle. Go figure. This is gonna get modified. Another half star off for a defective gauge that leaked the reservoir down in 5 minutes. Crosman promised a new gauge in a couple of days ... I think they had a bad run of these. Meanwhile, a 1/8 IP brass plug and Teflon tape work fine for now. (My tank is down to about 2700, and the adapter has a limiter, so ... good to go.) BTW ... Crosman answered on one ring, transferred to tech on two rings. Great, by any standard. Meanwhile I've found a home for my old 3-9x Bugbuster ... and a Bushnell Trophy red dot. Neither of these is a budget buster, and the dot off a rest produces one sloppy hole at 50 feet. As for AIR ... I've been an ardent (and bad-backed!) fan of the SCUBA rig. I spent one year on the Ben pump, rebuilt it twice, and said the heck with it. If your main objective is clearing the backyard, and you don't need portability, you can find a tank (well, maybe not one I'd dive with ...) and an adapter for the cost of a pump. Fills are less than $10, and the periodic inspection isn't bad. A tank lasts a loooong time on the rifle. I can't imagine how much you'd have to shoot this pistol to run the tank below, say, 1800psi. I'm sure I'll have more on this. Enjoy! It really is a gem! DAY THREE About that pesky stock ... Got at it this morning, and took a back saw to the stock struts. Here's some GREAT news: I was expecting to have to fill the cavities with epoxy, or wooden dowelling. WRONG! The struts are .. at least for the first two inches ... SOLID! So, snip-snip, off with an inch and a half. Took the buttplate and cut steps on top and bottom, then drilled and counterbored holes. In the (now matched-up) strut ends I drilled and tapped the appropriate holes, and reassembled the thing using SUGRU as a filler. Presto! A CQB tree-rat carbine, perfect with the Buster or the Trophy red. Now I don't have to strain to get the right eye relief. (The 3-9x Bugbuster has a very short eyerelief.) Since there's a taper to the struts, the buttplate is slightly larger at the join, which looks and feels fine to me. The material appears (and smells, when worked) to be in the polypropylene family, so tapping was a quickie. I'll probably just pull those scres out and replace them with wide-flute (z-type?) screws. Probaly be better in the long run, and almost impossible to over-torque. Bottom line ... if they had made the stock shorter and included spacers, and if the gauge hadn't been defective ... a solid FIVE STARS. ANOTHER DAY: So much for the chrony. Still haven't gotten the replacement gauge, so I decided to just shoot the chrony without the gauge. Now I'm wondering if they calibrated this gun with the gauge in "full leak" --- because, out of the box, with 14.3 Crosmans, I got around 450fps on a 3k fill. Ugh. It took a bunch of tweaking to find 655fps. I'm starting to think the .110 transfer port is in the future ... More for your consideration: There is no rearward detent on the bolt, and there isn't much o-ring drag, either. This has made loading interesting at times, since the bolt rides part-closed if the gun is tipped forward a bit. It gets a little annoying. This has been a complaint with the rifle too, to some extent. I've always felt it would be nice to be able to carry either of these with a mag in and the bolt back ... nope. Mag in, bolt forward, safety on. Oh, well ... Anyhooo ... my feeling is, if you have access to a chrony, don't spend a lot of time zeroing right out of the box. Unless I just got a weird one, and I actually still LOVE it!!! BTW ... up from a disappointing Page 450 in the Natchez catalog (a personal penetration benchmark) to a respectable Page 675. OK, it's thin paper. Still --- HUGE improvement. NOT what came outta tha box! Can't wait to re-port this. And, yas ... it IS louder, now. UPDATE Crosman --- EXELLENT! Called on Thursday, brand new gauge on Tuesday! All tefloned and ready to go. The gun held 2700psi overnight, so happy-happy! I envy the guy who gets 1/2" groups at 50 yards. On the rifle, noooo problem. Someone else commented on the stock moving around, and that's a fact. As mild as this thing is, it does have enough of a hop to it that the stock thing can move the pattern. Should be easy to correct with some plastic shim. Certainly good for 1/2-minute-of-squirrel at 25 yards. If you like air guns - BUY THIS!

I am having a lot of fun with this gun! It is very accurate, not too loud and is very light. I also have a .22 synthetic Marauder rifle, which I love as well. If you are trying to decided which is best for you, let me give you a little comparison: Marauder Rifle/ Hawke Sidewinder 30: - Wins the accuracy test, but not by much. I was surprised how accurate the pistol was out of the box and after a barrel clean. The attached photo is my first 5 round shot after sighting it in somewhat at 34 yards using JSB Heavy 18.13 grain. I have a UTG bugbuster with UTG med. scope mounts and it works great for about 40 yards and under, which is how I believe this gun is meant to be shot. Again, under 40 yards is great for the backyard, but if you're looking for greater distance I would recommend the rifle. - Wins the loudness test. I did not measure the dB of each gun, but to my ear the rifle is almost half the loudness of the pistol. The rifle also has a different sound - more of a 'pink' compared to the 'thunk' of the pistol. Having said that, the pistol is still much quieter than my break barrels and I have no worries about the neighbors with it. -Wins the power test. Obviously you've seen that the rifle is 1000 fps compared to the pistol's 700 fps. -Wins the shots/fill up test. I get at least 40 good shots from the rifle and only about 24 with the pistol, but that is pretty good considering the small air reservoir size. The rifle also has a 10 shot clip compared to 8 shot clip in the pistol. Marauder Pistol/UTG Bugbuster: -Wins the size/weight test. The pistol is less than half the weight of the rifle. If I were planning on taking a gun into the woods for some fun, I would much rather be hauling the pistol around. The pistol also feels great and well balanced (with the shoulder stock attached). I could shoot it all day long! The rifle I pretty much only use for bench shooting. -Wins the fun to shoot test. I think I'm going to be pulling this gun off the rack for backyard plinking more than any other just because I enjoy shooting it so much. So there you have it. I hope that helps you decide. Another option is to go my route and just buy one of each :)

Really am liking this pistol for the power and accuracy but not to fond of the big clunky handle and trigger at shortest pull setting is kinda far....im sure i could get used to it, but Im sure i will do small fabrications in the future to make the gun my own. I sure am loving the power and the rifled break barrel of this pistol. Update: Tore apart the gun to find all the improvements that could be easily done. First i countersunk the barrel like my rifle to see if that would help the pellet enter the rifling of the barel but this didnt help much and i still have to use an insertion tool. Next i noticed the barrel didnt line up right all the time like the break barrel mechanism wasnt catching right all the time. I then noticed the the catch was resting almost in the center of the quarter inch catch pin when the barrel was closed so i filed the catch to make it a little more secure but didnt go to far since the spring was kinda weak but it works well now getting highest air pressure consistently. The last thing i looked at was the trigger mechanism which was engineered very poorly but can be fabricated by grinding the rivets and remove some here and braze or weld some there to some of the mechanism. I just didnt have the drive yet to put that much time into a toy. Lots of things i dont like about the design of this gun but it was cheap, i kinda like the project of it and, it was the fastest i could find in a pistol

fantastic! .. after owning a marauder .25 for a couple of years, which is a tack driving critter slaying machine, ive thought about the pistol for a long time and finally got it .. its MUCH smaller than i anticipated from all the talk and pictures, but its smaller in every dimension compared to the rifle and 'can' be used as a pistol most definitely if your a reasonably in-shape individual, its big for a pistol but not so big and heavy its not manageable .. but this is perfect to 'fill in the gap' for certain situations like stalking critters close range under 30 yards, the rifle is too heavy and unwieldy for that and more at home on the window sill taking out a critter at 75 yards with a large mil-dot scope .. but this gun gets a micro dot sight and is the perfect tool for engaging the critters in the bush .. you dont need the stock unless you just dont have a rifle and want to use it with a bulky scope for longer ranges and/or are smaller framed and dont have much upper body strength to stabilize this rather light gun ... *5 year update* (Jan 2021) .. this gun has become my #1 go-to gun around the homestead for problem critters, i trust it .. its super accurate with crosman premier round nose 14.3's and sighted in using a ballistics app at 12 yards it gives a 9-30 yard point blank with .65" killzone (up and down variance) .. almost nothing survives this thing and it has literally scores of kills under its belt at this point .. i use it around the home to guard the chickens and garden .. cant recommend this gun too much its the best pellet gun out there for home pest control hands down and im not just being a fanboy .. it is .. as long as you set it up right and use it in its optimum range of 10-30 yards which is ideal anyway ... last points .. DONT overcharge it .. it works best under 2200psi and really its in its groove at 2000~1600 first couple of shots may fly if its 2200 or higher .. even at 2200 you'll get 2+ clips through it before it dips too low .. all you need for critter control ... the stock that comes with it grows on you, i love it now, and all you need is a fixed lightweight 4X scope you dont need some big gigantic fancy scope with this, its a short range critter termination machine .....so get one .. you wont regret it ...

They need to look at the functional aspect of the barrel mine would not fire and when you think that you have fired at the object your shooting at there was no dent or a hole in the target there was no hole in the cardboard and target so thinking about maybe I didn’t put one in the barrel so I added another pellet and then tried to fire it again and no hole in the cardboard even at 4 feet ? So with the barrel pumped the barrel was dark and no sunlight thru the barrel so I got a bamboo stick and pushed it down the barrel 2 pellets fell out the barrel what a disaster and disappointed item to have bought it !! Amazon would not replace it but I called the seller and they agreed to give me a return label I sent it back for a refund.

Accurate right out of the box. No issues at all. Sized just right for small framed people... women and children for example. This is especially true if you upgrade to an adjustable AR style stock. The air tank is pretty small and it fills quickly with a hand pump. You can also use SCUBA tanks and such to fill it. Buyers need to know: 1. You need a source of High Pressure Air (HPA). This gun needs 3,000 psi of compressed air. 2. Crosman sells a hand pump that delivers this HPA without too much work. 3. You have to weigh over 120 pounds to use the Crosman hand pump. Just need the weight to push down. 4. This is not kids toy. Adult supervision is needed. 5. The included stock does work fine. But there are much better butt stocks that can be purchased. 6. Put a little oil on the magazine tray to make easier to insert and remove the magazine. 7. Sights are not included. You'll need to add some kind of optical site. 8. Red dot 1 power (no magnification) works real well on this gun at very close ranges and keeps it light. 9. Buy pellets by the thousand... your going to need them. It is that much fun. 10. Expect 40+ shot per fill of HPA. 11. Fill to 3,000 psi to start shooting. 12. Stop shooting when the HPA gauge reads 1,000 psi. 13. For long range shooting you will want a good scope. 14. For long range shooting you may need to restrict the air psi range and not use the full 3K to 1k range. 15. At long ranges the delta in pellet speed really matters and air pressure in the gun will impact pellet speed. R Arms Innovations ( [...]) sells a great after market butt stock. It is an AR style stock with a lot of adjustment features.

⭐ 2 Stars – Third Unit Tested, Still Below Expected FPS I am currently on my third Benjamin Trail NP Mark II .177 pistol. Crosman sent me this latest replacement, and I tested it over multiple days using a chronograph. Here are the actual results I recorded: Crosman Premier HP 7.4 grain pellets: ~419 FPS average H&N Field Target Trophy Green 5.56 grain pellets: ~492.4 FPS average While this unit performs better than the previous ones I received, it is still below the expected performance for this model. I do like this pistol and would like it to perform the way it was intended. Based on my experience, I suspect there may be an issue with internal components, possibly the piston seal. If anyone from Crosman, or someone familiar with their products, has guidance on how to get this pistol performing correctly, I would appreciate the help. I’ve had very good experiences with Crosman airguns in the past, several of mine are still working at 100% and I would really like this one to perform as intended, ideally closer to the 550 FPS average range with standard 7.0 grain pellets. At this point, I believe I may have had some bad luck with this model, but I wanted to share my actual test results so others know what to expect.

I bought this for plinking fun, based on the rave reviews it has received online regarding its accuracy, build quality, and value. However, as much as I want to like this gun, I'm getting somewhat frustrated by lack of consistency in its build. The first one I ordered had issues with the pistol grip frame, which was not mounted symmetrically; it was actually leaning about 3-5 degrees to the right, making the gun asymmetrical and essentially right hand biased. That might not sound like a lot, but it is noticeable when viewing the gun from the top and from behind, and is especially visible with the carbine extension mounted. It also wasn't shooting nearly as accurately as I was hoping for, unlike many online reviews which raved about dime sized groupings at 25 yards in carbine form with a scope. Bench rested with 8 shots per group, I was getting tennis ball sized groups with Beeman Eco Kodiaks, 2 inch groups with Crosman Premier Hollow Points, and 1.25-1.5 inch groups with Crosman Premier Ultramagnums on average. I dry cleaned the barrel (no oil/solvent, just shooting 8 rounds of cleaning pellets) and observed minimal improvement to the groupings. I will try cleaning it once more with some patches and silicone oil to see if it will improve things, and I plan on trying H&N FTT 5.53 pellets (a popular choice for this pistol, but not available specifically in 5.53 size on Amazon) to see if it can achieve consistent dime sized groups at 25 yds. Wondering if I had ordered a dud, I bought a second one, and this time, the pistol grip frame was asymmetrically biased to the LEFT about 3-5 degrees! In addition, the built in pressure gauge is reading 500 psi too high relative to that of the pump as well as relative to that of the other pistol. It does appear to shoot slightly more accurately and precisely than the first pistol though, making consistent 1 inch groups with Crosman Premier Ultramagnums at 25 yds. Disappointing, because I am reasonably satisfied with the accuracy of this second pistol, but I will have to return it due to the left hand biased grip frame and even more so because of the faulty pressure gauge. All in all, the Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol is still probably among the best PCP air guns you can get for $350 (the other being the Benjamin Discovery, which is less expensive, more accurate, more powerful, but it is also a single shooter and lacks a baffle/shroud system that makes the Marauder so quiet), and the pistol itself seems durable with an overall solid quality feel to it, aside from the assembly variation that resulted in an off center grip frame angle. I also anticipate that it will deliver in terms of accuracy once I find the right pellet for it. So until I find that pellet, this pistol loses one star for manufacturing variation and one star for not yet meeting my accuracy expectations.