Hello sirs. This is my first post, and indeed my foray into the world of modern air rifles only started up a couple of months ago, when I bought a Gamo Swarm Maxxim 10-shot break-barrel, gas-piston repeater in 22 caliber.
Back in my youth I hunted squirrels with an old Diana .22 break-barrel air rifle, so the technological advances in present-day air rifle design are truly impressive, when compared to the old-school single-shot spring-piston Diana air rifle I owned as a kid. Cutting to the chase I have fired nearly a thousand pellets with my Gamo Swarm rifle in my backyard 35-yard range, and have so enjoyed the accuracy of the gun, and its ten-round rapid-reload feature, that I started thinking of acquiring an "entry level" PCP rifle as well.
Now that I've been bitten by the modern air rifle bug, I found myself window shopping online for a PCP bolt-action repeater that was light-weight, accurate, regulated, and also capable of delivering 70 or more shots per refill. The Bernjamin Fortitude, released very recently in August 2018, ticks all the boxes for me, and I plan to get one, but only after waiting until a couple of well-known design bugs are resolved by Crosman, in future production runs of this beautiful, sleek and traditional looking air rifle.
Selling at $300, which I understand is the low end of PCP air rifle pricing, the Benjamin Fortitude weighs a mere 5.3 pounds without a scope, and that appealed to me a lot, since I do intend to do some small game hunting that will entail carrying the rifle about on longer walks. There are three primary complaints I have read online, expressed by some of those who have bought and tested the Benjamin Fortitude. First, it evidently takes a lot of effort to pull back the bolt for each pellet reload. Secondly, the air tank has been reported to develop leakages whilst still new, by several users of this gun, and finally the trigger pull, at 5 to 7 pounds, is very heavy.
I just stumbled on this Youtube video by an outfit called Jefferson State Air Rifles, who sell upgrade replacement parts for various air rifles, and they offer an upgrade that reduces the trigger pull to less than 2 pounds, enables the bolt to be operated with ease, and increases the muzzle velocity from 750 to 850 fps. Checked their website for pricing, but this upgrade hasn't yet made it to their price list, possibly on account of being a work in progress thus far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_gfXJBku0&t=3s
While I bide my time before acquiring a .22 Benjamin Fortitude, keeping an eye out for further user reviews about the Benjamin Fortitude, I thought I might as well ask about this make and model PCP air rifle in forums such as this one, that are dedicated to the subject of air gun shooting sports. I would therefore be very appreciative of any reviews that can be offered here, on the Bernjamin Fortitude, and of course I would be in luck if I learn here that modifications for this brand-new design are on sale by other vendors in addition to the ones shown in the above video. That'll be enough rambling from me, ha ha, and I look forward to hearing from anyone who has had the chance to use the Benjamin Fortitude PCP air rifle, or who knows of a source for after-market performance modification parts that could be swapped in by punters with little or no gun-smith training, like myself.
Back in my youth I hunted squirrels with an old Diana .22 break-barrel air rifle, so the technological advances in present-day air rifle design are truly impressive, when compared to the old-school single-shot spring-piston Diana air rifle I owned as a kid. Cutting to the chase I have fired nearly a thousand pellets with my Gamo Swarm rifle in my backyard 35-yard range, and have so enjoyed the accuracy of the gun, and its ten-round rapid-reload feature, that I started thinking of acquiring an "entry level" PCP rifle as well.
Now that I've been bitten by the modern air rifle bug, I found myself window shopping online for a PCP bolt-action repeater that was light-weight, accurate, regulated, and also capable of delivering 70 or more shots per refill. The Bernjamin Fortitude, released very recently in August 2018, ticks all the boxes for me, and I plan to get one, but only after waiting until a couple of well-known design bugs are resolved by Crosman, in future production runs of this beautiful, sleek and traditional looking air rifle.
Selling at $300, which I understand is the low end of PCP air rifle pricing, the Benjamin Fortitude weighs a mere 5.3 pounds without a scope, and that appealed to me a lot, since I do intend to do some small game hunting that will entail carrying the rifle about on longer walks. There are three primary complaints I have read online, expressed by some of those who have bought and tested the Benjamin Fortitude. First, it evidently takes a lot of effort to pull back the bolt for each pellet reload. Secondly, the air tank has been reported to develop leakages whilst still new, by several users of this gun, and finally the trigger pull, at 5 to 7 pounds, is very heavy.
I just stumbled on this Youtube video by an outfit called Jefferson State Air Rifles, who sell upgrade replacement parts for various air rifles, and they offer an upgrade that reduces the trigger pull to less than 2 pounds, enables the bolt to be operated with ease, and increases the muzzle velocity from 750 to 850 fps. Checked their website for pricing, but this upgrade hasn't yet made it to their price list, possibly on account of being a work in progress thus far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_gfXJBku0&t=3s
While I bide my time before acquiring a .22 Benjamin Fortitude, keeping an eye out for further user reviews about the Benjamin Fortitude, I thought I might as well ask about this make and model PCP air rifle in forums such as this one, that are dedicated to the subject of air gun shooting sports. I would therefore be very appreciative of any reviews that can be offered here, on the Bernjamin Fortitude, and of course I would be in luck if I learn here that modifications for this brand-new design are on sale by other vendors in addition to the ones shown in the above video. That'll be enough rambling from me, ha ha, and I look forward to hearing from anyone who has had the chance to use the Benjamin Fortitude PCP air rifle, or who knows of a source for after-market performance modification parts that could be swapped in by punters with little or no gun-smith training, like myself.