Buying a Benjamin Marauder in 2022?

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jmmartinez573

jmmartinez573

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Oct 26, 2018
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Texas, United States
Has anyone purchased a marauder this year? It’s been a long time since I’ve researched guns under $1000. On PyramidAir I see the marauder now have an option to be purchased with an Lothar Walther Match grade barrel and picatinny rail. I thought these options were reserved for the Field Target version of the marauder.

Has the factory tuned improved over the years?

LW barrels any good in the marauder? Could they be of same quality as a LW barrel in higher end guns?
 
@jmmartinez573

I am thoroughly impressed with mine even being the unregulated version. I purchased a brand new Marauder .25 from pyramyd air and received it last Friday.

Now keep in mind the .25 is unregulated and has a Crosman barrel not an LW.

My biggest gripe is shot count, with the .25 it is a magazine then refill but I will fix that (more on this later).

When I unboxed it I was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous the rifle was (I also was told I hit the stock lottery) . It was also much lighter than expected.

I purchased this rifle for a specific task of long shots 60 to 90 on birds, rabbits, etc , maybe even 100 (which it proved it could do).

I love the trigger ,I own an uragan 1 , taipan veteran, and an airmaks caiman, the Marauder trigger comes in second only to my Taipan (clearly).

I have not really tuned the rifle yet and I'm not going to adjust it from this point until I get it regulated, now I talked to Tim Hill and he told me 30 shots around 880fps with 25.39 which would make this rifle an absolute game changer and it would still come in at under $1000.00 and I'm pretty confident that at that price it would still punch better and be more fun (I think the fun factor comes mostly from the true bolt action of the rifle, gives ya a "popping german heads in ww2 feel") than rifles 4 to 700 dollars more, it will never be a slugger for me but I have only shot this rifle one day and these were my results with just an hst adjustment so this is out of the box after a barrel cleaning which I highly recommend.

First group is 55 to 60 yards, I can't remember the exact yardage as I'm very familiar with my home range and just plopped the table down

Second group is at 101~102 yards, with pellets, that honestly have a pretty poopty bc.

These are full magazine groups. With minimal time behind the scope. I'm not saying it's the greatest rifle in the world but what I am saying is , I was thoroughly surprised and impressed.

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Screenshot_20221215_060713_Gallery.jpg
 
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The newer higher end of Mrods are decent, but the base synthetics I just can't like them lol. I had a 2012 synrod with the green mountain 25 barrel and it was junk. I would probably buy a SAM if I ever bought another Mrod.

To me, the guns are too big and blocky for what you get out of them. There just isn't enough sexy going on with them for me to want to fondle one.
 
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bearair said:
I scored 2 of there match grade LW barrels from the parts dept a year or two ago and they shoot lights out.
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Thanks for that info. Got any examples of the accuracy you were able to achieve?

CTairgunner,

Looks like you are about to follow the same path I took when I bought my first pcp which was the exact gun you got. I purchased mine about 9 years ago. .25 Synrod. Got 16 shots per fill at 40fpe and I only had a hand pump. Pretty quickly I discovered GTA forum and along with some tuning and aftermarket parts I achieved a 40 shot 40 fpe tune.

Then I wanted even more shot count, ordered a Bottle Rod kit and put a carbon fiber tank on my marauder. Bought the kit from New England Airguns. I purchased a Chinese paintball style regulator and rebuilt it with high quality Belleville washers from McMasterCarr and my marauder was getting 115 regulated shots at 40fpe. Those were the good old days when I had all the time in the world.

You will have tons of fun with that marauder and thanks for the information!
 
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I purchased a .22 Field and Target that doesn't have the LW barrel. I am pleased with the accuracy; it will shoot along with a good 22rf out to 60 yards. It is supposed to be regulated, according to the SN. But I can't figure out what the regulated pressure is. This was my first and only venture into PCP rifles. Refilling is a pain. Be prepared for another $1000 for a compressor. You can buy a nice 22rf and a bunch of ammo for $2K+.
 
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WNYBill said:
I purchased a .22 Field and Target that doesn't have the LW barrel. I am pleased with the accuracy; it will shoot along with a good 22rf out to 60 yards. It is supposed to be regulated, according to the SN. But I can't figure out what the regulated pressure is. This was my first and only venture into PCP rifles. Refilling is a pain. Be prepared for another $1000 for a compressor. You can buy a nice 22rf and a bunch of ammo for $2K+.
Click to expand...

Do you have a shot string we can take a look at? We should be able to help narrow down the reg pressure.
 
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Pros:

Best parts support in the industry
Better made than comparable import airguns
Fairly accurate without having to do much to the barrel
Quiet out of the box without needing an expensive LDC
3k fill pressure which is hand pump/guppy tank friendly compared to the 4k+ guns
Large aftermarket parts selection, though this has waned since the late 2010's
Best in class trigger, matching rifles 3-4x the price
Simple, fairly rugged design that can handle being drug through the woods/pesting grounds

Cons:

Not as many shots as the newfangled airguns generally have
Smaller magazine than the new airguns generally have
Heavy
The trend in airguns is bullpup bottle guns to get more power and more shots. It's not necessarily a con that the Mrod is a traditional rifle with a cylinder, but it may be to some

Overall, seems to be pretty relevant for a gun released well over a decade ago.
 
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Most of its low shot count woes come from its hammer design and the bounce that happens. A good hdd or ssg (whatever you decide to call it), will greatly decrease the air useage from stock, and then regulating it to help keep the shots consistent to a much lower pressure without a bell curve, and it’ll be a completely different animal!

These days, if the barrel lottery worked in your favor on these mid level guns, then all the other “downfalls” can be fixed with the aftermarket for them. Only real downfall is, if all costs money, and at some point, you’re probably into the high end pcp category price point, but hey, even the high end pico’s get modified with stupid Amounts of accessories. Lol
 
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CTairgunner1288 said:
@jmmartinez573

I am thoroughly impressed with mine even being the unregulated version. I purchased a brand new Marauder .25 from pyramyd air and received it last Friday.

Now keep in mind the .25 is unregulated and has a Crosman barrel not an LW.

My biggest gripe is shot count, with the .25 it is a magazine then refill but I will fix that (more on this later).

When I unboxed it I was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous the rifle was (I also was told I hit the stock lottery) . It was also much lighter than expected.

I purchased this rifle for a specific task of long shots 60 to 90 on birds, rabbits, etc , maybe even 100 (which it proved it could do).

I love the trigger ,I own an uragan 1 , taipan veteran, and an airmaks caiman, the Marauder trigger comes in second only to my Taipan (clearly).

I have not really tuned the rifle yet and I'm not going to adjust it from this point until I get it regulated, now I talked to Tim Hill and he told me 30 shots around 880fps with 25.39 which would make this rifle an absolute game changer and it would still come in at under $1000.00 and I'm pretty confident that at that price it would still punch better and be more fun (I think the fun factor comes mostly from the true bolt action of the rifle, gives ya a "popping german heads in ww2 feel") than rifles 4 to 700 dollars more, it will never be a slugger for me but I have only shot this rifle one day and these were my results with just an hst adjustment so this is out of the box after a barrel cleaning which I highly recommend.

First group is 55 to 60 yards, I can't remember the exact yardage as I'm very familiar with my home range and just plopped the table down

Second group is at 101~102 yards, with pellets, that honestly have a pretty poopty bc.

These are full magazine groups. With minimal time behind the scope. I'm not saying it's the greatest rifle in the world but what I am saying is , I was thoroughly surprised and impressed.

View attachment 313794

View attachment 313795

View attachment 313796
Click to expand...
tim hill valve and JSAR hammer , try a few of the tim hill hammer springs , i like the tim hill polymer transfer port , buy a couple of those , get a set of o rings case you cut one , a tim hill gage port for a little extra plenum , "and it lets you stack the regulator on top so you can Teather it with a pice of wire , i use guitar string " now you can pull your reg out and adjust it without removing the pressure gage "witch will now be your reg pressure gage " and you wont have to remove the stock too , just a little easier for small adjustments to your reg. Tim Hill takes good care of you , huma reg from AOA , or some ware! jsar also has a nice selection of end cap hammer spring stuff , all good ! i have that on mine , and if you do this stuff , BE SURE to clean all the silicone oil out from the hammer housing area , then clean a little more , tim hill has some graphite for the hammer that wont hurt , and watch a youtube video on the diss and ree assembly of the mrod , its fun and very doable , have fun !!!
 
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I would never pay more then $300 for a mrod. The only thing I would do is put in a 12 or 15 lb hammer spring, and drill out the transfer port. If you are wanting any other modification, I would suggest a different pcp. There are some great pcp's at the $500-700 price range new and used that will out perform a stock mrod.
 
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wyshadow said:
I would never pay more then $300 for a mrod. The only thing I would do is put in a 12 or 15 lb hammer spring, and drill out the transfer port. If you are wanting any other modification, I would suggest a different pcp. There are some great pcp's at the $500-700 price range new and used that will out perform a stock mrod.
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I've shot a few pcps twice that price that don't lol
 
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wyshadow said:
I would never pay more then $300 for a mrod. The only thing I would do is put in a 12 or 15 lb hammer spring, and drill out the transfer port. If you are wanting any other modification, I would suggest a different pcp. There are some great pcp's at the $500-700 price range new and used that will out perform a stock mrod.
Click to expand...
I'll gladly take an old Mrod for 300 bucks, polish the barrel for 15 to 20 minutes, drill out and match the valve, TP, and barrel. 7 bucks in O-rings. Then spend another 2 bucks on a basic free-floating hammer setup. Maybe even add a 9-dollar paint job. Now it would be as accurate as the $700 - $900 rifle and make more FPE. Also have change left over to buy extra ammo and some cool stickers. But that's just me.
 
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I bought a new in box unregulated wood stock .22 in the classifieds some months back for $300 shipped.

I'm am insanely impressed. At 50y with cheap crossman pellets it will hang with the best of the best. And it is still very usable between 50-100y. If it was regulated, the thing would be perfection (for pellets).

It's so good, that I got away from shooting pellets in my m3 and went to heavy slugs for long distance hunting. The Marauder is so good I had no reason to keep the m3 as my pellet shooter.

When you get a PCP this cheap that shoots this good... You really question some of your high dollar purchases 😂
 
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