Why is the Benji Trail NP 22 soo inaccurate?

[blueduck]

After falling in love with the look sound and feel of the trail I put 700 pellets through it getting vairable results and very few good groups. Not one group that didnt have a flyer or two in it at best. working on technique and hold. in Frustration I pulled out my sons Gamo Big Cat that has been mistreated for five years and proceeded to shoot 14mm ctr to ctr 5 shot groups where the Benji averaged60 plus mm.  I returned the Benji and bought a RWS diana 34. Average groups a t15 yards after a week with this rifle are all less than 12 mm and some 7mm srtings. (practically one hole.) I ordered a tunatrigger, but even that would not fix that rifle. WHY? I really wanted that rifle to work. If they fix it i would try it again. 

[Greenwolf]

What pellets were you using? The trail can be a little picky from what I understand. Have also read on here about guys making mods from the piston to the crown, some got the accuracy they wanted, others did not. Mine seems to do ok so far, but my expectations were very low because I hadn't shot at pellet gun before I bought my trail and I'm still learning what it likes, lol. Sorry to hear yours wasn't up to snuff.

[GKU]

Sorry to hear that ........................again, welcome to the benji np trail experience(s) everyone that has bought one has one to tell. From one problem for some, to many for others and some with no end. It's to bad Crossman doesn't seem to care about pumping out a very nice looking junk with history to tell. No quality control, you know at least test fire and see if groups up @ 10 yards makes 1" groups or so, at that close distance with any quality pellet...........before leaving the factory. Like I said before that is why I bought a FX Revolution instead of a M-Rod. Yea, shure it's 4 time the cost of the M-Rod not far to compare. I all so have a IZH 61 that cost $110.00 that did < 1/2" groups at 10 yards out of the box. The Benji trail np 10 " at 10 yards out of box. After $200 spent on upgrades and mods and a lot of time to rebuild the entire gun, it now very accurately thanks to my hard work and help from this FORUM . It's a shame I sill have to refer to it as a Benjamin and not call it by my name instead ?

You can read more here

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=40695.0

[Rico14]

Seeing that so many people are having issues with the Trail NP accuracy, it seems that this is a problem with the newer ones. My friend and I both got one when they first came out and both AG's shoot dime sized groups at 30 yards with the CPHP's from Wally. The only thing that was done to them was to install the CDT trigger. Maybe Crosman has changed the barrel.

[john]

Mine's not new and I have monitored ongoing reports of problems with many other members' Trails (definitely including mine in spite of many many tweaks) since day one. Not complaining, just sayin'. Wish I had gotten one of the good ones. 

[shorty]

I couldn't agree anymore with the accuracy "expectation" too. Even though I did a lot of work, enough is never enough. It pretty much not worthy that only a few pellets perform well. I do get great accuracy with the right pellets, don't get me wrong, but with CHP's that are easy to get at wally world, it would be great if they performed in the trail np like the H and N FTT's.

To me, I have come to the conclusion that its our barrel. I get a great STDEV with FPS and I am sure after 4,000 pellets, I have a decent hold on the rifle.

With that being said, I have been on the quest for trying to figure out how to choke the barrel with out cutting it or destroying the threads. All mechanical ideas to choke the barrel will damage the threads, so I have been trying to figure out other ways. The latest things I have come up with is to chrome plate the I/D of the barrel. That sounds difficult but there are chrome plate kits available and chrome plating is pretty robust along with thin builds. The other idea was using a new product on the market that I seen in a popular mechanics magazine that breaks up concrete. It's some kind of powder that has an expansion pressure of 20,000 psi when wet with water. So basically, you can put a steel tube over the barrel, place the powder between the steel tube and barrel ,add water and the barrel should compress. How much, I have no idea. Will it work, I definitely have no I deer.

Sounds cool though. Point is, tighter pellets perform much better than loose ones. Still thinking of ideas on how to choke the barrel.

[john]

I have to agree with your theory that poor barrel quality assurance is a good candidate for the cause of variable gas mileage with these Crosman guns out of China. And I'm skeptical of the claim that Crosman guns assembled in U.S. (ooo  big deal) but assembled from Chinese parts (i think it's the NPSS they brag about?) are any better...could be wrong about that as alot of members like them.

Those choking ideas are interesting. What about threading a "bushing" onto the muzzle; it would have same O.D. as barrel and length same as threaded portion of course. In fact, make it out of a length of barrel to keep the metallurgy constant...?...a low clearance thread would probably be desirable.

I don't hold out much hope, however, for pellet sensitivity ever going away.

[blueduck]

As far as my ex Trails diet goes it was fed: Rws super domes 14.5, Gramo Match Diablos 15.43, Daisy Precision max ,Crossman pointed ? gr,Crorssman wadcutters ?gr,Gamo TS 22 22gr, Bonecollectors ?gr, Gamo rockets ?gr, Benji discovery 14.3 gr, and a couple others. It liked the Discoveries and the Rws S/D, but not enough. I was suspicious of the rifling and barrell quality, (no need to mention trigger pull...yek). the shroud covered the muzzle and i could not get a look. whish i had revoved the shroud and tested it without. i even cleaned and matched several groups of pellets to no avail. New Rws is surgical soo far, holding dime size groups at 15 yds easily. I probably need to step to 35 yards now. Cept i get kinda blind at that range.

[Greenwolf]

I'm glad I got one of the accurate ones then. I've tried the benjamin hunting pack (4 kinds of pellets), some rws meisterkugelns, and daisy hollow points, and even the ones that did poorly held 1 1/2" groups at 15 yards. one day I will have to upgrade the trigger, but for now I guess ignorance is bliss, lol. Right now I'm just happy to have something to shoot.

[GKU]

I'm glad I got one of the accurate ones then. I've tried the benjamin hunting pack (4 kinds of pellets), some rws meisterkugelns, and daisy hollow points, and even the ones that did poorly held 1 1/2" groups at 15 yards. one day I will have to upgrade the trigger, but for now I guess ignorance is bliss, lol. Right now I'm just happy to have something to shoot.

Yes I believe you do, but you should be able to squeeze out a little more accuracy out of your gun, best I heard is 1/2" ctc @ 50 yards (150 feet ). Some owners of benji nps think this is a myth. I do believe this is possible to make happen with this gun if you lucky to get one that can be MADE to. Mines ( benji np trail .177 AW ) shot 10 inch groups (shot gun blast) out of box with some money and work time it's now shooting .45" @ 33 yards ctc and .7" @ 50 yards ctc. It seems that mines like JSB 8.4 grains the best next would be Crossman Hunter 7.4 grains. For me the best mods that made accuracy improvement where to replace factory pivot washers with brass ones from Gene and his piston bushing also.
The trigger is maybe last (meaning least that improving accuracy) upgrade on the list that helped my gun. But if your a trigger sensitive person and want a shorter and light smoother pull by all means get one. I did this one first and needed to grind bear trap linkage to clear shear pin. That voided my warranty and could return it after that mod.   
If grouping is shifting left to right I'd replace washers if up and down it's not locking up consistently, and very possibly both if it's a cluster.
With all that said if you're happy with what accuracy you have, and can live with that. I couldn't with all my other guns that's shooting very tight groups. Accuracy is not everything it's the only thing for me, what good is power if you can't hit it.

[blueduck]

You are saying a horizontal loose string is likely the pivot bushings? I was able to control it verticaly to some degree but the side to side is what got it sent packing. I did monitor the screw tightness but did not consider that there was a relationship to the accuracy.

[GKU]

You are saying a horizontal loose string is likely the pivot bushings? I was able to control it verticaly to some degree but the side to side is what got it sent packing. I did monitor the screw tightness but did not consider that there was a relationship to the accuracy.

Yes............ it is likely, even a little vertically improving also, it kind of wiggles. Vertical improved in time of break in and how you close the barrel, for my gun anyway. It can be the weakess link in break barrel accuracy if you ask me, especially poor craftsmanship lack of tolerance in manufacturing can cause accuracy issues. This is where Crosman should concentrate on putting some money into improving there lock up quality. Gee, plastic washers how cheap can you get..........Gun looks great from the outside the inside is HORRIFIC.

The factory washers are made of soft plastic of some sort, so tightening pivot bolt may only help to a certain extent. The brass washers got rid of a lot of free play, unlike the factory one they do not have that spongy effect. One less variable to contend with ! How to find out that this is a occurrence with your gun you ask. I mounted a laser directly on the barrel shroud adjusted laser with the crosshairs in scope, and shot away and saw with each shot that the POI was with the laser and not the crosshairs ! Laser and scope crosshair not aligned with most of the shots, it jumps around. Doing some math a small movement of just .0067" (a little thicker than folder paper) in the tip of the barrel in reference to the pivot joint will caused a 1/2" POI shift at 33 yards away. I could push and steer the tip of the barrel till it was inline with the crosshairs again, and even move it more away. As ugly and dump looking it might be, Crosman should move the weaver rail onto the shroud instead. Ya, I couldn't help myself the designing dept would never hire me. I switched to Gene's brass washers and side to side play is gone, the accuracy improved considerable. If you decide to do this upgrade do use a little moly and clean treads out any oil on bolt and bolt hole and use blue Loctite, let it dry overnight. After tightening use small piece of tape to mark near screw slot as reference in case of loosening, a small preventative cure for frustration.

Very happy to be answering more questions if you all need ..........

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