How to hold a Benjamin Marauder in HFT

[Fred J]

Anybody out there shooting a Benjamin Marauder in HFT? How do you hold your rifle?

I have been Shooting HFT for a couple of years. I have done petty well with my TX200 (3 second places and three third places), but I am the only one shooting a springer in at my local air gun club. The other guys are shooting PCPs (Daystates, TM1000 and Steyrs), so I have some tough competition.

A friend of mine gave a Benjamin Marauder (beach stock). I have gone through 3 barrels, and finally have one that shoots well. Tested a dozen or so pellets, and found it like AA 10.3gr with 4.52mm heads, lightly lubed with Gammo oil. By the way: I took the baffles out and installed a MDS hammer and a TSS, so now I get 55 good shots at 835 fps with a 15 fps extreme spread. I also removed the 'lawyer spring' from the trigger, and now the trigger breaks a 6 ounces.

Here's my problem: The Benjamin Marauder is extremely hold sensitive. I have very large hands, and it real tough finding the right hold. I seem to get the best results placing my trigger thumb way up on the back of the action. I rest the rifle in the bipod at the balance point, near the pressure gauge. If I do every thing right, the Maurauder is as accurate as the TX200, but not better. If I do anything wrong, it shoots like a shot gun. Because of this, I have not used the Marauder in HFT matches.

So, any suggestions on how to hold the Marauder?

The TX200, on the other hand, always shoots well.

Thank you for your help!

[Gear_Junkie]

Fred,

There shouldn't be much (if any) recoil on this rig, especially given it's weight.  I'm not sure how it would be hold sensitive.  Are you sure you found the most accurate pellet?

[Motorhead]

Still own my original Gen 1 M-rod set up as a HFT rig.  While it does not fit me as well next to my RAW that is now my primary HFT rig, accuracy of the gun IS NOT the issue being shot on bags is equally accurate !!

Having foam around the I.D. of barrel band to semi-float barrel was paramount to getting my gun to settle down and shoot the same however held.  getting your Bi-Pod out of fore stock far as practical while still maintaining elbow on knees helps a bunch !!  Can't do that you may want to look into a lower seat dropping your butt and getting your knees to become higher relative to your chest.

If your gun when shot off bags is accurate,  finding your not able to shoot equally well ( well nearly anyways ) when in the HFT postion you use, your hold and body position needs some fine tuning.

IMO,
Scott


PS,
Looking at your avatar picture after stating the above, Indeed your bi-pod is WAY TOO CLOSE to the trigger guard, seat too high having you leaned too far forward.

I'm 6' and use a seat just 16-17" tall which gets my knees well above my hip. Your back more vertical having your neck less forward which allows the rifle to come back and bi-pod on the gun to go forward.

Here a random picture from a club shoot on what was personally found as the most stable and conducive to better success in HFT.


What you will notice is the bulk of your body mass gets vertical to your seat, legs to ground also Vertical, feet Flat to the ground and elbows locked in on both sides while having legs apart far enough to give decent side/side stability.

While picture is NOT showing the ideal bi-pod position of ALSO being vertical  ( Which keeps your sight picture from raising and lowering with front to back body motion )
If body is locked into position well, you can ( As shown ) set bi-pod feet slightly forward of yoke getting a slight push back against your shoulder.


Hope this helps 
Scott