Need tips and pointers

[3040Kraig]

I bought my Benjamin NP Trail in 2011 according to my serial number. I contacted Crosman and they were very gracious to help. I tried 5 different pellets in the beginning. I narrowed it down to the Meisterkugeln 8.2 gr. But they even shoot speratically. Usually a high low spread. Then I watched a video of a guy trying one out using the straight shooter sampler pack. His trail liked the crosman dome 10.5 gr.
I ordered those. Just have to wait.
So any way. What are some of the things I might need to do to get it shooting consistently? 

[Roadworthy]

You don't define consistently and I have no idea what you expect for accuracy.  You don't say whether you're shooting with a scope or open sights.  With that said, start by cleaning your barrel.  Don't expect dry patches do do the job - go for Hoppe's Number Nine or Ballistol.  Follow with several dry patches.  Tighten your stock screws.  Cock the gun.  Have a seat.  Place the butt between your feet and the forearm between your knees.  Try to move the barrel side to side to see if it's stable at the pivot.   It should not move.  Load a pellet and lay a tissue across the breech.  Fire a shot.  Did the tissue move?  You have just tested the breech seal.  As far as I know, without dismantling the gun that's about all you can do.  Well, you can try different pellets to see which works best for your gun.  The gun chooses the pellet, the shooter does not.  You may have two identical guns with different preferred pellets.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Hi Kraig.

Is that the original factory trigger in your Benjamin Trail NP made in 2011 ?

Those older Crosman/Benjamin triggers were notorious for having issues.


Best Wishes - Tom

[SteveP-52]

Thomas already mentioned the barrel moving side to side, it also shouldn't move up or down when you close it. If it does, you might have a weak spring behind the locking wedge or maybe just crud that needs cleaned from around it. Not sure on the Trail how it's held in there, but hopefully someone who owns one can chime in along with how easy or hard it is to check the barrel crown. He also mentioned no 2 rifles liking the same pellets and it's something I can vouch for. 2 of those Webley Tomahawks in my sig are 66 serial numbers apart and like different pellets.

Tommy mentioned the trigger. If yours is original, you might look into getting a Charlie Da Tuna GRT III for it. Night and day difference in trigger pull.

Check the things mentioned and let us know what you did or didn't find.

[3040Kraig]

Its all original. 3-9 center point scope, factory trigger. The consistency is 1 to 3 shots high then 1 or 2 low. the strings are vertical. It kinda groups for a bit then the group moves. I am hoping the new pellets will help a lot.
i saw one post saying his pellets were hitting the crown of the barrel. Pretty sure thats not the case. doubt it would even hit paper doing that.  When testing pellets do you shoot off bags? I ask that because that would be nothing like the artillery hold.  The gun has not been shot a lot for being a 2011 model, but defiantly has had sufficient break in.  its been shelved more often than not because of the frustration with it and i live in town so that limits me.

[lefteyeshot]

Sounds to me the scope might be broke. I shoot off a bag all the time, non-firing hand under the butt stock. I hold the gun loosely, any looser I'd drop it. Sometimes you have to go thru a lot of pellets to find the right one. I find RWS Meisterkugeln and R-10 Match and lately Qiang Yuan Traning Grade shoot good in most any of my guns.

[Roadworthy]

It's a break barrel so you could have a barrel latch up problem.  If the pivot screw is too tight the spring in the latch may not overcome the friction on closing.  If the spring loaded wedge is binding in any way the same holds true.  The wedge can even have a sloppy fit in the recess.  Try lubricating the surface of the wedge and the sides where it slides into the barrel block.  If it's not the wedge it can be the breech seal or a defective piston seal.  If it's the piston seal it will be necessary to dismantle the gun.  Tom suggested possible trigger issues above.  I had a Nitro Venom and could not shoot well with the factory trigger.  I first tried a GRT III from charliedatuna.com.  It made a night and day difference but didn't quite work for me.  I purchased and installed an NP2 trigger pack from Crosman.  I replaced the spring and tweaked it a bit.  For me that was THE trigger.

[3040Kraig]

I noticed once it is cocked and loaded the barrel does move a little up and down when touched slightly.  I could see this being a problem when not paying attention to the barrel and making sure it is in place.  i am guessing it moves a millimetre at the breach.  So what exactly am i looking for to fix it?

[Roadworthy]

I can't say EXACTLY what you're looking at to fix the vertical positioning of the barrel - I don't have access to your gun.  I CAN give you some possible causes.  A spring loaded wedge holds your barrel closed - Crosman calls it the alive jam.  The face should be lubricated so it can slide easily into place.  The point where the wedge goes into the barrel block should be lubricated so it can slide freely also.  The spring may be weak, not applying enough force to jam tightly.  The circumference of the wedge itself may not be a good fit in the recess in the breech block.  If it wiggles your barrel can wiggle up and down.  It's also possible your pivot screw is a sloppy fit but far less likely.  Now you have some points for troubleshooting.

[3040Kraig]

Here are the targets that i did some testing on today.  one is from a couple weeks ago that i thought i had fount the magical combonation. But today every thing changed.
the first pic is the two weeks ago with the factory trigger in my Benjamin Trail XP
The next two pics from today after i put the Charlie Da Tuna trigger on the Ben. One target shows the same pellets as the first pic but far different results
there are two more targets for reference with different pellets. and last i took a picture of my o-ring to be inspected.
My scope is a 3-9 center point that came with the rifle.  The rifle is a 2011 model. But has never been use a lot because i cant get an consistency out of it.  One more note I have never gotten the Meisterkelgns to shoot like they did today. Did the trigger make that much of a difference? Good and Bad?
I hope my pictures post. never have tried on this forum before.

[lillysdad621]

vertical stringing may also be a sign of a busted seal... velocity inconsistencies can cause vertical stringing a lot more than side by side barrel play. if you have a chrony is time to run some pellets thru it and then analyze that data. if the velocity is consistent (trails NP generally settled after break in or after a tune with all shots under 10 fps from each other (at least the ones i have played with).
check the screws in the stock (specially the one by the trigger guard), and snug them regularly. do groups (by the way, how far are you trying to group?, i cant see it on the target papers) at 10 yards. Lots... different pellets... Then stretch the best choices. Also run the gun with a different scope and same pellet. See if the groups change drastically (a sigh of a faulty scope). Also try sitting the pellets deeper in the breach... sometimes some rifles like the pellet to be pushed in a bit... Good luck! and dont forget to have fun.

[Roadworthy]

I have to agree with that assessment.  If you have the barrel latching firmly in the same place every time a bad piston seal or breech seal can certainly cause a problem.  If the gun passes the tissue test about all that leaves is a piston seal, and that does involve a disassembly of the internal parts of the gun.

[mikeyb]

I'm betting you have a weak barrel latch spring.

I'm working on a Hatsan Edge (similar design) refurb right now that is vertical stringing like crazy, All seals good, muzzle crown good, pellets have lovely rifling marks, and velocities are rock solid consistent at factory rating. STILL stringing large vertical groups. Set it down on a rest and the barrel popped open, I can open it with a light 2 finger push. No barrel slap needed. That's WAY TOO light. Dove in and found spring behind lockup wedge is very weak. Have replacements on order. Expect it will be a solid accurate shooter once that lockup spring is replaced.

[3040Kraig]

I just came back and saw there were replies. Its been 2 weeks since i tried out the Ben. Decided to do some high power testing this last weekend.  Anyway, i found that my screws had come loose on the forearm. I added some locktite and firmed them up. I have not shot it since. It will be interesting to see how this time goes.
The distance i am shooting at is 18-20 yards.  I was hoping for some really tight groups at that range so i could stretch it out to 50 yards if i needed. I do have a chrony. just haven't tool the time to set it up for this.
The latch spring seems pretty solid. I have to hit the barrel with force to get it to break open. especially since i flipped the breech gasket over.