1st Marauder owner w/ barrel question

[Farrier1]

Just got this .22 today. Is the barrel shroud supposed to be touching the gas tube support like the one in my pic? It was slightly loose from the factory but didn't change any.

[Rick67]

Air tube = YES and needs to be tight.

Barrel shroud = NO and needs to be free-floating.

[bear air]

The gap starts at the breech and should be the same all the way to the muzzle. It looks like your breech isn't lined up and maybe the rear bolts are a little loose. That will bring the front up and create the proper gap. IMO. Good luck.

[CableStop]

That doesn't look right to me, the shroud shouldn't be touching the barrel band. I agree with trying to tighten the breech screws, if that doesn't fix it something is wrong.

[Farrier1]

Copy that guy's. I'll check the breech screws.

With the shroud off, the barrel itself looks perfectly straight inline with the gas tube.

[Rick67]

Copy that guy's. I'll check the breech screws.

With the shroud off, the barrel itself looks perfectly straight inline with the gas tube.

The shroud does appear to droop.

Are the shroud mount and barrel shroud spacer secure/present and do they have O-rings?

[Back_Roads]

 Just copy what the break barrel guys do and bend it straight in a fork in a tree, OK I really am joking , but wth is Benjamin selling Chinese/ German guns
 

[Farrier1]

Copy that guy's. I'll check the breech screws.

With the shroud off, the barrel itself looks perfectly straight inline with the gas tube.

The shroud does appear to droop.

Are the shroud mount and barrel shroud spacer secure/present and do they have O-rings?

The shroud screws onto the barrel, but there doesn't appear to any o-rings or spacers for the muzzle end of the shroud; just floats I guess.

[Rick67]

Copy that guy's. I'll check the breech screws.

With the shroud off, the barrel itself looks perfectly straight inline with the gas tube.

The shroud does appear to droop.

Are the shroud mount and barrel shroud spacer secure/present and do they have O-rings?

The shroud screws onto the barrel, but there doesn't appear to any o-rings or spacers for the muzzle end of the shroud; just floats I guess.

You, sir, have missing pieces.

The end (muzzle area) of the barrel is where the barrel shroud spacer is supposed to be.

That is the reason why your barrel droops.

[CableStop]

Just copy what the break barrel guys do and bend it straight in a fork in a tree, OK I really am joking , but wth is Benjamin selling Chinese/ German guns

I don't know how much of the marauder is actually made domestically in the US vs just assembled here, but if you mean their new releases like the Kratos or Cayden I think they're trying to move into the importer/distributor role in order to compete.  Given the slew of imports offering tons of features for the money it's probably hard for them to convince the general public to ostensibly "pay more for less" when compared to the competition.  I'm actually ok with it since I think they do add value to the product by including their 5 year warranty with them, plus that warranty is dealt with in the US so no need to ship the gun back to Turkey or China to deal with issues.  As far as the Marauder is concerned it seems like issues are fairly rare unlike their newer imported guns which seem to have lots of leaks and other problems.  As long as they stand by the warranty I can't really complain though, albeit I do think they're trying to cater to an audience who expects too much.  I didn't get into airguns that long ago and even at that point the Marauder was the affordable airgun of choice, now people expect side levers and regulators for $300 and are surprised when the thing has issues.

But yeah you're missing the barrel bushing from the muzzle which is supposed to center the barrel in the shroud.  Luckily the fix is as easy as getting a new bushing and sliding it on over the end of the barrel then putting the shroud back on.

[Rick67]

Check out this video (1:00 and onwards):





The Marauder Pistol does not have baffles, but there are ALSO 2 centering pieces--the black aluminum shroud mount, which is threaded, has an outer O-ring and the barrel shroud spacer, which is made of black plastic, has an outer O-ring and is attached to the muzzle area---akin to your rifle.

[Rick67]

Is yours a brand new gun?

[Farrier1]

Just copy what the break barrel guys do and bend it straight in a fork in a tree, OK I really am joking , but wth is Benjamin selling Chinese/ German guns

But yeah you're missing the barrel bushing from the muzzle which is supposed to center the barrel in the shroud.  Luckily the fix is as easy as getting a new bushing and sliding it on over the end of the barrel then putting the shroud back on.

The bushing is actually there. I didn't exactly understand what he was talking about; I'm a total newbie to the M-rod.

Good news though. The breech bolt adjustment worked! The shroud is perfectly centered inside the ring.

Now if it wasn't 102 degrees outside right now, I'd be sighting in the new toy right now.

[Farrier1]

Is yours a brand new gun?

Yes, delivered today. It's almost full of air so I won't have to exercise for a few rounds 

[bear air]

Glad you got it straightened out. Happy shooting!

[PikeP]

Many marauder owners place a secondary o-ring (already one inside barrel band) around the shroud inside the barrel band, that keeps contact between the barrel band and shroud, as well as helps the shroud remain centered. I can bump my rifle around and poi doesn't change, where as prior to this, it would.

Enjoy your new air rifle

[bnowlin]

I shim my barrel bands with a thin piece of aluminum pipe so it doesn't float works great.  BTW don't tighten the breech screws above the barrel too tight as it could distort the lands or grooves.  I am talking about the screws that hold the barrel in the breech.
Bob

[bear air]

Hill offers a real nice barrelband that captures the shroud and also has a picatinny rail on the bottom for bipods or whatever.

[KevinJBrown]

Hill offers a real nice barrelband that captures the shroud and also has a picatinny rail on the bottom for bipods or whatever.

Do you have a reference for me (people) to look it up on a website?

[KevinJBrown]

Many marauder owners place a secondary o-ring (already one inside barrel band) around the shroud inside the barrel band, that keeps contact between the barrel band and shroud, as well as helps the shroud remain centered. I can bump my rifle around and poi doesn't change, where as prior to this, it would.

Enjoy your new air rifle

It also offers some accuracy improvement (at least in my experience YMMV).