Seeking other Benjamin Armada owners to compare quality...

[wisco608]

Hello all.

Again thank you for including me in your forum. I hope I have done everything a new member should prior to posting. I have scoured the web and haven't found any threads at all discussing the Benjamin Armada (with exception to the news releases last fall and the sniper edition auction).

Here's my issue. I took delivery of my Armada about two weeks ago. Out of the box everything looked good. I mounted a tri-pod (not the one they sent however) and mounted the scope. I literally had my hand on the barrel shroud about to take it off so I could install a boresight to get it on paper when I noticed the barrel/shroud assembly was considerably offset to one side (left as one looks down the gun from the barrel end). Now let me qualify this - I very much enjoy precision and symmetry and in this day and age there is really very little excuse for there to be a lack of in a $1000.00 air rifle. On my Armada the shroud is aprox .039" from the left and almost a full .1" more from the right.

I contacted Pyramyd and Crosman about this and was told that if the gun shoots properly (which it does) it shouldn't matter... One tech claims that it can be adjusted similar to the Marauder but that is not correct either.

Does anyone on the forum have the Armada? Can they look at theirs and see if they have the same problem?

Thanks in advance

[dman1114]

so what you are saying is ... the gun doesn't sit in the stock properly???


maybe I'm misunderstanding you

[wisco608]

Yes. The stock consists of a composite section that extends to where the barrel begins from there a "quadraill" slides down over the shroud and airtube and is attached to the stock with four screws. Then there is a piece that slides over the end of the airtube that attaches to quadraill from that end. There is no place to adjust and there is no play in he main stock piece. The photo above shows the barrel shroud coming out of the quadraill.

[FuzzyGrub]

I guess I'm not surprised that the quality of the crosman gun does not change by what it costs.  Looks like it is not your first, but if it bothers you, return it to PA for refund or another one.  I suspect you will not be the only one expecting something better in a $1000 gun. 

[the sloth]

Eh, if it doesn't make you happy (and for 1k, it should) just return it. The Armada is nothing but an over-priced Marauder with a bunch of plastic tacked onto it anyway. If you like the tactical stock and want to drop your .25 into one, check out the Teryx stock, available through talontunes.com, rarmsinnovations.com and possibly some others... nice piece of machined aluminum.

[wisco608]

Unfortunately that's what I'm doing. Contacted Pyramyd today to return it. I was just hoping to find another Armada owner to compare notes.

Thanks to all that replied. If anything significant or worth noting transpires with this I'll post an update.

[wisco608]

Well the simple conclusion is this:

1) Crosmans quality is what it is. Personally I really enjoy the history behind the Benjamin/Sheridan name (especially being from Wisconsin) and will continue to buy guns from them that are made in the USA.

2) Pyramyd Air's customer service is a model that other companies should strive to achieve. Having worked with Dan on this Armada issue I can truly say that I never imagined having a replacement rifle (w/o a barrel alignment issue) in my hands in less then 7 days from when I shipped my original Armada back.

That's about it.
-Matt