Benjamin Wildfire

[koehlerrk]

Got home yesterday afternoon and my friend in the big brown truck had stopped by.

My pre-ordered Wildfire had arrived. Out of the box... Its pretty much as expected. Mostly plastic. But, for a sub $200 PCP gun, what did I expect? Fit and finish is decent, especially for the price. No flash left at mold parti lines,etc, it looks and feels like they did a decent job building it.

Started messing with it and I see how this works. It has a long, rather heavy trigger, like a double action revolver. It also feels a tad odd since the trigger slides straight back instead of being on a pivot. This is because the trigger first indexes the pellet cylinder, then releases the sear. Again, like a double action revolver.

Pumped it up to 2000 pounds and shot a cylinder of pellets into the hillside. No issues, and yes, it fires "as fast as you can pull the trigger." I'm curious to see how it groups with that trigger, but I'm not complaining. It is a serviceable air rifle, a PCP, and 12 shot repeater. For under $200. Kudos to Crosman/Benjamin, I think they have a decent rifle here.

[35 shooter]

Sounds like a fun gun to shoot.

[melloairman]

Good info please keep us up to date .Marvin

[35 shooter]

I checked it out at pyramid air just now. I thought i had looked at all the pcp guns they had, but had missed this one somehow.

Neat little rifle.

[Multigunner]

I found my 10/77 at a salvage store with original box for only $20. I figured it would require resealing or other repairs but instead found it was, and remains after many years and thousands of rounds fired, in excellent condition.

I like this rifle as a plinker, but despite its excellent design the plastic receiver and magazine just don't inspire confidence. I would have thought this would be the last rifle they considered redesigning for PCP, at least if sticking with the plastic receiver.
The magazines while a bit flimsy compared to metal hold up well if not abused, and are not expensive to replace if damaged.

If I were interested in a PCP version I'd want at the least a cast metal receiver , wooden stock, and at least the external magazine box to be of sheet metal. Those features would drive the price up a bit, but should be made available as upgrades. The 10/77W wooden stock can be altered to fit the Wildfire, but I never liked the grip profile of that stock.

A few new owners of the Wildfire have reported problems with leaks and other failures, but they were able to send the defective rifle back for a replacement. A new product will always have this sort of problems at first.

[54bore]

I wonder if this trigger group is different than the Benjamin/Crossman Nitro, and Springers? A trigger ABSOLUTELY makes or breaks a rifle to me! I am use to a 2-3 pound crisp (no creep) trigger pull. These factory triggers are NOT EVEN IN REASON, they are ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE and thats an understatement! (8 pound pull for a half inch before it goes) The RC Car bearing trigger Mod made me love my air rifles! To get the most out of ANY rifle you need a good trigger.

[Multigunner]

The 10/77 is a short stroke double action revolver. I doubt theres any resemblance between the 10/77 parent rifle or Wildfire offspring trigger to any springers triggers.

[Multigunner]

My impression of the Crosman 10/77 trigger is that the pull is long and mushy but light. The amount of force necessary to turn the revolving cylinder is negligible . The majority of the trigger pull is in bringing the mechanism to full cock before releasing it. With practice you can learn to take up the slack leaving only a further short light pull to fire.
The rifles are surprisingly accurate once you master the trigger.
The Boy Scouts of America have used the 10/77 in target competition.

[54bore]

Multigunner, I am not talking about a Revolver? I am talking long guns, the OP bought a Benjamin Wildfire, To my understanding that is a pcp rifle, my Crossman Nitro Venom Dusk, and Benjamin Prowler share the EXACT same trigger, the RC Car bearing mod worked AMAZING on both of my rifles, i was wondering if his new Benjamin Wildfire pcp Rifle had the same trigger group in it? Not sure where the Revolver came in?

[koehlerrk]

54bore, the Wildfire is a long PCP rifle, but the internals are like a double action revolver.

It stores it's 12 pellets in a rotating cylinder with index teeth, just like any good revolver.

Didn't get a chance to shoot it outside today even though I was home from work. We got about a foot of snow dumped on us today and I've spent a good share of my day outside helping dig some of my elderly neighbors out. Worst part is, we could see another foot by this time tomorrow.

I did take some time and shot a cylinder of pellets into a target in my basement tonight after dinner. At 30 feet it put 10 of the 12 shots into a half dollar sized group. Two flyers, not sure why, but I'd guess sloppy trigger control on my part. After 4 hours of running a snow blower and about an hour of hand shoveling, I'm surprised I did that well.

[Multigunner]

54 Bore most repeating CO2 or PCP rifles use some sort of revolving cylinder to feed pellets. With some designs they started out as single shots and the revolving cylinder was designed later as an option or as an add on. The 19/77 was designed as a revolver from the get go, its integral to the operation of the rifle.

The revolver type cylinder is housed in the dummy magazine which is quick detachable for reloading.
You can reload the cylinder in place or by pushing back the rod that acts as an arbor you can remove the cylinder for loading or reload quickly with a pre loaded spare cylinder.

Its actually a very well thought out design, and seems to hold up far better than its wide spread use of plastic would lead you to believe.
The quick detachable magazine makes this little carbine very handy and safe to leave charged with CO2 with the magazine removed.

I've left mine fully charged for months by accident, just forgot about it after being interrupted before a shooting session. I would not recommend that for regular use, but leaving the CO2 version charged overnight or for a few days is unlikely to cause any serious problems. The PCP version I'm not so sure about.
I've noticed that some other CO2 rifles that have a PCP conversion as an option suggest that the air chamber only be filled to CO2 level pressures of around 900 PSI.
Even at the same pressure level a PCP will give higher velocities per shot due to common air passing through the exhaust valve faster that CO2 would at the same pressure. Nitrogen and Oxygen molecules are smaller and lighter than Carbon Dioxide Molecules.

[melloairman]

I did watch the PA video on the rifle . They stated that in the rifle they tested the H&G pellets worked the best . For short range I have found that in many cases the wad cutter works well . They generally have a larger diameter head on them to keep them stabilized in the barrel .Marvin

[Multigunner]

" For short range I have found that in many cases the wad cutter works well "

The Beeman Coated Wadcutter works great in my 10/77. In fact that pellet works better than any other in all my .177 guns rifle or pistol.

[54bore]

Multigunner, ok i gotcha! I was thinking to myself how in the world is he confusing a rifle with a pistol? LOL

[koehlerrk]

Multigunner, I've been instructed by a gentleman who works at Benjamin/Crossman that their PCP guns, and most PCP air guns in general, are designed to be left pressurized.

That said, I did pull the magazine assembly out of mine. It seems to be just fine since, with that removed, all you could do with it is shoot noisy air bursts at people.

Forgot to mention, the pellets I'm using are just average Crossman flat nose pellets. Nothing special.

Once we get this snow mess cleaned up I'll have a chance to shoot it more. One thing I don't care for, besides the trigger, is that it doesn't have any way to mount a moderator. All my other air rifles have them, and yea, I'm spoiled. That will probably be one of the first things I do when I take the gun apart... set it up to take a moderator.

[melloairman]

If the rifle has the same barrel as a discovery you might get a hold of this man . I have one on my discovery and it works well.Marvin
http://tko22.com/

[Multigunner]

The 10/77 takes a slender barrel liner housed in a tubular steel outer barrel with a plastic muzzle plug that has an integral front sight. unless that feature has been changed any moderator would have to clamp onto the barrel jacket instead of the barrel itself unless you cut back the jacket to expose the muzzle end of the liner.

The barrel liner itself can slide back and forth slightly inside the jacket if the barrel latch is disengaged.

[koehlerrk]

Correct Multigunner. This gun is a 10/77 with the air reservoir from the Discovery. So, I'm looking for a moderator that will for a 10/77.

[Multigunner]

Since the ability to slide the barrel forwards when the latch is disengaged is necessary for clearing jammed pellets from the mechanism it would be best to mount any muzzle attachment onto the barrel jacket rather than the barrel liner.

To do this it would probably be necessary to cut and file away the front sight leaving the muzzle bushing in place. These probably would not come out easily from the looks of mine.

It might be possible to bore out and thread the bushing for a threaded tube that would slide over the muzzle end of the barrel as a inner bushing with an exposed section of threading to allow mounting a screw on attachment or adapter.

I've been told that in some states a suppressor for an airgun is just as illegal as a unlicensed suppressor for a firearm. Best check your local and state laws before proceeding.

[tkerrigan]

I put 12 through mine today in the shop and it didn't seem to need an attachment. Very quiet. Regards, Tom