Decided to get a pneumatic pump rifle

[35 shooter]

Yep...after a ton of research the last few weeks on springers vs, gas piston, vs. pneumatic, i picked up a Benjamin 392 at Academy Sports today. With a 90 day return or money back policy i decided i couldn't go wrong.

Had just enough daylight left to shoot outside for a few minutes when i got to the gfs house. I need glasses bad for iron sight shooting, but despite a fuzzy front sight, the first 4 shots were in a about a 1/4" group and the 5th stayed in 5/8" at 15 yds. with 4 pumps and 14.3 gr. discovery hollow point 22 cal. pellets.
Got off a couple of 8 pump 5 shot groups in the half inch to 5/8" range before it got dark.

The bore was very dark when shining a light through the chamber area and looking down the barrel from the muzzle end before shooting.
After shooting, it was very bright except the last 3/8" at the muzzle. I think there may be a bit of paint overspray at that point, but it shot very well despite that....nothing a little non chlorinated break cleaner won't take out.
Normally i would have cleaned the bbl. before shooting, but i was in a hurry to try it out before dark lol.

I brought it inside and shot about 30 more rounds down the hall at about 8 yds. after dark, and it continued to give tight groups considering my (by then) blurry eyesight with the irons.
I think it's going to be a ragged hole shooter for sure with a scope or good peep sight...or lol...a pair of glasses that i've been needing anyway.
VERY HAPPY with it so far.

Looks like i may have found a good pellet for it right off the bat. The discovery's were all they had in 22 cal.

BTW, after all the negatives i've read about "hard" triggers on the 392 and 397 rifles, i have to say this one can't be more than 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. and breaks like glass with just a hint of over travel...nice!

I just may be doing more squirrel hunting than deer hunting this fall.

[gtrpickr]

I got me one of those a few years back. I had always wanted one, when I was younger my cousin bought one and I loved to shoot it. I put a peep sight on mine and it shoots some really nice groups. My old eyes just cant hang with the plain iron sights lol.

[35 shooter]

Yeah, i can see a peep sight in the near future for mine. My eyes really need a scope for best shooting, but it's such a handy little rifle, i hate to hang the extra weight of a scope and mounts on it.

[GhostHawk]

I have been considering one of the Williams Peep's for my Sheridan Blue Streak.

Most of my other airguns have been scoped. So Ol Blue gets feeling left out when it does not get shot much.

After 40 years it will still put 5 in one ragged hole smaller than a dime if I can do my part.

IMO they are a very handy and versatile tool. Hardest part is learning the ranges. 3-4 pumps from zero to ? 6 from there to ? 8 to ? Then holdover or rethink beyond that.

Once you get those worked into your brain it can all become kind of automatic.
Your intuition guides your hand when pumping, it just becomes second nature.
The more you trust it and use it the better it gets.

[35 shooter]

Well...it turns out my "new" rifle turned into a 1" to 6" grouper at 20 yds. and further with several different pellets.
Long story short...i got suspicious and went back to the big box store i bought it at.
They had one left in an "opened box" with a blue label on it. I took it up front and asked about the blue label and was told it was a customer re-turn item....they had it for sale on the shelf as new!!

I remembered mine had a blue label on it too, but wasn't told it was a return item when i bought it for a brand new price!
Got my money back and ordered one from Pyramid. It should be here next wed. or thurs.

I think whoever had the rifle before me damaged the crown, which i could probably fix, but didn't feel like fixing someone elses problem on what was supposed to be a brand new gun. Plus i would be voiding the warranty.

[Multigunner]

When I bought a rifled barrel made for an M4 177 Crosman to replace the smoothbore barrel of my 760 I found the barrel had a very raggedly cut crown. Accuracy was not very bad but so so at best. I recrowned that barrel and it now prints consistent one hole groups little larger in diameter than the pellet at 25 yards.

I suspect a subcontractor for Crosman barrels may have skipped a step in manufacture like final finishing of the crown.

Could be that it affects only a few barrels, since overall these rifles have an excellent rep for pin point accuracy.

I do seem to remember someone on another board complaining of a loose sight on a 392 causing wide groups.

In any case returning the rifle was the correct course.

These show up as refurbed often enough at a decent discount if you look about the net.

A supplier of reseal kits I bought from awhile back stated on his site that he repaired returned airguns for Crosman and also sold refurbed returned rifles on his site. He had several of the refurbed 397 rifles priced at less than 100 USD.

There are several air gun dealers with online stores that sell new rifles of various brands only after they themselves have disassembled and checked them out thoroughly, sometimes performing upgrades of their own devising to improve performance.

[35 shooter]

Yeah, it was definitly the right move to return it since it was a returned item from a previous owner for a new price. I thought about the rear sight on it, but it was on rock solid.

I'll start over with one i know for sure is "new in the box" and go from there.
I can't wait for it to get here as i'm already hooked on these little light weight pumpers despite the problem i encountered with this one.

[clodhopper]

Let us know how the new one shoots. I bought a used one back in 1975, shot the heck out of it until something in it broke.
Traded it off for next to nothing in the late eighties.
Now the internet is here, information on how to fix anything is so easy to find.
Sure wish I had that ole brass airgun now.

[jcwit]

I still have one of those pumpers, but my go to air rifle is the QB 78 in Co2. No pumping, and the paper target knows no difference!

Difference in cost per shot? Less than a penny a shot!

[enfield]

I have a 392 as well, got it a few years ago and recently installed the Williams sight. I was very impressed when I shot 2 rats in the back yard. they were coming from somewhere to pick up seeds under the bird feeder when I spotted the first one out the bathroom window. 10 pumps at about 15 yards and the pellet went right through him, flopped onto his back and made a few leg kicks that was it.

[35 shooter]

I'll definitly report back on it when i get it. I intend on putting it through it's paces as soon as it comes in.

Looking forward to some small game hunting with it this fall.

[15meter]

Yeah, i can see a peep sight in the near future for mine. My eyes really need a scope for best shooting, but it's such a handy little rifle, i hate to hang the extra weight of a scope and mounts on it.

Don't hesitate, order up the Williams peep sight if they still list it and your rifle is drilled and tapped for it, on my Silver Streak it shrunk my groups by 50% @ 10 meters.

[35 shooter]

Took a break from work and drove by the house about 3:30 this afternoon, and sure enough, i had a box under the carport lol.
Talk about fast delivery...it shipped sometime monday.

I had just enough time to unbox it and take a quick look, then back to work.

It definitly has about a 1/4" deep spot in the barrel coated with paint overspray...just like the other one. I'm in the process of trying to clean it out with cutips and non chlorinated carb cleaner right now.

In the meantime, i just had to take a few shots before dark this evening.
I've got the paint thin enough now that i can see a bit of the bbl. starting to show through it...wish i had a nylon 22 brush.

[35 shooter]

Took a break from the paint cleaning and shot 25 rounds through it at 15 feet with 2 different pellets.
It's already improved some with the cleaning efforts....crosman premiere hp were only doing about a half inch for 5 shots, but 4 of 5 shots were in 3/8" each time for 3 different groups.

Discovery hp were trying to get into 1 hole for 5 shots for 2 different groups.
I was getting 3 in i hole and one just above and cutting the hole and 1 just below and cutting, all in a straight line up and down....not bad for my eyes and iron sights even up close like that. Certainly no more than a 1/4" c to c with the discoverys.

15meter, i'll definitly order a peep before long....maybe a scope too.
Although a pair of glasses might just fix my iron sight shooting with the existing sights on the gun.

The trigger is just as good as the previous rifle, but maybe a 1/2 pound heavier. There's just a hint of take up slack, then about a 3 pound pull that breaks like glass and not much over travel at all....no gritty feel to it.
I've read some complaints about the triggers on these rifles, but have no issues with them on either of these two 392s i've tried.

It's brand new, so a bit early to judge, but i think when the rest of the paint is cleaned out, i'll have a shooter and a keeper.

Btw, i shot a discovery pellet into a 5" pine tree with the last rifle i returned to academy, and on 8 pumps it buried to about 1/8" past the skirt @ 20 yds.

This afternoon before dark, i shot the same pine about an inch lower with a discovery hp pellet with 8 pumps with the new rifle, and it buried completely out of sight @ 20 yds.

[jh45gun]

The last one was probably buggered up by some one aggressively trying to clean the paint out. Why I bought a Crosman 22 cal 1300kt. I think it sucks Crosman sells these with paint over spray in the barrels.

[35 shooter]

The last one was probably buggered up by some one aggressively trying to clean the paint out. Why I bought a Crosman 22 cal 1300kt. I think it sucks Crosman sells these with paint over spray in the barrels.

I'll bet if the company made the guys painting these have to clean the overspray out of the bbls. before packaging them for shipment, they would learn to put a cork stopper in the bbl. before painting real quick lol.

No telling how many of these fine little air rifles get returned or just stuck back in a closet with little use, because the customer doesn't have a clue the paint is even in the bbl., or as you said...ruins the crown with over aggressive cleaning trying to get it out.

I've already spent over 45 min. cleaning it out of this one. I believe this one is going to turn out well when it's finally all out though.
I wish they would come out with a 25 cal in this little pumper. Maybe a beefed up pump mechcanism on it and shooting around 650 fps....just a thought!

[Multigunner]

"I wish they would come out with a 25 cal in this little pumper. Maybe a beefed up pump mechcanism on it and shooting around 650 fps....just a thought! "

There was a knock off or license built airgun of this type marketed in the 50's that fired .25 lead shot or steel ball bearings. I suppose it was smooth bore since it handled both. Apparently a pretty deadly small game air gun.

[jcwit]

Hatsen already makes a break barrel that meets that specification!

It's a gas cylinder and more than likely will last longer than a pumper.

They also have a springer for $123.00 bucks.

[Multigunner]

"It's a gas cylinder and more than likely will last longer than a pumper."

So long as reseal kits and piston arm parts are available the multi pump Crosman and Sheridan rifles will last for generations.
The early Benjamin rifles with valve bodies soldered into the pump tubes are a lot harder to work on, and require special tools, but the more modern modular designs require very little in the way of tools to completely rebuild and up grade.

[35 shooter]

Nothing wrong with a good break bbl. gun. I may well have that and a pcp before it's over.
However, for my first(since I was a kid) air rifle... It had to have a fixed bbl. so no problems with scope alignment, metallic(not plastic) sights, ready for peep sights without modification, and no automatic safety on cocking, and variable power for different shooting conditions.

I am thinking hard about a Hatsan 125 in 25 cal. now. Still wish one was available in a pumper though.
there's just nothing else as versatile.