Benjamin Fortitude Gen2 PCP in .22. My new toy!

[Camba]

I had recently bought a Benjamin Fortitude Gen 2 PCP rifle in ,22 cal and so far my impressions are the following:
1. The rifle is very light 5+ punds near 6 pounds. I love this because I hate to carry a heavy gun in the woods unless I am in a tree stand.
2. Since I already had the Benjamin Discovery and the hand-pump that I bought with it, the same pump works the same. Now, the Discovery is a nice gun also but it is a single shot and I have to fiddle dropping the pellet pointing the right direction and it is kind of loud.
3. The Fortitude I've got is a shooter. I have a few types of pellets that I used with the Discovery in the past and the best combination was the Crossman Premier 14.3 gr HP pellet. I get a smaller that a dime ragged hole at about 45 to 50 feet (basement arrangement) and I am not even 100 rounds through it. I have read stories of shooting 500 rounds to break them in. I guess I am lucky with this one.
4. I decided to up the power of the hammer spring to its maximum (6 full turns; two more than it came with). I purposely over did it until the gun would not charge the handle. Then I slowly brought it back to 6ish turns and left it there. It supposed to increase the velocity to 800 FPS.
5. I have to admit, I thought the good groups were going to be re tuned; but it turned out it remain the same or even improved.

What is your experience with yours?
Camba

[clodhopper]

Don't have one, but thanks for the report.
Really great to get some info from someone who is not trying to sell them.

[Camba]

Even though I had been working through this pandemia, I could not go anywhere during the weekend to the shooting range because they were closed. That’s when I remember that I have some air guns. Some springers and the Discovery. I use the discovery because it had a scope. I thought about upgrading the discovery so it could use a 10 shot magazine. For $50 more I ended up getting the Fortitude. I still want to have a powerful gas piston break open rifle like the Hatsan 135 in .22 cal.
I can’t wait for squirrel hunting season.


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[lathesmith]

I've got a Discovery with a repeater breech and a shroud, it's very similar to your Fortitude without a regulator. After installing a heavier mainspring and a little port tuning, it's pretty easy to hit 1,000fps with those inexpensive Crosman Premier domed 14.3gr pellets. However, accuracy falls off a bit at this power level, and the trigger pull gets a bit stiff; the sweet spot for me is around 920 fps or so which also gives an easy 2- 10-round mag's worth of shooting (and a more manageable trigger) before refilling is necessary. This is a really good platform, like you I prefer its weight-to-power ratio, it's a great squirrel hunter or plinker. It's quiet, powerful (enough) and with those Premier pellets a very inexpensive shooter!
I've been considering adding one of those side-lever breeches to this setup, that should make the cocking effort more manageable and make a good platform even better.

[Camba]

I also like my Discovery rifle. It is very accurate with the same pellets. I thought of just modifying it to allow a 10 shot magazine. I need a tool to drop the pellets ready in the chamber guide head first. My fingers with arthritis do not help. That is why I ended up with the Fortitude. Mainly because of the cost of the modification.
Camba


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