Not supposed to happen with a Benjamin!

[Dapaki]

I have a Benjamin Prowler that has been a non-shooter since I got it. I never hit any of the house sparrows I aimed at, and while all that could be the shooter (ME), I can hit them with my wood stock 760 from the 1970's with open sights so I got to thinking that I had a problem with the scope?

I swapped out a new Simmons 3x9 for a 1985 Simmons 3x9 and the group moved as one would expect but the groups remained at minute of cantaloupe at 30m. Very ugly shooting indeed. I changed out pellets, heavy, light, JSB's, Diablo's from everybody I could find, even Daisy and Crossman just to see if I could get a shooter... nope, all shotgun patterns.

(My impromptu indoors 'bench rest' setup)
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Out of frustration and desperation, I decided to lap the bore with a good cleaning first followed by a good patching with FLITZ to see if I could shrink the pattern without opening the bore. The bore was much more filthy than any front stuffer I have ever cleaned! Lead remover, straight Ammonia, Ed's RED, HOPPES, bronze brushes and a hundred patches later, I got a clean patch and started a FLITZ patch.

I frankly could feel the burrs catching the patch, it felt like cleaning a concrete sewer pipe and not a barrel! I worked a half dozen patches with a touch of FLITZ, cleaning after each scrubbing and drying the bore with dry patches. The last patch ran smoothly down the bore, all the way to the crown and much to my delight, came back without snagging any burrs.

After a good cleaning and a wet patch of tranny fluid followed by a couple dry patches, I fouled the bore with a single shot and sent five down to the trap. I will probably never see a group like this one again from this gun and its far from seasoned so it may open WAY up over time but I got a 1/2" group at 30 meters inside my home (I have a 70 foot long house with four levels, offset with 6 stairs to each level and an attached 4 car garage, giving me 120' of room from wall to wall through the doorway) and just wanted to share it before I get back to making holes in another target.

12mm or 1/2" group using JSB 15.89g Match Jumbos
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[Winger Ed.]

Cool.

I've still got my 1968 issue open sight, Benj. .22 pump single shot.
That I bought with my first paycheck from my first job.

I never thought about it much, but I clean the barrel every year or two.
It still holds one Minute of squirrel out to the end of the yard.

[Dapaki]

Cool.

I've still got my 1968 issue open sight, Benj. .22 pump single shot.
That I bought with my first paycheck from my first job.

I never thought about it much, but I clean the barrel every year or two.
It still holds one Minute of squirrel out to the end of the yard.

This is the Nitro Piston break action, .22, $99 at Wally World a few years back. That's what I wanted out of the box, minute of gopher head but now it look's like she will shoot so I am SOO happy!!!

I think Ill do the same to my wife's Diana PCP, she will never notice but I sure will feel better! :p

[Winger Ed.]

That's big bucks!

My first paycheck was $37. and change.
I got my Mom to take me by the sporting goods store on the way home.
They took my--- now 2nd party check, and I walked out with the Benjamin, a can of pellets, and a couple of coins.

[chutesnreloads]

Have one those Wallyworld cheap nitro piston Benjamins. Mine's labeled Varmint but it's the same gun.
While it keeps minute of squirrel head anywhere inside the backyard, I've never been satisfied with the accuracy.
It managed to break two airgun rated scopes in under a year (thought the gas spring was supposed to be easier on scopes)
Put the soda bottle glass it came with back on after 2nd one and its been devastating on the tree rat population since.
Best groups come with the RWS wadcutters and they really work on the varmints. Must be the big metplat.
May need to give the Flitz a try see if it tightens up groups any.

[Dapaki]

The 3x9 scopes seem to hold up fine, I haven't had one fail yet.

I am thinking about a Monstrum 3x9 with MO for short range, I have one on my Mini 14 and may borrow it for the Ben and see how it holds up.

[Dapaki]

Have one those Wallyworld cheap nitro piston Benjamins. Mine's labeled Varmint but it's the same gun.
While it keeps minute of squirrel head anywhere inside the backyard, I've never been satisfied with the accuracy.
It managed to break two airgun rated scopes in under a year (thought the gas spring was supposed to be easier on scopes)
Put the soda bottle glass it came with back on after 2nd one and its been devastating on the tree rat population since.
Best groups come with the RWS wadcutters and they really work on the varmints. Must be the big metplat.
May need to give the Flitz a try see if it tightens up groups any.

Is yours .177?

[BigAlofPa.]

I just got a prowler recently. In .22 cal. Zeroed it in with Crossman hollow points. 10 shots it was in. Got lucky there.

[chutesnreloads]

Mine is .22, If I could get it grouping better, I'd like to put a 4x12 on it again

[GhostHawk]

Monstrum was crap for me but Hammers makes a good 3x9 that is magnum springer rated and gets high marks from me.
Not expensive either.


Hammers 3-9x32AO Air Rifle Scope with One-Piece Mount,Black
Brand: Hammers
4.2 out of 5 stars 512 ratings

Price: $68.00 + $4.99 shipping

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BXVCMU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[BigAlofPa.]

The Hammers scope looks pretty darn nice! :smile:

[Dapaki]

Thanks GH, I'll drop one in my cart for a look-see. I'll get the 3x12 instead though, old eyes....

[GhostHawk]

Your welcome! I have 2 of those, one on a Hatsan 135 QE Vortex that is pushing .22 normal pellets close to the 1000 fps mark.
It has stood up well to the monster Hatsan, and is a joy to shoot. AO means I can get targets sharp and perfectly focused on my 20 foot basement indoor range.

[Dapaki]

I have 100 feet indoors if I arrange furniture but it looks like I can do 20m with no modifications to the livingroom area. Like you, I need the AO to get rid of my parallax and use full power. I cant wait to shoot the DAR this Wednesday, it's my next day off. Scrub and lapping with Flitz is on deck for tonight.

[Dapaki]

UUUUUUUGH!! The DAR arrived with no air and something loose inside (big) so I had to get a return for it. The good news is that I get to keep the magazines and parts kit that came with the gun. I'll post more when I get the gun next week.

Back to the Benji: I am working on some boolits (slugs) and decided to turn some .223 boolts to 40gr and make a sizing die to .215".

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I started with a .224 and sized it down to .215" then turned it on my lathe to .40" long to fit in my DAR mags. The weight is 36gr and loads fine (a bit loose) in the Benji and fires just fine but I need to polis the sizer up to .217" so that I have to push the slug into the bore. Groups at 30m are 4" so far so so a tighter fit should shrink groups.

I am also working on the LEE 6 cav boolits as well, much larger meplat so I should be able to get 40gr out of them and hopefully, better accuracy.

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[sparky45]

Good write up Dapaki. How did you make the sizing die? Bore it with a bit and then finish ream? I'm looking to buy a Benjamin marauder in .22 and would like to make slugs to use on Squirrels, and other varieties of Rats.

[dverna]

UUUUUUUGH!! The DAR arrived with no air and something loose inside (big) so I had to get a return for it. The good news is that I get to keep the magazines and parts kit that came with the gun. I'll post more when I get the gun next week.

Back to the Benji: I am working on some boolits (slugs) and decided to turn some .223 boolts to 40gr and make a sizing die to .215".

275765

I started with a .224 and sized it down to .215" then turned it on my lathe to .40" long to fit in my DAR mags. The weight is 36gr and loads fine (a bit loose) in the Benji and fires just fine but I need to polis the sizer up to .217" so that I have to push the slug into the bore. Groups at 30m are 4" so far so so a tighter fit should shrink groups.

I am also working on the LEE 6 cav boolits as well, much larger meplat so I should be able to get 40gr out of them and hopefully, better accuracy.

275766

Interesting. I believe NOE makes pellet molds so it may be worth looking at. Not sure if I have the patience to cast itty bitty bullets. Hope you keep us updated on your work.

[Dapaki]

Sorry for the late reply, the Rona is back at work and at home causing all sorts of issues but ZERO symptoms! None!

Ok, back to it: the die was made from 3/4"x14tpi stock sent to me to make gas checks. I am having worlds of issues with shredding the cups but that is another story for another day.

I used a carbide drilling reamer .2" and used wet/dry cloth to open it up to .215".
The die is concentric as there is no detectable runout. Then I made a push through stem about 2" long and simply push them thru just like a Lee size. I'll open it up to match my DAR when I get time.

Both NOE and Arsenal "make" dies but I cant stand NOE due to the inability to order anything. Not in stock? Tuff ****! 5-8 weeks out for Arsenal, but I doubt it would be less than 10 but still, no ordering what is not available to select.

So, from a total of 75 dies "offered", only three (.25 cal, 20gr) are even available. (End rant)

I will be making my own .25 and .22 swage dies instead and will flip my 6 cav. 22 Lee die over to make the slugs.

[Dapaki]

Interesting. I believe NOE makes pellet molds so it may be worth looking at. Not sure if I have the patience to cast itty bitty bullets. Hope you keep us updated on your work.

Don, I ordered a NOE mold for .25 pellets today, the DAR .25 arrives next week some time.

[Wild Bill 7]

I bought the Hammers 4x12 scope with rail. Took it to the range and at 20 yards I got it dialed in and got a few shots off before the rain. Bought the scope from GH’s recommendation. So far glass is clear, dials were a little hard to turn but they did turn ok. Put this on a Diana 350 magnum 177 cal springer.