Marauder Well it’s almost here

[BenjeneerJohn]

At this point it is only slightly a pre-order. They have shipped out of the Bloomfield plant.

John

 

[Pumacarl]

Just got done watching the Pyramyd Insider video with Tyler Patner. I get the impression that he thinks it's heavy, lol.

Going with an aluminum bottle to keep the purchase price down is an understandable compromise but I probably would have given up some shots to keep the weight down under 8.5lbs too, especially front weight. A 300 or 360cc aluminum bottle would still have had more than twice the original mrod volume and you've got 80cc plenum too. Benchresters are going to love the long heavy original for sure though, so some will be happy. At least this is a known issue and people can decide upfront whether or not it is worth it to them to get a much lighter carbon fiber tank or just skip it.

What surprised me in the video was how much of a problem he thought filling the gun from empty would be. They must be selling a lot more little gun filling compressors over at PA than air tanks lately for him to be so openly concerned about it. Here's my solution, if you still want to get a Gen 3 mrod but only fill from a little compressor or a hand pump, and you think the gun is too heavy for you, take the aluminum bottle off and make it a fill bottle. Buy a carbon fiber bottle in whatever size you need for your intended purpose and you will instantly lose up to a pound and half off the weight of the gun. Your 500cc mini-fill tank should be enough to blow the balanced valve shut for the few times you need to do it, or fill any gun enough to set the valve. If you want the weight of the 500cc oem tank on your gun, I still think that having a 500cc fill tank is a good idea anyway and you can find them for $34 on Amazon, I just looked. The fill setup I've seen for $45, so for $80 you have a handy solution. The carbon fiber tanks can be found on Amazon for $100-$110. I just easily found a Tuxing 580cc cf bottle priced at $110, a 380cc for $98. Taking the pound and a half off the front of your gun makes a huge difference. I took the same amount of weight off of my Gen 2 mrod going with an aluminum JSAR tube and I wouldn't own one any other way now.

A pain for a newbie, maybe, but the gun still comes in at right under a $1K even if you do this. It's always good to have extra parts and options in this hobby too. When I got back into pcp airguns with the Gauntlet I was hand pumping and had this problem so to have all the solutions so readily available now makes it seem painless to me.

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

One of the things I noticed in Tyler's video is that he didn't say to cock the rifle when you go to fill it from 0. That is a requirement for it to fill easily.

I have tested it with our compressor and a hand pump. Both worked.

We are going to be shipping them to PA with air in them do this shouldn't be a big problem.

When lowering the reg pressure, degas the rifle to under 500psi. Then make adjustments. That way you don't fill from 0.

John

 

[Pumacarl]

One of the things I noticed in Tyler's video is that he didn't say to cock the rifle when you go to fill it from 0. That is a requirement for it to fill easily.

I have tested it with our compressor and a hand pump. Both worked.

We are going to be shipping them to PA with air in them do this shouldn't be a big problem.

When lowering the reg pressure, degas the rifle to under 500psi. Then make adjustments. That way you don't fill from 0.

John

I really don't see it as a problem for anyone interested enough to buy a Marauder anyway. There are things you have to learn whether you are a 50 year firearms expert, or not, when getting into this hobby using high pressure air and different valve designs. There's a whole universe of videos for people to realize what these airguns can do and how they are doing it. There's helping and there's handholding. I enjoy helping people willing to help themselves and learn but I grew tired long ago of trying to drag people, that I know would love PCP, into this hobby. True, I am not trying to sell an airgun to the masses, but these things sell themselves, eventually, to those interested in the sport at all. Just like carping on the weight, please, if you care about walking/stalking, you're going to get a cf bottle. He only directs his comments to new customers it seems, and his half takes on different aspects could put them off when not represented in perspective. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but his attitude bothered me.

 

[jps2486]

The Gen III sure has added features that the earlier ones needed, but this sure looks like a brother of an Umarex Gauntlet. You sure this is a Benjamin and not a re-badged Gauntlet?

 

[Pumacarl]

The Gen III sure has added features that the earlier ones needed, but this sure looks like a brother of an Umarex Gauntlet. You sure this is a Benjamin and not a re-badged Gauntlet?

I really really still love my Gauntlet. I have never had to touch that regulator either. It shoots as accurately as I could want and I'm a fussy sob. I hope that any gun I get can shoot as well, as long, with zero problems, like it has. But you are correct in that the Marauder did need these upgrades. A walnut stock would have sold the changes a lot better, no doubt, along with a cf bottle, and I suspect it will get those soon.

 

[FL22]

I really don't see it as a problem for anyone interested enough to buy a Marauder anyway. There are things you have to learn whether you are a 50 year firearms expert, or not, when getting into this hobby using high pressure air and different valve designs. There's a whole universe of videos for people to realize what these airguns can do and how they are doing it. There's helping and there's handholding. I enjoy helping people willing to help themselves and learn but I grew tired long ago of trying to drag people, that I know would love PCP, into this hobby. True, I am not trying to sell an airgun to the masses, but these things sell themselves, eventually, to those interested in the sport at all. Just like carping on the weight, please, if you care about walking/stalking, you're going to get a cf bottle. He only directs his comments to new customers it seems, and his half takes on different aspects could put them off when not represented in perspective. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but his attitude bothered me.

I watched the video and I see what you’re getting at.

However, I’m wondering if he was trying to make a point to newbie Airgunners or those who only have a hand pump or small compressor perhaps pyramyd is just trying to circumvent a lot of returns, questions, complaints and other problems, PA is a business and those things cost them profits.

To me the Gen3 seems to be marketed towards newer potential Benchrest shooters and covertly the tinkerers.
Probably not your first Airgun but second or third.

 

[bchannell]

Been watching the G3 ever since it was announced, and just a few minutes ago, got through reading the HAM full review. Nothing I've seen so far has convinced me I need one. Maybe I'm the outlier, but nothing seems to speak to my wishes/needs, which is fine, I'm not the one they have to please for sure.

I hate to be negative, but here's the things I look at:
Pros:
* great accuracy, that is a top priority, but most decent pcps are accurate
* Benjamin has a great reputation
* Version 3.0 of a very popular rifle
* looks to have massive power potential
* trigger looks good, it better be, the V2 was great
* quiet
* lots of shots
* balanced valve for power

Cons:
* heavy, 9# is way outta line for most of us
* Is it regulated? (I know it is, but) nothing in the review shot string proves it. I have non reg'd rifles that do just as well over their entire fill range. IIRC, it was something like 60 fps ES, wow! I'd throw away my Crowns if they were that terrible, even on an only decent tune.
* Along with being regulated, the huge plenum seems to verify what most of us were thinking in when we saw the reveal, it's so big that unless using massive power, you'll have ES numbers like the review.
* long, today's airgunners are choosing shorter and shorter rifles. Look at the bullpup market. No doubt some like long, but look at the sales numbers.
* balanced valve for low/med power is not needed and sometimes problematic.


Seems a balanced gun with pros and cons, but the weight and regulation alone would take it off my list. I'm surprised the individual targets are good, (in the consistency dept) compared to the full string. If you look at an unre'd rifle, almost any 10 shots in a string look good, but consistency over a full string shoot down, not so much. This is why the G3 looks unregulated.

The V2 Mrod looked like a very good advancement over the V1, but the V3 looks off balance compared to what Benjamin has traditionally done and we come to expect. I think it tries to go in too many different directions at once.

 

[Billm]

I would like to see more examples of real world accuracy. Personally, I believe 10yd accuracy testing should be reserved for 10m rifles and pistols. I’m confidant all of my PCPs except maybe one can shoot single hole groups at 10yds. I want to know what it will do 60-100yds, that’s where most rifles start to differentiate. But, I’m not really the ideal customer for this rifle.

 

[Pumacarl]

@bchannell,
Well, you missed that it has an SSG too. Bottomline is he was running it stock at lower power too. I have a .25 and that plenum is helping me. I turned it up to 60fpe effortlessly, I'm sure that 80 is there if I want it. I am currently going over my gun with everything that I do to a new gun, which includes polishing reguator washers, and we'll see what those numbers look like when I'm done.

As far as the weight goes, come on, they put a heavy bottle on it to keep the price down and air volume up. Anybody that wants this gun to walk around with will put a carbon fiber bottle on it, and the bench guys will like the weight and the capacity it comes with.

I think that you are right that this gun is made for power potential more than the low end, but they are working on a .177 version right now. Even with this one in .22 or .25, if you don't want that much plenum, all that you have to do is to put something in it to take up space and reduce the plenum volume, really low tech, really easy.

 

[bchannell]

You are right about what you said, SSG is a plus, I'll give you the bottle, and yes, the power is there no doubt about that.
I don't see the consistency of a reg'd gun here. Now was it tuned? Who knows? Maybe with some work it will come around.

I'm not being a dork, but there's just nothing that recommends this rifle over an Avenger, Gauntlet, or especially rifles like the Zelos, and some of the new rifles coming out now.

I do hope they sell, I really do.

 

[Pumacarl]

You are right about what you said, SSG is a plus, I'll give you the bottle, and yes, the power is there no doubt about that.
I don't see the consistency of a reg'd gun here. Now was it tuned? Who knows? Maybe with some work it will come around.

I'm not being a dork, but there's just nothing that recommends this rifle over an Avenger, Gauntlet, or especially rifles like the Zelos, and some of the new rifles coming out now.

I do hope they sell, I really do.

Have you worked on those rifles? I have, holy moly no comparison in build quality, especially the pot metal receiver of the Avenger, are you kidding? I love the accuracy of the Avenger, and I absolutely love my Gauntlet, but when you take them apart side by side with this gun, you'd do a slow whistle and say, "never mind", seriously. I'm in the guts of the G3 right now. And I didn't even talk about the barrel yet! It's freaking beautiful! The regulator is different, very beefy, nice machining on the parts. I'll be posting pictures later in my "G3, The Things I Do For Fun" thread. I will be showing everything in that thread eventually. Right now I'm working on the reg and once I get that all smoothed out and use a different lube we'll see what that does at some point. I like to do everything that I'm going to do to a gun right up front, so it's going to take a while. Remember how I shipped you all those pellets? That's how I do everything.