Benjamin Marauder PCP Air Rifle, Synthetic Stock

AMERICAN MADE

It's a Lil Heavy for smaller guys

Cheap Crosman Pellets are GREAT in this Rifle.

Gun is extremely accurate

Magazine is a poor design and cheaply made. Spent several hours sanding to make it repeat loading next pellet. Tolerances fitting mag in to gun are too tight and mag would not load next pellet until mag was sanded down to give it enough room to work properly.spring had to be reshaped to stay in the hole in the mag case.

Fun to shoot after getting mag corrected

Excellent trigger adjustability. Build quality looks and feels phenomenal. Love that swivel studs come installed in the stock. Loads of adjustability between the readily accessible transfer port screw and hammer spring.

Oh boy, here we go. Accuracy is mediocre with the Lothar Walther barrel. I tried Crosmans, H&Ns of varying head sizes from 5.5 to 5.54, Predators, JSBs, Air Arms, Normas, and a handful of Nielsens ranging from .216 to .218. Nothing to write home about. Fliers were quite common with two per magazine (10) on average. This is an air hog as well. Regardless of how I tried to tune it between 800 and 1000FPS with various pellet weights, three magazines were pushing its limits. The cylinder on this is 215cc which is sizeable. It's heavy as well, even with the synthetic stock. Balance can make up for some of that weight but the Marauder isn't particularly well-balanced either.

While the machining seems great, performance is severely lacking at the price. I've got a Hatsan Flash in .22 that will run circles around the Marauder. It's better balanced, weighs 25% less, is significantly quieter, gets 40 shots per fill at the same speeds on a 165cc reservoir, and shoots dimes at 35 yards. And that's, to be entirely fair, a refurbished *Turkish* air rifle at half the cost. It's crude by comparison, but it works. Never get fliers with it either, and that isn't an exaggeration.
Now, I have heard great things about the Crosman barrels, and the community around the Marauder is very much into mods. It seems possible to get the shot count up on the Marauder, but it'll cost you. Perhaps the Crosman barrels are outperforming the LW ones as well.
It seems there should be potential with the Marauder, but be prepared for additional costs. Out of the box, this is as mediocre as the American auto industry. You're paying a premium for "Made in the USA."

Accurate, hard hitting, it’s a repeater (recent break barrel convert)

Nothing. I’d only upgrade for a semi auto

Get a good scope, zero it well and use good ammo. This is a great way to “waste” time

Crosman customer service employees are very well trained and well comported folks...All Maruaders are inspected and test fired prior to shipping and delivered without cosmetic finishing flaws...

The poor understanding of many airgunners regarding the harmonics inherent in the Marauder and the necessity of being absolutely neutral with posture and hold from shot to shot...Avoid trying to prove the gun out of the box...Instead, consider the relationship like a blind date requiring some time to form a friendship with the unknown charicteristics inherent in a first introduction and consider the harmonics involved...Polite neutrality must be considered until posture and touch is considered along with breathing, trigger control, eyes on the front sight, and an uncluttered mind that is quiet and clear of distractions...Ignore the micro or larger bob and weave of the crosshair and TRUST and the shot will break appropiately! Remember, any lack of neutrality in a shooters posture on the Maruader will likely throw the shot, many times erratically...HARMONICS!!!

Fifty yards...Wind 10 g 17mph...SW to NE and shooting to S (188 dgr} Trees 40 t0 50' high either side of range 70 yards wide...40 shots...First 12 erratic and well left of POA. Wind was tumbling and erratic coming over the trees as sometimes the the leaves on the left were down and on the right were up. Began to read the wind and fired 25 or 27 shots into a diagonal group 3/4" by 5/8" 1" left of POA...Wind lessened and with windage scope correction 8 more shots out of 10 measured 1/2" ...Next time out, 63 yards after biblical downpour and humidity 110%...3 shots triangle 11/2 pellets wide. Forth shot 1/2 left and down 1/2". I changed my cheek weld...NEUTRALITY. Restored my complete posture and shot 5 &6 brought the group to 3/8"...My faith in the Crosman Maruader is confirmed...
Note... 1974 pellets fired since May18, 2023...Enormously great fun and learning experience...Thank you Crosman...Chuck

I pulled this gun out of the box and put my scope on it, filled it up to 2,600 psi and took about three shots, I made a few adjustment and took two more shots. I moved 20 yards out and took 5 more shots, I hit the same hole FIVE times in a row. OMG, this gun is awesome. Also, this is the first time I use Pyramyd Air and they were so great.

No complaints.

Everything I received was packaged up so nice. I received everything within a few days. Great experience.

Good weight, trigger pull feels crisp not too much creep. Accuracy is good with pellets I've tried so far but am still working on finding just the right one.

Rifle is a bit louder than expected. Thought would be quieter for the price. Not a big fan of the rotary clip (plastic) but once you get the hang of it, its not too difficult. Just don't get in a hurry. Should come with more than one rotary clip for the price and also should come with a degassing tool!!

Would have given it 5 stars overall if not for the loudness and no extra rotary clip and degassing tool.

Quite and accurate. You also get a decent shot count with stock tune in .22 cal. Velocity is around 870 fps with JSB 18.13 gr. I can hit a penny taped to a target at 70 yards. Confident taking a poke at vermin out to 100 yards. This is not a slug gun. Does not like slugs.

Nothing.

This is a well made PCP. I have owned this gun for 7 years. No issues.

great PCP for me

Safety should be moved from in front of the trigger. It has never been a problem but there are better places to place a safety at least I believe it should have a clear red for hot which it does not have. Good PCP safety should be fallowed with any PCP so its not a big issue in my mind. I just don't like putting my finger in the trigger guard unless I am ready to fire.

You also need a good sight and air pump.

Accuracy with the LW barrel is incredible. Stacks ten shots inside a 1/4" at 30 yards of the bench. Lighter weight than most PCP rifles. Build quality is very good (not excellent) in this price point. Noise level is so low the pellet makes more noise hitting the bullet trap than the gun. Perfect for backyard target practice.

More finishing/sanding of the stock seams and edges. Nothing major but a couple are annoyingly rough. Charge handle does not feel smooth. Might take some time to wear in but compared to my older Marauders this one is kind of stiff. However, at this price it is still quite acceptable. Safety lever could be better. Somewhere the was a change from older models to this one and it does not feel as natural anymore when selecting the firing position.

Accuracy does not seem to change much with different pellets but POI does. I found heavier weights can move the POI low and left almost 1/2" at 30 yards. Still very tight groups so adjusting aim to compensate is easy.