by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
The Benjamin Fortitude precharged air rifle.
This report covers:
- Price-point PCP
- Not a Marauder!
- Description
- Stock
- Shrouded barrel
- Free-floated barrel
- Regulator
- Impressive!
- Conclusions
Today we begin our look at yet another price-point PCP — the Benjamin Fortitude. Unlike the Umarex Gauntlet that was the first price-point PCP to be announced, and then suffered early launch jitters, the Fortitude stayed under wraps until the airgun company formerly known as Crosman decided it was ready.
Price-point PCP
What is a price-point PCP? An argument could be made that the Benjamin Discovery was the first one, though if you go down that path you will soon turn up a crowd of similarly low-priced PCPs. We have looked at several of them over the years. But they are not what I am calling price-point PCPs. Those airguns are fine, basic airguns. A price-point PCP is a precharged pneumatic that offers features formerly found only on guns costing many times the penny-under-$300 that the market has decided to make the line in the sand. In short, a price-point PCP (PPP) is one that gives a lot of value for the price.
Some of the features we find in PPP are great triggers, shrouded barrels for quiet operation, repeating capability and accuracy. Any one of these features may be omitted, but customers will notice. To that list Crosman has added a regulator, but the Gauntlet also has one. I will elaborate on regulators later in this report.
Not a Marauder!
I looked at the Fortitude and the Benjamin Marauder immediately jumped into my mind. I wonder whether that’s happening with a lot of people? The two rifles do resemble one another more than a little. It’s important to know because the Marauder comes with a fine adjustable trigger and a powerplant that can be fine-tuned for both velocity and fill pressure. You don’t get that with the lower-priced Fortitude. You get a regulator instead, whose advantages I will address in a bit.
All I am saying is the Fortitude is a rifle that stands on its own merits. Don’t project the things you know about the Marauder onto it. That being said — if the Marauder trigger can be fitted, all the better.
Description
The Benjamin Fortitude is available in both .177 and .22 calibers, and I am testing a .177. That caliber is rated up to 950 f.p.s., while the .22 tops out at 800. We will learn more when we do the velocity test. The rifle is rated to put out up to 70 shots on a 3000 psi fill, and we will also look at that.
The rifle is a bolt action repeater that uses a circular magazine — the same magazine that the Marauder uses. It has a two-stage trigger that is not adjustable. Both Pyramyd AIR and Crosman say it is single-stage, but my test rifle has a definite first and second stage. That could be a quirk of the slop in the trigger linkage, but I don’t think so. At any rate, the effect is the same. At this point you might be surprised that the Fortitude trigger is not the same fully adjustable trigger that’s found on the Benjamin Marauder, but to get into the PPP category they had to save money somewhere. And, I will bet anything that a Marauder trigger can be added. It was just an item of expense they didn’t want to deal with in production. Don’t forget, the Fortitude has a regulator!
Stock
The stock is black synthetic and the buttplate is made from the same material. Be careful when standing your Fortitude up in a corner because this butt is slippery, unlike a rubber butt. It has already slipped once on my office carpet. The forearm tapers nicely for an easy grip and there is a schnable at the forearm tip. The rifle comes with sling swivel anchors at the front and rear of the stock.
The Fortitude weighs 5lbs. 3 oz. The specs say 5.3 lbs., but that would be 5 lbs. 4.8 ozs. I weighed it on an accurate kitchen scale. This light weight means you can mount a larger scope on the rifle and still not be that heavy, which is an advantage.
Shrouded barrel
The barrel is fully shrouded and baffled, so the discharge sound should be quite low. Pyramyd AIR rates it as a 2 on their scale. I will comment on it when I shoot the rifle.
Free-floated barrel
The barrel is free-floated, which means it does not contact the reservoir. Now that more shooters are getting into precharged guns they are starting to be aware of what happens as pressure in the reservoir diminishes. The reservoir flexes and moves slightly as the pressure inside drops. If it is connected to the barrel, it pulls it along. Free-floating isn’t just a gimmick, it’s essential to continued accuracy across the pressure curve
There are no open sights, of course, and the top of the receiver is a large two-piece 11mm dovetail of reasonable length. Reasonable length means you can mount larger scopes without a problem.
Regulator
Okay — what is a regulator and why should you care? A pneumatic air valve operates best inside a narrow range of pressures. Despite what you may think, it’s not 3,000 psi, which is the fill pressure. Putting more gas in a car will not make it go faster and putting more air into a PCP reservoir has the same effect on velocity.
Most PCP valves work best somewhere around 2,000 to as low as 1,000 psi. But they will function with 3,000 psi air, because the air doesn’t get to the valve at that pressure. The air has to flow through the valve passageways and the time that takes to happen drops the air pressure to a level that’s usable. However, when the air enters the valve at the optimum pressure (the 2,000 to 1,000 psi mentioned above) going in, it flows quickly through the valve to do its job.
A regulator lets the high-pressure air flow out of the reservoir and gather in a smaller chamber behind the valve. If the reg is set right, the air in the chamber is at the optimum pressure. When the valve opens at firing, it “sees” air at the optimum pressure and does it’s job as efficiently as it can, shot after shot. The pressure in the reservoir is dropping gradually as you shoot, but the valve always sees the optimum pressure until the air in the reservoir falls below that pressure. That’s called “falling off the regulator” and the rifle starts losing velocity at that point. It’s like a CO2 gun when the gas runs out.
The benefit of a regulator is getting many shots at a more uniform velocity. These guns often keep all their useful shots within 10 f.p.s. Sometimes the variation is even smaller than that, but don’t think that a regulator means that every shot will be at exactly the same velocity. If that happens it’s mostly chance, though a valve can be set up carefully to use the air very efficiently. Ten-meter target rifles and target pistols, as well as some of the more expensive PCP sporters have regulators and valves that are set up this fine.
Impressive!
Okay, time for your sox to be knocked off. Mine were, at any rate. This rifle came to me with a test target! It shows 5 shots at 10 yards. Now, the target isn’t serial-numbered to the gun, which is a fundamental mistake, because a dishonest company could just crank these out, ten at a time, from just one rifle in a vise! But Crosman is a reputable firm and I believe this target was made by this very rifle. They say on the target that it was fired from a test fixture, which is tech-talk for a vise. The test group measures 0.136-inches between centers! I can’t wait until the first accuracy test!
The test target that came with the test Fortitude shows a 10-yard group of 5 Crosman pellets measuring 0.136-inches. It’s trime time!
Conclusions
We all want to know the same things about the Fortitude as we do with any of the other PPP rifles. Is it accurate? How powerful is it? Does it get a lot of useful shots per fill and is the trigger useable? That is what I expect to discover for you in this series. I have given several of the other PPP rifles an extra bit of scrutiny, and if the Fortitude seems worth it, I will again. And, yes GunFun1, I do remember I still need to test the Gauntlet at 50 yards once more.
Cool. I have been hearing things about it.
Now to wait for the full report.
Do you care to elaborate on the last sentence of the first paragraph?
The company FORMERLY known as Crosman?
Apparently you know something we don’t.
Ian.
No biggie. They just rebranded themselves to ” Velocity Outdoors” or something like that.
45Bravo,
Compass Diversified Holdings out of Westport, Connecticut acquired the company in June 2017. Velocity Outdoors is the new branding of The Airgun Company Formerly Known As Crosman (TACFKAC). Why they would think that rebranding might improve sales is beyond me since I’m not a marketer.
Siraniko
Siraniko,
It appears that, from the consumer’s point of view, the change will barely be noticed (at least for a while).
“Product branding and packaging will not change, and our various branded websites will remain
the primary consumer-facing e-commerce and customer service websites for the near term.
Corporate information will be available at http://www.velocity-outdoor.com.”
~ken
45Bravo
I was going to ask about that sentence too.
Gunfun1
Take a look at this Hard Air Magazine report from August.
https://hardairmagazine.com/news/industry-news/crosman-corporation-announces-formation-of-velocity-outdoor/
Cstoehr
I remember now after a little mind refreshing that Crosman got bought out
So far it seems that Crosman has been doing business as usual. And that’s a good thing for the most part. The China line in my opinion still suffers. But that’s just the way that part of the shop will run I guess.
Maybe one day Crosman will shock the world if they finally read this blog enough and see that the break barrel line of guns need help. Then we can wake up one morning and go wow. I just dreamed about this break barrel I’m buying today.
From what I see Crosman still concentrates more towards the pcp guns. Even the multi-pumps and Co2 guns kind of follow the old traditional lines.
All I can say if Crosman would put their pcp thinking team to work on a new Co2 rifle or a multi-pump and a break barrel we just might see a break through happen in air guns.
I know they could do it. They show they know things. But the effort is not there in other power plants for whatever reason.
As usual. We wait and see if they get it.
GF1,
Don’t kid yourself. Crosman reads this blog every day. Where do you think the idea for the Maximus came from?
B.B.
B.B.,
That is good to hear you confirm that,… again. It can only help. I can only imagine how many times that someone has posted a good idea or a mod. and then Crosman pursued it,… maybe even to the end product stage.
Chris
BB
That’s good. Other manufacturers should read the blog too.
Maybe then we will be getting more products like we want.
As someone who gave up PCPs for springers this might get me to put a toe back in the water.
Edw,
I understand. I myself am drawn more and more to sproingers, but I do not see me giving up all of my PCPs. I may end up with just two though. This will likely be one of them.
There are a couple that have my attention. The fx independance, and an odd one called the freedom Nova. Totally different price points. The air Venturi wingshot and Texan SS have my interest too. It’s an odd assortment :). The support equipment is the real deal breaker (for the PCPs without built in pumps) for me so far. The hand pumps are exhausting and there is nowhere to get a fill near me, typical PCP issues.
But cheap and regulated and quiet and accurate can make me willing to pump.
Edw,
I too have considered the Independence and the Freedom. My reluctance concerning them is the bulkiness. Yes, hand pumps can be exhausting. Try filling a Benjamin Rogue for a day at the range with a hand pump. As pointed out the Fortitude has a small reservoir and is frugal with the air, so it may not be too bad.
“Accurate kitchen scales” leads me to wonder if my kitchen scales are accurate, and ask myself if I should buy some calibration weights.
This gun is EXCITING!
Sean,
You already have some cheap weights for a initial calibration test in your pantry! Canned goods are usually very close to their labels. Just be certain it isn’t Net weight; if it is you will need to find an item with Gross weight. If the scale is close to correct then a calibration weight(s) might be worth the money. Balances are always more accurate than all but the most expensive (think thousands of $/£/€) Laboratory scales.
Are your kitchen scales adjustable to calibration standards?
I did a study on scales and found most of us blow it badly on our technique and methodology when weighing things.
shootski
Shootski
Weigh some green bean cans and let’s see how close they are in weight to each other.
There will still be variation.
How much is acceptable is always the question.
Shootski,
None of my 3 kitchen scales (100g,2kg and 5kg backup for the 2kg that started to play silly buggers but still works) are adjustable, but they are repeatable and I learnt to use a calculator over 3 decades ago.
If the need to know how accurate they are bug infects me I doubt weighing supermarket goods would cure me. Having said that I am sure the next time I buy fruit and veg from the supermarket I am sure I will weigh it on my scales as I am sure there is a limit as too how wrong the supermarket scales are legally allowed to be.
Sean.
Use nickels. They weight 4.999 grams. Or they used to. A couple rolls for 4$ will get you as close and cheaper.
Edw my username is seantheaussie (Sean the Aussie) for a reason 😉 Nickels are problematic, to say the least, for me.
Sean
Missed that bit mate:) I could send you a couple rolls for 20-30$. In that case I would use a graduated cylinder. Then tare it and use water. That would get you very reasonable accuracy and you would have a graduated cylinder.
Edw the weights of Aussie coins are available so you have hit on the perfect answer.
Thanks.
Sean.
Awesome. I was just googling that!
If I take a benjamin trail np2 apart how do i do it without a spring compressor and any tips on using vortek moly seals?
Smells,
Welcome to the blog.
You don’t disassemble most spring guns without a compressor. Compressors are not difficult to build, so my advice would be to do that first.
As for disassembly. I wouldn’t start with a gas spring gun. They can be very tricky to get apart.
As for the seals just remember to use any grease sparingly. The days of greasing an airgun seal are over.
B.B.
I’ve got a trail np2 xl. Same deal really. You definitely need a compressor. It will mess you up or your rifle up if you manage to get the pins out.
I didn’t want to build a compressor and bought a sun optics b square clone. It has made every springer I own come apart easy and without worry.
I have vortek moly seals/kits on my R7 and hw97. They are good. I lubed everything with krytox 226.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve read you don’t size those seals and let them size themselves. Any tips. I found some plans on building a compressor with a pipe and using the scope rings that works good for people so gonna build one of those
The vortek kits have dropped in no mods for me. The seals are good.
As for the compressor I wouldn’t trust the scope base and rings. A ‘c’ clamp that is cut and screwed to a board would be more stable. A few stiches from a small slip will cost more than the sun optics compressor.
B.B.,
Looking forwards to this review. Having the Maximus,.. now with a Huma regulator,.. it will be interesting to compare. The breech is different in that the Maximus has the bolt on the side. The trigger on the Maximus is single stage, but feels like 2. Since the breech is different, perhaps the trigger is too. The pretty bad trigger on the Maximus can be made very nice with some simple tweaks.
While some parallels can be drawn to the Marauder, looks is not one. The M-rod is a toad by comparison. 😉
Good Day to one and all,……. Chris
BB
I like that they gave a target with the gun too. And I’m thinking by that target your Fortitude is going to be a shooter.
And was going to give you a bit before I asked about 50 yard Gauntlet test again.
And if people don’t rember why. It’s because you found the shroud loose on the Gauntlet after I mentioned it to you when we was talking about the accuracy of your Gauntlet.
Hmm maybe you should check the Fortitude shroud before you scope it and start shooting.
The shroud wasn’t snug on the Fortitude tried.
Rambler
You have a Fortitude or you shot someone’s Fortitude?
The tried word made me ask.
GF, It wasn’t mine.
BB,
Years ago I resisted the very strong temptation to buy a Discovery. Though the rifle was what I wanted, I just did not like the stock. Off and on I toyed with the idea of a custom stock, but it just did not happen.
Along came the Marauder and though I was tempted, it was not quite what I was looking for. I wanted something light and compact. I regret not getting a Katana when they were available.
Recently came the Maximus. Once again I was torn as this was what I have wanted for so long, a Discovery that looked nice. Fortunately my toy fund hit a dry spell and I could not squeeze out enough for one and then I started to hear about the Fortitude.
There will be a Fortitude at RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns.
B.B.,
I would add that from a manufacturing standpoint you can end up with a product that has a more consistent output. The only variable left is the strength of the spring and the degree of friction between moving parts. It becomes easier to market an airgun that will produce no more than 12 fpe to be sold to countries with that power limit. Conversely with a few modifications (likely a change of regulator output and transfer port) can change a mild mannered rifle to one much more powerful one. Hopefully Crosman tooled up and will not drop the ball on this one.
Siraniko
B.B., I’ll be really curious to see if, using the same pellet at the same distance,
your testing validates that test target…*waits to see if that is so* =>
Dave
Same here.
GF
Would like to see how it does with good pellets . Something better than Crosman .
tt
TT
I’m with you there.
If it shoots better with other brands that is one heck of a gun BB has.
And to flip that around. What if it shoots worse with other brands.
We go’n to have to watch this one and see what happens
BB,
I am so pumped about this air rifle, pardon the pun. With all of the after market mods available it will be easy to tune this little gem to perfection.
I do have one question though. I checked with Velocity Outdoors about the regulator and they say it cannot be adjusted. I would like to know though is the regulator a slip in type or is it built into the valve assembly?
BB,
By the way, PPP, l like it.
RR,
Like the “PPP” as well (stutter much?? LOL!)
Think Siraniko has it beat with “TACFKAC” – The Airgun Company Formerly Known As Crosman. 🙂
Hank
Hank,
I like that also. Maybe I should use RRHFWA?
RR,
RRHFWA… that works – RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns 🙂
Hank
B.B.,
Lightweight and regulated. Nice. Can Pyramyd AIR reverse the bolt for an additional fee?
Michael
Michael,
I’m checking.
B.B.
Michael,
Here is what Pyramyd says.
Crosman has already confirmed that the bolt cannot be swapped, unless something in the design has changed.
B.B.
You would think that the bolt handle could have been (easily) designed to be swap-able since it is not cut into the receiver the way a Maximus bolt is – maybe they should hire some left-handed engineers.
Know if I would have designed something like that I would have to have a very good reason to explain to my boss why such an obvious consideration was not accommodated.
Would love to hear and explanation from Crosman.
Hank
Hank,
We southpaws make up somewhere (no one knows for certain) around 15 percent of the world’s population.
If the Fortitude were a single-shot only air rifle, the bolt location wouldn’t matter, but as a repeater, a right side bolt is a deal-breaker for me.
Oh, well. They might as well have put a big ol’ cheek rest on the left side and go full-righty, if it’s not going to be truly ambidextrous.
Michael
Michael,
I am right-hand, right-eye dominant but I can still shoot, cast, hammer etc. left-handed. Feels a little awkward at first but with some practice it maybe doable for you.
Sensitive to this issue because my wife is a leftie.
Hank
Hank,
I have learned to do many things righty out of necessity, such as cutting with scissors, golfing — I learned guitar right-handed instead of left. I can shoot a pistol right handed reasonably well.
But I cannot brush my teeth, write, or shoot an air rifle righty. I’ve tried, believe me.
Michael
Michael,
Not having looked at it super close yet, the non-flip bolt is a deal killer for me too. I shoot left.
Remove, cut, rotate and re-weld would be an option. Bolt remains the same, handle is rotated.
Chris
Hank
Would probably cost a bit more to do it. Tooling and time wise and other things.
Remember it’s a price point pcp.
GF1,
Yeah, its a price-point PCP but can you afford to ignore 15 percent of the potential customers?
Had a sign in my office: “If you don’t take care of your customers, somebody else will”
Haven’t had one apart (yet 🙂 ) – bet there is only one pin to relocate to make it left-handed.
Hank
Hank
It’s just the way it is.
Can’t please everyone as the saying goes.
I would say there’s a lot that plays into those decisions. Especially after I seen what has happened throughout time being in the machine shop trade.
Like BB said. Different things about the gun might not be done on the production gun compared to it’s higher priced kin.
Gunfun1,
“Can’t please everyone . . . .”
The Fortitude doesn’t have to please me because there are plenty of other PCP rifles out there, with more price-point ones coming out every year. :^)
I still have my Synthetic M-Rod with a reversed bolt. Maybe I should get a regulator for it or detune the hammer springs, and just go with that. It is two pounds heavier than the Fortitude, but for the plinking and target shooting I do, that shouldn’t matter too much.
And I hear they are actually not bad at all with a red dot! ;^)
Michael
Michael
Sounds like you got a good plan to me.
Hank,
Being ambidextrous also, I can understand on most things. But, optical sighting systems would need to evolve more than the makeshift solutions available currently to cross-dominent and ambidextrous shooters! B.B. did, best I can recall, some writing in the Airgun Letter about the topic because Edith used some cross-dominent sighting systems to do her rifle shooting.
I thought about the one pin change too! Problem is the bolt turns clockwise to close and stow the bolt out of the way. Just the bolt pin change would work to close the bolt but not stow the bolt safely out of the way…at least not without some more major modifications to the receiver/breech.
shootski
Shootski
I remember pictures of Edith shooting that gun.
And the bolt doesn’t control the saftey on this gun and some other Crosman guns that are similar.
They are manual safety’s.
And in all reality they could of went one step farther and made the bolt left or right hand usable.
It would of just added a bit more cost. And that’s the thing. This gun and other price point guns are made to give some higher end characteristics but with a fairly affordable cost.
As it goes. You know that everyone will want to reengineer this gun. Heck I use to be that way. But found these PPP guns do have a special place in my heart. Especially when they are accurate. 😉
Shootski,
You are right – the breech-block, where the locking pin engaged would have to be mirrored as well.
I had (mentally) pictured the notch to be the same on both sides of the receiver ( “U” shaped) so that it could be latched-up clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Maybe they should design a “T” bolt like the one I had on my Hammerli AR20. Being able to pull directly back might make it easier to cock the hammer spring.
Don’t you love arm-chair engineering 🙂
Hank
B.B.
That sample target is very impressive for a PPP!
The Fortitude looks like an ideal plinker, hunter, (casual) target rifle – accurate, decent power, good shot count and light – both in weight and cost. Could see a .22 caliber Fortitude replacing my FWB 124 as my favorite walk-about rifle. I’ll be watching the rest of your report closely – any thoughts I had of getting a gas-spring break-barrel have just been pushed down the wish-list by the Fortitude.
Understand that they have to save money where they can on a PPP and the trigger is what it is. Can’t help but wonder if they marketed a “deluxe” version of the rifle with an upgraded trigger (and maybe an adjustable stock) if it would sell well enough to justify marketing it.
Do you think these feature rich PPPs will affect the pricing of the high-end rifles? Can’t see Air Arms, FX, or Weihrauch liking the Fortitude much.
Hank
Was reading some of the reviews on the PA site. Seems that the Fortitude is very stiff/heavy to cock.
So I will have to upgrade my request for a “Deluxe Fortitude” to have a better trigger and a side-lever cocking system (and expect it to be priced higher to cover the cost of these features). 🙂
Hank
Hank,
I think the PPPs are a game-changer.
I might have to write a blog about just that.
Thanks,
B.B.
B.B.
Yeah, a game changer for sure!
A couple of my power-burner buddies have shot my PCPs and are very impressed (they don’t call the BB-guns anymore LOL!) but the price for admission was way too high.
PCPs like the Fortitude and Gauntlet are really getting their attention (especially since I sent them links to today’s blog 🙂 ).
Hank
Hank,
There is an upgrade to the sear that is available. You can also replace the plastic trigger with a metal one for a Discovery. Also, there are some modifications you can do to the Discovery/Maximus trigger that some people have done. I am not sure if it will fit in this stock, but you can also use the Marauder trigger assembly.
As far as the stiffness of the bolt, that is due to the striker spring. You can replace this with a Discovery/Maximus spring or you can replace it with an adjustable spring kit.
If the regulator is a slide in type as I hope, you can remove it and insert a ring ahead of it and increase the volume of the regulated air. Even if the regulator cannot be adjusted, this will allow a wider range of control with the adjustable striker spring.
If the TACFKAC barrel is not up to par, it can be easily replace with a LW barrel. I have even considered putting a shorter barrel, shroud and air reservoir on this and making it into a little carbine.
I have been studying on this thing for a while now.
RR,
Thanks for the comments.
Haven’t researched it yet (waiting to see what Tom has to say in this series) but I suspected that a lot of the Discovery/Maximus parts, mods and tweaks would apply to the Fortitude. That momentum is one of the things that makes the Fortitude such a strong contender.
If that test target is for-real then I suspect that they are using a Maximus barrel on the Fortitude. IMHO, It would be a big step backward if they didn’t – everyone wants accuracy.
Funny about gun length. I have a Marlin 30-30 lever action which is short and convenient to carry in the bush but I still prefer full length rifles over the carbines.
Hank
Hank,
I knew a gunsmith in my youth that built rifles with Mauser actions and 16 inch barrels. These carbines were of superb accuracy to incredible ranges. What you are comfortable with does indeed have a strong bearing on performance, but I can learn.
Oh BB, I see that Crosman bias peeking through. You say in the opening discussion about PPP and all the great features they bring us, ‘Crosman adds a regulator’. But wasn’t it Umarex that added the regulator? In fact, it was the regulator that stirred all the hype that marked the launch of the Gauntlet.
It’s funny, many comments draw attention to the ‘good looks’ of the Fortitude. But to me, the Discovery, the Maurader, and Fortitude all look extremely similar. One thing I’ve seen in the world of air guns, and fire arms as well, is that there is something for everyone.
Toddspeed,
Yes, it was! I forgot that!
I will rewrite today’s blog later today.
Thanks,
B.B.
I bought a Marauder .25 over a year ago for it’s power and multi-shot capability and I love it. It is a “real” hunter, but alot of my hunting is at 40 yds. or less and on smaller game like rabbits and birds, and at my advancing age, I find the weight and bulk of the Marauder to be an increasing burden. For game like p-dogs at 50 to 100yds. it’s great but my body longs for something a little more manageable. I really hope that this one fits that nitch! I would like to be able to afford an FX Streamline but,at a 1000 dollar price tag, that isn’t going to happen. I still love my old Discovery but I think this might find its way into my gun closet. Looking forward to rest of your report!
Bruce
I was waiting for the Fortitude to show up for a long time. I bought a scope and rings along with the parts to make a two stage trigger. Now that the trigger itself is plastic that will have to go. If there is one part of a gun I hate to be plastic it is the trigger.
I will be followig B.B.’s review to descide wheather to go with the Fortitude or a regulated and moderated Maximus. I want a light and slim gun for pests. The Gauntlet is already proven itself. Only problem I have with the Gauntlet is it is not slim. From what I have heard so far I am leaning toward the Maximus.
I went through some frustration with my leaking Velocity Outdoors/Crosman Wildfire. I finally was able to get the new modified valve and it is working as it should have in the beginning but all of my frustration has not gone away.
B.B.,
I hope the Fortitude has good quality control, do they ship a test target with every one? That is something I have not heard about. Maybe they cherry picked yours? In any case I will be fowlowing this review very close.
Don
Don
Maybe we could get everyone who buys one of these to post a pic of their test targets to see if they are all different or not .
tt
Don,
If the Fortitude’s plastic trigger or any other guns plastic trigger bothers you an expedient fix can be had with a metal Trigger Shoe. Most non adjustable (plastic or metal) trigger blades can be made much more to our liking with a well fittedtrigger shoe!
shootski
For some reason my relply went to GF1 below. I expect the metal trigger off the Discovery or Maximus will fit.
Don
Don
Ok here I go. Why does the plastic teiiger bother you?
I had several guns with plastic triggers that work.
It’s about the geometry and how adjustments and contact points work.
I can honestly say after all my years shooting that I never have broke a trigger yet.
Man suppose to say trigger. Not teiiger .
Shootski,
If i get one I will buy a metal trigger.
Don
GF1,
Yep I have guns with plastic triggers that work. I just think it says cheap and they don’t lend to tuning like metal especially steel. There is something about a plastic trigger that says toy to me. Just the way I feel. I am sure there are modern non metal materials that may even be better. I just like the feel of a good metal trigger.
If they have changed the trigger design away from the standard Crosman parts then I will not be interested in the gun. Like I said I already bought the materials to covert the Fortitude to a two stage trigger. If I also need the trigger no big deal as long as it fits. I probably have one laying around.
I do hope the Fortitude is a great gun and as accurate as the Maximus.
My first reply was supposed to go to Shootski.
Don
Don
The accuracy is what I’m waiting to see.
BB,
Comments on the Pyramid air site are mostly about the .22 and poor grouping past 30 yards or so. Any chance you could get the .22 and compare notes?
I am glad to see they included a test target.
Now just get the memo on matching the serial number to the target.
I think if you are serious about turning out a quality product you showcase it in any way you can, and the test target goes a long way with most shooters.
B.B.,
Thank you for all you do to keep us abreast of happenings in the airgun world. Your tests and reports have been a source of good information for me since I discovered your blog in 2011. Your reports are loaded with information and never come off at advertisement (advertisement is by it’s nature deceitful). Today’s report is no exception.
I looked up Velocity Outdoor. Here is information I find useful. It indicates that (at least for now) all brands will remain the same, with no noticeable difference for us as consumers. Crosman is now one brand under Velocity Outdoor rather than it being the umbrella company for it’s various brands.
https://www.crosman.com/connect/crosman-corporation-announces-formation-of-velocity-outdoor/
The other think I discovered is that Velocity Outdoor has acquired Ravin crossbows; the company I mentioned on your blog some months ago.
https://www.crosman.com/connect/velocity-outdoor-announces-acquisition-of-ravin-crossbows/
This information helped me stave off a panic attack (just kidding).
~ken
B.B.,
If others have mentioned it already, my apologies, but I just noticed the air rifle that many here have long been asking for (provided it is well designed/mad and accurate): the Seneca Aspen!
Boy oh boy! If you could do a review of one of those, you would have one excited bunch of readers.
WOW.
Michael
Michael,
I am already in line for one of the first ones.
B.B.
B.B.,
Very good. I like it a lot, and the idea, and the price.. I am not fond of the front end looks, but hey, there IS a lot going on up there. For a powerful survival PCP, it seems to fit the bill. I hope it does well in your testing. At worst case, it is a multi-pump.
Chris