Page 15 - Benjamin Trail NP XL Reviews

As with all the NP XL rifles that I own, this one is super accurate and well made; for the power, it is really easy (for me) to cock, and the trigger is improved, as I had no problems with it on this one. This rifle likes the Beeman field target domed rounds, and only drops 1 inch at 65 yards!! It is also very accurate, with most shot holes touching at 60 yards, and opens up only to 1/2 inch at 70 yards.It is NOT a kid's rifle, but an adult hunting rifle; I am anxious to take game this hunting season!

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This a high quality rifle, accurte and powerful, and pretty quiet for the power and range that it has. I have all the crosman NP XL series rifles, and they all are as good...buy this one at the PA special price, and you will not be disappointed.

I just got my Benjamin XL 1100 yesterday, I like the feel or the solid stock, extreme penetration & power, haven't used it much just sighted the scope for 25 yard for now, at beginning it was louder than my rim fire .22 and more kick to it as well but after 7 pellets shot through it, it quite downed a lot, and very little kick than before, will update my review once I use it a bit more.

The weight is a little more than I expected but its good to help with the recoil, i'd like the price to go a little cheaper than what it is,

The cocking is pretty hard/stiff, little loud at first but will quite down when you fire couple pellets through it. And make sure you have a strong back stopping or something to stop the pellet .22 because it went through my 1/4 inch wooden bord with out any problem, wooden fence is not a good idea your neighbors won't be happy and will have to replace the fence boards

Looks good. Build quality appears fine with the exceptions noted below.

The stock is engineered with some contorted giant hands in mind. I am 6 ft. tall, of average build, and wear size XL gloves and try as I may, I could not shoulder this rifle and grip the 'pistol' grip well enough for my index finger to safely engage the trigger. With a normal grip for holding a standard rifle (Of which I have and have had many) It was all I could do to get my finger tip to the trigger in such a way as to actually comfortably and safely fire it. There was also something dreadfully wrong with the break-barrel mechanism. I an sturdily built and have NO problem cocking break-barrel rifles. I have used RWS34, Ruger blackhawk, Mendoza, Crosman, and Beeman and Walther magnum break-barrel rifles with NO problem; but try as I may, I could not get this rifle's barrel to open. I tried according to directions and then by laying the rifle across my lap and slamming the barrel with my hand as hard as I could and only succeeding in heavily bruising my leg and hand.

As usual, PyramydAir asked me to send the rifle back and they gave me a full refund for it.

The power. Easier than expected to cock. Fairly quiet.

Make available in a black synthetic stock. Nearly every pellet I tried, which is at least a dozen, fit very tightly when trying to load. Too much vibration upon firing. Even using the artillery hold it was nearly impossible to shoot accurately, for me at least. I'm sure there are those who have mastered firing such a jarring air rifle but I found it to be inaccurate and unpleasant to shoot. I also own a refurbished Crosman Titan which is weaker but very accurate and pleasant to shoot. I'd be anxious to shoot one of the other magnum strength nitro piston guns to see if my experience with them would be the same. Perhaps you can only get so much power from a gas spring before the gun becomes too much.

I am over 6 foot tall and 250lbs. This gun did not overpower me, it simply was not a smooth comfortable gun to fire. I actually achieved my best groupings when I held the gun tightly, trying to force it to be accurate. Who wants to do that every time they shoot their rifle. Maybe I got a dud but I returned it and am trying to decide on a different magnum gas piston to try, perhaps one of Walther's.

This came as a complete hunting package, gun, sling, decent scope but would go up to 4-16-50 scope, weaver scope rail, good power for a .22,too much power for .177. Gun is good out to 75 yards using 16 gr. JSB Diable Jumbo exacts, nice tight fit in the arm, quick clean piston motion, extra parts are easily obtained. The fit of the stock is good but may require some work none to fit each person. This gun will shoot consistant fps with in a 10fps spread.

The things that need to be addressed are the following 1, trigger should have a ball bearing for a smooth first stage and no return spring giving a false impression of a trigger stagger and with a disticnt 2nd stage aftermarket triggers (GRT GTX) still don't give a distinct 2nd stage yet are smoother 2. the barrels are a hit or miss they should offer a higher level of barrel manufactered offered on this gun, example a Lothar Walther barrel as an option 3 they should have also made an all weahter version of this gun using the same idea as in the Non XL level of this gun, for the pisotl grip angle would have greatly benefited the shooted and a adjustable scope rise butt plate would have been icing on the cake. 4 if they could also have make a picanniy rail that was part of the parrel shroud so that a bipod and or flashlight could be mounted would have been a nice touch

This gun will require a lot of practice and learning to shoot it righ for it does have a strong recoil. You will need to use 16 gr. pellets or heavier to get the potential out of this gun. When you get this gun get the .22 or .25. The barrels are a hit or miss in accuracy and quality so you should also buy a tin of the Rabbit Magnums form H&N with some Wheeler's lapping compound kit, you will using these to break in while also using the lapping compound shoot 30 pellets with 220, 60 with 320 and then 80 with the 600 grits. If you do not get good groups after this send the barrel back to Crosman and get another barrel from Crosman and the try it again the barrels are inexpensive so you may want to buy a couple so should you design to make a gun without the barrel shroud or a make a carbine version of this gun it can be easily done. you will have to order other parts to do the changeing of the gun desgn but a prts list is ia available to see and order from Crosman.. Feel that this gun has good potential if the extra time in working the rough spots out due to it being made in China with some extra time and cleaning it will be a great gun for hunting

It looked pretty and that was about it.

Accuracy was appalling. Vertical deviation at 25 yards was 10-12 inches even after almost 200 pellets. And this was from a Hart BR rest and bags. Maybe the Nitro piston was defective and not generating consistent velocities but this gun was garbage. Fortunately Pyramyd is awesome and I quickly returned within the 30 day period. I guess you get what you pay for. I'm now shopping for a European gun.

Very accurate for a .22, what a nail driver takes out squrilles in one shot even through the shoulder plate!! Quite enough for in town shooting, and scope that it came with is excellent no wobble and came properly mounted on it's rings. Overall an excellent gun the best in its class!!

i wish a synthetic stock was available due to its weight but thats minor

pellet choice is very important dont run cheapo pellets

I've had the .22 cal. for 5 days and have put 250 RWS 14.5 grain Superdomes thru the barrel. The gun gets accurate after you get 100 + pellets down the barrel. I'm grouping 3/4 inch at 30 yards now rested. And it may get a bit better with another few hundred pellets threw her. I had Pyramydair do the "10 for 10" and the chrony showed low 900's with H&N Sport 13.73 gr for 25.81 FPE, so very good power. Very quite - much less noise then my RWS 34 and the gas ram is much smoother shooting. Just a thunk and then the noise of hitting the target. Considering the cost (which dropped 30 bucks the day FedEx dropped it off), the wood is pretty good, the scope is clear and bright - the weaver mount is rock solid. The wide padded sling was a pleasant surprise, I just assumed it would be a thin black nylon strap. If you're going to carry this tank around for hunting, you're going to need the nice sling as this thing is heavy.

One word. Trigger. It's got a lawyer trigger in it from the factory. You just never know when the 15 lb pull is going to let go and shoot the pellet. Do yourself a favor and order the CharlieDaTuna GRT-III upgrade trigger as soon as you order the gun. Replacement is easy and takes only a few minutes. The difference is night and day. Don't forget the blue loctite on the stock screws during reassembly.

When you first get the package open, before your first shot - check the stock screws to make sure they are tight. And you did order that replacement trigger, right? A lot of reviewers think the JSB 14.3 and 18.1 grain pellets are best for accuracy, so you might want to get some of those when you order. For break in I used RWS Superdomes in 14.5 grain and they are starting to group pretty good. Another tin or two and I'll switch to the JSB's.

I am happy with the fit and finish of this rifle(.25 caliber),the stock has attractive wood, the checkering and engraving give it a little class. The receiver is well finished with nice etching. The Center Point scope that comes with it is well matched to this rifle. The scope has good clarity and light gathering abilities. The mount for the scope is rigid and for me has plenty of adjustment for eye relief. Overall this rifle is a good value.

The trigger.As other reveiwers have stated the trigger pull is exceedingly long and the let off feels a little unpredictable. This may resolve itself after a proper break in. Build this rifle in the USA.

This thing is an animal, not only is it heavy it has fairly heavy recoil that even with its substantial recoil pad may become unpleasant. It also makes you work for each shot, at least 47 lbs to cock and that may be an optimistic 47 lbs. If you live in small town America like me, finding pellets (.25 caliber)at your local retailers will be problematic at best.

Pyramid's customer service dealing with the Benjamin product issues.

Overall quality of the 25 cal gun is not that good since it is made in China. I went through 3 orders and gave up trying to get one that was not damaged or broke shortly after getting it (this was through 2 suppliers). The final QA inspection in China is lacking. Benjamin should move manufacturing to US or Turkey. I decided to buy a Walther Falcon Hunter in .25 cal. instead. Pyramid has been great.

Well, I haven't ever owned a pellet gun before and at 46 yrs old, my memories of a pellet gun were NOTHING like this... man this thing is p-o-w-e-r-f-u-l. It's pretty quiet too (except the first couple of shots, I think the grease in the barrel from machining built up the pressure and shot it out with what sounded like a sound barrier crack (I wish I would have had my Chrony set up for that one). Overall I really like this. I got it for my wife (she doesn't like guns that go BANG) but I think I shoot it more than her!

#1. Ok, I would change the trigger for SURE! The trigger is absolute junk. Horrible for marksmanship as the pull feels like an eternity (mind you I can't even remember what pellet guns feel like to shoot) but it was really ridiculous. I took it out and put in the CharlieDaTuna GRTIIII trigger and it was like night and day. Now it feels like a real trigger. I'd say (just guessing) it' still about a 5-7 lb trigger pull, but it removes the whole first stage which is 90% of the trigger travel. #2. The scope is "o.k." but I'm not thrilled with it. I have better scopes on my other rifles. I may swap some out. I DO love the Weaver Style Rails for the scope. They should have put on quick release rings, then it would have been really cool. #3. I wouldn't have guessed this before I bought it, but I have smaller hands and I don't like the minimum distance for the pistol grip or thumb hole to the trigger... I feel like it really makes me stretch...not good for marksmanship,. I have many other firearm rifles and never experienced this problem, so I can only assume it is this particular air rifle. #4. I also don't like the distance from the butt of the stock to the trigger... feels like I really have to stick my neck out to get proper scope view...again, none of my other rifles (firearms) are like this and I have the NP XL scope mounted as far back as it will go on the rail. Maybe I'll exchange the butt pad (rubber) for a slimmer one.

I would definitely recommend this for anyone wanting a "Gotta eat when Anarchy Hits" type of weapon... That's why we got it... rabbits, squirrels, maybe even coyotes....(which is why we got the .22 cal) ...it is also somewhat stealthy compared to a regular firearm. Could be used to set off signaling devices remotely so as not to give out location.

The rifle has good feel and not as bad to cook.

It is on a heavy side to carry for longer period of time.

Air Pyramid product potential buyers be aware!!! I made air rifle purchase on or around 2/22/2011.The order did not go as smooth as anticipated and many issues where addressed. I have spent plenty of time on the phone but seems they are not concerned with customers after the sale is finalized and paid for. I have paid for 10 for 10 service which I have not received and after addressing the issue I was promised refund for the service they have not delivered which has never taken place. The way they handled the shipping - missing owners manual, warranty card , scope owners manual , pellet can shipped in case along with the rifle unprotected ending damaging the scope in unacceptable. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED 10 FOR 10 SERVICE I HAVE PAID FOR AND WAS PROMISED A REFUND WHICH HAS NEVER OCURED.

Looks great and shoots great. Hard to tell it's only an airgun. Only took 5 shots to zero scope and has held for over 400 shots!

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First shot was REAL loud.

This is a heavy rifle, which not only imparts a nice substantial feel, but also improves accuracy, and believe me, this rifle is both accurate and powerful. The barrel shroud is metal instead of plastic, and the last inch appears to incorporate an internal muzzle break to help deaden the sound. It works! The sling attachments are a welcome touch and it comes with a nice sling. The included Center Point scope seems to be well made and has a nice bright view, but I felt like this rifle deserved more, so I replaced it with a RWS 4-12x50 with illuminated reticle, which I really like. I'll save the Center Point for another rifle.

Like many other buyers, I was not overly impressed with the trigger. It is serviceable, but the let off is unpredictable and not conducive to accurate shooting. Benjamin really should have put a better unit on this gun since it is their flagship model. I have already replaced it with a GRT-III, and I highly reccomend it. It is the finishing touch to an otherwise awesome rifle.

Some reviewers were dissapointed with the finish of the thumbhole opening of the stock. I believe this part of the stock is probably finished by hand rather then on a cnc milling machine to hold down the cost; mine looks just fine. Once I gave it a good working over with Birchwood Casey gunstock wax it looked great! It is nicely checkered, and I especially like the way they engraved the name Benjamin on the bottom of the forestock. This is definately an adult air rifle. It takes considerable force, both to break the barrel, and to charge it, something for slighter shooters to consider. Although it is heavy, it balences well in a one handed under stock grip and carry. On an all day foray you'll definately want to have the sling on it.

this is a true hunting machine,beautiful stock nice scope,and very accurate when you find that magic pellet.a very hard hitting 22cal.the best i've bought yet all around the rifle.is of great accept the trigger issue needs to be addresed but thank god for charlie da tuna and his gtx3 trigger,now this is a true tack driver.

the trigger needs to swaped out if you want a great shooting rifle. i could not get used to the factory trigger. very sloppy.

if you purchace this rifle expect to change the trigger but the good news is for only 32.00 dollars you can get a target quality trigger from charlie da tuna. it is a 100% change for the better. it breaks like glass and it is fully adjustable, i did not adjust mine and it shoots fantastic.Rich

very powerful, very accurate if you have a tough scope or iron sight. Still looking for a long enough range to test it at 50 meters.

For this kind of ultra-magnum springer, an iron sight is definetly required because it's difficult to find a strong enough scope that can survive the recoil. Moreover, iron sight is more accurate because it's installed on the barrel. The Centerpoint scope that comes with it is a trash. After 200 shots the reticle is broken, and some fluid spills out from the objective lense

I 've had mine for over a year now. I purchased the .22 . The size and heft of this gun are great. I have shot this gun anywhere from 19 deg -100 deg temp. with good results. At 15 yards I've nailed flies. At 75 yards I can keep a group of 5 shots in 3 inches if I'm on it. Using the artillery hold is a must. So I believe this gun is fairly accurate, if your using a quality pellet that is matched to your gun. I've used an assortment of pellets from 13.73 grains - 21.14 grains. My pellet of choice is the JSB Match Diabolo round head 18.1 grain.

The trigger and I did not work well together. After installing the GRT III wow what a difference, much more predictable. It also looks better. Make it in America.

The scope that comes with the gun is OK, but after awhile during long sessions it would not stay zeroed. so I put on a BSA StealthTactical 4-16x44AO with great results. This gun is for strong mature airgunners.

This is a nice Rifle after I changed the trigger to the GTX Gen II.

The Trigger.

It takes a strong arm to cook this gun.

For the money, the .25 is well worth it. The rifle is fun to shoot. I like the power, heft, and reliability of this rifle. My other springers all have coil springs, so I wanted to try a nitrogen charged springer, and I like it. I can leave it cocked while hunting and I don't worry about it like I do with my coiled spring guns.

There really isn't anything that I think needs to be changed. The price is set at a nice 300 dollars and you can get started right away.

I was a little skeptical about the gun until I used it. I own RWS rifles exclusively, until now that is. The machining and over-all quality is not on par with RWS, but that isn't a negative. The benjamin is a fraction of the cost, so its alot of gun for the money. I enjoy shooting it as much as my RWS rifles. Maybe its just me, but I don't think its as accurate as my other rifles. It definately holds differently than my other rifles. I've settled on H&N field target trophy pellets as they seem to shoot the best and group the best in this rifle. This is a new pellet for me and I was surprised that JSB didn't group well in this .25 caliber rifle.

This gun is VERY accurate! Weight, Nitro Piston, power, looks and the feel of it is awesome! I love the thumbhole stock.

Scope. It's not bad it just didn't seem to stay zeroed very well.

I own this rifle in .22cal and use 18.1gr jsb diablo exact heavies, i get dime sized groups at 35-40yards. I put a Charlie Da Tuna GTRIII trigger on this and it definatly increased my accuracy. I also mounted a Leapers 3-9x40 scope on it. I've read a lot of review on this gun being too "heavy" and too "tiring" to cock. Well let's just say I'm a 14 year old boy and I have no problem carring this rifle around for a 4(or more) mile trip. I look at it as traimg for 12 mile hikes during deer season. And I can shoot this 150 times a day and not once does my arm get "sore".