First time poster and new to PCP

[cptmclark]

I have ordered a Marauder in 22 cal, after much reading and agonizing. Only after placing the order did I begin seeing forum posts indicating problems with this unit. Short questions I hope; should I expect to have to become an airgun gunsmith and tuning experimenter in order to have an accurate 22 cal rifle? Is the 22 cal in this rifle a problem caliber, accuracy wise? I am a powder benchrester and accuracy nut, and chose PCP thinking it can be a MOA shooter. Is there a noise problem that I will need to work on (pinging)? Lastly, is it likely to take me more than a few hours to get it shooting accurately? Many of the posts I've read indicate that more time is needed tinkering than I'll spend shooting it. Thank you very much for patience with a newbie to PCP.

[detox]

You will like your Marauder, but it is very fussy about shooting most pellets. My Marauder shoots the Predator and Kodiak pellets very well I am sure yours will also. The slight ping sound you will hear is not a problem to me.

[Badger124]

Just a few comments on your concerns. First, I hope yours shoots great out of the box! Mine is less than two weeks old, and I have had quite a journey. Out of the box I got 3" groups at 10 yards with most pellets. I have been shooting air rifles since 1958 and have most brands in stock. Having read all kinds of ideas, I tried them all. Polished the bore with Mothers metal polish, polished the crown and chamber. Bought a chronograph and another $100 of pellets I had never heard of. Finally got some results with Crosman Premiers(my last choice since many years ago these were an economy pellet.)
I am a retired tool and die maker and have no problem taking things apart and digging in. But, I'm afraid your hope of MOA groups in an hour or two are a pipe dream. I'll work with mine another week before calling Crosman and asking for Help!
Best of luck!!

[Supercharged86]

Hi Cpt., Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately, of the three calibers, the .22 seems to be the most "finicky". This is not to say it's not a great shooter but perhaps needs a little more work. With that being said, however, the .22 Mrod seems to gain the most from aftermarket tuners, ie. Greg Davis. As a new .22 Mrod owner, you'll need to experiment with more pellet choices to find that perfect match. A chrony is a must. The noise level is not a concern, however, many choose to install a depinger just because it's easy and it works, personally though, it's NOT a must have. All you'll need is a .50 cent piece of vinyl tubing and your done, no need to invest $30-50 bucks for a fancy phenolic piece. Best of luck. Cheers. Steve

[detox]

Thr Crosman Premiers shoot OK, but not the best in my rifle. I always got that one ocasional flyer in a group of five.

[Supercharged86]

Thr Crosman Premiers shoot OK, but not the best in my rifle. I always got that one ocasional flyer in a group of five.

Unfortunately, unless your weighing, sorting and culling them for size, weight and condition, you'll almost always get this.

[cptmclark]

Thank's for the replies. I ordered with the rifle a box of the Crossman Premier pellets. I can enjoy a certain amount of tinkering, but a new rifle that won't group after a few brief fundamental checks and tweaks is not a good rifle. I've spent some time reading of some checks IF accuracy is not there, such as barrel/shroud contact, pellets striking baffles, and wrong settings involving the three primary adjustments. Does not seem like a lot of time should be required to check those things. On the other hand, having to try more than a few of the best reputed pellets would result in hundreds of useless pellets laying around, since they seem to be sold several hundred at a time. The rifle is here today (YAY!), and I'm excited to get it up and running. I'm optimistic, but what if any is the expected accuracy of these? Does Crossman / Benjamin offer any guidelines? What is out of the box typical accuracy, and are there any guarantees with the after market accurizing folks? I have break barrel units that will shoot 5/8" at 25 yards, which I consider to be not very good (2 + MOA). I appreciate the opportunity to ask all of these questions. I'm sure there will be more. I truly hope to become a PCP afficionado (hey! I used a six syllable word ) Thank you all very much. Mike

[cptmclark]

My Marauder arrived! "With considerable excitement I opened it up and read the manual. Only trouble I had with the manual is that it repeatedly stated (in discussion about tuning) that the mfgr has set it up for a certain normally optimum for most users performance, BUT it does not say what that is, what speed, what pressure, or pellet weight. Nada. So I'm guessing at what that pretuned pressure might have been. Anyway, I assembled the hand pump and proceeded to pump it up to a guessed at perfect pressure of 2500 pounds. I learned that it takes ten pumps per hundred pounds of pressure, so 100 pumps took it from the 400 pounds it came with to 1400 pounds, and so forth. So far so good. After about 2000 pounds, it quit increasing. After working up quite a sweat for almost 70 years old I checked the gauge and found it decreasing. Hmmmmm. Putting the rifle up to my ear, I hear a bubbling sound at the breech. I had it up to 2000 pounds, and in the time it's taken me to type this it has decreased to 1600. Needless to say, I'm disappointed, but before I jump off a cliff I thought I'd ask if I've missed something and maybe experiencing operator error. Any help will be appreciated. Mike

[Walx]

I know you dont want to hear this but I would call the place the bought it from and see about sending it back. As you know, it should not be leaking. If it was me I would not try to fix the problem and take the chance on voiding the warranty. Thats just my thoughts. Did you disconnect the pump from the gun to make sure it wasnt the connection leaking?

[cptmclark]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I did disconnect the pump. Anyway, the bubbles (no, not her, I'm talking shooting here) sound is coming from the breech area of the rifle. Send it back is logical. Unfortunately, I was told before purchase that any warranty issues would be taken up with the manufacturer. Fair enough, but if you have suggestions for dealing with Crossman, lay them on me. Right now, I'm in the mood to exchange it for a 17 or 25 which I read on these forums are dead nuts accurate, unlike the troublesome 22. Any truth to that? I'm a simple man. All I want out of life is an inexpensive (relatively) PCP rifle that will shoot sub MOA and not make enough noise for my neighbors to hear. Thanks very much for suggestions (or criticism). Mike