My Benjamin 392 pumper. Wonderful!

[Tallbald]

I've loved air rifles since childhood. As an adult, I returned to air rifles out of a suburban need for pest control in our garden. A couple years ago, I bought the latest version of a classic, a .22 caliber Benjamin 392. I had read how "they aren't what they used to be" and "hope you get a good one", so I made my purchase from Walmart with the belief I could exchange or return it if absolutely necessary. The one I received isn't going anywhere. It will stay in my grubby hands until I can no longer pump or shoulder it.
This past week I've managed to miss and simply scare raiding birds and squirrels from our garden instead of permanently removing them from the gardening equation with my wonderful little rifle. Thinking back to last fall I believed that when I last shot it, seven pumps behind a 14.5 grain Superdome was the premier load in my 65 foot backyard range. Frustrated with my lack of success, last night I finally took a few minutes to see if maybe the aftermarket Williams peep sight had moved or I had just lost my edge.
From a rest I shot four strings of three pellets, carefully drawing down on stickers on a paper plate secured to 3/4 inch plywood. I varied the number of pumps for each string and here's what resulted.
The targets below served to remind me just how critical the number of pumps is with my rifle. Five pumps is, I now see, what I must use to connect. I'm sure happy with the fit, finish and performance of my 392. No, it's not as accurate or as "refined"as my beautiful RWS model 34 in .177 caliber (which will place five shots in a dime sized group at 65 feet with its Hawke AO 3-9 scope), but when its raining or horribly humid here in Southern Kentucky, I don't fret either with the Benji 392 and its brass barrel.
Don

 

[Kookla]

Nice shooting! The 392's are awesome. The only issue I've seen with some of the newer ones is the paint they use on the barrel and tube sometimes gets inside the barrel and causes a little havok. From the pictures you posted, it seems you do not have that issue

 

[fpgt72]

You have to play with what your gun likes...one of the nice thing about pumpers is they can hate a pellet at X pumps but love it at Y pumps.....then another pellet will only shoot at Y but will not hit paper at X. One of the things I like about MSP guns...so much to tinker with.

 

[Tallbald]

Thanks for the comments! Yes, Kookla I read on another forum about the paint issue you mentioned. Apparently sometimes finishing overspray sometimes gets inside the muzzle end at the factory. Many say that the answer is a q-tip dampened with acetone carefully swabbed inside the bore an inch or so at the muzzle end to remove the painted on finish. Mine didn't seem to have any though.
For the approximately $150 my 392 cost from Walmart, I think I received very good value. Other 392 enthusiasts on some airgun boards have discussed several modifications that can be done inexpensively and improve performance. I'm choosing to leave mine mechanically stock with the exception of a trigger over travel stop I'll make and install. I am though considering slimming the stock and finishing it as the blonde wood it truly is. Don.

 

[GLOOB]

The difference between those groups is downright silly. I wish you had a chronograph. I wonder if your gun is so fast at 7 pumps that you're getting into transonic speeds? That seems unlikely with a 14.5 grain pellet.

Another possibility is your pellets are tight in the bore. At seven pumps there might be enough force to make the pellet bend at the waist and/or deform the skirt due to the high drag of the head.

I've kinda got into the habit of checking out new pellets by sticking the head into the crown of my guns. I can pretty much tell if a pellet is going to shoot straight before I even fire it. I'm curious if your pellets are too big? Tight in the bore? Delicate skirt and narrow waist?

I haven't tried them all by a long shot. But 22 cal CP domes appear, to me, to be very prone to shoot well in a large number of guns. They run a tad towards the large side, consistent in head size, but they are short and stocky with a thick edge to the skirt and a thick neck. So even if they are a tad too tight, like they are in my rifle, they still fly true. The other day I was taking the necks off of bottles at 35-40 yards.

I am though considering slimming the stock and finishing it as the blonde wood it truly is.

Hmmm, I did exactly this to my break-barrel not too long ago, and I love it. I thinned out the grip quite a bit with a carving knife, stripped the brown paint with 150 grit, and gave it 3-4 coats of linseed. The linseed darkened it, some. I think it looks fine, but really no matter what the natural color, I rather the stock feel like wood than spray-paint.

http://s688.photobucket.com/user/gloob27x/media/crosman venom_zpsq88wfnf0.jpg.html?o=1

 

[jcwit]

Nice work on that rifle GLOOB.

 

[Tallbald]

Thank you thank you. Don

 

[Eb1]

You know I'd like to trim some of the wood from my grip on the Benjamin Discovery. I might sand it down, and use some Tru Oil or Linseed Oil as well.

@ OP - Try the JSB Diablo Exact Heavy 18.13 grain. You'll loose some velocity, but your ft. lbs. will stay the same, and I would be that you'll see 10x the improvement in accuracy.

You can also make a jig that measures 5.50, 5.51, 5.52, etc and up. Then you can find what pellet your rifle shoots the best, and also sort by weight and by concentricity. <--is that right? This helps when you decide to go hunting. You can count on that your chances of getting the same shot to shot strings are good.

 

[Tallbald]

Thanks for the comments folks. This Benji is just a fine weapon. I'm happy at 5 pumps for the Superdomes. I may experiment with other makes and weights of pellets to see what I come up with at a higher pressure. Look forward to visiting here on occasion. I'm frequently on other areas of the forum. Don.

 

[MartinS]

Those guns are gems and you seem to have bonded well with yours, the target is just lovely.

 

[Rattus58]

Well on a whim the other day, I put a cast 55 grain .224 soft lead gc without the check in my Benjamin Pump gun... and put it into a coconut... buried it... tried a few more shots and found that up to about 20 yards or so, penetration is really outstanding... and the one rat I killed at the bird feeder, dropped like a stone. I'm not advocating this, just passing on that don't be afraid to experiment within your comfort zone.