Benjamin Trail NP - Barrel Needs Frequent Cleanings to Stay Accurate

[geo111]

A friend bought a Benjamin Train NP Pistol and has had a lot of accuracy problems.

He has found that after the barrel is cleaned, he can shoot consistent groups. After 20-30 shots the poi seems to move all over the target. If he re-cleans the barrel, the groups tighten back up.

The barrel is cleaned with a Crown Saver pull through using a patch sprayed with Ballistol. The wet patch is usually followed up with one or two dry patches.

Does anyone have an idea why this airgun needs a recently cleaned barrel?

I thought that it might be the residual Ballistol, but he has tried spraying it on his pellets with no improvement.

His uses the following sight and adapter.

http://www.umarexusa.com/airguns/airgun-optics/walther-multi-reticle-point-sight
http://www.hawkeoptics.com/38-or-11mm-to-weaver-2-piece-adaptor-low.html

[brz-ryder †]

The gun is a piece of junk and never should have been sold you`ll find out once ducky sees this and goes off on it. almost everyone here dislikes the np pistol

Jim

[jSan22]

maybe because its a piece of crap?

[mudduck48]

I'm ok, almost mellow. The Crosman Trail NP is a gun that should never been made. Call Crosman and send this thing back to them, and tell them to shove it up where the sun does not shine.  #1 the sights are not right. You have to cut 5mm off the front sight to get to print on paper. #2 the rear sight moves with every shot, move the rear sight back as far as it will go and it will not move anymore. #3 the trigger is DUCK POOP!!!!!!! IT is too heavy. This gun is one of the most -----------. just use it for a boat anchor. SEND IT BACK AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK!!! You could buy 2, count them 2 Beeman P17 guns and a tin of pellets for the price on this piece of DUCK POOP!
OK, I feel better now. QUACK,QUACK,QUACK!!!!

[brz-ryder †]

I agree with you  jSan22 i put mine back in the box and put the box in the attic never to see the light of day again in my life time i. I knew Ducky would go off on this topic LOL . geo111  tell your friend the biggest mistake he made lately was to get that gun i doubt you can find any one here that will say anything nice sorry we all know we got screwed

JIm

[breakfastchef]

To the OP's initial questions, what pellet is your friend shooting? Some pellet brands like GAMO and Daisy are pretty filthy and can foul a barrel relatively quickly.

If it is worth the trouble to reduce cleaning frequency, try washing the pellets to remove grime, let them dry and lightly coat them with some Ballistol. Let dry again. The cleaning part should remove the majority of the gunk. The lubing part may help reduce fouling of the barrel.

[geo111]

Larry, thank you for taking the time to address my question.

My friend does shoot a lot of Gamo pellets, but he has experienced the same loss of accuracy with better brands like JSB and canned Crosman Premiers.

I don't know if he has tried pellet washing.

Weather permitting, Ill work with him and make a more detailed study of this. Particularly the effects of cleaning pellets.

-George.

[agninja]

Analogy. Everytime I walk outside I feel sick. Walking must be what is making me sick. Or maybe it's exposure to the sun that makes me sick and has nothing to do with walking.

Airgun problems can be difficult to diagnose sometimes. The next time he starts having accuracy problems, crack open the barrel and look through it into the light. Can you actually see fouling occurring? If not, then the problem could be something else entirely, and you are just attributing it to the cleanliness of the barrel out of coincidence. Also, you can put a lubed cotton cleaning pellet behind the lead pellet every couple dozen shots. That should prevent lead buildups from accumulating.

Aside from that, you might suggest he just take the pistol by the muzzle and fling it at his targets like a throwing knife. From what I hear it would be much more effective that way.

[geo111]

Agninja, thank you for addressing my question.

Weather permitting, I will be shooting that pistol after dinner tonight. I'll take a good look at the barrel between strings. I don't expect to see any actual fouling, I just think it might be something else.

I want to document  just how accurate this gun is after a cleaning vs after 25 to 30 shots.

Also, I am aware of the poor reviews that this pistol has received and I expect that they are well deserved.

-George

[BigErn]

I have found that the stock open sights placed all the way back on the dovetail work best on this pistol. I have tried a pistol scope and a red dot and neither have been successful on this pistol. Interested in seeing your findings with cleaning the barrel. Maybe after the barrel is broken in it will shoot better when ever that is. I have about 200 shots through mine so far. Will keep shooting it to see what happens...

[mudduck48]

My NP did the same thing. I had cut 5mm off the front sight and drilled the sight out to 1/2 ", checking what pellets it liked the best, got it shooting a tight group at 5m with the Gamo Tomahawks. Then it did the same thing the next day, looked like I had shot the target with a shotgun. This is when I said DUCK IT!!! and put it in the box and I aint shot it since.

[BDS]

Interesting thread... is the cleaning a DIRECT effect or an indirect effect?

Given the virtually clean nature of pellet gun barrels (Olympic shooters almost never clean theirs) I'm gonna guess that the cleaning procedure (cleaning rod etc?) is doing something else to the process. Can't say what, I don't own one of these "jewels" but... cleaning the sub-microscopic lead particles and the graphite out of the barrel isn't going to have that dramatic influence and pellet gun barrels don't "foul".

Besides, we don't know anything about actual, dimensional information at the target, what does "all over the target. If he re-cleans the barrel, the groups tighten back up." mean? Started out at less than 1.0" c-t-c at 10 meters? More? Less? And what was the worst case, 6.0" ? 3.0"?

[jSan22]

Analogy. Everytime I walk outside I feel sick. Walking must be what is making me sick. Or maybe it's exposure to the sun that makes me sick and has nothing to do with walking.

Airgun problems can be difficult to diagnose sometimes. The next time he starts having accuracy problems, crack open the barrel and look through it into the light. Can you actually see fouling occurring? If not, then the problem could be something else entirely, and you are just attributing it to the cleanliness of the barrel out of coincidence. Also, you can put a lubed cotton cleaning pellet behind the lead pellet every couple dozen shots. That should prevent lead buildups from accumulating.

Aside from that, you might suggest he just take the pistol by the muzzle and fling it at his targets like a throwing knife. From what I hear it would be much more effective that way.

it would shatter into pieces from that. not even a decent throwing knife.

[mudduck48]

A friend bought a Benjamin Train NP Pistol and has had a lot of accuracy problems.

He has found that after the barrel is cleaned, he can shoot consistent groups. After 20-30 shots the poi seems to move all over the target. If he re-cleans the barrel, the groups tighten back up.

The barrel is cleaned with a Crown Saver pull through using a patch sprayed with Ballistol. The wet patch is usually followed up with one or two dry patches.

Does anyone have an idea why this airgun needs a recently cleaned barrel?

I thought that it might be the residual Ballistol, but he has tried spraying it on his pellets with no improvement.

His uses the following sight and adapter.

http://www.umarexusa.com/airguns/airgun-optics/walther-multi-reticle-point-sight
http://www.hawkeoptics.com/38-or-11mm-to-weaver-2-piece-adaptor-low.html

OK, tell your friend to send this thing back! I can't send mine back because I modified the front sight. SEND IT BACK!

[geo111]

Unfortunately the weather here in South Central Pennsylvania wasn't conducive for shooting. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

My thanks to everyone who stayed on topic and offered constructive insights and questions.

One question for the unfortunate owners of this pistol; when I shoot it, should I use an artillery style grip?