I recently entered into a free drawing for a rifle and guess what???? I won a free Crosman Benjamin .22 Nitro Piston Air Rifle. Not only was it a rifle but also pellets, carrying bag, and a small pouch for pellets when out hunting. I know what you are thinking, hunting with an air rifle? What am I 11 years old trying to shoot small birds and bottles in my backyard? To tell you the truth, I thought the same thing until she arrived. Beautifully packed in a good box with enough protection, I was pleased the UPS man didn’t have a chance to break it.
The model number is BT9M22CNP and not only does it come with pellets but a scope too. It’s a Center Point3-9X40AO. It comes with a yellow protection cover so it’s good for dawn/dusk shooting. Not too shabby for free and a savings of $50, did I mention I love free?? The carrying case is nice with Velcro straps inside to keep the rifle nice and secured in the thick foam while over sided zippers enclose the tool with ease. 1 set of carrying handles and you are out the door for some fun. Crosman also included a sling for the rifle and it’s padded nicely to offset the extra 8 pounds pulling on your shoulder while hiking in the forest or desert.
Enough about the “specs”, how does she handle? I was skeptic at first; can someone make an air rifle that shoots well enough to kill pigeons and targets with ease that’s just a single pump? You all remember the multi-pump pellet guns that pinched your fingers because you were up to 10 pumps for “extreme” power, not anymore. The new fad is single pump or PCP(Pre-Charged Pneumatic). For now I’ll just talk about the single break barrels since that’s what I currently own. The gun is very easy to shoot, hold the stock in one hand, slap the barrel with the other and continue to push down until you hear the piston cock. Not only is it a piston, it’s a nitro piston which uses gas instead of a spring to generate the power to push the piston forward which propels the pellet out of the rifled barrel. Since it is gas powered, it has bragging rights to say it’s 70% quieter than a spring piston. Another good thing is that since it’s gas you don’t have to worry about the spring losing its punch. You can have the piston cocked longer without any worry of damaging it or decreasing the power so each shot should be more consistent.
From the first time I cocked it, I thought you had to be a he-man to do it but I was wrong. You can do it with ease if you are older than 14, my 12 year old daughter struggled a little bit with the action but was able to do it. So now for the test of the POWER!!!!!!!!!! Ok not that much power but enough to let’s say shoot through a tin can top and bottom. From airsoft experience, if you can penetrate the lid or the bottom of the can you are shooting around 500 fps so since this shoots metal pellets and boasts up to 950 fps(depending on alloy of pellet) it’ll clear both sides with ease. I found this out the easy way when I put a can down in my garage and shot it. This is when I discovered that this isn’t a toy. Not only did it shoot through both sides, but also punched a hole through my garage door and luckily no vehicle or passer-by’s were hit. After a quick giggle from realizing what had happened, I was humbled by the power of the pellet.
After doing research on the gun, the only internet gripe is the trigger. It’s clunky and not very well made but Charlie Da Tuna sells a golden, adjustable trigger. The stock trigger was OK for kids but if you want a hair trigger, it’s a must to do the swap. Plus the trigger looks wicked compared to the stock black one. With a weaver rail system you can mount any scope you’d like. The rings with the scope fit perfect so you can just mount it and zero it to your liking.
This air rifle is all weather which means the stock is synthetic so it’s ready for rainy days or crawling in the dirt without worry. The stock is cut away for easy grip and the grip area has rough edges so you can grip the stock with or without gloves and it won’t move an inch once you get a good cheek weld. The overall length is good for my 5’9” frame. I can sling it with ease so if you gift this to your children it’ll be a little bit big for them.
This would be a great gift for the city hunter who wants quiet killing time in your garage, brand new shooters aka children who want their own rifle, or just anyone who wants to plink on the cheap side.
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Thanks for the review Joshua. I’m looking forward to your archery write ups. :)
Way to go on your win! I have a Gamo break barrel rifle in .177, and I wil tell anyone these types of air rifle’s are not toys. I initially got mine because I was being overun by squirrels. I have thinned out quite a few over the years. Recently we had a serious fox problem. The Gamo had no problem dropping 4 of the pesky devils. These types of air rifles are great and a lot of fun. Also trigger time is trigger time.
Winning stuff is always sweet! Interesting to note that in all my reading, for hunting a .22 is pretty much the way to go as the .177 doesn’t pack enough punch on a soft target. What is doubly interesting is that on my last trip to the Big C for some supplies, ALL their air rifles were .177. Apparently their purchasing agent didn’t do their research.
If you are close to me I’ll let you try the gun out over a weekend. It’s a blast to shoot and since ammo is so cheap your wallet will be smiling too. It’s a great win win for keeping your yard/roof/walls/cars/whatever clean from pin striping from above.