Benjamin-Bulldog.
This report covers:
- Scope
- Need higher mounts
- Rubber mulch box trap
- However
- Sight-in
- Larger diameter bullet
- Last bullet
- Bullet feeding
- Discussion
Today I sight in the Benjamin .457 Bulldog and shoot a test that a reader asked. It was an interesting test. Let’s start.
Scope
I scoped the Bulldog with a Burris Timberline 4-14 AO scope. It’s small and lightweight and seems well-suited to the Bulldog.
The Bulldog scoped. I had to use a paper target to kill the sun as I don’t have a sunshade for this scope.
Need higher mounts
Though I used medium-height scope mounts, they were too low for comfortable shooting. The straight bullpup stock demands at least one inch more rise of the scope to see through comfortably. I will have to fix that next time.
Rubber mulch box trap
Somebody asked me to shoot the Bulldog at the rubber mulch trap, to assess penetration. I did. I shot the box at one foot distance just to quiet all the questions that would no doubt ensue. I shot it with a 300-grain bullet from Mr. Hollowpoint. The box that was sitting on the grass twisted about 12 inches to the right, but the bullet did not go through.
I shot the Bulldog into a clean side of the rubber mulch trap box.
As far as I could tell, that small bump (YELLOW arrow!) is the bullet at the back of the box.
However
Yepper — old BB knows you want to see that bullet. So he cut the box open and here is the bullet.
After traversing 12-inches of rubber mulch the 300-grain hollowpoint looks like this. There is still some cardboard embedded in the hollow point of the bullet and I picked out some mulch to take this picture.
So, the much trap does stop things well and the Bulldog is a real thumper. On to sight-in.
Sight-in
I shot the first round at 20 feet, just to see if I was on the cardboard box. The bullet hit in the center of the bull, so I knew it would be okay at 25 yards.
I then moved the box out to 25 yards for today’s test. Yes I will test it at longer distances and yes I will test it with Crosman bullets, but today I’m shooting bullets from Mr. Hollowpoint.
I rested the rifle on the sandbag and started the sight-in. At 25 yards shot number one hit 4.5-inches above the aim point. So I lowered the elevation and fired sight-in shot two. That one hit an inch lower and more to the left. I cranked in a LOT more down and fired shot three. That one dropped about 2.5-inches straight down, so I adjusted the reticle down and to the right and fired a fourth shot.
Then I refilled the rifle and fired again. This first shot hit at the top of the bull, so I used it to start my group. Shot number 2 hit 1.5-inches above the first one that was fired from 20 feet and shot 3 went into the same hole as the first shot.
Remember the discussion about the useful shot count and how a big bore doesn’t really change impact that much when the velocity decreases? I then shot the fourth shot on this fill And it went into the center of the bull, where the shot from 20 feet had hit. That’s a lot of stuff, but I will show you the target so you can see what happened. Use this paragraph to understand the photo below.
This one is hard to measure because I shot the group at the sight-in target, but it’s 4 shots of the .457 hollowpoint that weighs 300 grains in about 2.5 inches at 25 yards. I marked all the shots for you.
Larger diameter bullet
Okay, here is a teaching point. The next bullet I shot was also a 300-grainer, only this one was a flat point and is sized 0.458-inches. Watch what happened. Four bullets (on one fill) went into 0.845-inches at 25 yards. It looks bigger because these bullets are almost a half-inch in diameter.
When the bullets were .458-inches the group shrank to 0.845-inches for 4 shots.
Last bullet
The last bullet I tested was the 255-grain hollowpoint from Mr. Hollowpoint. This one did well in the Texan and I expected it to do well in the Bulldog. Four shots went into 0.584-inches at 25 yards. Cowabunga! Will I have to get the trime out next?
That’s a great group for the Bulldog — four bullets in 0.584-inches at 25 yards.
Guys — this is a big bore rifle. It isn’t for target shooting. I’m only doing this to give you an idea of what to expect.
Bullet feeding
The bullets did feed better during this test. None of them flipped in the clip when I loaded them and the bolt only flipped one as I cocked the rifle. It fell back on its own when I smacked the stock a couple times with the heel of my hand.
Discussion
So the Bulldog cannot shoot through 12-inches of rubber mulch. But it does come close.
The clip isn’t as much of a problem as I said in Part 2. It just took getting used to.
The Bulldog is accurate at 25 yards. Lighter bullets seem to do better and 0.458s seem to do better than 0.457s.
The straight stock means the scope has to be mounted much higher.
Four shots are accurate out to 25 yards. I will also try them at 50 yards.
Summary
The .457 Benjamin Bulldog is turning out to be a much different big bore than the .357 Bulldog. This is the real deal and seems to be a rifle that can harvest a deer or wild pig with authority.
Well, WordPress is at it again. Sorry for the delay.
BB
Wish I had a place to hunt, then a big bore would be a lot of fun.
BB,
That’s a whole lot of energy and resulting penetration being dumped into that box. If I recall when the original box was tested by the author’s shooting buddy with a few rounds of .223 they didn’t even move the box (although the distance from the box was at 25 yards if I recall correctly). You are going to have to resight in the scope when you change the rings to higher mounts. Then again this 25 yard test was to show it’s potential accuracy at 50 yards and out using .458 caliber slugs weighing less than 300 grains.
Siraniko
Thanks, B.B. That rubber mulch is amazing stuff.
The Burris Timberline is one of my favorite scopes.
David Enoch
B.B.,
Thank you for the rubber mulch trap test.
It provides an excellent starting data point for designing a secondary and perhaps tertiary bullet trap for my backyard.
Nice shooting!
Glad to see you out with your DOA Shooting Bench. Mine looks just like it!
It really is the best portable bench I have ever encountered and better than a great many built in place benches.
shootski
shootski,
Yeah, all that. But it sure is heavy!
BB
B.B.,
LOL!
Wheels? ATV? Golf Cart? Pick-up Truck bed…but that would take Off Road jacks to steady the suspension enough.
Hire a Porter?
shootski
Jonah,
I don’t know where you live but a Search Engine should provide you with a place to start with a simple: where to hunt – search entry. Your local fish and game office or hunter education organization can get you headed in the right direction. In the USA Public Hunting Lands are in every state…even New Jersey! https://nj.gov/dep/fgw/hunting_publicland.htm
Some other sources:
https://airgunhuntinglegion.com/10-2
https://www.iwla.org/
/airgun-map/
shootski
BB
The Bulldog .457 is getting interesting.
Definitely need a 50 yard test for hunting and some 100 yard bench rest target shooting. You know how that longer distance bench rest shooting has caught on.
But first the 50 yard test. I’m sure that will tell a story in itself.
BB,
The same thing that kept me from investing in a .357 Bulldog is going to keep me from investing in a .457 Bulldog. The location of that cocking lever. When the first Bulldog came out years ago, others had already moved the cocking lever forward. With that cocking lever at your shoulder, it is as bad as a single shot shotgun that you are loading with your trigger hand. If the cocking lever was closer to the trigger, I would likely get one. I will just save up a few more pennies and get a Texan LSS.
B.B. and Readership,
I feel a movement, still weak but growing, in the FORCE.
Even without Big Bores more and more airgunner are reaching out beyond 40! Most of that shooting is being done with PCP using hybrid or bullets (slugs) into the UNKNOWN!
OKAY NOW! What is this unknown shootski speak of?
Wind and Mirage my friends. Get ready to learn about MIRAGE or forever be bedeviled by it.
Aw shootski what are you talking about! That just happens on HOT days on blacktop highways and looks like puddles. Well unless you shoot with a 15X or higher scope you probably have never seen it and what it does to a target…but the MIRAGE was still there doing the EVIL work of the shooter’s devil!
Along with the wind & The MIRAGE are the two things that explain those FLYERS; you know the ones that bust up that great group by just enough to aggravate you for days! Or on really bad days make you think your scope won’t hold zero, the gun is broke, or you just stink today!
Yea! Some of you drank that Kool Aid that PCPs are EASY to shoot…UNTIL THEY AREN’T!
shootski
Shootski
ER my friend,, PCPs are easy(er) to shoot. Shooting can be as easy or difficult as you choose to make it. Shooting a lot makes it easier no matter what you are shooting,,, but going to the dark side,,, it’s a whole different kind of easier.
Ed
Ed,
I’m not certain I follow your train of thought…PCPs easier shooting than than what?
My point was about wind and The MIRAGE that (mostly) is only a factor at the ranges and degree of precision available to PCP and firearm shooters.
shootski
Shootski
I know what you mean. But why only firearm and pcp shooters. Springers too.
Maybe you mean that pcp’s and firearms shoot at farther distances than most people shoot springers at.
But I’m with Ed. Pcp’s do tend to be easier to shoot than some firearms and springers. That could be a report in itself there.
Gunfun1,
I didn’t want it to go to the issue of shot cycle torque (Coil spring) two way recoil, piston slam recoil, hold sensitivity of the Spring Piston Powerplant, etc, etc, etc.
I wanted to open up a discussion on the fact that airguns are being shot at greater distances with hybrid pellets and bullets (slugs) and that that was going to open new areas the airgun only shooters were going to need to learn about or face great frustration and going down a lot of rabbit holes that have nothing to do with the really significant problems/issues involved in shooting beyond 40 or 50.
In my opinion unless airguners have real knowledge on wind (actually gentle breezes) and MIRAGE they will be bedeviled by them.
As an example B.B. frequently talks about trying to wait through the wind to take shots. If there is MIRAGE that breeze lull will probably have the MIRAGE boiling in the 15X+ scope! That is absolutely not the time to take a shot on target. Far better to shoot during the same steady state winds you have observed on that range and noted in your shooters log.
That is the experience you talk about and the results on paper.
You are right that Wind and especially The MIRAGE are each a blogs worth or more as well as one about how the two interact with each other.
shootski
Shootski
Sorry, just my clumsy attempt at humor. I was only referencing your saying that “Some of you drank that Kool Aid that PCPs are EASY to shoot”.
My shooting, of late, has only been at 25 yds or less. While I am aware of mirage, it isn’t something I have seen much of while airgunnung. In my powder burning days, it was something I was acutely aware of.
Didn’t mean to mislead,,
Ed
Ed,
No need to say your sorry.
I just wanted to give airgun shooters with no clue of The MIRAGE problem a heads-up.
I have watched the battle Dark Side since i first got back to the USA in the 1990s and decided to get back into adult airguns. My first encounter was actually with Tom who at that time seemed to be totally taken by Field Target and the Damascus, Maryland bunch. I was leaning toward multipumpers and PCP for hunting at the time and they were all dreaming of Whiscombe Airguns and European springers. It was an oil on water situation, even though they were a great bunch of people socially, I was walking a different path so we parted company. After a brief look at Garry Barnes artisan products I was mostly walking alone in the woods doing suburban and urban control hunting with a military experiment PCP. Then I found Dennis Quackenbush.
So i’m always trying to understand this divide so apparent among airguners.
I am glad to have found B.B. again not certain if he feels as good about it as I do! LOL!
Thank you for your reply,
shootski
Shootski
You should write a guest blog on mirage and wind. I think it would be a interesting read.
Gunfun1,
Books have been written about both individually as well as the advanced work on using them together to hit closer to POA or better said POIntendedA since The MIRAGE can make a mockery .of the aim point.
I will give a Guest Blog some thought. It would need to be limited to airgun specific ranges and issues.
shootski
Shootski
A guest blog would be good on the subject. Especially about air guns.
So true!