Page 3 - Benjamin Akela Reviews

Gun design , weight and balance are good, accuracy and 38FPE with heavier pellets/slugs.

This thing should be sealed in polyurethane like the product picture shows. Crossman is misleading customers and overcharging for a gun with a oil rubbed finish. Oil rubbed finishes are fine but are not totally waterproof for outdoor use and the area behind the buttpad is not sealed.

Crossman's quality control on this gun is HORRIBLE wait, NON EXISTENT. The gun is designed well and if fixed out of the box its great from there on. However, out of the box you will get a $600 brick. Seriously, first gun would not hold air. Sent it back to Pyramid no problems, got the second gun and exact same thing. Leaked so bad you could not even get it to hold air from an HPA tank. If 2 defective guns in a row wasn't bad enough, the second one also had a fake Foster fitting on the end of the reservoir. It would prevent air flow because the internal check valve had no spring. Man! called Crossman and they sent me to a Service tech who fixed the gun but had to replace the foster fitting and then remove the valve and tank assembly. Then carefully clean/shave the valve mating surface and reassemble the whole gun back together. Then I sealed the stock with 3 coats of wipe on varathane poly like it should have been out of the box. You will be very lucky if you get a working one

I was surprised at the accuracy because it is a short rifle. It works very well.

I can't think of anything to change.

You should use high scope mounts for sure.

Love the Benjamin Akela

Barrel bands added and rubber orings in magazines to hold pellets or hybrids in place so they don't fall out or rattle around when hunting

Awesome Bull pup air rifle

Looks, feel, walnut stock, pistol grip contours, smooth coking lever, 12 shot magazines, balanced weight, shot count per fill, FANTASTIC TRIGGER. 5 year warranty. Despite the issues (read below). I love this rifle. I happened to get a dud. 5 year warranty is better than most at this price. The 1st gun shot great. I should have had Crosman send me a new manometer instead of returning it. After the 2nd rifle issues, I chose to stick with it. Waiting on my 3rd. Both rifles had shot 3-5 pellets through a single pellet hole at 20 yards. My daughter shot a squirrel at 50 yards on her first try. The looks, feel and accuracy are well worth it. Its a more polished version of the Kral Puncher Breaker series.

Add a regulator. This is unregulated. Bipod picatinny rail needs 2 screws instead of 1. It needs an easier to activate safety switch. Its way too stiff.

I am on my 2nd rifle. That one is on its way to Crosman for replacement. I wasn't sure how to rate it. 1st rifle had a defective manometer. It read 1,000 psi low at complete fill. But it shot 2 mags very accurately. Easy return to Pyramyd for replacement. The 2nd rifle seemed fine at first. But the manometer needle was shifted to the right. Close enough for government work. Initially it shot somewhat well. But shot groups opened at 20 yds. POI would shift immensely from 1 mag to another and from 1 fill to another. I would have 2 or 3 completely different groups in 1 magazine. The fill port would get blocked while filling and cause my compressor to jump to over 4,000 psi quickly. Damaged o-ring on the check valve causing it to stick. The trigger stopped working after degassing it. Crosman support was great and will replace it instead of fixing it.

The fit and finish of this rifle are great for the money. Mine shoots H+N slugs in .217" among the best of any pellets I've tried. It also likes Baracuda hunters very well. Crosman Premier HPs are decent in it but it really didn't like H+N Field Target Trophies, Crow Magnums, or RWS Super H Points. I like the quality of the wood on the stock and it would really shine with some coats of Tru-oil.

I'd like to see the side lever relocated closer to the trigger. I also think the rifle would benefit from a barrel band. The area between the shroud and receiver was pushing out a little of the grease from the o-rings around the outside of the barrel and on further inspection both of them had been nicked slightly on assembly.

Mine arrived empty which was different from the Cayden I had gotten a couple weeks earlier. On the first fill it lost 1400# in about 30 hours. After the second fill the o-rings must've seated because it hasn't lost air since. Use really tall rings if you are used to putting your cheek on the rifle to look through the scope. I used a set of tall Burris Zee rings and even then I felt like t the plastic cheek piece was in my way so I took it off. Since then I've milled off the pic rail and I will prob stick on a piece of foam once I paint the top cover. I didn't bother installing the lower pic rail on the forend but I use Harris bipods so I didn't need it anyway. The bipod fits a little less than bombproof on the forend but it seems workable enough. The sling swivel studs are a little less than artful but I just took the rear one off since I don't carry it via sling. I'm hoping that the .218" slugs shoot well also but I'm really happy with the 217s so far.

I like the looks and the price range

Have the Picatinny rail come down in front and become a barrel ban. Use non shrouded barrel

I did not like how the floating barrel was so flimsy you could move it rates of an inch just buy barely pushing on it same with the Picatinny rail it could be flexed by hand with heavy scope mounted. I sent the gun back and got the Cayden much happier with it as it has a solid barrel with a band on the end

I like the accuracy, the power, and the balance. I did do some modifications to the stock to make the rifle a better fit for me.

The things I would change, I did. I know that the manufacturer has a price range and in-order to stay within that range your gonna get things like a cheap picatinny rail etc. So, I'm good..

I'm 57 yrs old, and I have had Benjamin air rifles since I was 12 yrs old. That's what prompted me to get the new AKELA, and I'm not disappointed. It is a joy to shoot.

I do not own this gun, and other than the pics here, I've never seen one. By all accounts, it appears to be a quality PCP, but I take issue with this and other makers. While the finger grooves in the grip might look "sexy" they are a great hinderance to us fat-fingered dudes. I own several KRAL bullpups, and I am unable to properly place my fingers on the grips, because the finger grooves do not fit me. My Glock pistols are similar, although that company listened to it's constituency and have removed those grooves from their latest models.

Please produce these types of guns WITHOUT the grip's finger grooves - PLEASE!

I really like the balance of this rifle. At my age, 79, shooting off hand accurately is a struggle. With this rifle and the fact that the bulk of the rifle is very close to my body, I can achieve accuracy in the standing position that is not possible with my other air rifles. Shooting off the bench this rifle is as good as any of my other PCP air rifles. The trigger is especially nice and it definitely enhances my accuracy. I have shot over 1000 rounds with the gun and it works beautifully.

I am a bit over 6 feet tall and a big issue for me with most of my rifles is reach. Usually I can fix this issue with a recoil pad. But with the Akela I needed 2 additional inches. My solution was to duplicate the but pad on the rifle in several pieces of walnut I had. The reach on this rifle is shorter than any of my other air rifles. There should be a source of stock extenders for Akela that are a compliment to the very nice stock that the rifle has.

This is my third Benjamin PCP air rifle and all of them are really great values and fun to shoot.

Accurate and quiet. Wiped out the squirrel horde that was hanging out at my deer stand. Didn't spook them like using a .22 rimfire. 6 headshots in a row out to 48 yards. Shoots H&N slugs great. Hits hard.

Picatinny rail rotates on single screw mount regardless of how tight the screw is. 3D printing a replacement that will pick up the mounting screw and the sling swivel. Crossman should do the same...

pellet in pellet accuracy...very smooth cocking...beautiful walnut stock

magazine seems a bit flimsy...works well though...could use some quieting

This Akela is awesome! Easy, smooth, accurate!

Two screw pictinny forearm attachment! Reduce the stock weight!

I love the floating barrel! Action is smooth and easy! Accuracy is awesome!

Beautiful gun. very accurate and comfortable. One of my favorite bullpups, shooting HN slugs great in .217 and .218. Very consistent for non regulated Airgun!

Nothing

It looks really nice and feels great when handling while shooting. Once the barrel is normalized with the air cylinder to be parallel, the accuracy is exceptional with certain pellets.

The barrel should be parallel to the cylinder. I needed to place a spacer of electrical tape to make the spacing along the body of the gun parallel from the breach to the end of the rifle.

This is my 1st PCP air gun after some 48 years of air gun shooting. The accuracy is exceptional. Filling the PCP with a hand pump was easy. I have about 2 dozen .22 airgun pellet types that were tested before this review. This gun likes some pellets and not others. Lighter pellets appear to be more accurate. Falcon 13.43 grain, 'Accuracy Plus' were the most precise in my testing.

This is very accurate

the weight, heavy and awkward to handle. Very loud compared to how its rated.

very loud in comparison to my Marauder, would not have bought. Not backyard friendly.

very accurate and the cocking lever is very smooth.

cocking lever is to far back and it seems way heavier then my Marauder which makes it awkward to handle.

If you own a Marauder it will sound much louder. It will not fit in a standard scope gun case. Over all I do like it.

At its price point a very capable air rifle. Very accurate, I haven't stretched its legs but at 30 yards, nice groups.

I reached out to HUMA to see if they had a regulator that would work with the Akela, they haven't had a chance to look at the rifle. A regulator would be a very good upgrade. Maybe Crosman could have one available soon.

The power adjustment is very hard to move at first but it seems to be breaking in. I haven't seen 1000fps but I'm shooting FX 15.9 and JSB 18.13 pellets.

Price, stock, power, good shots per filling, very crisp trigger, nice looking gun, very accurate with the JSB 18.3, I recommend this excellent gun. For pest control is very ideal.

Nothing.

Please dont use the crossman pellets. The best pellets for this gun are the jsb 18.3.

Fit and finish are excellent. All machined, no plastic except for the bipod mount and cheek rest. Smooth cocking. Sexy! This is the pcp Ive been waiting for. Adjustable power makes this the most versatile pesting tool you can own for the price. It shoots JSB 18.13g at a sizzling 890fps. Use the diabolo pellets for short range urban pesting, since they bleed energy so quickly. Those 32fpe only translates to about 16fpe on target at 50y. For larger vermin, fill the mag with 23g H&N .217 slugs, and retain 26fpe on target at the same distance. This thing shoots slugs like it was purpose built. Accurate, accurate, accurate. My stock looks nothing like the one pictured here, its beautiful. If you dont turn around to look at your gun when you walk away, you bought the wrong one.

Bipod mount needs to be better secured. I designed and printed a compression cap that fits over the front swivel mount and on to the rail. This locks everything in place and and eliminated any side to side play. Thingyverse, search Akela. Include a single shot tray.

Mount a decent scope on it! Dont cheap out on the glass.

The accuracy is very good, overall its well made.

The safety switch is too difficult to put on SAFE. Mine is sticking for some reason and its in a terrible spot.

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