Page 2 - Benjamin Trail NP XL Reviews

I came here looking for a new air rifle. All my shopping to date has been with PA, so I naturally stopped here first. But I find that the posted specs and the reviews are not that useful. I have asked in the past for PA to include the muzzle energy (ME), which is more meaningful than a muzzle velocity (MV), especially with no pellet specified. At least with that, we could calculate an approximate ME. I am sure that PA know this information, but remains adamant that they will not post it. ~ I see comments about this all the time on the reviews and forums. It is disingenuous to say that manufacturers don't supply it, so you don't know it. I have used a chrono often enough to know that all my airguns have an average ME that I can count on as I switch pellets. ~ Reviewers often say that they got nnn fps, but don't say what pellet (or what PCP pressure).

I have asked in the past for you to post review guidelines, so that they will be more useful. You didn't. Think about how useful a review would be to you, and then post those guidelines. Pellet weight. PCP pressure. Target distance. Bench rest or held. It only takes a few more words to accurately tell the story. I'll bet that most reviewers, if reminded on each review page, would be complete. Most of the "specs" and "reviews" are not that useful. "Knocked over a soda can at 50 feet is exciting, but not informative, because I'd be surprised if they all did not do that. A 1" group doesn't mean much without supporting comments. I use the MS Flight Sim, and their forums have a template that they recommend folks use so that all these fundamental points are covered.

I agree that this is not a review of the airgun, but I don't see a way to address these issues in the open, and I think they are important. PA has not been responsive. When I tried to submit this the first time, I got "In field 'Things I like...' We detected use of inappropriate language in your entry. Let's keep this site rated PG-13! " Wow. Now I need to guess what "inappropriate language" is to PA.

Powerful

Scope mount and better scope.

Poor scope mounts they will eventually break the welds from the recoil. All the c clips will break or snap off from the recoil as well. All the screws would come loose on the stock even with red locktite. Benjamin dropped the ball on this air rifle.

Absolutely love this gun I call this my boss hog

This is one monster of a break barrel air gun takes a little bit to get used to cock it but once you get your groove on it works fine Anything you need to know is buy one now!!!

Absolutely love this gun I call this my boss hog

This is one monster of a break barrel air gun takes a little bit to get used to cock it but once you get your groove on it works fine Anything you need to know is buy one now!!!

The rifle seems to be well made and the metal finish is done well, so is the stock.

The scope is absolutley worthless! Change the magnification and the point of impact moves 5 inches at 10 meters (30 ft.) The ten shot groups are all strung out. I am an accomplished long range firle shot and have seen better more consistent groups at 7 and 8 hundred yards. It is impossible to evaluate the rifle performance because of the scope.

This rifle and scope combination is worthless.

nice stock

terrible accuracy extremely poor trigger would not hold a 5" group at 25 yards from a rest with sand bags. Extremely disappointing considering that I waited a month to receive this gun because it was backordered. Perhaps in the rush to fill orders poor quality workmanship was allowed to leave the factory. Please next time do it right the first time.

sells for less money in their catalog than on their website

Accurate. Stout. Its heavy and if you run out of pellets and have to go to hand to hand combat with a rabbit, you can beat the snot out of it with that heavy beast of a gun.

Add iron sights. Ditch the Center Point scope and get a Hawke.

Eat your Wheaties and do some push ups, because cocking that beast can be a chore until you get use to it. Instead of buy a can of pellets thinking they might shoot the best and find out they aren't that great, go to https://www.straightshooters.com/straight-shooters-full-pellet-sampler-.22.html and purchase a pellet pack. The pack consists of 18 different brands (25 pellets of each). Assorted shapes and grains to find which round works the best for your gun. I set up 18 targets and labeled each target with the brand of pellet, Shot 10 rounds of each brand at 15 yards to see which one groups the best. Took the top 5 performers and went out to 25 yards and shot the top 5 10 times. My gun likes the JSB Exact 15.9 gr pellet.

This gun has power. I killed a ground squirrel at 112 laser checked yards. It was a lucky shot as my gun does not seem to be accurate enough to make that shot over and over. I can hit a small water bottle 4 out of 5 times at 40 yards. The gun is very heavy more than a .308 rifle with scope. About 11 -12 pounds I would guess. Most of the accuracy problems are with the trigger and the scope. The stock trigger is bad. You can fix it with an aftermarket trigger or just put a washer on the backside of the trigger. Youtube will show you how.

Better scope, better trigger.

Takes some effort to cock this thing. I bought the .25 and the .22 both had about the same accuracy. both destroyed their scopes. I went through many scopes and actually had the cross hairs just fall down inside the scope. These guns are tough on scopes. i would get a good scope with a warranty so at least when you kill the scope you can get a new one. The .25 is a beast and with heavy pellets will kill most anything under 30 pounds. If you have a choice get the .25 and use the heavier pellets.

Accurate, powerful, and a good looking rifle. With the right pellets it's a tack driver.

It's a little heavy, and maybe add some iron sights.

This was a gift for my daughter and the first pellet rifle I've bought since a Daisy 880 in the mid 90s. I was impressed by the quality of the rifle immediately. Beautiful fit and finish and the power was surprising. The very first shot went through a gallon jug of water and two pieces of 1/4" plywood. My daughter recently used it to eliminate a jackrabbit from her garden. The rabbit was quartering away from her and the pellet went through the shoulder and cut the spine in the neck on the way through (H&N Hornet). He dropped in place. I have no doubt the next coyote in her yard will go down as well. I'm looking forward to upgrading/replacing the piston seal for even more power (and a little less recoil).

Okay, I liked this thing out of the box as a plinker. while the 40 lbs to cock is a exercise it delivers a high power and with practice one can do quickly and accurately. I had originally upgraded to this size to protect our chickens and rabbits (we live in a populated area and I needed something legal that would be unlikely to upset neighbors) it has been nearly a year with no critters visiting us (sound of plinking may have been enough) Last night I can report that this gun will take down a racoon (two!) with a single shot at about 20m range using JSB King Heavy MKII. In summary, fun to shoot and good at protecting livestock from small and medium predators.

The scope had to be replaced, this is a issue with the power of the thing, stock scope ended up breaking, a noted issue on these reviews. I reflected this in the accuracy as a scope will be slowly "jostled" out of alignment, if not break entirely. Be sure to get a scope that is built for airguns and the spring double re-coil.

.25 has a somewhat bad name, I have not found this to be true. I run patches down the barrel about every 250 rounds and have tried almost all the available ammo for the gun. I have found best luck and accuracy with the metal tipped HN Hornets and the king heavy MKII at 50 yards it is possible to get a group in a quarter. In the first 500 rounds I would end up with a flyer every 5 or so that would fall outside, Penetration doesn't seem to decrease significantly out to 50 yards, can't safely test beyond this. Seems to me that each gun might have to be matched to the preferred ammo. While I prefer the heavy pellets for shooting the 25 grain pellets seem to work well as well. This is a great price for the gun you get. Can be fired within some cities, quiet for the power, and powerful enough to protect animals from predators. If you are looking for more you are really looking at a PCP.

First of all the .25 is a mans rifle its a beast! Pulled mine out of the box put the scope on and a couple of minor adjustments and I was shooting quarter inch groupings at 40 yards shooting H&N baracudas. Plenty of power!

Nothing

It is a beast to cock. Its a heavy gun hard to free stand or sit and shoot. Great gun if you are in the market for a break barrel in .25 buy this gun!!

Style

the company

I've been looking for another rifle to complement my Magnum .22, I grew up with the Benjamin 342 I still have, I hate composite stocks, the XL .25 immediately caught my eye. Unfortunately so did the recurring reviews about the scope rail coming off. I've now seen them dated as recently as 1/22/21. So I called Benjamin customer service and asked about it, and yes they talked about a "bad batch" but claimed it had been resolved. Unfortunately neither could they tell me how to find one of the new ones, or tell if the rifle was one of the possibly bad ones, apparently they expect customers to cough up $300 for the privilege of weeding it out for them, they won't even do a cross RMA if I get a bad one. Pyramid shouldn;t even be selling these until Benjamin can get it's head out and make sure there are no bad ones on the shelves.

This air rifel has impressed me so much I had to buy 2 this air rifel BENJAMIN TRAIL XL 1100wnp MAG is by far a powerhouse of a break barrel shoting a average of 881 fps with a H&N terminator that is over the 28fpe mark and is very accurate even from 75 yards!

Benjamin killed it with this one but in my opinion I would change scope /mounts/ trigger spring/ and you have the best hunting break barrel money can buy

A lot of recoil / get strong scope made for MAGNUM SPRINGER I recommend hammers 3x9x40 AO MILDOT pertected adjustments / change spring through stoger or get the GTR trigger make sure to blue loctite every screw that holds stock to rifel they will back out if you don't Beacuse of recoil and power this is by far my favorite air rifel

This air rifel has impressed me so much I had to buy 2 this air rifel BENJAMIN TRAIL XL 1100wnp MAG is by far a powerhouse of a break barrel shoting a average of 881 fps with a H&N terminator that is over the 28fpe

Benjamin killed it with this one but in my opinion I would change scope /mounts/ trigger spring/ and you have the best hunting break barrel money can buy

A lot of recoil / get strong scope made for MAGNUM SPRINGER I recommend hammers 3x9x40 AO MILDOT pertected adjustments / change spring through stoger or get the tunna trigger make sure to blue loctite every screw that holds stock to rifel they will back out if you don't Beacuse of recoil and power this is by far my favorite air rifel

Safety trigger very light, nice feature, once I sited the scope with my .22 long rifle bore setter, yes it fits the .25 caliber pellet, like it was made for it, I was shooting right through penny size metal slugs from 20 yards. .25 caliber pellet is way more fun than a .22 caliber pellet gun, hits targets with much more impact.

Very Heavy rifle, came with the black piece of stock off, glue was off so I had to re-attach, and cocking the piston was locking up as it was not centered, had to fix that. I would have give 5 stars if I didn't have to repair it before using it

.25 bullet type ammo looks like a slug, is not consistent with this air rifle, save your money, get the pellets

Look, comfort, power

Scope rail

I had just purchased my brand this rifle and took it on my bow hunting trip for squirrels and playing around camp. I left my old reliable Crosman at home because I was so excited about my new one. I bet I didnt have 50 shots through it when the scope and the scope rail fell right off the gun. They use crappy spot welds to attach it and the shock of firing broke the weld. Yes it does have some punch, but junk for the price.

I like the feel of the rifle and the weight of it.

There is nothing I would change on the rifle

If you want a high speed rifle this is the one to buy

It worked for a few shots.

Actually weld the rail to the rifle so it doesn't fall off.

The welds holding the scope let go during a shot today. The rail and scope clattered to the ground. The rifle is now junk.

The power, and trigger pull are very good.

Nothing

The Centerpoint scope is really good and has a parralex correction down to 5 feet.

Hard hitting. I have the 22 with wood stock and scope. It is a heavy rifle but works well for back yard pest control. It would not be my pick for target shooting. Acuracy is mediocre at best. It shoots lead pellets better that the light weight alloy versions.

There is no provision for open sights. The scope mount detached and appears to have been glued on from the factory. I have not been able to find anything that will keep it attached for more than a couple of shots. So it is pretty much useless at this point.

The poor quality of this rifle does not justify its price point.