The Benjamin Trail NP (Nitro Piston)

     This thing is an absolute monster and a blast to shoot. It’s extremely powerful shooting a .22 cal pellet @ approx 950 FPS, but extremely quiet in doing so. I picked the rifle up off of Amazon for about $200 and comes with the rifle, Center Point Scope and a Benjamin engraved sling. The scope is a 3-9x 40mm, and has proven to be extremely accurate and reliable for me. You’ll find this rifle has a weaver/picatanny mount rather than the normal 11mm dove tail mount you’re used to seeing on an air gun. I would highly recommend this gun to any one looking for a quality high powered break barrel.

My test assortment of .22 Cal Pellets

     I quickly found out shooting pellets at high velocities can exaggerate their flaws, and groupings can be difficult to achieve with the wrong pellet for your gun. My Crosman 1322 (approx 500 FPS) will shoot just about anything straight, the Benjamin Trail NP however can vary greatly among pellets. For my testing I tried to purchase everything from low to high end pellets and see what they were all about. Below is a quick review of what I found.

• JSB Exact Jumbo Monster – 200 per tin for $12 – These are very heavy pellets weighing in at 25 gr, almost twice a normal pellet. They hit very hard and can shoot very straight. In my Trail NP they didn’t do so well though, the large size seemed to prevent it from fully seating into the barrel when loading. This gave me wild inaccurate shots. I did notice in my 1322 they hit harder than any other pellet and shoot very straight, even in that gun though I have a harder time getting this ammo to load and seat fully.
• Predator Polymag – 200 per tin for $14 – These are my new favorite hunting pellet and is a very high quality pellet. I found at first they shot very different then my other pellets and the scope needed a considerable re-sight. After that accuracy was second to none, and whatever you hit is going down. The sheer amount of energy these things displace on impact is amazing. I find the majority of the time the jacket does come over the polymer tip and expands nicely.


Predator Polymag Expansion

• Gamo Rocket Ammo – 100 per tin for $8 – These are another one of my favorites. Similar to the polymags, they have a steel BB at the tip of the pellet instead of polymer, for enhanced penetration. They do what they say they do, penetrate almost everything including metal. Even in my 1322 these will penetrate galvanized steel that normal pellets would just dent. High quality and very accurate. This is another pellet that due to the cost I use mostly for hunting and kill shots.
• Crosman Premier Hollow Point – 500 per tin for $8 – These are the only pellet I have been able to find at Walmart in a .22 cal, and for the price they are hard to beat. They shoot fairly well and give me consistent shots most of the time. Quality of the pellets is usually consistent through out the tin. I have gone through at least 2 tins between my 1322 and Trail NP now and will continue to use them. I use these mainly for target shooting.
• Crosman Pointed – 175 per tin for $4 – I had heard that on various forums that these were often referred to as on of the most accurate pellets out there for Crosman guns, so I gave them a try. I found that statement to be very true, this is one of the few pellets I have been able to consistently put through the same hole on multiple occasions. They appear to be high quality and consistent across the tin. I will continue to use these as a hunting and target shooting pellet.


Close up L to R – Crosman Pointed, Hollow Points, Gamo Rocket, JSB Monster, Polymag