Benjamin Scout Rifle
I hunt very little, but I do get called from time to time to do pest control “favors” for the neighbors. When that happens, my go-to airgun is usually a Benjamin 392 .22 caliber pump-up rifle.
There’s a lot to like about the humble 392: it’s easy to shoot well; it delivers enough power to terminate whatever you might reasonably want to shoot with an air rifle; the power can be readily varied; it doesn’t cost a ton of money, and it delivers good longevity and value for an air rifle in its price class. Mostly I like the 392 because it is light, easy to handle, and reasonably accurate.
But all is not 100 percent tickety-boo in 392-ville. The factor iron sights – particularly the rear sight – that come with the 392 are lackluster. Williams makes a peep sight especially designed for the Benjamin that works pretty well, with some caveats.
First, the Williams peep has no screw adjustment for windage. As a result, to adjust windage, you must loosen both screws that prevent side-to-side movement of the peep. Then you gently move the windage adjustment with your fingers. At this point there is the very great risk that it will slip completely out of adjustment, forcing you to start from scratch. Once you gingerly ease the windage into what you think is the proper position, you must then re-tighten the screws without jiggling the sight out of adjustment. Elevation adjustment, however, is as simple as turning a screw.
Second, once the Williams peep sight is properly mounted on the Benjamin 392 and adjusted, there is the problem that, at various distances, the front sight blade appears to be wider than the thing that you are aiming at. This, of course, can be a problem with any rifle with a blade front sight.
Finally, at dawn or dusk or anytime the light doesn’t lend itself to high contrast, aiming with metallic sights can be challenging. For all of these reasons, there are times when I yearn for a better sighting system for the 392.
Mounting a scope on a 392 is problematic. There are no dovetails on the receiver. Some tuners will cut dovetails into the receiver, but even if you mount a scope on the receiver, unless it is a very short scope, it raises the question of where do you put your hands while pumping? If you mount a normal-length scope, you are forced to pump with one hand on the 392’s pistol grip or use the scope itself as a handle for pumping.
But there is another alternative for solving the problem. Some years ago, Colonel Jeff Cooper touted the idea of the scout rifle – a rifle of no more than one meter long (39.4 inches), no more than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds), with a forward-mounted low-power scope. The forward-mounted scope allows the shooter to keep both eyes open, to aim with precision and yet be aware of the surroundings at the same time.
I was intrigued with the idea of the scout rifle, and, using intermounts clamped to the barrel of the 392, I built one with a forward mounted pistol scope.
Here's my first attempt at a scout rifle, with a forward-mounted pistol scope.
I liked it well enough, but recently I wanted a Benjamin scout rifle that offered better performance in low-light conditions. The good folks at Crosman were kind enough to send me the goodies to put such a scout rifle together.
They consist of a Benjamin 392, Benjamin B272 intermounts, 2-piece medium profile dovetail rings for 30mm scopes, and a CenterPoint Multi-TAC Quick Aim Sight, which is basically a green/red-dot sight with four reticles.
Putting it all together first requires clamping the intermounts to the barrel on either side of the rear sight. Next, loosen the weaver rings on the CenterPoint Multi-TAC Quick Aim Sight and slip them off. Slide the 30mm medium profile dovetail rings on where the weaver rings were and tighten them. Finally, attach the dovetail rings to the intermounts on either side of the rear sight.
Here's my newest version of a scout rifle, with a red/green dot sight.
Tah-dah! You’re done. The result is a fast-handling pest control gun that’s a lot of fun to shoot and easy to pump because there is plenty of room to grab the rifle just forward of the breech. I find my head position behind the dot sight is a bit higher than looking through a peep, but not so high that it bothers me. The CenterPoint sight displays either red or green dots (your choice), and a continuously variable rheostat in the sight makes it easy to set the degree of brightness that you like best for the shooting conditions. The sight allows the shooter to select one of four different reticles simply by rotating a knob: a single dot, three vertical dots, a dot with a dash on either side and the bottom, and a dot within a circle.
That knob on the left side of the sight allows the shooter to select among four different reticles. The big knob on top controls the color and the brightness.
In the end, I really like this Benjamin scout rifle. It’s light, easy to handle, and quick to aim and should make a dandy tool for doing those pest control favors for neighbors.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
The Silent Stalker Whisper – Part II
in Airguns
as air rifle, break barrel, Gamo, scope
This week we’ll take a look at how the Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper (SSW) performs.
To Get the SSW ready for shooting, grab the barrel near the muzzle (the ND52 Noise Damper makes a great handle for doing this) and pull the barrel down and back until it latches. While you’re cocking the SSW, you’ll notice that the cocking stroke is incredibly smooth and that the only noise is a little “sliding” noise made by the cocking linkage. There is absolutely no spring creak whatsoever.
The scope supplied with the Silent Stalker Whisper packages does not have an adjustable objective, and that causes some problems.
Next, stuff a pellet in the breech (I tested the .22 version of the SSW). Take aim at your target. Now here’s where the story gets interesting. Why? Because Gamo did not see fit to supply an adjustable objective (AO) scope with the SSW package. As a result, to get the target anywhere near in focus at close range (say 10-13 yards), you have to turn down the magnification of the scope as far as it will go. The failure to supply an AO scope seems a gross oversight on Gamo’s part since so many airgunners shoot at distances of 30 feet and sometimes less.
The Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper has the longest trigger second stage I've ever shot.
Now, flick off the safety and squeeze the trigger. The first stage comes out at 1 lb. 10 oz. Now start squeezing the second stage . . . keep squeezing . . . squeeze some more . . . maybe you want to invite a couple of friends over so they can keep squeezing while you go to lunch . . . squeeze yet some more, and finally, after the longest second stage trigger I’ve ever experienced in an air rifle, the shot goes off at 5 lb. 7 oz. The truly strange part is that the trigger is very, very smooth – but it is incredibly long.
I read in the SSW manual that the second stage can be shortened by turning a screw – accessible through a hole in the trigger guard – clockwise. Peering down the hole, I see that the screw has a weird head, like a star-shaped allen wrench, and Gamo has not seen fit to supply the necessary tool to adjust the trigger. Nevertheless, I find a tool that fits on a multi-bit screwdriver and make the adjustment. It takes about all the strength I can muster to turn the trigger adjustment screw just a little bit. It appears that I have shortened the second stage of the trigger by about 50%, but it’s still an incredibly long second stage, and it feels like I am shooting a double-action revolver, waiting for the cylinder to rotate and the chamber to line up before the hammer drops.
At 13 yards, I could shoot dime-sized groups with Crosman Premier .22 pellets, but at 30 yards, the best I could do was 1.5 inch groups. I tried shooting sitting, sitting in my SteadyAim harness, and shooting off a benchrest. Nothing worked.
In despair, I asked Kip at Airguns of Arizona if he would give it a try. He did, and was able to achieve 5-shot groups where all the pellet holes touched each other from a rest at 18 yards. He used Dynamic SN2 pellets, which were zipping down range at 775 fps, and they were the only pellets that grouped well for him.
When I tried the SN2 pellets, I did better than before, but not great, so I asked Kip the secret of his success. He observed that when you’re shooting with a non-AO scope, you have to be very careful to get your head in exactly the same position behind the scope or you’re going to have parallax and point of impact issues.
He’s right of course, but it just goes to show how much an adjustable objective scope is needed on this rifle.
So here’s the bottom line on the Silent Stalker Whisper: it’s an interesting gun that can be made to shoot well if you’re very, very careful. There are some things to like about it: light weight, smooth cocking stroke, vibration-free shot cycle, smooth trigger. But at the same time, the SSW desperately needs an AO scope and a much shorter trigger second stage.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
The Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper – Part I
The Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper
Well, it happened again: I ran into another air rifle that I seem unable to shoot well. The first one was about ten years ago, a Beeman Crow Magnum air rifle built by Theoben with a gas ram in it instead of a spring. It was, quite simply, the prettiest piston powerplant air rifle I’ve ever seen. The quality of the bluing on the barrel and receiver was phenomenal, and the stock, carved out of some exotic wood, was gorgeous. And I couldn’t shoot it for beans. In fact, I was lucky to hold inch-and-a-half groups at 10 yards with it.
The second air rifle to flummox me is the Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper, and that happened just last week. We’ll get to my tale of woe in just a little bit, but first let’s take a tour of this new air rifle from Gamo.
The Silent Stalker series, available in .177 and .22, is apparently Gamo’s first venture into the world of gas-ram powerplants. Gamo calls theirs IGT – Inert Gas Technology. All that means is that, instead of the spring that you would normally find in a spring-piston powerplant, there is a gas-filled cylinder. When you break the barrel of the Silent Stalker to cock it and load a pellet, instead of compressing a spring, you are compressing the gas within the cylinder until the trigger latches. When you pull the trigger, the gas is permitted to expand, driving the piston forward, compressing air in front of the piston, and providing the power to drive the pellet out of the breech and down the barrel.
The advantage of the IGT (gas ram) powerplant is that there is no spring to fatigue, kink, or wear out. There is no spring noise during cocking and no twang, vibration, or torque when the shot is triggered. I believe that Theoben originated the use of this technology in air rifles, and, in addition to Gamo, Weihrauch, Theoben, and Crosman all offer versions of gas ram powerplants.
In addition to the gas ram powerplant, the Silent Stalker Whisper also incorporates Gamo’s ND52 noise damper technology which is essentially a non-removable silencer built into the muzzle end of the barrel.
The Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper features a thick rubber butt pad and an ambidextrous polymer thumbhole stock.
At the back end of the Silent Stalker Whisper (SSW) is a thick black rubber butt pad. Forward of that is a matte black polymer thumbhole stock that is ambidextrous and finished with a very fine grain pebbly finish for easy gripping. Forward of the buttstock, the trigger guard is molded of the same material as the stock and surrounds a black plastic trigger and a black metal non-automatic lever safety. Push the safety toward the muzzle to enable firing and pull back toward the trigger to safe the action.
The fiber optic front sight sits on top of the ND52 noise damper.
Underneath the forestock near the forward end, there is a slot that provides clearance for the linkage when cocking the SSW. Moving ahead is the barrel. The muzzle end holds the ND52 sound suppressor and a hooded red fiber optic sight. Moving back toward the receiver, the barrel is surrounded in fluted polymer right back to and including the breech block. (Peering at the breech block when the action is fully broken, I think I can see circular metal wear plates on either side of the breech block.) On top of the breech block is a rear fiber optic notch sight that is adjustable for elevation and windage. Moving back again, there is an elevated dovetail for mounting a scope at the rear of the receiver. The SSW includes a 3-9×40 scope with one-piece mount. That’s all there is to the Silent Stalker Whisper. Because of liberal use of polymers, the entire package – rifle, scope and mount, which stretches 46 inches from end to end – weighs only 7 lb. 2 oz.
Next time, we’ll take a look at what it is like to shoot the SSW.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
You might be an airgunner if . . . you “need” the HW45 Black Star
in Airguns
as Air pistol, HW, review, spring piston, Weihrauch
For a number of years, comedian Jeff Foxworthy has made a name for himself doing a bit called “You might be a redneck if . . .” The phrase “you might be a redneck if” is followed by some outrageous statement. One of my favorites is; “You might be a redneck if you ever mowed [...]
