I know what you’re thinking…
You’re looking to buy a quality PCP air rifle. You have a budget of about a Grand. Of course, you come to Airguns of Arizona!
Here you see quality PCPs from well-known brands like Weihrauch, Daystate and Brocock and more. Sure, most of them cost a little more than your budget – maybe $200 or $300 more. But, having got this far, you’re going to go all-in and swallow a few more bucks for a quality PCP.
Then you see the Benjamin Gunnar at precisely $999.99. What, a Benjamin for a Grand?
Sure the Marauder has built-up a great reputation over many years, but that’s half the price. But that Gunnar sure looks interesting. Hmmm…
And yes, the Gunnar is an interesting air rifle. It has the now-familiar “black gun” look about it, with an AR15-style one piece receiver, pistol grip and collapsible buttstock. It’s available in the current “must have” calibers of .22 and .25, too.
I’ve been shooting it and can report that it is a pleasant air rifle on the range. In .22 caliber, I’ve seen a very fair muzzle energy of 33.6 Ft/Lbs when shooting 25.39 Grain JSB Jumbo Monsters, together with 10-shot, 50-Yard groups of around 1-Inch when shooting un-selected JSB pellets of various types.
There’s not much wrong with that. So let’s look a little closer.
First impressions are definitely positive as the Gunnar is supplied packed in a heavy-duty synthetic carrying case. This case has side and end handles. It also has wheels, being suitable for dragging across solid surfaces like concrete.
That robust case will protect the Gunnar on its’ journey to you. And that’s a not insignificant benefit. It’s also large enough to hold the rifle with a substantial scope mounted on it. Sadly, that’s not always the case with other cases that are bundled with air rifles.
You’ll need to collapse the Gunnar’s multi-length AR-style stock to fit in the case, but that’s no real hardship.
The Gunnar has a large, alloy HPA tank that promises a good shot count.
The regulator is built-in to the tank assembly, rather than being integral to the receiver. However, the gun has to be de-gassed and the tank assembly removed and disassembled to adjust the regulator setting.
One secret benefit of this is that the “V block” holding the pressure gauge and quick disconnect fill nipple can be re-assembled with the gauge facing the opposite side, should that be more convenient for the user.
There’s a solid, two-piece Aluminum receiver. This provides a substantial housing for the trigger, hammer, valve, safety, bolt and and cocking mechanism. There’s also a front, underside Picatinny rail. Many shooters will want to install a bipod to this rail.
In front of the trigger, there’s a gauge showing the regulator output pressure. Surprisingly – perhaps – for 2022, the HPA tank fills to a moderate 3,000 PSI. The regulator is set to approximately 1,500 PSI when received from the factory.
Bolt operation is courtesy of a smooth sidelever mechanism. Two magazines are supplied with each gun.
The .22 cal mags hold 12 shots. In .25 caliber, it’s 10. They’re somewhat different to the traditional Marauder magazines – but the loading principal is the same.
The obligatory power-adjustment control is located on the left side of the receiver. This works by varying the size of the transfer port. The power control lever is provided with 5 positions.
But note that there’s no hammer spring adjustment capability on the Gunnar.
I used the top Picatinny rail to mount a Hawke Sidewinder 30 SF 4-16 x 50 scope. There’s a clear design benefit here as the magazine does not project above the Picatinny rail. This allows a low scope height to be attained which many shooters will find to be a good thing.
Pistol grip and buttstock are AR-compatible units. The pistol grip is pleasantly grippy.
The buttstock is multi-length adjustable. The cheekpiece is also adjustable: not only for height, but also for position along the stock’s length. This is a pretty high-end buttstock!
Indeed, there’s also a third Picatinny rail on the underside of the stock. This can be used for mounting a monopod for benchrest shooting.
The barrel is fully-shrouded. However a replacement shroud end cap is also supplied with the gun. This can be screwed-into the end of the shroud to allow a moderator to be added, should extra quietness of report be desired. I installed a 0dB unit, of course.
So there’s a lot of positives in the Benjamin Gunnar.
If you talk to the knowledgeable staff at AoA, they’ll be able to tell you more, including the fact that AoA is offering a special of free shipping for a limited time…
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