AOA Blog

The third most interesting aspect of the Benjamin Trail NP All Weather – and the one that is bound to be most controversial – is the trigger. Now, I need to preface the following by explaining that I shot the All weather for a while and got some pretty nice accuracy results (which I will reveal below) before I ever attempted to measure the weight of the trigger pull.

That’s when things got interesting. When I first measured the trigger pull with my Lyman digital trigger gauge, I saw the following: at 1 lb 11 oz, the first stage appears to come out of the trigger and there is a hard stop. Then there is a long creepy pull and another hard stop at about 4 lbs 13 oz. Finally, at around 5 lbs, 4 oz, the shot goes off.

I had never encountered anything like this before. Weird, I thought, this air rifle appears to have a three-stage trigger. So I called Crosman about it. No, they said, what you think is the first stage is simply pulling against the trigger return spring. The second section that ends at 4 lbs 13 oz is actually the first stage, and 5 lbs 4 oz is where the second stage releases, they explained. They added that if you comparatively test breakbarrel rifles produced by Crosman, you’ll find that the Quest, the Phantom, the Summit, the Vantage, and others all have very similar triggers.

Now, I’ll grant you that All Weather’s trigger feels unusual at first, but I’ve shot it for a while now, and I’ve found that it is quite consistent and doesn’t interfere with accurate shooting (and it’s not as heavy as some military triggers I’ve been told about). For those who don’t want to deal with the All Weather’s trigger, after market triggers are available, but take note: if you fit one to your All Weather, you will void the warranty. So my advice is shoot your All Weather until your one-year warranty is up, and then put in an after market trigger if you still want one.

To cock the All Weather, grab the end of the barrel and pull down and back toward the buttstock. This is where the All Weather begins to show the advantages of the Nitro Piston powerplant. You’ll hear a “snick” when the breech unlatches and another snick when the powerplant is fully cocked and . . . nothing in between. The cocking stroke is one smooth, noiseless glide. It’s like cocking a break barrel springer that has been fully romanced by one of the master spring gun tuners.

With the breech open, slip a .22 caliber pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return the bullbarrel to its original position. The safety is non-automatic. If it is pushed back toward the trigger, push it forward toward the muzzle to ready the rifle for firing, and pull the trigger.

The sample of All Weather that I tested launched Crosman Premier 14.3 gr. pellets at 687 fps average, which is just a teensy bit below 15 foot-pounds of energy. When the shot goes off, the weight of the All Weather becomes your friend, helping to gentle the shot cycle. The recoil is quick and surprisingly smooth, with no torque, twang or vibration. Further, the report is quite subdued, even for a breakbarrel air rifle. The accuracy is very, very satisfactory. At 35 yards, I was able to put three Crosman Premier pellets into a little tiny group where all the holes touched each other before my technique went to blazes. I think a really good spring gun shooter (which I am not) could achieve some impressive results with this rifle.

In the end, I liked the Benjamin Trail NT All Weather. As I have explained before, I am not a trigger Nazi – what I care most about is how the overall system performs. In my view, the All Weather delivers a lot of performance and accuracy in a reasonably-price package. As such, I think a lot of shooters will enjoy it.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

Ever since I got caught in a light summer shower with an airgun, I’ve had an interest in all-weather airguns. It just seems to me that, in general, it’s a good idea to have airguns be as impervious as possible to bad weather.

So when Crosman offered me the opportunity to evaluate the new Benjamin Trail NP™ All Weather air rifle, I said “You bet!”

The All Weather, which is available only in .22 caliber, is a break barrel air rifle, and there are several interesting things about it. First, it has an all-weather synthetic stock. Not only that, but the all weather stock is fully ambidextrous, nicely styled, and downright swoopy looking.

The catalog says that All Weather weighs 8 lbs (and stretches 43 inches long), but it comes with a scope and mount, so the whole package weighs 9 lbs 12 oz when fully assembled. That might seem like a lot to tote around for a day afield. Fortunately, also included in the package (at least during an introductory period) is a sling. It easily attaches to the swivels that are provided and makes carrying the All Weather so much easier that it makes me scratch my head and wonder why I hadn’t tried a sling before now.

Let’s take a tour of the All Weather. Starting at the back, there is a soft black ventilated butt pad, separated from the synthetic stock by a gray spacer. The buttstock has a cheek piece on either side, which ought to make lefties happy and a stud near the end for mounting a sling. Forward of that is a large thumbhole and nearly vertical pistol grip that is checkered and has a pronounced flair at the end. Moving forward again, the trigger guard is molded into the synthetic stock. Inside the trigger guard is a metal trigger and forward-and-back lever safety.

The forestock stretches out in front of the trigger guard. There is checkering on either side near the end and a long slot underneath to provide clearance for cocking the break barrel action. The other attachment for the sling is fastened to the breakbarrel mechanism near the end of the slot. Beyond that is the bullbarrel/shroud.

The barrel attaches to the breech block. Moving rearward, you’ll find the receiver, on which is mounted a picatinny/weaver scope rail. That’s it. The result is an air rifle that looks and feels good in the hand and balances very well.

Included with the All Weather is a CenterPoint 3-9 x 40 scope and weaver rings. When I saw the beauty and simplicity of how the scope rail and rings worked together, it made me wonder why all airgun manufacturers don’t standardize on the slotted weaver rails. You don’t have to worry about whether your rings will hold, whether your anti-recoil pin is seated deeply enough in the socket or whether you have to really crank down your mounts. All you have to do is drop the bars on the weaver rings into the slots on the scope rail, snug the mounts down, and you’re done. Hats off to Crosman for doing this!

Another key aspect of the All Weather is that it is powered by the Nitro Piston powerplant. (That’s what the NP stands for.) Unlike a conventional breakbarrel springer, which uses a spring to drive a piston that compresses the air which in turn launches the pellet, the Nitro Piston technology uses a gas strut, much like the strut used to elevate the back window on many automobiles. As a result, there is no spring to wear out, no twang when the shot goes off, no vibration or torque on discharge. Further, you can leave a Nitro Piston powerplant cocked for as long as you want without worrying about damaging the spring.

Next time, we’ll take a look at how the Benjamin Trail NP All Weather performs.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott