Benjamin Vaporizer SBD, Nitro Piston Elite

This is the worst product of any type I can recall owning. Worse than useless. Huge waste of time and money. Crosman lies are egregious. It only gets 2 stars because customer service is trying, but it has been months & nothing is expected to be in stock for another two months. It took several hundred shots to stop dieseling, & that is with running patches down the barrel a few times. I suspect the manufacturer has slathered it in oil so that the diesel explosions get it closer to the power spec when new. If this happens to you, use your warranty. If they get enough returns, maybe Crosman will improve the quality & stop making bogus claims. Scope mount screws: 8x M4x10, 2x M4x28 Stock mount screws: 1x M5x20, 2x M5x16. The moderator works well - I think. I can't hear the report at all, but that is partially because the piston slap is so loud. It sounds like someone whacking a fire extinguisher with a wrench. If I ever get a replacement, I will update the review.

Pros
Customer service is good. If the gun performed as advertised it would be at least 4 stars. If it worked, the scope would be nice for a bundled scope. The glass is not coated, so it is dim, but it works fine except dawn & dusk. The scope would never hold zero. Occasional half inch groups at 10 yds, but many fliers & the pattern would often jump 2 inches away. The scope moves in the mounts & the internals. I contacted Crosman & was told there aren't any torque specs; they recommend finger tight. I tried 15 in-lb & blue loctite, then 20 in-lb & more loctite, then replaced the gooey tape that comes on the rings with electrical tape, then removed all the tape. Nothing worked, & the scope is crimped at the rings, so more torque would only crush it. I eventually figured out the screws to the picatinny mount were stretching & bending (see pic). I replaced the screws, but after a few hundred shots, the adjustment turrets stopped working entirely, so I removed the scope.

Cons
The performance advertised by Crosman is a lie. I got 14.0 FPE (663 fps with CPHP 14.3gr), which is less than half the claimed power. I have searched & found no evidence of anyone getting remotely close to the advertised 29 FPE. It is unfortunately common for manufacturers to lie to some degree about the power, but this is the worst offender I am aware of. Crosman should be ashamed. Crosman claims the NP Elite is more powerful than the NP2 it replaced, but the opposite is true. "Hits hard" claims are useless. If you want to know about the actual power, search for reviews by someone with a chrono. The open sights work well, except the rear sight is flimsy plastic so I do not expect it to hold zero. It will flex a millimeter with light finger pressure. On one shot, the picatinny rail (which was welded on) fell off. There was not even a scope attached at the time! On another shot, one of the screws which holds the stock on broke in half and fell out.

I'm new to airguns and this is my first air rifle, so to be fair I don't have anything else to compare it to. But so far I'm pretty happy with it. I found it likes the JSB Jumbo Heavies and right now I'm getting dime size groups at 15 yards. Will have to try it at longer ranges. It is a bit on the heavy side, but I got acostumed to it. Overall, I'm satisfied with this purchase.

Pros
Pretty accurate air rifle. Good scope.

Cons
A bit heavy.

I just bought one today. Both open and scoped sights needed a lot of zeroing in. Quite accurate now. Appears well built, nice scope and hard hitting. Well worth the $119 I paid for it at a Gander Mnt. blowout sale.

Pros
Accurate and well-made , good optics

Cons
Out of the box it needed a lot of sighting in