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Hozman · New Member

I bought a Benjamin Trail NP All Weather .22 rifle as my first pellet gun.

I bought this for rabbits and birds. Also to start teaching my son proper gun safety.

My question is how long can I leave the gun "cocked" and ready to fire before damage would occur to the piston?

Sometimes we may sit up to an hour waiting for rabbits/ birds. Is that ok to do?

Thanks Derrick

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

That's a Nitro Piston. You can leave that cocked for like 12 hours and not hurt it. Old fashioned springers shouldn't stay cocked for more than 2 or 3, I think. Someone else will confirm or deny this shortly.

Hope you like that gun! I have a Titan, a similar but lower grade rifle, and I absolutely love it. Put a ~100 dollar Leapers scope on it and will cherish it a life-time, or til it wears out.

Slavia · Moderator

It's not the piston but the spring that's at issue. Prolonged storage (longer than you're talking about) can cause a steel coil spring to "set" to a shorter length, robbing power. Here's the good news: you don't have a steel spring. Yours is a gas-filled strut that uses the elasticity of compressed nitrogen instead of coiled steel. No problem leaving it cocked for the time you'll be hunting. For safety's sake you will probably want to discharge it before storage, but for hunting you'll be O.K.

Since it is a spring piston gun, there's lots of thrashing going on inside when you shoot. The lightest possible hold will help with accuracy (look up "artillery hold"). Be aware that it may take 500-1000 shots before it breaks in and becomes consistent. It will also probably be pellet sensitive, so try as many kinds as you can.

Have fun, and report back on how it goes.