New Benji 392

[airgunandy]

Picked up a nearly new Benjamin 392 at a gun show last month. Been wanting one (or a Sheridan) for some time now.

Anyway, got the gun home and started to "play" with it. Pumping it was a lot harder than I had thought it would be. And it didn't seem to be too  accurate. Bummer. No wonder such a new gun was for sale.

Well, I searched the forums and found answers to my problems. First was the accuracy problem. Found that late model guns have paint build-up in the muzzle. Carb cleaner was recommended to clean up the offending overspray. I sprayed some on a Q-tip and started scrubbing. Used a .22 barrel mop too. Finally the Q-tips and patches came out clean. Shot a whole lot better. Then I polished the crown. Now it SHOOTS!!  And it seems to really like the cheap Daisy wadcutters from WalMart too.  

Also re-shaped the front sight to more of a Patridge profile. The gun is more accurate than I am with the open sights. And the original rear sight was tweaked a bit too to get the gun on target. These are some of the best sights for my vision. The rear sight is far enough forward I can see it clearly.

Found a page showing how to polish the sear to improve the trigger pull. A little work with some 320 grit paper and some moly grease took care of that issue.

Next came the pumping. After 15 minutes of shooting (at no more than 5 pumps, usually 3) my left shoulder was killing me. Something had to be done.  Found a solution on a certain "lemon-colored" forum. Open up the valve. Cut down the size of the check add a small light spring behind it and a washer. Then clip a couple of coils of the exhaust spring and put in on top of the washer. Then put the valve back together. Don't screw the two halves together too tight. You need to be able to see some of the O-ring. This makes the valve a little longer and closes up some of the pump headspace.

Now the first 5 pumps are as easy as a 1377 and seems like it may be making a little more power than it did when I first got it. I need to get a chrony one day and see what this gun does.

A little time researching the net and tinkering transformed the so-so airgun into a sweet shooting carbine.  

[Jaymo]

I'm going to get to work on my 392 hopefully soon. It's a great little gun.

[scotsman]

Good morning. I'd love to hear more about the 392...your experience with the valve mod sounds like it helped alot. I have read some threads refering to rebuilding and hotrodding, but I haven't found much on my own about who/where/how much and what it does for ya. I long to loft heavies at modest speeds for low noise output...I'd enjoy your personal results with yours and look forward to some good stories. GTA, gateway to addiction lol

[kirby999]

When I really started getting into airguns a couple of years ago ,I remembered owning a Benji, 30 something years ago and how much I enjoyed shooting it back then. So I ordered one from Cabelas . When I opened it up, it was just like I remembered . It's when I started to pump it up for the first shot that I found something I didn't remember ; how hard it was to pump. The instructions said not to pump over 8 pumps, hehe; they had now worry about that. I packed it up and returned it to Cabelas . I have a few 1377's and don't mind pumping them, but a stock Benji is a bear. It sounds like you've remedied your hard pumping. The only other problem I've found with Benji's, is they are hard to mount a scope on, except with barrel mounts . Thanks for sharing and keep us informed with your Benji, you've got me interested again. kirby

[Jaymo]

scotsman, I'm getting 510 fps out of my stock 392 with 28.4 grain Eun Jin pellets. Is this along the line of what you seek?

[Jaymo]

Andy, you may want to lube it, too. My pump tube was dry as a bone out of the box, and a bear to pump. I swabbed down the pump tube with a Q-tip and some airgun oil. I also oiled the pump linkage pivot points. Made it a little easier to pump, and the velocities went up some, presumably as a result of better pump piston sealing.

[airgunandy]

Yes, mine was dry too. I slathered it down with 30wt ND.

[airgunandy]

Haven't had a chance to do much else but shoot the thing. Haven't had enough time to do that either!
I hope I can work on it a little between Christmas and New Years.

[scotsman]

Jaymo, thanks for the response. l hadn't checked this thread in a coupla days. Yeah man..thats whut I'm looking for...hard data on the heavies at modest speed. I'm not ready to drop the gobs of $ required for HPA, but as you probbly know already, it only takes just so much to drive through a rodent. Have you had your 392 very long? What kinds of things have you learned about it so far? How does the noise level compare to some other things. I found the Mac-1 site at last, but there's some problem with Tim's email address...and they're likely taking a couple days off. Hope you and all yours have a blessed Christmas. Robert

[airgunandy]

My son got a chronograph for Christmas. We HAD to take it outside and "test" it!

One of the things shot over it was my 392. At 8 pumps it was doing around 680 with Premier Hollow Points and leaving a little air in the valve. Totally empty it shoots about 668. I've seen posts on other forums where these guns actually do around 620 stock at 8 pumps.

[Jaymo]

Heck, mine runs a little over 500 fps with FOUR pumps and an RWS Superdome. Honestly, mine isn't even broken in yet. It may improve as it breaks in. I'll probably do some mods to it to improve trigger and power. I've had mine for about 6 months. I still need to check the muzzle for excess paint, and poor crown. I need to order spare valves for my 392 and HB20 so I can strip them and see what valve mods I can make without chopping the original valve.

[scotsman]

wow...I'm already over the edge. Thanks for the new numbers,  I'm convinced that Super Ben is in my immediate future. What's not to love about such versatility in a light carbine...virtually every varmit I get falls inside of 45 yrds, though the yard itself is 389 ft deep....it's the noise factor I want to keep under control. Congratulations on the chronograph, airgunandy...thats a great present! Hope yours was great too Jaymo. Merry Christmas !

[airgunandy]

Now that the Benji is shooting good, I decided to do some cosmetic work on the stock.
Thought I'd give it a little bit of a retro look.
Since Crosman has blended the original Benjamin and Sheridan guns I decided to blur the line even more....