My Own Newish Yard Toy

ByBob La Londe

My newish yard toy arrived… wow, almost a month ago.

I have missed the weight balance of a bullpup ever since I sold my .25 Kalibre Cricket several years ago. The thing is I never found another bull pup at the right price at the right time until recently, and as long as I take a moment to find a rest the .25 Marauder (tuned by me) was more than adequate with its stock (at the time) Green Mountain barrel. It probably won’t do the five on a dime at fifty challenge, but its close. I bet it would do five on a quarter group after group.

.25 Benjamin Marauder Modified

Then it happened. Field Supply had a, refurbished 25 BullBoss for about 2/3 the price of a Marauder. I pulled the trigger before really researching the gun. Then I discovered people reporting not great groups, and PyramydAir showed it as a 4 out of 5 on their loudness scale. I was concerned I would not be able to make much use out of it. Not in the yard anyway,

.25 Hatsan BullBoss Stock

The action is louder than the report. Either my gun is shooting under power (doesn’t seem like it, but I haven’t setup the chronograph for it yet), or Pyramyd Air was full of it. The action is louder than the report and the sound of a 25.39 grain pellet smacking the steel plate on a spinner is a lot louder than any part of the shot cycle.

I have not bench rest grouped it yet either, but so far it hits what I point it at. CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! The only spare scope I had was a cheap 4X Bushnell, but it seems to be fine.

Now don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t hold a candle to the Cricket, but it might be close to the Marauder. I guess I’ll have to get out the chronograph and set up some paper soon.

Before anybody gripes up about a .25 Marauder only being good for 8-12 full power shots with a decent spread depending on power setting. Mine isn’t stock. I bottled it with a flow through regulator (Flow check only. No regulation.) I also butchered the valve for better flow, and opened up the port switching the larger tube connection instead of an o-ring between the valve and the chamber it flows really well, and I have it tuned for 26-28 shots at 900-920-900 with a 25.39 grain Exact King. It takes out collared dove at 60-70 yards with authority. Yeah, BullBoss would probably smoke a stock .25 Marauder for shot count and/or power, but it might not have as much capacity as this modified one. I’ll just have to break out the ProChrono and some targets and see.

So far I have put three nine shot mags (and a couple dry fires) through the BullBoss without a subjective change in the sound of a pellet hitting steel, but the gun did arrive over filled if the gage is accurate. I do have one complaint. I think its heavier than the Kalibre, as heavy as the Marauder, and it doesn’t shift the weight as far rearward as I would like. On the other hand its cheaper than a Marauder, and far cheaper than a Cricket.

I’ll post some numbers and maybe some paper when I have had the time and the urge to do some proper testing.

For anybody who might be interested my most accurate air rifle is a single shot Chinese made BAM-50 in .22. It might shoot the five on a dime at fifty off the bench if I tether it to a bottle and take some warm up shots off paper. I have a regulator for it somewhere, but I hate to mess with it. The B-50 is a Chinese version copy of the Daystate Huntsman. The Kalibre was able to shoot 4 on a dime, but I always seemed to have one that stretched the pattern out to nickel or quarter size. Maybe one group in four was five on. I hope the guy who bought it is using it.

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