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(More customer reviews)Ordered from Zephyr Sports through Amazon. Rifle arrived well packaged, but the factory tape seals were cut on the box (possibly used as a display). In any case, the rifle was in pristine condition, despite box having been opened.
I had some Crosman pointed pellets lying around, along with a scope I had on an old air rifle I planned to replace with this one. So, after mounting the scope, I went to the local shooting range to sight the rifle in.
The first thing I noticed is this rifle is LOUD. There is a sharp snap when you fire it. Also, you can actually hear ricochets buzzing away into the distance. This is the first time I've heard this happen with a .177 pellet rifle, a testament to it's impressive power.
Accuracy was all over the place at 25 yards using the cheap pellets. The gun came with a small plastic pouch of crosman "Premier" hollow point pellets, so I tried them next. With the better pellets, I was beginning to see one inch groups at about 25 yards. Still not great, but it was windy out when I went to shoot. Between the gnats, the wind, and the lack of true match grade pellets, I think the gun is actually capable of much better accuracy than I experienced on the first outing. Sadly, I ran out of the "good" pellets before I could get any conclusive results.
So, I drove into town and bought a couple of tins of the Premier hollow point pellets at walmart and went home to mount a different, better scope, then it was back to the range for another session. This time, I had a little trouble with the new scope being "finicky", but managed to get it dialed in and shoot some nice strings. My best 5 shot group at 25 yards was about a half inch. In this group, all of the pellets were in an almost vertical line, and each shot dropped by a fraction of an inch or so. This is likely due to the fact that velocity for each shot drops slightly as pressure in the guns air reservoir is depleted.
The instructions state to fill the gun to 2000 psi. At this pressure level, the shots will actually be start off slightly less powerful (because the high reservoir pressure exerts force on the valve, preventing it from opening fully). As you continue to shoot, velocity increases until the reservoir pressure reaches it's optimum, then the velocity begins to decrease again as the pressure goes even lower. For my particular rifle, the optimum pressure seems to be right around 1800 psi or so (after 5-10 shots on a 2000 psi fill).
There are a couple of things that I would like to have seen done differently with this rifle. One is that the scope mounting system is a 3/8" dovetail. This system is not a very robust one. I would much rather have seen a weaver style scope mount rail. Weaver style scope rings are commonplace and easy to find. Most 3/8" dovetail "tip off" mounts are somewhat delicate, in my opinion.
The other thing I would have liked to see done differently is the breech of the rifle. To cut manufacturing costs, it appears that Crosman uses the same breech block and bolt for the .177 and the .22 version of this rifle. This creates a problem for the .177 model where it is easy for pellets to tip over in the breech, making loading a little cumbersome with shorter pellets. With the .22 version, this would not be a problem since the breech diameter would not be over sized for the pellets.
Pumping the rifle using the Benjamin high pressure pump is actually not that bad. You get about 30 good shots per fill before the pressure drops low enough to significantly affect your point of impact. If you let it go down to 1000 psi before refilling, you will probably have a good 5 minutes of pumping to do.
Another slight annoyance I encountered was that in order to pump the rifle, you have to set it on the ground in order to connect it to the pump. If you're in a muddy, dusty, or rocky environment, this could be bad for the rifle and pump. Using the optional scuba tank fill method, or using CO2 would eliminate this issue. A longer hose on the pump would too, but a hose long enough to reach from the ground to a table would also increase the number of pumps required since you have to pressurize the hose as well. A short bipod would probably be your best bet.
Also, I'd like to have seen some sling swivels studs mounted to the stock. I already mentioned that a bipod would help keep the gun clean while pumping up the reservoir, and you need a sling swivel stud to mount most bipods.
Overall, when compared to other PCP air rifles in the same power class and with comparable accuracy potential, the price on the Discovery is hard to beat. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's WAY better than the cheap spring piston rifles sold at most big retailers. It looks and feels very solid.
If you want to upgrade to an even better rifle, I'd suggest the Benjamin Marauder in .22 caliber. It's about $200 more, but you get a 10 shot rotary magazine to simplify and speed loading (this also makes it a snap to keep track of how many shots you've fired), a far nicer stock (though the Discovery's stock isn't bad), a better fit of the pellets to the breech, and a shrouded barrel to help quiet the gun down. I have the Marauder in my Amazon wish list. Let's hope the wife REALLY loves me come Christmas time. :D
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Crosman® Benjamin® Discover® Air RifleProduct Description: Crosman Benjamin Discovery Air Rifle. Dual fuel, compressed air / CO2 air rifle. Trouble free, highly accurate! Once it is filled, there is no pumping and no worry about the outdoor temperature. Just shoot until the gun needs to be refilled. The Discovery airgun has a 2000 psi fill level and can be filled with compressed air using a high pressure hand pump (not included). How does "dual fuel" work? An inexpensive CO2 adapter (not included) converts this rifle from compressed air to CO2 operation which makes it easy to fill from a standard paintball tank, offering more shots from a single fill. CO2 is excellent for indoor use or for outdoor casual plinking. The details: Velocity: Up to 1000 F.P.S. (.177); 900 F.P.S. (.22); Weight: 5 lbs.; Length: 39"; Barrel Material: Rifled Steel; Front Sight: Fiber Optic; Rear Sight: Fully adjustable; Safety: Cross bolt. State Caliber. Order Today! WARNING: You must be 18 or older to purchase Air Guns. Air Guns cannot be shipped to CA; CT; DE; IL; MI; New York City; NJ; D.C.; MA; Canada or Puerto Rico. Air Guns cannot be shipped Parcel Post. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Air Guns. Crosman Benjamin Discover Air Rifle
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