Canadian Airgun Forum

Hi.

Just recieve a Benjamin titan nitro piston, i have only experience with pcp and spring rifles.

1: It could seems like the barrel is maby slightly angeled down a littlebit, is that normal? This was the first thing i notice out of the box.
Trying to add a pics of it but cant upload it here, where can i uploade to get a link? it could seems straight from some angels not easy to tell.

2: It was extremly hard to load/breake, i used all my power over my knee to breake it, after reading the manual i found out that it been breaked mutch easier if you hit/tap the barrel hard at the muzzel first, then it mutch easier to start coock/load it.
Could i have damage something when i only tried to break the barrel with a lot of force down without tap hard first?

Yes it's normal for the barrel to point down, it's called barrel droop. It isn't ideal but that's how most are. For scope use you should consider shimming it, which is placing thin plastic or metal sheet(s) under the scope at the rear mount so the scope is angled to more closely match the barrel. Some have enough droop that the scope won't even adj that far, but you shouldn't try to adjust it very far at all because it can cause an accuracy problem due to the scopes internals. So ideally you want the scopes elevation adj to be at center so I set that at center and shim until the pellet is hitting on or a bit high at the range I plan on using most.
Yes the barrel can be a bear to open when new, and I imagine some are so tight that it would bend the barrel before opening but you'd know it if that happened. I had a Stoeger X20S that probably would've bent/broke, and I had to smack it very had to finally get it open. So the smack first method is the way to do it and it'll get easier with use. Meanwhile you can lube the latch and the hole it's in. Ideally you'd want grease, either moly paste or regular bearing grease, but to get in the hole you need to take the latch apart so just let a couple drops of motor oil soak into it. Use grease on the chisel tip of the latch and/or on the bar it contacts, but if you don't have any motor oil will do. You can also sand these parts to make it much better right now, which is what I do but it's too much to get into here. If you want I can email the details which includes the scope shimming and tons of other info for that gun. chevota at hotmail and I'll send it to you, just remind me of who you are and what gun you have.

To post pix: The pix needs to be a reasonable size (<750k) so you probably need to edit it. It's also nice for everyone looking if you crop it so just what's important is in frame.
If you don't have an editor you can try PhotoFiltre which is what I use mostly, it's free and simple to use:
photofiltre-studio.com I use the portable version 6.53; photofiltre.free.fr/utils/PhotoFiltre-en-653.zip which means no install and no hassle, just unzip it to a folder and run it. If unfamiliar; use the mouse to drag the outline of what you want and Ctrl+Shift+H will crop it. Ctrl+H will reduce the dimensions so you can get the size <750. Ctrl+Z to undo.
Once edited you locate the pix via the attachment section just below the box where you type your post. Click "Browse" and locate the pix on your PC and click "Open". I put the pix on my desktop so it's easier to find. Then click "Add the file". I also click "Preview" to see how it looks, and to be sure I used the correct pix

Thank you Chevota for good answers
Fine to know its normal, its not mutch but i will post a pics of it when im home on my computer.

The barrel is titan, do it take more bend vs steel?
Hope i did not almost break the lock mechanism since it was hard as a bear like you said to open.
It does not feel like i bent it, i use all my force over my knee to open it, it was hard like a wall to breake, could not do it when i stand straight, now it is fine to tap it hard to open then load it.

The rifle have a very nice finish on the syntetic stock. Better then many other more expencive rifles, and the recoil is not mutch vs a stock springer. This is my first nitro piston.

The barrel is titan? I'll assume a typo but since you mentioned it vs steel I'm wondering if you mean your barrel is not steel?
As far as I know all Crosman/Benjamin Titan guns have the same steel barrel and they don't bend too easily, but imo they do bend easier than you might think judging by looking at them. The main weakness is the barrel is much thinner inside the breech block, then I suppose the steel itself is not very strong. I've bent them by hand before, on purpose, so I can't can't it's not possible, just unlikely b/c I think most people would stop before that point. My guess is you'd know it if you bent it, but if unsure you can simply look down the bore, any bend should be obvious. I'd look down both ends with some light at the other end.
If it is bent you can bend it upwards a bit to match, which will not turn out perfect but functionally it should be just fine. If the barrel droop is excessive you can bend it upwards to fix that too. Fix being a very loose term... I'd rather remove some metal from the barrel block so it closes straight but that can be a real pita and bending it takes seconds so guess which one people do. If you want to fix it by removing metal you might want to send me some pix first so I can at least say how I'd go about it and why because without thinking it thru you can quickly ruin it.

The barrel catch is pretty strong and imo the barrel will bend first, but you can look at it to verify. Basically if it moves in and out when opening/closing the barrel I'd say it's fine. You can also push the latch in manually to see how it feels. It has a very strong spring so it won't be easy. You can also look at the hole it rides in and verify the hole is still round. If the hole gave a bit under the stress it would show on the bottom edge. I have pix of the latch removed in the guide I offered, in case you're curious about it. You can also get a sketch image of the guns parts from Crosman: http://tinyurl.com/Crosman-Parts and just type in Titan.
I think the part most likely to bend, after the barrel of course, is the cross pin for the latch. When the stock is off the pin should slide right out, but it's not a precision gun so it may need a little force. If the pin is bent it won't come out easily and may require pounding. The pin needs to be perfectly straight or it'll upset barrel lockup and thus accuracy as it rotates. If bent so far it cannot rotate you may have a new problem, so either way it needs to be straight. You can check it by rolling it on glass or any very flat surface. If needed the pin is cheap, ~$2.30CA, a new latch is ~$5CA and a new barrel ~$32CA.

Since you said the stock is syn I'm guessing you got the Titan XS? If so that stock is very heavy so that's the difference you'd feel compared to another gun, assuming power is equal. If you have another B18 type Crosman then you can swap the stocks and see what I mean. It's a great for dampening recoil, noise and vibration but it's not worth dragging around for me so I replaced it. I weighed mine and it's 24oz heavier than the wood stock I used to replace it, which was a Trail Hardwood stock. Btw the Titan XS stock was originally made for the Trail All Weather, which is what I bought. I guess when they used the name Trail on the NP2 they dropped those two older Trail models, but the parts are still available.