i bought a new marauder from an unnamed distributor about 10 days ago. beautiful gun, very quiet, very powerful, very inaccurate. i tried numerous pellets and different pressures but nothing worked. it would put two in the same hole at 25 yds off the bench then a flyer you could actually watch curve away and hit another part of the target. wish i had gone on here and talked to some of the guys before i sent it back. i think the problem was in the baffles and endcap with the holes too small. if i had known i would have removed them and shot it to see if it improved. anyway i thoroughly clened the barrel with a piece of fishing line and pulling a couple of patches thru with goo gone until they came out clean. i noticed some gougemarks in the bore that were fairly deep and wouldn't come out. i repackaged it in the box the way it came and sent it back. i received a new one late yesterday but it was already too late to shoot. i cleaned the barrel thoroughly like i did the first one. beautiful unscratched bore. i mounted the same scope i had on this one that i had on the last one. i already had it pumped to the recommended 2600psi. i headed to the range with two mags and several brands of pellets. i was shooting off sandbags at 25 yards at a small circle about the size of a pea. just fired a few groups with each pellet to compare group size. each group i shot continued to get smaller. when i was satisfied i started to zero the scope. i was using the cardboard box 14.3 grn crosman premiers. these were shooting a group you could easily cover with a dime, some actually in the same hole. the pellets that shot the best were the jsb exact jumbos i believe they are 16 grns. these pellets after i got the scope zeroed were shooting three pellets into one ragged hole at the 25 yard line. right now i'm tickled with the mrod. just goes to show the differences that can be in the same rifle. i believe the first one was quieter because of the smaller baffles and end cap but i can't stand those flyers. the second gun tho a little louder (not by much) puts them in the same hole. i moved the target out to 50 yards and put the second dot on a circle i had drawn about the size of a quarter. three shots walked down and there was a group the size of a dime but about one and a half inches over the target. i thought wow, maybe it shoots flatter than i thought. got on the bench and put the first dot under the crosshairs and fired a three shot group. three holes inside the quarter sized circle. i thought well now that i know how it shoots i'll be able to take those delicious tree rats out to at least 50 yards. that's as far as i try even with my powder burner .22. gonna take her on her first hunt in the mornin to see how we do. thanks to all that replied with tips and help on the first post.

I enjoy the heck out of mine, to the tune of about 3500 pellets since August!....LOL.....and she's absolutely lethal on tree rats...even past 50 if you know your holdover....

I shot one last weekend at a lasered 86yds...through the neck...and he toppled off the limb and hit the ground....at 86yds, the Benji 14.3 HP (highly recommend you give them a try...they're CHEAP!!!) passed completely through!

Seems Crosman may have figured out the accuracy issue, as mine is from June and HATES JSB's of any flavor....and there are a bunch of other earlier guns that don't like them either....but with your post, and a couple of others, as well as a buddy of mine's from the September run....they're shooting all the JSB's as well as mine shoots the Benji's....which is exceptional....

I posted groups about a month ago...30 shot group, at 50yds....under a dime....well inside the MOSH....(Minute of Squirrel Head!)

Enjoy that baby...but get ready to go through a bunch of pellets and Air!!!!!

s/f

Jamie