I put my .25 Marauder on a diet….
In former posts, I showed the OEM .25 Mrod with a 15″ barrel and shortened shroud. It really improved handling and weight.
Yesterday, I took dremel in hand, got out my electric hand planer, both my belt sanders (hand and bench mounted), and began to cut, cut, cut…sand and sand and sand.
I lopped off the protruding front of the foregrip. I planed off the ambi-cheek rests from the stock. Then I reshaped the foregrip to a thin, straight, flat sided air cylinder hugger, and flattened out the rear top and bottom of the stock, put a more pronounced hand grip style on it, and put a drop off in front of the air gauge so I could straighten out and thin out that massive foreare.
This is the result….initial truck bed liner paint, but I’m not quite done yet.
Side view:
Side view:
From the top view:
From the bottom view:
The difference in “feel” is akin to the AA S510 now. It is pounds lighter, 37″ OAL, easier to handle/hold, quick to bring to point, and no apparent major loss of function that I can tell.
I cold-cocked a 12lb nuisance fowl yesterday, in the chest, 75 feet high in a hardwood tree that stood 100 feet from my deck. One shot with an H&N Barracuda Sport, domed, 31.02gr. He dropped like he had been stricken with a heart attack. He didn’t even twitch…just “THUD”/drop!
Hundreds of these nasty, stinking birds had been roosting and crapping all over my roof and dock at dusk, so I have been butt shooting them, and they stayed away for a few weeks. They began to return, so I opted for the termination with extreme prejudice this time. No more birds for now. They perform a worthy function in the forest, but no one enjoys being shit on by the work staff…so measures had to be taken. I don’t think they have a union.
Anyway, the .25 Mrod doesn’t have to be a pregnant cow to handle. This carbine now weighs in a little over 8.5lbs, with a Mueller 8 X 25-44 scope. That scope is big and heavy, I’m assuming 1.5lbs. That’s rough math, so don’t quote me, but I’m saying that Mrod is now a different gun in every way.
I’m no wood finisher, but truck bed liner is very forgiving and I have a couple of spots I want to sand a bit closer. Once the final bed liner coat goes on, then I will top it off with polyurethane, probably semi or flat finish. That really helps the bed liner stay unscratched.
Kindest regards,
Saintly ‘Ol Uncle H 😯 😯 T
PS: Kinda makes you wonder who designs Benjamin stocks, as in the .25 Marauder, and the sad looking Rogue? I swear I could make those guns look good without trying. Then all you would have to whine about is the performance…Mrod excluded, of course.
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Steve,
It weighs 6.5 lbs without the scope, or at least a Royale 400 does, so subtract the amount for a 25 caliber hole, 😛 and add on what a 3200 Tactical 5×15 weighs and what the regulator weighs which I have really no idea.
And it is a lot easier on the thumb than a M1 Garand and holds two more shots.
Hoot,
Its a deal on the will, only stipulation is that we both must have possession of said guns, or have them held in a trust, being as we trade guns like elderly Crowpoppers’, who knows what we will own when we go tits up?
RC
I don’t know, Uncle Hoot, I think those boots look pretty good. I don’t see any duct tape holding them together. 😉
RC, your Rayale 500 carbine is as long as an M-1 Garand. What does it weigh?
FOR GWAD’S SAKE…RC, buy yourself a new pair of boots!!!
By the way, if you croak before me, and will me your FX collection, I’ll put you in my will, in case I croak first, and will you my Edgun collection! That’s a fair deal my man…
Kindly ‘Ol Uncle H 😯 😯 T
PS: If the current owners piss and moan, just show them the will.
PS PS: You’re not the first person to mention those vultures circling my house every damn morning!!! They’ll pay….oooh yes, they’ll pay!
Hoot,
Looks like your on the right track.
One bad thing about getting old is those damn black birds with no feathers on their heads follow you around looking for their next meal.
But hell, as long as we wake up with a pulse and can buy BiaB, that’s boners in a box for you young fellows, everything is great. 😛
This one is doing 40 regulated shots at just under 46, and is like a light sword.
Regards,
Roachcreek
I’ve asked Jim Gaska to mill an American eagle, wings outspread, a dead possum in it’s talons, with flames shooting out it’s ass!
A tasteful natural brushed aluminum finish would be nice.
I’m hoping to get one for each side! I believe this will add a lot of class to the gun, especially if I inlet it into the wood!!!
Kindly ‘Ol Uncle H 😯 😯 T
looks real nice hoot !!!
I`ve got a .22 which is now a BR gun.My hand cramps after shooting a
25 target.Why they made those stocks so fat beats me.Yours looks like
it`ll be much easier to handle.Ted (Holdover) kept the .25 Crosman
sent him,he was really impressed w/accuracy which tells me a lot.I was
also impressed w/Jaimie USMC 100yd grps.A ,25 is on my to get list
regards,mark
I dremeled off the barrel to 15″ and shortened the shroud a similar length. That allowed me to keep the OEM baffles.
The only other shroud change I made was to vent the rear of the barrel with six holes, and use some some rear baffles around the barrel to slow the rearward approach of the air. Jim Gaska can make them up from delrin I believe. Anyway, it made it as quiet as the .22 Marauder.
The thinner stock made an amazing difference in the rifle, just amazing in the heft, balance, feel, and visual references it gives off.
That stock wood is beech I believe and is easy to shape with hand tools. My recommendation is take off all the wood from the sides that make it so bulky, and thin up that forearm.
I’m sure someone out there, in fact anyone out there…is better than me with wood working tools.
Regards…
H 😯 😯 T
RC referrs to them as fenceposts. My .25 Marauder reminds me of a Mauser that shoots pellets. Did you shorten the barrel, Uncle Hoot? How loud is it compared to stock?
Is that wrap on the shroud, or a carbon fiber one? 🙄
That’s the 3M DiNOC Carbon Fiber Vinyl wrap. Easy to work with and has some heat shrink properties, so tiny bubbles and wrinkles can be worked out with some thumb pressure and hair dryer heat. It stays on good and helps break up the blackness of the gun.
What I noted most in this stock mod was the stock is much thinner from butt to foregrip. The straighter lines, narrower stock, no cheek piece reminds me of the old American sportster stocks. They tended to be very lean and straight. Made for easier handling in the field. Not fancy, just functional. That’s what the Marauder is capable of.
That OEM stock resembles the corporation that made it…too fat, too fancy, non-functional.
It’s just wrong to design a rifle stock’s cosmetic looks, at the expense of the stock’s fit, form and function.
These simple wood shavings changed a bench rifle to a field rifle.
H 😯 😯 T
Looks good Hoot.
Is that wrap on the shroud, or a carbon fiber one? 🙄
You know balls to the wall is fun to achieve, but you ussually go back to shot count and what you really need for the purpose it is to serve, nice gun!
I’m running around 45+ Energy at the settings for the 31.02gr Barracudas.
I get a good shot string at this setting, and when the sun comes back out, I’m going to tune it a bit further. So around 30 shots, 45+ FPE at this time out of the stock air cylinder, stock spring.
There’s more to be done for balls to the wall power, but if I can drop a large pest, stone dead where he stood, at well over 100 feet, with one chest shot, then I don’t feel I’m accomplishing much by adding more FPE.
I’ll post some updated chrony results tomorrow if weather allows. I’m kinda curious myself.
Regards,
H 😯 😯 T
It is not a Berretta Hoot, but it will due, and Good Shootin!!
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Nice looking rigs gents