Benjamin Discovery PCP Air Rifle Review

If you’re an experienced hunter, or just a man who wants to protect his property from vermin, raccoons, or even bigger animals, you’ll probably need a good gun for the job.

However, deciding on the right air rifle to use is no walk in the park. But what if we step you through a particular airgun that is one of our favorites, which will hopefully make choosing the right option easier and much more fun. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The product we are going to look at in more detail is the Benjamin Discovery. This 22 caliber air rifle is a real game-changer compared to previous pre-charged air guns. With its power, accuracy, and ease of shooting, this one has definitely raised the bar for PCP guns on the market.

General Features

Now let’s review this PCP air rifle to cover all the aspects that you are more than likely most interested in.

• Power and speed
• Accuracy
• Value for money
• Lightweight
• Ease of use

Power And Speed

The Benjamin Discovery makes an outstanding 22 cal hunting rifle, that can hold a flat trajectory at long ranges, reaching a velocity of 900 feet per second. It’s armed with dual fuel features, a 135 cc air reservoir, a built in pressure gauge, and the tank has a male Foster fitting.

This is much more powerful than the average springer air rifle. Also, you don’t need to be a muscular shooter to handle it, which makes the Discovery perfect for both males and females of professional shooters, as well as young ones.

The bar has been raised for PCP guns, as the Discovery only uses 2000 psi of air. As other companies look towards trying to create higher and higher air pressures in their air rifles, Benjamin is doing the opposite and looking to make it easier than ever to just be able to use a hand pump to charge up.

This makes the Discovery a great option for new players who may not have experience with PCP air rifles. You won’t need to invest in acquiring expensive scuba tanks or other equipment. A decent high-pressure hand pump will have you sorted, without having to break a sweat pumping it up to the required pressure.

The dual-fuel option that this model offers also allows the rifle to be filled in the conventional way with compressed air, or switch it to CO2. Many customers tend to ignore this option and leave it as the normal compressed air, due to it being a bit more difficult to apply.

Accuracy

The second most impressive feature of this rifle is how accurate it is. This one performs best with heavy pellets. Unfortunately, after testing with lead-free and light-weight pellets, its performance proved some-what poor. The good news is that with the right lead pellets, it can shoot them down range up to 900 fps with almost no effort on the part of the shooter.

The discovery does come with a Williams fiber optic front and rear sights. However, for better aiming, users may need to look at a scope, which is a separate piece you’ll need to choose based on your preferences. The rifle doesn’t come with a scope rail, but it does have 3/8″ dovetail grooves in the receiver to enable you to mount scope rings.

If you feel that you need a scope, a solid recommendation for the Discovery is the Hawke Airmax Airgun Scope.

Something we find a little funny is that some shooters comment on the Discovery’s design, calling it the “soda straw” barrel. Because It looks way too thin to be a good barrel! But, in this case, appearances are deceptive and excellent accuracy can definitely be obtained from it.

So with some good optics and a steady hand, you can definitely enjoy hunting the smallest objects over a tremendous distance and range with the Discovery.

Value For Money

The Benjamin Discovery is an excellent value for money, due to its affordable price for professional shooters, compared to other similar rifles.

The rifle is usually sold without the scope and the PCP charging equipment, but with how well it performs using them, the price will be definitely worth it. It’s also one of the cheapest entry-level options currently available on the market. It is a solid and high quality built air rifle that will keep you happy as your skills and experience grow.

Drawbacks

The most consistent feedback received was about the sound produced by the rifle. This one is considered quite loud and rates as medium-high. Many users have been able to tolerate the noise, and don’t find it too much of an issue.

If you really wanted to, you could look at attaching a silencer to bring the sound down a notch. However if you are looking for a quiet air rifle that you can use in the backyard without annoying the neighbors, then the Discovery may not be the right choice for you.

Another concern raised by a faithful reviewer of ours was that the air rifle they purchased actually started to leak. Air was leaking around the valve retaining screws, which took the pressure down from 1000 PSI to 500 PSI overnight.

The customer believes that such a leak should’ve been caught by the quality control guys at Crosman. The good thing is that the issue was resolved after contacting the customer service and receiving a new Discovery that worked as it was meant to. We put it down as a one off, and shows that support and the warranty stands up to what it says.

What We Loved About The Discovery

Since the PCP airgun family is a huge one with so many different options to choose from, here are our top favorite features that make the Benjamin Discovery stand out amongst them.

Lightweight

Another amazing feature is how lightweight this rifle actually is, compared to its great power. The Benjamin Discovery weighs about 5.2 pounds in total, without the scope. We were quite surprised with this considering it has a wooden stock!

This awesome design helps to minimize the effort to carry it, so you can focus more on the target for as long as necessary to get a clear shot. This is yet another pretty convincing reason for young and those slightly-built shooters to go and get this rifle.

Ease Of Use

This is a pre-charged pneumatic firearm. Pre-charged pneumatic rifles are powered through high pressure air. The gas is stored in an air reservoir inside of the air rifle and allows you to take numerous shots before the need to refill.

Generally, you can get around 15 decent shots out of the Benjamin Discovery before you have to re-pressurize.

You can also charge the Benjamin Discovery and leave it in this state for the entire day. This is great if you want to charge it for another shooter and leave it ready to fire.

The Benjamin Discovery air rifle has easy-to-follow instructions that’ll lead you step-by-step on how to properly use it. If you consider yourself a bit of a professional PCP rifle user, you’ll soon see that the Discovery is the easiest one you’ve ever used. If you’re new to the field, you’ll become a pro in no time.

The Discovery is light and easy to handle. Although the trigger might be a bit heavy, it doesn’t cause trouble and the let-off is quite consistent.

Low Maintenance

Benjamin Discovery Air Rifle is a trouble-free air rifle since that outdoor air temperature will not have any effect on the shooting. The gun itself doesn’t require usually too much looking after to ensure a long-lasting lifetime.

It’s also smaller than most PCP airguns which makes storage a lot easier. Also, it doesn’t need to be recharged like other PCP airguns.

One thing to mention is that care is needed when loading pellets. They can roll around in the loading tray and it’s possible for one to enter the barrel skirt first, so it’s good to be aware of that and check.

What Other People Say

This rifle is liked by some but loved by many, so here are some reviews of customers who have tried the Benjamin and absolutely loved it.

One customer described the gun as “bad” but in the best possible way. They think it’s the most accurate rifle ever due to its 2000 psi. They also think that it’s a great value for money for a PCP gun, and that this one should definitely not be overlooked.

Others commented on it being an entry-level PCP rifle, they think this gun can’t be beaten. They also believe that the Discovery is priced better for someone who wants to see if they like the PCP world.

One more customer says that, all in all, it’s a great, light, fantastic shooting gun with a lot of customizations available. They also mention that they’ve stored it for about a week and faced no drop in the pressure.

Conclusion On The Benjamin Discovery PCP Air Rifle

Most customers love the recoil-less power and accuracy of good PCP rifles, but are often hesitant to get them due to price. Not only the price of the rifle itself, but also the additional cost of the accessories, like the scuba tank that is required to pre-charge the rifle.

However, Benjamin Discovery has changed all of that. This rifle can easily be charged with a hand pump, which is remarkably affordable. Plus the air gun is in the same price range as the good quality springer rifles.

Even though the rifle makes a bit of noise while shooting, there is the option of using a silencer, though we think this is unnecessary. The gun provides accurate shots and is one of the best rifles for both indoor and outdoor usage.

Bottom line is, this rifle is a great entry-level for a PCP gun. However, it works perfectly well for more professional shooters, which makes it a good long-term investment for a shooter of any experience level.