My 25 cal Benjamin Trail NP XL is extremely well-made. A by product of its solid construction is its fairly heavy weight. But it is a tremendous pellet rifle. The pellets will almost go through 3/4 inch plywood at 20 yards. They penetrate enough, to splinter the backside of the playwood, but not exit. Its 21 inch barrel makes for very good accuracy. I was considering a PCP pellet rifle, but I am pleased I went with this Benjamin. Five stars.

First day I sighted it in. It was all over the place. I was lucky to get 6” groups at 25 yards. I was using exact King Heavy Diablo. A good pellet. I finally got 10 pellets inside 4” and decided I would finish for the day. Pretty sure this is the gun and not me. With a sub MOA rifle, I’m a sub MOA shooter. Plus, I was using bags so positive this is not shooter error. Next day, I had not adjusted anything, went out and couldn’t find Paper at 25 yards. Made sure the scope was on correct and tight. It was able to tighten it a bit so I was hopeful that’s all it was. Nope, still all over the place. Maybe it’s the pellets? I bought some H&N barracuda. Another well known pellet for this gun. I was lucky to get 8” groups at 25 yards. There is no way this gun is that bad! I can throw a baseball tighter than that. And then, at the end of day two, the glued on picatinny rail came off with scope attached. Yep, popped off, scope and all. I’ve heard and seen great things about this gun for the price. That’s why I bought it. One of the biggest reasons I am so frustrated is I saw a review where this happened to someone else. I figured the chances of that happening to me would be too slim to worry about. And now here we are. Clearly a defect in the way they are producing these guns. I will have to send this one back. Not sure if I have the patience to give this brand another go.

I don't usually write reviews but this is an exception. All i can say is this gun is remarkable! I'll keep this review short and sweet for those skimming for reviews.Pros:.25 carries a lot of punchVery accurate (NOTE: slower pellets are traditionally MORE accurate).3/8" grouping at 25years (H&N Barracuda).Crow=magnum bullets destroy cans, oranges, etc. Whatever you shoot at.Very quite - no ear protection needed which is an underrated perk.Smooth trigger pull for the price.Cons:It is a BEAST to cock, my girlfriend struggled to cock the gun with the stock on the ground.Scope - Im just not a fan of it or the brand. Call me biased and take that statement with a grain of salt as it's held well for 500rds now.Stock - pyramid air shows a beautifully refinished stock, but what you see in the pictures here on amazon is what you will actually get. Mine also had lots of splotching and some figure in the wood which as undesirable in this circumstance (coming from a woodsmith lol).That being said. If youre hunting it will work up to 40yards before the bullet starts dropping fast. I have shot a squirrel (head shot) and it dropped pretty quick and painlessly. Also, I mainly use this gun for shooting tin cans in the back yards. Unlike my Gamo .177 which lets the pellets pass to quickly though the can walls, the .25 cal is large and slow enough to transfer the energy to more the cans. This is much more meaningful to younger shooters who often unknowingly prefer active targets and like to see results for a successful shot. That being said, if you want a gun that will stack all bullets in a hole at a good distance you might continue your search but i spent days looking before I opted for this gun and don't regret a second of my decision.THIS NEXT STATEMENT APPLIES TO ANYONE WANTING TO REFINISH THIS STOCK SUCH AS I DID.I stripped the old surface off using Paint Stripper (be very cautious if you have never used this before) the spent about 5hrs sanding going from 180 and finishing with 400 grit. I used a Transtint Reddish-Brown dye (personal choice) but a danish oil will give great results as well. Finish with a glossly finish and allow 24hrs to dry between coats. YES, 24hrs! Dont cheat the time and sand lighting, one pass, with 600-800grit after the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th coat. Before you apply the stain, DO NOT make the mistake I did and mist the wood with water before staining. Since I had a bone head moment and forget this step, i get really bad splotching down by the butt due to how thirsty the species of wood is (i believe it's Birch).

06/02/12 UPDATE: I'm back, again, with another update. I have finally taken this out into the actual field and I am less impressed than I once was. Outside of my 50' basement, this rifle loses accuracy tremendously. Now, please bear this in mind: I am within the 1000 shot break-in period. Yes, you read that correctly: 1000 shots. The manual says 100, but *everyone* else I've spoken to on airgun forums says it's more like 1000.If you are willing to put up with a loud, inaccurate, hard-trigger-pull rifle for 1000 shots, then I don't think you will be disappointed. HOWEVER, if you think you'll die before you ever put 1000 pellets through this, then don't bother buying it. That being said, after 1000 shots, the rifle supposedly turns into a different weapon. The piston settles, accuracy greatly improves, it quiets down and the trigger eases up.I don't plan on selling it (it is a GORGEOUS rifle), but 1000 shots? Really? This break-in cycle should be handled or half-handled at the factory.Also, it's not a field rifle. It's too heavy and you risk scuffing the wood stock. IMHO, this is a functional showpiece.Oh, yeah. I've run this through my chrony, finally. Box says 725fps. That must be with the lightest ammo in the world (which is not good for the piston). In actuality, I am getting anywhere from 550 fps to 650 fps with pellets of varying weight. However, when you do the math on each shot, I am getting a very consistent 19-21 ft/lb energy, no matter what I shoot.END UPDATE.5/14/12 UPDATE: I shoot this in my basement as that's my range since I live in the city. Imagine my surprise when I fired this in fairly low light and saw a beautiful flash of flame eject out the barrel. I knew "dieseling" exists, but had no idea how prominent it could be.Anyhow, I wanted to test the weapon with some actual meat. As stated in the full review, I'm not a hunter, but I will gladly and hypocritically run to the store, buy some meat and shoot at it. Which is exactly what I did.As the photos above show, this easily blew right through one piece of chicken b-word (Amazon won't allow the b-word and I don't mean female dog).I then placed three pieces of chicken in a row. The .25 Nitro blew through all three (at once, not side by side). The exit wound on the third piece was pretty small and thought I would be recovering the pellet from the chicken, but I ended up pushing my finger straight through. Exit wounds on pieces 1 and 2 were paramount. Similar to what you see in ballistic gel, this was a cigar-shaped pattern. Anyhow, that was three pieces of chicken, totaling 3-4" thick. That's as thick as your arm or ankle or two hands pressed together. This rifle will easily take down large game with carefully placed shots. And will blow apart smaller game. Be careful with it.After having the gun for a while, if I had to choose only one weapon to own, it would be this one (EDIT: This is no longer true. I have a couple CO2 rifles I would immediately choose over this).END UPDATEI don't even know where to begin. This is, by far, the most "adult" adult air rifle I've ever encountered. And I own several. This is my first .25, but even the .177 and .22 variants of the Trail NP have to be this...mature.PROS:First off, this rifle is massive. My Remington Summit .177 was the largest air rifle I owned until this came in the mail today. If you're after the beef, then this will deliver. I see no way, without careful supervision, anyone under 16 could handle this, let alone cock it.The rifle is flat out beautiful and belongs mounted over the fireplace. It's intimidating and deadly...and that's just looking at it. The finish is nearly perfect and the sightless barrel is clean and striking. Mount that gigantic scope and you're ready for your NRA life-member photo.Power! This thing has it. I have much more testing to do, but this is the most powerful air rifle I own, by far. I'm not a hunter, but I reckon this would blow a squirrel's mid-section apart, chunk out a rabbit, vaporize a bird and put down a ground hog with ease. I also honestly think it would kill a deer with a well-placed close-range head or heart shot.The scope is beautiful and with the parallax adjustment, clearly made for air rifles.CONS:Breaking the barrel open is slightly counter-intuitive. Per the manual, you apply a literal and moderate slap to the top of the barrel and it easily loosens from the breech. This is the first break barrel I've had like this and it took a second to figure it out. I really, really should have read the manual first. It actually works well, just not what you'd expect.Cocking the rifle will accomplish two things. 1) It will quickly wear you out without proper form and 2) will build up some muscles and fast. If you try to use just your arms and are NOT a body-builder, you're going to pull something. You seriously need to put your torso into this. It is easily the hardest-cocking rifle I own (EDIT: Either the spring has settled down or I've mastered cocking it. It is nowhere near as hard as it used to be. As long as your hand is all the way to the muzzle, you'll gain enough leverage to easily cock it).I'm your typical adult male and I find the grip to be a bit too long. The thumbhole-to-trigger distance is just a bit too long for my hand.The front sling mount (that goofy T-shaped thing at the breech) is obtrusive, ugly and in the way. The only way it's coming out, as far as I can tell, is to either cut it off with a saw or drive out the pressed fitting, remove it and reinstall the pressed fitting. If you're going to use the sling, it's a non-issue, but I won't be using the sling, so it's in the way.The manual states accuracy will improve and loudness will disperse after ~100 rounds. Good, because my shots are slightly off and it's pretty darn loud, at the moment. A .22LR rifle is quieter than this during the break-in period (EDIT: As stated, it's more like 1000).CONCLUSION:It was either this or the .25 Marauder. The Marauder is 200-300 fps more powerful, but I went with this for two reasons: 1) It's about half the cost and 2) does not have any of the fiddling around that PCP demands. No extra pumps or tanks needed with this baby. Of course, like anything, it's a trade-off. I will own a Marauder some day, but am 110% happy with the Trail NP and regret nothing.I highly recommend the Trail NP if you're seeking an air rifle in this price range. It is a quality product by a USA company and, I believe, all their Benjamin variants are actually Made In USA. Speaking of, their Benjamin line is of questionable quality sometimes (EB22 anyone...), but the Trail NP is good to go.