This is more of a "where are they now?" post along with some rambling backstory.
Looks like a Benjamin Trail NP2. Except there's no gas ram. I shoehorned a Remington Summit (Sold by Crosman) spring piston action into that stock five or six years ago.
Here's what my Summit looked like in the original Remington stock. Glossy! The Summit was an entry to mid-priced .177 caliber break barrel made in China. It was probably rated at 1000+ fps or something similarly ridiculous. And it was glossy. Really, really glossy. But, it was also super easy to cock and shoot all afternoon and that made a fine first impression.
Purchased years ago from Chuck at Precision Airgun -- both sadly now gone. This was a factory refurb from Crosman who owned the Remington air rifle branding rights at the time. I liked the clean lines and long forend covering the pivot joint. Didn't like the high gloss, but figured I could always strip it and do a matte finish later. Besides, it was cheap. Maybe $100 including a plain steel muzzle weight, scope and mount.
Initially, I remember the rifle did have some lock-up issues. It was inconsistent --a bit vague when the barrel clicked home An overhaul of the power plant, replacement of the plastic pivot shims and a stronger detent spring solved all of the mechanical problems and then some. The Summit's accuracy turned out to be better than its price or pedigree would've indicated.
There was never a plan or specific role for the Summit. The rifle got hand-me-down parts from other projects. I'd throw on a different scope or muzzle brake, shoot it for a week, admire its accuracy, then set it aside. Several years later, I noticed mister glossy was cracking and I sourced what I had hoped would be a non-glossy, drop-in replacement stock from Crosman. It wasn't quite that simple--I linked to that a few paragraphs back-- but getting it back in action was worth the effort.
After several years now in the new stock, the rifle is has changed very little from the original set up.
The plain Jane factory steel muzzle weight was traded for an early, now vintage, ported brake from Vortek. In the 1990's, we thought these Vortek muzzle brakes were the height of aftermarket airgun coolness on our R1s and R10s.
The Bushnell 4-12x with an adjustable objective lens is probably mid 2000s vintage. Probably a Banner model. Definitely an eBay acquisition. This is not the scope originally packaged with the Summit. That was a Crosman labeled 3-9x with AO and is currently serving on Volvo's QB78.
A Charlie Da Tuna trigger. GRT-III
UTG 11mm dovetail to picatinny rail adapter. The Summit originally had a single scope stop pin hole in the spring tube. I'd drilled another at some point, but was still rather limited in setting up the eye relief. This adapter centers on the dovetails and doesn't introduce any lateral offset.
One thing I've come to appreciate is modifying/reworking some of my air rifles. It largely satisfies my desire for a new gun without buying yet another. And I end up with something a bit more special (at least to me) than an off-the-shelf rifle. To that end, I'm leaning toward stripping the stock and giving it a nicer finish. And I don't mean glossy.
We'll see what shakes out.
