Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

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Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

It's no secret that the vast majority of my shooting is air power. Such is the reality of life between the Canal and the Equator. Many around here know I mess around with airguns so they send friends over to see if I can get 'em going when something goes wrong. This past weekend a fellow brought me a Benjamin Sheridan 397 PA that was built in 1996 and carried down here when such was still allowed. He'd loaned it to someone and it came back non-functional, as in no air being compressed when moving the pump arm.

I've been wanting to play with one of these for YEARS, but they are few and far between. We've been busier even than usual as we get the year off to a good start in our ministry here so didn't have much time in my "shop". I'd heard about an "alcohol flush", so looked it up on the 'tube video sight. The one I watched showed a rifle that was audibly sucking in air, but not compressing it properly. This one obviously wasn't sucking in air, the pump arm would free fall if released at the top of the stroke. But what could a bit of alcohol hurt? I was in a bit of a hurry as we were almost ready to take off and get somethings done that needed doing, but I took a couple minutes to suck about 4 CC's of 70* rubbing alcohol into a syringe and squirt it into the air hole on the rifle with the pump completely raised. Then I squirted a couple more CC's behind the piston cup after it had dropped past the air hole. Then the lever was worked a couple of times and I laid it out on the bench and took off.

The next day I went in and worked the pump arm a couple of times and it seemed to be getting a bit of resistance to it. Huh! Who'd have thunk it? So another syringe of alcohol into the air hole and a couple more behind the piston cup and this time I leaned it up before taking off. This morning I went in and pumped it a couple times and each time it seemed to be generating more resistance. Upon firing it at my pellet trap a fine mist of alcohol was sprayed out the muzzle! After pumping it from 3 to 8 pumps at a time and dry firing it, it seemed to be pumping well, so I lubed the pivots, lubed the piston cup, pumped it 8 times, inserted a pellet and voilá!
2022-01-18_first-shot-s.jpg
First shot at about 10 feet - bullseye! So I ran a few more pellets through at from 3 to 8 pumps and they pretty much with through the same hole, just widening it slightly due to shooting freehand and I'm no great shakes with these open sights anymore.

Next step was to break out the Caldwell chronograph with infrared screens for indoor shooting and run a few over it to see what's going on. Didn't get it properly connected at first and so didn't realize that the 3 and 4 pump groups were missing in action. Once I got the phone connected to it properly, I continued the series of 3 shots each at 5, 6, 7 and 8 pumps. I even ran one 9 pump shot "for science", and as expected it didn't gain much at all (10 or 15 fps) over 8 pumps, not worth the wear and tear and extra effort.

01-18-2022 BenjaminSheridan 397PA 3 shots each at 5, 6, 7, and 8 pumps Distance
0.50

Weight
Shot Number FPS FT-LBS 7.53 grains

1 566 5.36 Altitude
2 576 5.55 4135.0
3 568 5.40
4 617 6.37
5 617 6.37
6 614 6.30
7 649 7.04
8 651 7.09
9 653 7.13
10 684 7.82
11 693 8.03
12 683 7.80
13 715 8.55
14 720 8.67
15 714 8.53


Min Max AVG
566 720 648.00

So if you've got an old Sheridan or Benjamin air rifle that won't pump, you might try the alcohol flush just in case. I'll be handing the rifle back to it's owner today, and all it took was the flush and a lube job to get it back into good operating order. It is definitely worth a try, beats having to open it up and swap out seals. We'll see how long it goes this way, but I'm pretty sure it's good for some time, as long as he takes care of it properly.

2022-01-18_397PA-Left.jpg
2022-01-18_397PA-Right.jpg
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by 3leggedturtle »

Interesting, never thought to use alcohol to rejuvenate seals and/or o-rings.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by 765x53 »

To maintain the seals, always store the rifle with two pumps of pressure.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

3leggedturtle wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:40 pm Interesting, never thought to use alcohol to rejuvenate seals and/or o-rings.
Me, either. I thought that all it MIGHT do was clean out anything that was keeping the check valve from sealing properly. Well, it definitely does something else as well.

Methinks the main problem with this rifle was a lack of proper lubrication. Whatever the alcohol did to swell it up, hopefully the lubrication will keep it going. He'll be coming by later to pick it up, I'm going to encourage him to shoot it more often and to store it properly, with a pump in the valve. We'll see what we shall see.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

765x53 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 1:27 pm To maintain the seals, always store the rifle with two pumps of pressure.
This is true, and something the owner didn't have a clue about. It also seemed to be bone dry, keeping a proper lube on it is also of vital importance.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by CowboyTutt »

That was interesting, thanks Paul! -Andy
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by Ysabel Kid »

CowboyTutt wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:23 pm That was interesting, thanks Paul! -Andy
Agreed! :D
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by gamekeeper »

A useful tip for sure :idea: .. 8)
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by Sixgun »

Learn something new everyday.....I have one of those sitting in the corner......buddy brought it over with a seal kit and as I took the gun apart I noticed many areas were staked in place and it looked like a three day job so that's why it's still sitting in the corner.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

I found Benjamin PA kits on Ebay for under $8 shipped. I installed one in my Benjamin I've owned since the mid 1960's, and it went from not pumping up in 20 strokes to not being able to get two strokes after the new kit was installed!
It's a one stroke pellet rifle now, and extremely accurate. Well worth the time and small price to make them better than new again!

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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

There are not only a bunch of different models, there are a bunch of variations on the various models. After looking through Crosman's catalog of EVP's/Manuals, this one appears to be a 397 First Phase rifle. Z y went with a completely different trigger setup on their Phase Two rifles.

2022-01-18_trigger-left.jpg
2022-01-18_trigger-right.jpg

One thing I appreciate about the Crosman folks is that they keep these manuals available to te public, long after they can get any financial benefit out of them due to no parts availability. And they let you know if they should have the parts or not. You can order parts for some of their guns fairly easily by placing a call to them and giving them the part number from the EVP. Last time I put in an order it was only $4 for shipping for everything. It's a good chance to put in an order for a spare barrel or two if you have one of their CO2 or PCP pistols or rifles, as well as various other bits and pieces.

https://support.crosman.com/hc/en-us/se ... Air-Rifles
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

I have a very old Benjamin pump from the 1930's with a trombone style pump rod under the barrel. It wouldn't pump up, and wouldn't cock and stay cocked. I took it to the local airgun repair shop here in town and they grabbed o-rings, and seals from their bins, and made one small part for it. Got it working like new again.
The repairman said that even the old ones like mine are so similar it's easy to interchange parts on them.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by FLINT »

Yes, I have a few :) But they all work pretty good :D

1951 Sheridan C silver streak
Image

1977 Sheridan C silver streak
Image

1985 Sheridan C blue streak
Image

1990 Benjamin 342 - I sold this one a while ago.
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1991 Benjamin 392P
Image

1992 Benjamin 392P
Image

1992 Benjamin 397P
Image

1993 Sheridan C9 Silver Streak
Image

I've heard about the alcohol flush method before, but haven't tried it myself.

Benjamin bought sheridan products in around 1977 and moved all production up to the racine plant in wisconsin, but kept the lines separate. then in 1991, they introduced the new line of both benjamin and sheridan guns. the sheridan C became the C9 and the 342/347 became the 392/397 (the 9 is for the 90s), and the two lines became much more similar and merged pretty much everything about the construction except for the stocks and caliber (Sheridan was always only .20 cal). Then in 1993, Crosman bought Benjamin Sheridan and in 1994 moved all production to the crosman factory in NY. At that point is when the dot matrix type serial numbers start with the first three digits indicating the date of manufacture (MYY). Then in like 1995 or 1996, they changed the trigger/safety mechanism to an integrated plastic unit, and then over the next 20 years slowly made changes that eliminated many of the models and degraded quality significantly. Today I think the only models that survive are the 392 and 397 as the sheridan rifles were phased out years ago and the stocks are now plastic. I try no to look at the new models as they depress me. So the gun you have still has the older trigger/safety that is mostly the same as the older benjamin and sheridan guns, except Crosman beefed up the trigger spring to make the guns less likely to discharge with the safety on but made the trigger pull terrible. that spring is easily swapped out with a lighter one. I've used a click type pen spring with good success.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

Thanks for the history refresher, Flint! I'd not thought too much about them in quite a while and the details on the moves and acquisitions had faded somewhat. Still remember the first one I saw, in the hands of a missionary in the Amazon basin. He used it for varmints and small game, it was a Sheridan but for some reason I can't remember if it was the Silver Streak or Blue Streak variety. My understanding is that if you properly maintain them you'll not NEED to use the alcohol flush or much of anything else, just properly lube and carefully store and you're good to go for a long time. Well, then there's the ones that fall into the hands of non-shooters. Stick it in a closet and let it go dry and you will eventually have a bit of work to do.

Yep, this is a "Phase One" 397, pre-plastic trigger group. It's here for a while, I may try to buy it off the owner. Time will tell. I'd have LOVED to have one of these as a kid, but wore out, rebuilt and wore out again a Daisy 880 instead, back when they were still a pretty decent "rifle".

Thanks for the tip on the trigger spring. I'll have to look into that as the trigger is, indeed, lacking in desirability.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by FLINT »

Yes, I've been a huge airgun guy pretty much my whole life. I also had a Daisy 880 and it was a decent gun. Mine had a metal receiver and pump arm. The problem with mine was that the stock became loose and would rock back and forth making it impossible to shoot accurately. Then eventually the seals went out. I had it repaired a while back by a supposedly reputable airgun smith who was supposed to replace the stock and reseal. When I got it back, he had simply glued the stock in place with what looked like liquid nails and he did reseal it but it has significantly less power than it originally had. oh well. it is extremely accurate now, so that's all I need it to be.
Back when I had that 880, one of my cousins had a sheridan rifle which seemed like a "real" gun. All metal and walnut, and tons of power. He could shoot through some pretty thick steel with those sheridan cylindrical pellets.
In 1992, I got the Benjamin 397P for Christmas and loved it. Then about 10 years later, after I was married and started working, I rediscovered my love for airguns and in particular the benjamin/sheridan guns. At that time you could still get them pretty cheap. I got the C9 on gun broker for $75, got the '51 silver for $100 at a gun show, and the rest I got for around $100 - $150. Some of which are now selling on ebay for $500!!!! so I'm glad to have built this collection before they got super popular about 5 years ago and skyrocketed in price.

the thing to watch out for on these guns is that crappy rear sight. They are shimmed in place which puts a lot of pressure on the solder connection between the barrel and pump tube. I've put the williams receiver sight on all of mine except for the '51 streak because I wasn't about to have that one drilled and tapped. all benjamin and sheridan guns after 1985 were drilled and tapped for that williams sight, but the earlier guns had to be drilled and tapped. I had Tim MacMurray D/T my 1977 silver streak as he is the man when it comes to these guns.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

They used to make non drill & tap clamp on scope mounts for both Benjamin and Sheridan pumps. I have one on my old Benjamin that was for a Sheridan, but only needed a little file work to the back edge to clearance it to fit my Benjamin.
Wonder if any of the airgun outlets still sell those clamp on mounts?
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

Yeah, Flint, those metal receiver/pump lever 880's were a far cry better than the current plastic made "over there" stuff that passes for a Daisy 880 today. Back then I managed to come up with a parts list and somehow ordered the bits and pieces directly from Daisy. I don't remember the particulars on how it came about, but somehow they got down to the Amazon basin and into my grubby little mitts and I rebuilt that thing "good as new". Then proceeded to wear it out again. Don't recall the stock on mine coming loose. The big problem with them was if the front sight/barrel block came loose. That'd shift your impact from shot to shot. We would shim ours with electric tape and did the same around the transfer port/barrel clamp at the breech end as well. I could hit anything I could see with about any number of pumps. That's the rifle that I learned to really shoot with. I've NO idea how many BB's and pounds of lead went through that barrel, but it got a good work out over its life span. I went off to study and when I came back the old thing had disappeared somewhere when the family moved further north. I've the bits of a couple of them stored away against the day I get a chance to obtain the missing bits and rebuild one of them "for old time sake".
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

marlinman93 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:47 am They used to make non drill & tap clamp on scope mounts for both Benjamin and Sheridan pumps. I have one on my old Benjamin that was for a Sheridan, but only needed a little file work to the back edge to clearance it to fit my Benjamin.
Wonder if any of the airgun outlets still sell those clamp on mounts?
Here's a better setup than the clamp to barrel design. It clamps around the action itself. I've not examined one, but like what I see. If I were to scope one of these rifles, this is probably the route I'd take.

https://www.bakerairguns.com/product/on ... er-streak/
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by 765x53 »

marlinman93 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:47 am They used to make non drill & tap clamp on scope mounts for both Benjamin and Sheridan pumps. I have one on my old Benjamin that was for a Sheridan, but only needed a little file work to the back edge to clearance it to fit my Benjamin.
Wonder if any of the airgun outlets still sell those clamp on mounts?
Take care! Over tightened or ill fitting clamp mounts can pry the soldered barrel away from the receiver.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by gcs »

I no longer have a pellet gun but about to start looking. the last one I had was a daisy pump up bb/pellet that some wasp type insect plugged the barrel with mud and wasp spit... I essentially destroyed it trying to clean it out, stuff was hard as a brick.... any recommendations on a decent one?.
moderate power would be fine, no scope, but would like some accuracy...any suggestions appreciated
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

765x53 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:42 pm
marlinman93 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:47 am They used to make non drill & tap clamp on scope mounts for both Benjamin and Sheridan pumps. I have one on my old Benjamin that was for a Sheridan, but only needed a little file work to the back edge to clearance it to fit my Benjamin.
Wonder if any of the airgun outlets still sell those clamp on mounts?
Take care! Over tightened or ill fitting clamp mounts can pry the soldered barrel away from the receiver.
Mine's been on it since the 60's. Think it's gonna stay there just fine.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by 765x53 »

marlinman93 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:52 pm
765x53 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:42 pm
marlinman93 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:47 am They used to make non drill & tap clamp on scope mounts for both Benjamin and Sheridan pumps. I have one on my old Benjamin that was for a Sheridan, but only needed a little file work to the back edge to clearance it to fit my Benjamin.
Wonder if any of the airgun outlets still sell those clamp on mounts?
Take care! Over tightened or ill fitting clamp mounts can pry the soldered barrel away from the receiver.
Mine's been on it since the 60's. Think it's gonna stay there just fine.
Here is an example of what I was talking about.
pix330392120 (1).jpg
My intent was to warn those less knowledgeable than yourself.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by 1894cfan »

No, but I think I have a non-functional brain! It just won't go along with the govt program! :P
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

gcs wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:08 am I no longer have a pellet gun but about to start looking. the last one I had was a daisy pump up bb/pellet that some wasp type insect plugged the barrel with mud and wasp spit... I essentially destroyed it trying to clean it out, stuff was hard as a brick.... any recommendations on a decent one?.
moderate power would be fine, no scope, but would like some accuracy...any suggestions appreciated
There's a lot of options out there. It all comes back to what powerplant you want to use and what your budget is. Benjamin is selling a synthetic pump up similar to the ones this thread was started about. I've not seen one yet, but it looks interesting. Don't know what they've changed, but they claim 11 FPE power with up to 1100 fps velocity. That would have to be with a very light weight pellet as an 8.4 grain pellet at 800 fps is nearly 12 FPE.

For keeping around "just in case", it's hard to beat the practicality of a spring powered break barrel rifle. Right now you're pretty much looking at Turkish, Spanish or Chinese. I'm pretty sure anything Crosman has in that category is currently Chinese. Hatsan makes some decent rifles and often have refurbs for very decent prices. Check out their website (Hatsan USA) occasionally and you just might find what you're looking for.

Here's their Model 95 with their "Vortex" gas strut, in your pick of caliber. Hatsan 95 Vortex Combo

Personally I'd be more interested in their spring powered version of that rifle, but it's only available right now in 25 caliber. Hatsan 95 Spring powered Combo

If you want a serious piston powered rifle you could always opt for their 30 caliber "Carnivore"
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

Although I love my old Benjamin, and Sheridan air rifles, and air pistols; I also own a modern Gamo Whisper. It's a black plastic stocked modern air rifle that came with a 4x scope and was under $120 shipped to my door. It is extremely accurate, and shoulders really well. It's lightweight, and breaks open to pump it, so single pump is all it takes. I shoot it more than all my old style airguns combined, and love it. But it's just not a classic like the old guns, and never will be. But sure can't beat the accuracy, and simplicity, or price.
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by CowboyTutt »

I second one of Paul's recommendations with the Hatsan in .25 or .30 caliber.

https://www.airgundepot.com/hatsan-135- ... D-39767592

It is a really nice rifle, heavy with an also heavy cocking mechanism at 50 lbs. The pneumatic "air spring" has advantages over a metal spring, both in weight and types of vibration produced in recoil. The 30 caliber has shocking penetration even at a very modest 500+ fps depending on pellet choice. It goes through 3/4 inch thick oak ply wood 90% of the time. I had to add a piece of sheet metal behind it to stop the pellet. The .25 caliber would offer more range and be flatter shooting. The factory fiber optic sights from TruGlo are fine, but I did add a discontinued Vortex red dot sight that works great with the iron sights in co-witness. The trigger is very heavy, but crisp. The ambi adjustable comb should be offered on every rifle every where, its a very nice set up. Even at $300 it is reasonably priced for what it offers, I think I paid $270 plus CA sales tax on a pre-order over a year ago. The 30 caliber sells like hot cakes, is very popular. Not sure about the .25 and finding pellets for it may be as hard or harder.

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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

I've got the Striker 1000X Vortex in 25 caliber. If I can sell it I'll see about upgrading to the Model 95, with spring. I just prefer the traditional steel spring to the "gas spring" as some call Hatsan's Vortex system. The Hatsan unit DOES allow one to gas it up if it leaks down, unlike some of the Chinese units that are "replace only". As for 25 caliber pellets, they are mostly "order them in" unless you live near a dedicated air rifle shop. The Striker series seem to do better with the lower weight pellets due to the lower power they put out. I'd love to mess with the 135's, but have only seen ONE down here and it was snapped up too quickly for me to do anything about it.

For most folks in the US a .177 or .22 caliber air rifle for plinking and varmints is what they'd be happiest with as pellets are available over the counter at many chain stores and gun stores. Not the best ones, of course, but decent enough to make do. If you order online, Pyramid Air has a "buy 3 get one free" that helps defray the expense of postage, especially if you order a bunch at a time. They also usually have the better European pellets instead of the cheap stuff sold by chinamart, etc.
Paul - in Pereira


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AmBraCol
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by AmBraCol »

marlinman93 wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:35 pm Although I love my old Benjamin, and Sheridan air rifles, and air pistols; I also own a modern Gamo Whisper. It's a black plastic stocked modern air rifle that came with a 4x scope and was under $120 shipped to my door. It is extremely accurate, and shoulders really well. It's lightweight, and breaks open to pump it, so single pump is all it takes. I shoot it more than all my old style airguns combined, and love it. But it's just not a classic like the old guns, and never will be. But sure can't beat the accuracy, and simplicity, or price.
Gamo makes some really decent air rifles, which can be improved a bit with some tinkering. I've been running a CFX since 2006. It currently is putting out approximately 12 FPE and if I do my part it's accurate enough for any practical use. It's my spare Field Target rifle now, but used to be my primary one. Personally I favor the older ones with steel on steel hinges instead of the newer plastic on steel with a polymer coating over a steel barrel liner.

Another one to keep an eye out for is a Ruger Airhawk or Airhawk Elite, or Blackhawk or Blackhawk Elite. They are a clone of the Diana 34 TO5 rifle and can be turned into a really decent shooting proposition with some spit and polish.

The Crosman Optimus is another one that I've had fun fixing up. Bought one during lockdown a couple years ago. First pellet was ????, the second one went over the chronograph at nearly 1,500 fps. That was it until I stripped it down and cleaned it up. The goal was to turn it into a nice, smooth shooting rifle. SO I started chopping coils off the spring and velocity actually went up at first. Finally got it stabilized at around 800 FPS with 8.4 grain pellets. It's a nice, smooth shooting rifle now and the new owner is tickled pink with it. Most spring/nitro piston air rifles do better with a strip down, clean and proper lubrication. Most folks just shoot them as is from the factory and put up with less than stellar results until the excess lube burns out.
Paul - in Pereira


"He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion." -- John Witherspoon

http://www.paulmoreland.com
http://www.pistolpackingpreachers.us
http://www.precisionandina.com
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Re: Do you have a non-functional Benjamin or Sheridan rifle?

Post by marlinman93 »

I started out with lighter .177" pellets in my Gamo, and it was higher velocity than I needed. Groups were very good, but I tried heavier pellets in it, and eventually settled on a 10.0 gr. pellet because it held the tight groups out to further distances than the lightweight pellets did.
Nice thing about having both old and new pellet rifles is the lighter pellets don't go to waste as my Benjamin rifle, and Sheridan pistol both like the lighter pellets.
Pre WWI Marlins and Singleshot rifles!
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