Sorta OT-advice please for pellet rifles

Eric R Snow wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Why not buy another Sheridan?

I have a Crosman 1377 pellet pistol sitting by the door in the shop... which shoots .177 pellets and takes from 1 to 10 pumps to "arm". With it's 10" barrel it's surprisingly accurate for a cheap air pistol. I have shot expensive Feinwerkbau air rifles, it's not quite the same... but it's not bad for $50. However, I just tried 10 pumps at point-blank range and it buried the pellet about 0.29" below the surface of a 2" x 2" pine board. There is an entertaining review of the 1377 about midway down this page:

I think(?) the rifle counterpart to the 1377 pistol is the

2100B/2100Classic reviewed here: David

"Eric R Snow" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Google "blue streak"

Gunner

Personally,,,,I prefer the 5mm/.20 caliber...though pellets are a bit harder to find

Gunner

Several multi-pump airguns out there. I have a Remington 77 (I think) which is probably a Crosman. Available for under $50 reconditioned. Cheapo, but it looks good, has a scope, and is surprisingly accurate with a scope. I bought it to run off some crows that were harassing a great horned owl in the neighbor's trees. One pellet at about 15 yards dropped the crow like a rock, and the rest moved on.

Now it's a shop gun, as occasionally I step out into the dark and find myself looking at a roaming pit bull. This gun won't stop one of those, but it might dissuade one that is undecided.

"Rex B" wrote

It makes the owner take note, as it costs a pretty penny to have the pellet removed from the pit bull. It usually takes only once, and if the dog is on my property it's lucky it makes it home alive. I have no regard for pit bulls although I like most other dogs.

Steve

This particular specimen did not exhibit aggression, and just ambled off when I shooed him. But it did make me think about other possibilities. And I have a real firearm for more serious predators.

If it's the right rifle then I think I will. All the stores I've been in don't have 'em. So it helps to see what is out there. Thanks for the link. I didn't know that Crosman made Sheridan. ERS

Thanks Gunner, Blue Streak is what the rifle was. It was stolen 27 years ago and the name had faded. Eric

David, Thanks for the links. I'll look at 'em. ERS

Eric sez: "...Anyway, it took several pumps for full

I've owned several "pellet guns" myself and have never pumped one enough to pierce a 2x4, although that is (maybe) theoretically possible. As my old boss used to say, " A word to the wise is superfluous"; and that would be don't damage a fine air rifle by overcharging it. The limiting factor in air rifles is not how much pressure they can be charged with but how they are able to retain and release that pressure. Velocity is limited by the valve which releases the "pumped" charge to propel the pellet. That valve is actuated by a hammer/spring arrangement and accounts for vibration sharp enough to damage scopes. Special scopes are made for air rifles that can withstand the hammer effect. IOW, you may be strong enough to impart tremendous pressure into an air rifle but only so much energy can be delivered to propel the pellet. Larger valves are possible, of course, but they adversely effect other things such as trigger pull and internal sealing. That tremendous pressure has to be pushed by a piston and retained by a seal.

Trivia: Air guns aren't new. Some went along on the Lewis and Clark expedition 200 years ago.

Bob Swinney

The multi-pump guns like the Sheridan are not at all hard on scopes, so require nothing special. It's the barrel-c*ck spring guns that kill scopes that aren't made for it. I know you know that, just trying to clarify for others.

Someone just tooled up to reproduce that gun as a limited edition. Very nice, pricey.

As others have pointed out, Sheridans are still made, although probably not as well as the old ones. By today's standards, they're not particularly powerful. The ones you've see that use the barrel for cocking are spring-air rifles and probably get more velocity from that one cocking movement than 10 pumps on the Sheridan. Most will be more accurate as well. There's also sidelever cockers and underlever cockers in spring-air guns, those will have fixed barrels, tend to be more accurate and handle scoping better. For real power, precharged pneumatics that use scuba tanks for air pressure are top of the heap for power and cost.

One site that has a lot of info is

there's also

In my experience, you need pellet velocities of at least 650-700 fps to reliably kill vermin like pigeons, the pump-ups generally land on the lower edge of this. You can get some lucky shots that will take them out with lesser velocities, but anything below this isn't going to be that reliable. There's some import spring air guns that will exceed this velocity and don't cost and arm and a leg to own. You just don't leave them cocked.

Stan

And I can tell you those 10 pumps are a lot more work than they were when I was a kid!

The ones you've see that use the barrel for

Yep, lots of good choices in the $100 - $200 range. Even the $40 Chinese stuff seems to be a good starting point if you want to try tuning (metalwork related)

There's also sidelever cockers and underlever

Up to 50 caliber and bigger! Pricey too. The Lewis and Clark rifle was a PCB as were most airguns before the 20th century.

And a few U.S.made ones. Benjamin is one, may be the only 100% U.S. gun

- if that matters to you. Did for me.

Crosman is the only survivor of the old American air-gun triumvirate: Crosman, Benjamin, Sheridan. Crosman bought up the remains of Benjamin after it absorbed Sheridan, IIRC. The present day Sheridans are really a mixture of the old Benjamins with a dose of Sheridan cosmetics. You can still get an old time Sheridan, but collectors want a lot of money for a nice one, and repair parts are problematic.

Randy

Thanx, Rex. No, I didn't know that, for sure. I always assumed all kinds were hard on scopes; but it certainly makes sense the barrel-c*ck types with their very powerful springs would be the worst.

Bob Swinney

"...The Lewis and Clark rifle was a PCB as were most airguns

Coupla questions:

Are you sure the "Lewis and Clark" model was a rifle? Smooth-bores were pretty much the norm in the very early 1800's.

What is a "PCB"?

Bob Swinney

"The air rifle apparently was accurate, thus it probably was rifled."

interesting accounts of accidental discharges in this write-up. The first was before they left, an admirer was examining the rifle and acidentally shot a woman 40 yards away, put a furrow in her scalp.

2nd time one of the members of the expedition accidentally shot Lewis in the buttock. He though he'd taken an arrow and was readying himself to fight redskins to the death. From the way that reads, he may have had 2 airguns in the expedition.

A typo, actually :) PCP = Pre-Charged Pneumatic. Stores compressed air in a reservoir.

Or "silver streak". They came in nickle (?) plate as well as blue.

The Sheridans were 5mm/20 caliber. Think they were the only air guns that were.

I've had a Silver Streak for over 40 years now, and it's still fun to shoot. Pretty powerful, too. Used it to kill a rabid coon a couple of years ago, and it did the job.

John Martin