Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Six decades with the Sheridan

After a good deal of begging back in the 50's I convinced dad that he should "invest" $27.50 in a new Sheridan Silver Streak pellet rifle. I know that those Silver Streaks were priced about a dollar more than the Blue Streak, but my friend Dave's Blue Streak was already showing signs of wear, so I had to have that silver one. 500 Sheridan pellets to a can for $2.50 back in those days would keep me occupied for days shooting down the basement. Three pumps for target work, then way more up to 8 or 10 to make it magnum powered as the need arose. The bird feeder in the backyard was little more than a target of opportunity. My deceased bird pile in the back of the yard attracted crows which were truly big game to ten year old. Pumping that thing developed shoulders like a body builder and it was quiet enough so that Mrs. Scott next door didn't notice that some of her birds were missing. Five or six pumps with just air blew the house flies walking on the screens nicely outside although thoroughly strained. Some light oil and just air took out the bees on the flowering crab tree like a shotgun. Lots of rabbits and one near armor plated grey squirrel that leaked all over the back yard. Dave got a skunk one day with his which was a truly huge accomplishment although I understand it didn't go particularly well for Dave either. A new valve and o-ring bolt and it was good as new or better. The cat ate breast of blackbird in place of cat food which I rationalized more than made up for dad's initial purchase and keeping me in pellets. Pigeons and rats were a particular favorite out at the old grain clean out track behind the roundhouse. Multiple necropsy examinations relieved that those Sheridan pellets were not expanding. A crow confirmed that as it flew a block and a half before falling out of the sky. No, it wasn't the West Nile Virus after all. A change to the Crow Magnum .20 caliber pellets helped the DRT count considerably. Now that I'm all grown up and in my dotage, it has been the chipmunks in the garage and yes, that old Sheridan is still going strong. Something that you guys with the Co2 or springer guns don't appreciate is the variable power of those pump up models. The current house cat is 12 years old now and much prefers cat food to an occasional mouse that finds it's way into the house every fall. Two pumps is a great mouse load without complete penetration; perfect. With a hydronic heating system after a mouse tires of being chased around by the cat, they take refuge behind the copper piping in the heating system. 8 pumps of air stuns them nicely for extraction. Long winded, I know, but thank you for letting me reminisce.

Thanks for the interesting reminisce.

Anything you buy and that is going decades later is good, 6 decades is downright impressive!

My father bought me a Brno 452 .22 rimfire when I was in my early teens -- and I've been doing my best to wear it out for more than 4 decades now. Like your pump up air rifle, it is still going strong!

John

Yes, I have a lot of fun reading and writing stuff here on the forum. I can still remember trying to defend myself when my mother caught me shooting the icicles off the neighbor's eves from my bedroom window. As an adolescent with a Sheridan, I guess my cerebral cortex reasoning center was a little late to develop. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I guess we were a little poorer than you because I got a Crosman 760 instead of a Sheridan but I have alot of the same type of good boyhood memories from that gun just the same. I remember one day mom and dad went Christmas shopping and left me home alone for the first time when I was maybe 10. Mom had warned me repeatedly not to shoot her birds or she'd take the gun away but with them gone the temptation was just too much. I took up position shooting out the back window of the garage, which handily was only about 30 feet from moms feeder and proceeded to commit bloody mayhem on the bird population. When I finally decided I'd better start cleaning up feathers and getting rid of the carcasses I counted 47 victims. Man, what a blast ! I bet I shot a couple wheelbarrows full of pellets out of that 760 before I finally got a .22 and passed the pellet gun down to my little brother. I'd not even care to guess how many chipmonks, frogs, birds, squirrels and rabbits died in front of it's muzzle but it was alot ! I don't know what ever happened to that old Crosman and my brother claims he doesn't remember. I strongly suspect he either irrepairably broke it or sold it to a friend and didn't dare to tell me. In any case, many years later I decided it needed to be replaced with another from the same time period so started looking at every gun show, garage sale, flea market and antique shop in the area for an old one just like it. I finally found one in excellent original condition complete with a vintage Weaver D4 on board at an antique shop in the Catskills. I still take that gun out regularly and use it to keep backyard vermin in check while reliving those boyhood memories.

Crossman 760 here. Many a bird and rabbit fell to my marksmanship, and strike anywhere matches WILL ignite when fired from the barrel (on any surface) skips burn, and hard impacts explode.

Bought my Silver Streak from the Yankee store around '67. I think it was $37. Couldn't begin to count the furred and feathered vermin that fell to those nasty 5mm pellets. They had much better penetration than my buddies .22 Crossman. My most memorable shot was when I took a crack at what I thought was a squirrel head peaking out of a crotch in a walnut tree. At the shot a big raccoon stood up on his hind legs and tipped out of the tree DRT! Still have my Silver Streak and found a like vintage Blue Streak about a year ago. I have two grand-kids that'll inherit them.

1377 is used for the occasional small household pest around here, and serves as a tackle box gun where the Mark II is inappropriate.

And I like shooting my Nitro Piston .22 for high volume plinking at extended ranges as the break barrel cock, load and shoot is a much more efficient source of power for someone in a hurry to take the next shot. And the 3-9x32 scope adds to my enjoyment at longer ranges. Plus it fires the .22 pellets pretty fast for a satisfying thump at 60+ yards.
Or the Blackhawk Elite with the BIG scope for precision target shooting.

But the Blue Streak is the only gun with a permanent spot in the living room, leaned up against the corner of a bookshelf. And it still sees regular use. It wears a Williams.

Other pumpers are an old 880, and a new camo 35 "truck gun" that'll be getting a rifled barrel soon.

Matches Kellory, who would have thought? You I guess. Many fires at your place? Those new pellet guns are right up there with a .22 RF and if memory serves I think that I've even seen air gun You Tube videos up to .45 caliber and guys used them for deer and hogs. Good to see a few of the old Racine, WI. built Sheridan's still out there in the ranks. Under powered that those things were, it taught a kid to make that one shot count. My buddy and I tried every way we could think of to get those Sheridan pellets to expand better, but the velocity was too low and the pellets too hard. We tried making them into hollow points on a drill press, we shot them backwards, we cut the skirts down with a razor blade and even tried a small pistol primer glued in to the base to shoot backwards. I found those Crow Magnums way too late, but I use them now. Blackheart's mention of waiting for mom to leave brought a smile and reminded me of that darn squirrel. Mom went to the store which afforded me the perfect opportunity to gun that grey squirrel out back in the maple tree. The darn thing wouldn't die and proceeded to run all over leaking blood all through the snow in the back yard. Ten minutes out there with the snow shovel cleaning up the crime scene before mom got home. First and last squirrel I ever shot with that Sheridan. Good memories.

Similar story only with a Benjamin. Got it for Christmas when I was 10 or 11. Must have pumped that thing a million times. Still have it, but have since discovered springers.

Bought two brand new 1971 blue streak's($45ea. if memory is correct).Shot many rat's & cottontail's.They're both awesome today with modern .20cal pellets.

I have a Silverstreak by the front door and a Bluestreak by the back

Does anyone know where I can send my Silver Streak for a rebuild? Thanks...

Dennis Baker.
19711 County Road 230
Mt. Victory OH. 43340
phone {937} 660-9152

+1 on Dennis Baker. I sent him my FILs old Crosman 101 that he got as a youngster. A local airgun-smith said it couldn't be fixed. Dennis refurbished it to almost like new condition and it shoots great. I gave it to my BIL as a Christmas gift.

https://www.bakerairguns.com/repair-restoration/

Oh yeah....we used to hang cans from the trees in the orchard behind the house and shoot from my bedroom window....amazing how far we could consistently hit them with the blue streak. I recall picking a red squirrel off from high in the maple trees in front of the neighbor’s across the road from all the way back in our back yard....50 or 60 yards probably. Straining flies through the back door screen, yep.

Great link to Dennis Baker, thank you. Not that my Silver Streak is broken, but that newer o-ring bolt and new valve way back when really brought mine back to life. Shooting the bees with the extra oil probably killed that valve in the first place. Fun, but not recommended now that I'm too late smarter. I have always kept mine cocked with one pump in it and it has sure stood the test of time.

I need to contact D. Baker, we have a Sheridan that won't hold air.

Lent it out, came back broke.


My childhood gun was a Daisy 880. I wore it clean out.
It won't pump up either, but it is so wore it's not worth fixing

Should just throw it out,

Naaaa.

Found one of the old brass Benjamins leaning up against a tree once. It looked like it had been there for at least a year so I brought it home. Refinished the wood with oil and ran that gun for many years. No rust since it was brass. .177. Had a hard time killing pheasants with it I can tell you that!

Thank you Sir!

I inherited my Dad's benjamin. I never asked him how old he was when he got it, but if it's not 8 decades old, it will be in a year or two. We did have the seals redone in the '80's and the barrel was re-brazed to the pump body. Other than that it still works fine. Haven't shot it in a few years, about time to dig it out and run some pellets through it.