Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Sheridan .20

JJ...I had never seen that FTS pellet...looks pretty good.

You are of course entirely correct...once modified one can probably not drop locally obtained parts into the gun. I have one stock Silver Streak that I plan on just leaving stock...it is one of the faster Dans I have had...

It is really too bad Sheridan was sold to Benjamin...after a short period of time the sleek Sheridans became nothing more than a .20 caliber BoxyBenjamin.

Bob

I can't beleive what happened yesterday. I had a woodchuck in my backyard tearing up part of my garden. I pumped up my old Sheridan 10 times and took a shot at him. I figured it would sting him and move him back to his hole. I couldn't beleive it, one shot at maybe 25 yards or so and it folded up. I have shot chucks with centerfires and didn't see them fold up so fast at times. I never expected it to kill him, just maybe sting him hard. I am simply amazed with this gun. I also shoot a lot of "tree rats" with it, the ones that try to get to the bird feeder. Besides, we are over run with them at times. I prefer the birds to the rats.

You have rats living in your trees in NY?

..in NY they have Rats living everywhere. They even elect them to the US Senate.

Bob

Sorry for any confusion. Tree Rats = Squirels

I know plenty of people who eat squirrels but never heard of any of them eating rats. I don't see the comparison?

We have lots of tree rats in So Cal. An actual species of rat, smaller than the Norwegian rat, that lives in trees.

I have a Daisy pump pellet gun. I used to live in a house with several fruit trees which attracted crows - a fig tree was the worst. I got tired of them and grabbed the pellet gun - I figured that 5 pumps would be a minimum to sting a couple of the crows and get them to go away. (It turned out that 2 pumps was the minimum...) I shot a crow and it fell dead - right in my neighbor's pool. He happened to have 2 GOlden Retrievers, who dove in and fought over the crow and tore it into pieces. Also, there must have been 1000 screaming crows drawn to my house by the death cry of the one crow. It looked like a scene from "The Birds."

JJH
Don't know about why anyone else calls them tree rats, but when I was much younger I used hunt gray squirrels on the farm I lived on. I liked to eat them until one of my cousins commented he liked them too, then one of his friends told him if you cut them around the body (centered)you can just pull the hide off them in both directins at the same time. Only problem is their tail and body looks a lot like a rat. Don't think I ever ate another one.

I used to work for a large tractor and implement store... we had a pigeon problem in our outdoor warehouse. My boss asked me to do some research and find out what it would take to eliminate the problem... without even thinking I said $200, cash. The next day I went to the local hardware store and bought a Ben-Sher .20 cal Blue Streak, a box of Sheridan cylindrical pellets and a Receiver sight. I had to braze a piece of bronze rod to the top of the front sight to gain enough elevation to sight it in, and to provide a 'bead' rather than the simple ramp front sight. I got that thing sighted in and I don't think I ever missed a pigeon inside of about 25 yards. Even with only 3 pumps it would fully penetrate a pigeon and leave a dent in the roof of the warehouse.

One day I even killed a coyote with it at about 15 yards... one shot just under the ear and it was DRT. I shot a lot of pellets over the Chrony with that rifle and found that 8 pumps was the most efficient with just about any pellet short of the Crow Magnums. The cylindrical pellets were always my favorite though... they hit HARD and always penetrated well.

I'll never be without a .20 cal Sheridan, and I can't wait until my new son is old enough to pound on the crows and starlings with a Sheridan of his own. ~JT

In a survival situation I would almost be tempeted to take a Sheridan and several tins of pellets over a .22 rifle. You could carry a lot of ammo in just a pocket and still have a gun that would provide all the small game one could shoot. Wonder how it would do on a short range head shot from a treestand on a deer....

Bob

It will not penetrate a deer skull without the hide or meat. I just tried it for you. From 20 feet one pellet stuck in the bone the others bounced away.

With the hide they would likely all stick but no chance of bone breakage. You might knock them out for a second? I also tried Coyote skulls while I was at it. Some break and penetrate well and some just barely crack. These are bare skulls too.

JJ;

A squirrel is an oversized rat, nothing more. Squirrels are genus Sciurus, Family Sciuridae. Rats (like Norway rats) are genus Rattus, Family Muridae. Both are Order Rodentia. Distant cousins, biologically.

Feeding and behaviour, though, they are too similar for comfort if you like to hunt and eat them. Had a good buddy at Va.Tech in the Wildlife Science program. LOVED to squirrel hunt, until he did a year-long study on them, and discovered that for all intents and purposes, they lived, ate, and acted like rats. He wouldn't touch another one after that.

JJ..it may also have to do something with the skull being dry... If you have your Dan around the next time you are skinning out a deer try a flat-on forehead shot at 10 yards..

VA...as long I don't see any TreeRats foraging in dumps I'll continue to shoot and eat them... One of my hunting partners found a recipe for Squirrel Pot Pie last year and it was so good as to kill for the last piece...

Bob

Bears shot in SE AK stink so bad in fall you can hardly skin one without Puking. They eat the rotting salmon. They taste so bad the law actually does not require you to salvage the meat.

Bear above treeline in Sept are among the best eating animals on earth. Those berry fed fat blackies are simply awesome. So what game eats in many cases determines how well they will taste. With that I can see how a nut fed wild squirrel would be much different then an urban dwelling Norway rat. I also know that beaver and Porcupine are very good eating as are rabbits. All of them are also rodents.

Waterbuck are among the worst eating game alive but Impala are delicious. Both antelopes. At leat to my mind just because an animal is remotely related to another does not tell me anything about how well it will eat.

My Sheridan Blue Streak .20 was the first in - Christmas 1959 - and will be the last out. It still has the original seals, even though I usually pumped it 10 times back then - it outshoots my Beeman R7. The only maintenance I've ever done on it is store it with two pumps.

Jaywalker

Guess I'll have to go back and give that coyote mouth-to-mouth! What pellet did you use for your tests, and where did you shoot the skulls? Just wondering because the coyote I killed with a Sheridan cylindrical pellet went down and never even twitched, shot was to the side of the head... just below the ear. I also killed quite a few ferel cats with it and in almost every case the pellet fully penetrated the skull and left a nasty exit wound. I always find it interesting how terminal ballistics seem to differ person to person, even with the same weapons. Cool tests though, thanks JJ. ~JT

Hi guys, new to the forums. I also have an older Sheridan late 60's if I remember. My problem is I wore out the pump arm assembly and cannot find anywhere to get one. Sent a e-mail to Daisy,said they owned Sheridan & Benjamin now but they didn't have any parts. If anybody could give me a lead I sure would appreciate it. I also kept the bird, rabbit & squirrel population in check on my grandpas ranch (boy that was a long time ago).Thanks

Are you sure it was daisy? Crossman owns Sheridan.

Search Ebay, they always have parts for sheridans. The vintage is important, make sure it's equal or older, not a newer rifle.

300...worst comes to worse call MAC1 Airguns...they have a billit pump arm replacement that I had put on three of my guns...it will never bend or break,

Bob