Thats sure a nice photo of your rifle, looks brand new...looks like somewhere from 63-67 vintage.
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Sheridan What is a Sheridan? Really
- Thread starter Bear-of-Grayling
- Start date
In 63' the rocker safety was introduced and from 60' to 67' the trigger guard had a rivet up front and a screw in the rear, 68'+, two rivets
Nice looking rifles-
Nice looking rifles-
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^^^ Precisely why this one can't possibly be a '61 as longbow53 has indicated.
'61 & '62 were thumb safeties.
'61 & '62 were thumb safeties.
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The only thing holding a Sheridan back is how poorly suited they are to optics. I'm sure they weren't even a consideration back when the original Models A, B and C were being designed and with a peep sight they're still first rate guns, but it's really too bad that they never bothered to redesign the breech at some point and at least add dovetails to it.
If they had just continued to modernize their multipumps I think they'd be right up there with PCP's and springers today. Sure, Crosman has done it to some degree, but Crosman has also treated MPP's like toys and cut manufacturing costs to the bone in order to make them dirt cheap.
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According to Ronald Elbe’s book, Know Your Sheridan Rifles and Pistols, 2nd edition, copyright 2018 by Ronald E. Elbe, the 5mm pellet (and airgun) existed in Europe prior to the launch of the Sheridan model A (the Supergrade) in 1947.
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I agree. A traditional scope mount forces the user to place the free hand over the scope for cycling and it is a challenge to load. Some folks attempt to compensate by using ridiculously high mounts.
A scout mount eliminates all the above. In addition, the turrets can be used as a guide to true-up the cross hairs for both windage and elevation, not the case with a traditional scope mount.
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All you are saying is true. The scope needs to be mounted further down the barrel and out of the way of the cocking and loading functions. The issue still remaining is pressure put on the soldier joint of the barrel-to-receiver. This joint is VERY fragile. The rear sight alone has been enough to separate the barrel from the receiver. I immediately remove the rear sight and add a Williams Diopter. The earlier Sheridan’s are not drilled and taped to accommodate one though. After 40 years of owning, shooting and working on these pumpers, I have come to the conclusion that they just aren’t meant to be scoped. FWIW
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I disagree. Look close at the mount I'm using. It is anchored solely on the barrel.
No where close to the solder joint as is the case with the wedged rear sight.
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I always wanted a Sheridan as a kid but like most couldn't afford one so had to go with a Crosman 760. I did eventually pick up one of the Benjamin 397P model in silver with a peep sight and I have to say I really like the rifle, so light and handy compared to typical springers. Will definitely have to pick up a real .20 Sheridan in the near future.
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I saw that the mount looked as though it didn’t push against the receiver. Does that mount hold true? Exactly how? I have thought of a “super squeeze” mount to the barrel only. May work on a 177 caliber. The 22 caliber barrel has thin walls.
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Does it hold true? None better. Just look at the design.
These are the same mounts I buffed-out to blend in with the silver streaks & nickel Benjamin's.
It's a Mac1 IA mount. He also offered them in .22 cal. If you look at the earliest Sheridan intermounts you'll see the same cantilever design.
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Yup, my Benjamin 392PA, is accurate enough to hit the box I put my targets on anyway.
What a disappointment.
It is a shame that guns with common problems aren't corrected by the manufacturers, but wind up being corrected by the consumers, or left in the closet as a bad memory.
The overall conception of an airgun in the US has been a kids toy. BBguns are what mine are often refered to as.
I think Sheridan had the right idea early on with quality adult airguns, but that idea has to be sold. It was difficult to compete with the powder burners of the day.
The C model was a concession following Benjamins lead into a moderately priced, young man's crossover gun market, retaining Sheridans quality and caliber.
It was still an investment in the early seventies,as my Sheridan Bluestreak, was $15. more than my Marlin Glenfeld 22lr autoloader, and $7. more than my Ruger 10/22.
My Bluestreak hung well with those 22's when it came to making Squirrel dumplings, even though the 22s were scoped.
I eventually scoped the Sheridan aswell ordering the Sheridan intermount accessory from Sheridan in the mail. I later switched it to peeps in the Robert Beeman era.
Playing with Sheridans intermount recently I have had poor results, as they clamp to the barrel, then when you mount the rings on the rail, they squeeze the mount open and the mount will start sliding up and down the barrel, so you wind up leaving everything loose or just snugg.
The Amazon Intermounts are an improvment, but it's still the same basic design, in two smaller pieces.
I think the best scope set up for the Sheridan C model is a forward Scout set up, allowing normal pumping and handling.
This requires a long eye relief or pistol scope. No body that I'm aware of has one of these with good quality features that airgunners need. Like adjustable parallax and focus that comes in close. The scope needs to be light for obvious reasons of forward ballance, and to minimize the strain applied the barrel joint.
If some one produced the right scope I would try and have some brass picatinny intermounts soldered on my old work horse.
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Glad you are with us Pipestone. And yes the older Sheridan's are venerated by me at least. I hope they come back. Be Well Brothers, Bandito.
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Heres a pic of the 1961? Sheridan. Well Well I guess its a 1963 model? I look back I got the Red Ryder on my 8th Birthday.....I also was at same sporting goods store with my Dad when he bought the Sheridan ? so it must of been two years later and in store buying my 10th Birthday present which was a football that I didnt want ! LOL...I'm a gun guy dad! heres a pic shooting offhand with my coveted BB Gun !
The metal scope mount i picked up in the 80's and did mount a pistol scope? half way up barrel.I have a burris 4X pistol scope. will do a rebuild and refinish on this gun sometime.....
The metal scope mount i picked up in the 80's and did mount a pistol scope? half way up barrel.I have a burris 4X pistol scope. will do a rebuild and refinish on this gun sometime.....
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I’ve got the mount that Baker Airguns sells that I used on my 392PA. It clamps to the receiver and seems to be solid, but I have my doubts about whether it would shift if it were bumped hard. Using it and 18.1 grain H&N's I was able to shoot 1.25" groups at 50 yards. I never really tried to wring it out for accuracy though. The whole idea of spending hours experimenting with how many pumps it liked and which pellets when I already had one that shot acceptable groups didn't make much sense to me. I like it as a lightweight, peep sighted rifle after all and 1.25" @ 50 yards is better than my eyes can do with iron sights.
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Historically, that's the curse that American airguns have had. Until very recently they never got developed to anything near their full potential because, "they're just BB guns."
Overseas, where firearms were largely off limits to civilians they took their airguns seriously, but here they were just seen as toys and not worthy of real interest.
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