Smith & Wesson 586 & 686

By B.B. Pelletier

The June 15th post was titled Shoot in style with Gamo's wheelgun. I compared the Gamo R-77 revolver to the Smith & Wesson 586-6, but at the end I waffled and said the S&W was an all-metal gun, so the comparison wasn't fair. Today, I'd like to look at the airgun that sets the standard for revolvers.

They don't come any better than S&W!
Smith & Wesson is a leader among revolver makers. Their 586/686 .357 Magnum revolvers are a clear statement of why that title is deserved. So, when Umarex decided to make a CO2 revolver, they were wise to choose this one.

I was very skeptical that Umarex could achieve as good a feel as an S&W firearm, but I'm darned if they didn't! The airgun weighs almost exactly the same as the firearm, and the grips are rubber - the kind you have to buy as an option on the firearm!

The airgun's cylinder swings out to the left side on a crane, but it also detaches from the gun. It holds ten .177 pellets and can easily be replaced with a full cylinder for faster reloading. Extra cylinders are available in packs of three, though they are only available in black, and nickel revolvers have to use them, too.

Super accuracy!
I think the big story is the super accuracy you can get with the CO2 revolver. I found it more accurate than any other Umarex pistols, by a wide margin. At 33 feet, I was able to hold groups under one inch, and the best I can do with any other Umarex pistol is an inch and a half.

The rear sight is adjustable in both directions, so you can zero your pistol for exactly where you want to hit. And, the trigger is a real surprise, being pretty close to the trigger on the firearm! Double-action is lighter than the firearm, and single-action is close but not quite as crisp.

The Powerlet is housed inside the grip without making it too fat. You'll be surprised to find these grips are thinner than the ones on the firearm. I like that because my hands are on the small side, and these rubber grips fit just fine.

Quality costs money
If there is a downside to the gun, it's the price. Quality doesn't come cheap, and I've seen these same airguns selling for over $225 in gun stores, so the prices you see here are very reasonable. The ability to change barrels is one of the greatest features, but I always opt for the 6" barrel as a starting point.

Angled shots reduce pellet drop

By B.B. Pelletier

This is another post on using a scope. Let's talk about shots that are angled up or down from the shooter's perspective.

On the level
When shooting with a scope, you have to know the pellet's trajectory so you can hit targets at different ranges. I addressed this in the June 1 posting - At what range should you zero your scope? In that discussion, all shooting was done on level ground, with the target at the same elevation as the shooter. That kept the barrel parallel to the ground, which is the only way we could discuss trajectory without confusion. A lot of shooting is done that way, but there are exceptions.

What if you're hunting squirrels that are high up in trees, or sniping rabbits in your garden from a second-story window or deck? In both cases your barrel won't be parallel to the ground and gravity will act differently on the pellet in flight. To hit your target, you'll have to compensate for this.

Up or down - they're both the same
Whether you shoot up or down, the effect on the pellet is the same. The actual drop of the pellet from the effect of gravity is reduced. Another way to say this is that the trajectory will be flatter.

The easy way to picture it
Think of it this way. If you were shooting straight down, there would be NO arc to the trajectory. The pellet would travel in the same direction as gravity's influence, which would be a straight line.

If you were shooting straight up, the effect would be the same. The pellet would travel in a straight line, as long as it was not influenced by wind or anything else. Eventually, gravity slows the pellet to a complete stop and it reverses direction, falling back toward the pull of gravity. It gains velocity again until it reaches a speed where it can't go any faster because its wind resistance holds it back.

These two illustrations are to help you understand the dynamics of the situation. When you shoot up (at a high target) or down (at a target below you), the same thing happens to the pellet, though not to such an extreme. The slant angle of the shot determines the amount of the effect.

If you're confused, here it is in a nutshell
Imagine your target is NOT up in the tree but on the ground and level with you. That distance is the one you should be sighting for! To hit a bird that's 50 yards up - but the tree is only 15 yards away from you - aim the same as if the bird is JUST 15 YARDS AWAY! Gravity acts on the pellet as though it is only 15 yards away because of the extreme slant angle of your shot. That explains why hunters often shoot OVER their targets when they are high in a tree!

Shooting BB guns: a message for parents and teachers

By B.B. Pelletier

The American BB gun is recognized everywhere and the Daisy company along with it. Perhaps no single model is as well-known as the Red Ryder. Because many parents buy BB guns to teach their children the fundamentals of shooting safety, I am devoting today's posting to that gun.

Safety first!
The movie A Christmas Story revived the popular saying, "You'll shoot your eye out!" That dates to the late 1920s when Daisy changed from lead air rifle shot to steel. Suddenly, guns that no one gave a thought to were injuring young shooters with rebounding BBs. A lead ball striking a hard surface deforms and bounces, if at all, away from the shooter. Steel does not. It resists deformation, rebounding straight back toward the shooter with much of its initial velocity intact. So, safety is the first concern for anyone shooting BBs.

Do NOT use a pellet trap for BBs! Use a BB trap!
Pellet traps are made of steel for lead pellets and will cause the worst kind of rebounds if used with steel BBs.

Shoot only into a trap that prevents rebounding. This can be a commercial trap or a box filled with crumpled newspapers and backed by a thick, tough carpet. Two traps that I like a lot are Daisy's own Sound Blaster Target, which is a perfect match for the Red Ryder, and Crosman's model 850 BB/Pellet trap.


The Daisy Sound Blaster makes several distinctive sounds, depending on where the BB strikes the target, so the shooter gets immediate feedback. The Crosman 850 has several tough ballistic cloth screens that prevent rebounds and keep stray BBs off the floor. For that, alone, they are well worth the price. Be sure to back either commercial trap with a large piece of carpet to catch stray BBs.

Everyone wears eye protection
As a further precaution, everyone in the vicinity of the gun should wear either safety glasses or shatterproof eyeglasses. The safety glasses cost very little and protect your eyesight, which is priceless.

The stock may have to be cut down
For smaller children, the Red Ryder stock is too long, so it may need to be cut down. To find the correct fit, have the child stick his arm straight out to the side and bend at the elbow with the trigger finger extended and pointing up at the ceiling. With the butt rested on the inside of the elbow and the rifle also pointed toward the ceiling, the trigger finger should go about a half-inch past the trigger.

If you don't want to cut up a fancy Red Ryder stock, consider buying the Daisy Model 105 Buck. It's less decorated, less expensive and has the same solid wood stock that lends itself to alteration.

For older children, Daisy's model 95 Timberwolf is a larger, more powerful gun that features Daisy's widebody frame. It's attractive and will please the bigger kids. Daisy has discontinued this model; when stocks are gone, there will be no more.

BB guns are a great for teaching shooter safety, as long as we follow safety rules!

Crosman air pistols: then & now

By B.B. Pelletier

This posting was requested by a reader who commented on the S&W 78G posting on April 7. That post has received a lot of interest, and his request was that I compare the old Crosman pistols to a new model, such as the 2240.


This Crosman 150 has seen better days,
but it still holds gas and shoots hard!

Crosman's 2240 is the grandchild of their model 150
The 150 was the first Crosman pistol to use a Powerlet, which was also invented by Crosman. It was available in .22 and .177, though at the time (1954) .22 caliber was more popular.

The 150 evolved into the 250, which became today's 2240. As you can see, it bears a strong family resemblance. The 2240 is available only in .22, and its velocity of 460 f.p.s. is an honest number. When the 150 was sold, velocity was not commonly advertised, but I have seen speeds from the low 400s up to the low 500s with lightweight pellets. The 150 was a bit of a gas-guzzler, getting 45 to 50 shots at best. The 2240 probably does the same or just a little better.

For many decades, 150s have been modified into powerful carbines by the addition of longer barrels and shoulder stocks. The valve is very similar to the one in the Crosman 180 rifle, and rifle velocities of up to 700 f.p.s. are possible with a longer barrel.

The 2240 has also been modified by many airgunsmiths, with, perhaps, Dennis Quackenbush being the leader. He has converted many 2240s to .25 caliber and one special one to shoot 60-grain 9mm pellets! He has stopped producing 2240 parts, but there are several people who still offer mods in one form or another.

Oldies are goodies - but not necessarily more accurate!
Accuracy, then and now, was the big question our reader asked about, and here I go - out on a limb! The 150 is probably not quite as accurate as the 2240, though there is a lot of variation from gun to gun. The 150 was never as accurate as either the S&W 78G or the Crosman Mark I, but I do find that the 157 (the .177 version of the 150) is just as accurate as the .22/150, if not more so. I've seen a few bad barrels among the 150s I've examined, which may account for my experiences.

By contrast, the 2240 seems to have a consistently well-rifled barrel. This is probably due to better quality control built into the modern machines now making Crosman's barrels.

A few other differences between the old & the new
The other big differences between old and new - the 2240 now has a bolt that both cocks and loads the pistol, and the receiver is made of plastic instead of steel. That causes people to long for the "good old days," even though the new gun is more accurate and may get more shots. Enjoy it while it's here because some day THESE will be the good old days!

Gamo Shadow 1000 Combo - one of the best buys in Gamo's line!

By B.B. Pelletier

If you want to get into adult airgunning, the Gamo Shadow 1000 combo is an affordable entry.

Great power in a lightweight package
Of all Gamo's line, the Shadow 1000 is unique because of its light weight and easy cocking, yet powerful punch! Most Gamo rifles shoot a light .177 pellet at around 1,000 f.p.s., but this one does it in a package that's nearly the same size and weight as Beeman's little R7! That's packing a lot into a very small package.

The Gamo 1000 has a very grippy synthetic stock that is a trifle short compared to the average adult spring rifle. That means this rifle fits a much wider range of adults. Cocking effort is under 30 lbs., which is reasonable for the power.

Tru-Glo sights are standard
You don't HAVE to scope a Gamo 1,000. It comes with great open sights. But the combo package includes the scope and mounts for less than $30 extra, and that's well worth it. The scope is a BSA 4x32mm, which will be very bright. Since the Gamo 1000 has a scope stop built in, there is nothing more to buy than pellets.

Accuracy secrets
To get your 1000 shooting its best, REST the forearm on the open palm of your hand at the balance point. If you move forward to rest the cocking slot on your palm, my experience shows the gun will shoot all over the place. Don't hold the gun tightly anywhere, including the butt against your shoulder. Let the rifle kick freely, and you'll be rewarded with tight groups.

Never rest a spring gun directly on sandbags, cushions or any other material. They want to ride lightly on your open hand. And, NEVER grab the stock like a firearm or you will throw away all the accuracy the gun has. This is how top shooters hold their guns!

Gamos respond best to LOTS of shooting
Gamos are unique - they come right out of the box ready to go in many respects. I've never seen a prolonged break-in improve accuracy or velocity with one. However, the trigger needs LOTS of shots to smooth out. It's a lot like the old German BSF rifles that started out with horrible triggers and, after 4,000 shots, had smoothed out considerably. Veteran Gamo owners will tell you that the creepy trigger becomes sweeter with every shot you fire.

The trigger adjustments don't seem to change much when the gun is new. But after a few thousand shots, you can get the trigger adjusted to a good release. It will never rival a Rekord trigger, but it will be better than when brand new.

Which pellets to use?
Usually, I like Gamo pellets, but the Gamo rifles are too powerful for their Match wadcutters at anything beyond 15 yards. I would try Crosman Premiers in the 7.9-grain weight or JSB Exacts. I would expect the JSBs to be the best, but only if your shooting technique is very good.

The Gamo 1000 is perhaps the best buy in the entire Gamo line, and this combo makes it that much better. If you've wanted to step up to adult airguns, this package makes it easy. Let's hear what veteran Gamo owners have to say!

How to pick your first PCP

By B.B. Pelletier

Now, don't think I'm going to tell you which guns to buy, because I'm not. But, there are some basic things to think about when buying your first precharged airgun.

How PCPs differ from springers
The thing to remember about PCPs is that they generate lots of power with very little effort on your part. Where springers generally become larger and harder to cock as they get more powerful, PCPs do not. In smallbores, the AirForce Condor is the biggest dog on the block, yet it weighs 6.5 lbs. and cocks easily with one thumb. A Career 707 is almost as powerful, weighs about 8 lbs. and has a handy lever to cock it. No smallbore PCP is as hard to cock as a mid-level spring rifle.

What caliber should you buy?
With a PCP, you can forget the idea that .22 caliber is too slow. Any powerful PCP will shoot a .22 pellet over 1,000 f.p.s., which is too fast for accuracy. You're going to have to slow it down.

On the other hand, a .177 PCP is wonderful for long-range target shooting. I wouldn't choose one for hunting, but for shooting inanimate targets, they're cheaper to shoot and just as much fun as the others.

Do you want a repeater?
PCPs come as repeaters as well as single-shots, so here's your opportunity to sling some lead. But understand this - the nature of the magazine used with a repeating PCP determines which pellets will work and which ones won't. Guns with linear magazines such as the Career 707 will not feed pointed pellets reliably, while MOST guns with cylindrical magazines - like the FX 2000 - have trouble if the pellets are too long. The Korean rifles with cylinders are the exception to this because they were made for pellets like the Eun Jin heavy domed pellet, and everything else is shorter.

How do you plan to fill the reservoir?
This is a tough question if you've never handled a PCP gun, so let me tell you what I have seen. Most shooters favor the scuba tank as the best way to fill. The more often you shoot and the more pellets you fire when you do go shooting, the truer this is. A hand pump is for a certain kind of person who wants to be freed from having to drag around a scuba tank. That said, I recommend starting out with a scuba tank first. Many PCP owners end up buying a hand pump after shooting PCPs for several years and owning a number of PCP guns.

A secondary issue is how to connect your new gun to whatever refill system you buy. Make certain you buy all the necessary adapters for YOUR GUN! They're not interchangeable - and if you don't have one thing that's needed, it can spoil the entire experience.

Getting into PCP guns means there are things you'll have to learn. At first it seems impossible, but after you've solved a few little issues, you'll experience a whole new world of airgun enjoyment!

What's it worth?

By B.B. Pelletier

The most-asked question at Pyramyd Air is, "What is my airgun worth?" We all want to know what our stuff is worth, and for airguns, finding the answer is as easy as looking in a book!


Blue Book of Airguns, Fourth Edition


THE authority on the value of airguns!
You can't just look in ANY book, of course - it has to be the Blue Book of Airguns. It's THE ONLY authoritative price guide for new and used airguns available anywhere. Other price guides have been published over the years but they were either too narrow in scope or were created for the specific purpose of deceiving someone. Some of them valued guns extra-low so their publishers could continue to buy them at great prices, while at least one guide over-valued airguns so the author could sell his collection at a great price!


The American B.B Gun

The American B.B gun
The one book that did have reasonable prices when it was published was The American B.B Gun by Arni T. Dunathan. But it was only published one time, then republished decades later without attempts to update prices. As a result, nothing in that book has been reliable, price-wise, since the middle 1970s. Also, this book only covers BB guns, leaving pellet guns high and dry.

The Blue Book has been published annually since its inception, and each edition gets progressively better. The fifth edition is due out in a short time and will be the most comprehensive book published to date.

Don't trust internet prices!
Some gun dealers and internet sellers haven't got a clue what they're selling. I see "Benjamin Franklin" airguns for sale all the time (no such airgun ever existed!). Their owners don't know they have common Benjamin airguns, worth very little because all the black nickel and silver nickel underneath has been rubbed off. So they ask $250 for a "Benjamin Franklin" 130 whose brass has been shined up like a trumpet. Such a gun would be worth $50 if it held air - and most don't.

Beware of antique shops and gun shows!
These are the places where you find a Daisy Red Ryder from 1995 in beat-up condition selling for $90, when it is really worth $10. Or, you might find a "real Winchester" model 423 (Diana model 23) for $350, like I once did. Gun-show buyers are often not too savvy about airguns, and they've heard stories about Daisys worth $10,000, so a beat-up Number 25 pump with engraving (1936 model) that should sell for $40 becomes "rare" and valued at $325. It happens!

The last word
And just because a gun is "worth" such-and-such in the Blue Book doesn't make it so! If the seller has a price of $1,000 on a Quackenbush model 5 because he found that number in the Blue Book, it's your job to inform him that without the floating firing pin and in the 20-percent condition his gun is in, it's really just a $500 gun to you. Then, the two of you begin the famous tarantula dance of two guys in a hot deal, and both will survive to tell the world how they overcame the other guy!

The Blue Book of Airguns belongs in your library!

Some questions are answered!

By B.B. Pelletier

Pyramyd Air gets a lot of email and phone questions, so I'm going to answer a few of those today.

Where do you get gas springs for conventional spring-piston air rifles?
You don't. At least not anymore. In the late 1990s, Tom Gore made and sold some upgrade springs for Beeman R1 rifles and Webley Patriot rifles. He also had some prototypes for the TX 200 and HW 77, but I don't know how far he went with them. His company, Vortek, isn't selling them anymore, and to my knowledge, neither is anyone else. During the time Vortek was selling gas springs, Theoben offered gas springs for the R1, Patriot and a few others. As far as I can tell, they're not doing that anymore.

If you want rifles with gas springs, you either have to buy Theobens, which is hard now that Beeman no longer imports them, or buy the Beeman RX-2. My intuition tells me you'd better hurry if you want an RX-2!

Why are some pellets copper-coated or graphite-covered?
To reduce oxidation. Lead oxidizes when exposed to air and to other things such as most woods (found in drawers) or cardboard boxes with acidic content. Today, almost all lead pellets are coated with graphite; the few exceptions are some Chinese pellets that have a waxy material on them.

Benjamin used to put straight oil into their pellet tins, but that didn't help the problem. They turned powdery white in 20 years or so. By the way, it's the graphite coating that makes an airgun barrel dirty, so cleaning the barrel is really not required. The stuff found in there doesn’t really hurt the bore in any way.

If you wash your pellets to get rid of the anti-oxidant, you have to do something to protect them from oxidation. Otherwise, they'll start turning white inside of three years - and possibly sooner depending on the climate and where they're stored.

Why do birds fly so far after I shoot them with my .177-caliber Diana RWS 350 Magnum?
Because your gun shoots too fast to be effective! You're shooting through the animals instead of smacking them hard with all the energy the rifle has. The same rifle in .22 will shoot slower and kill small game much more efficiently. Some shooters buy .177s because the pellets are a lot cheaper. If you plan to hunt with your gun, .20, .22 or .25 caliber is a much better choice.

How can I tell what kind of CO2 cartridge my old air pistol takes?
You look it up in the Blue Book of Airguns! There are four editions published so far, and the fifth edition is due out very soon. I think Pyramyd Air will be selling it, so watch this website. Blue Book has LOTS of information about old airguns, including what they're worth. It also has articles that will interest most serious airgunners, so get a copy for your library. I'll tell you more about the Blue Book in another posting.

Crosman Mark I – a target pistol worthy of the name!

By B.B. Pelletier

There have been some great airguns in the recent past, and today I'd like to take a look at one of them: Crosman's Mark I Target pistol.


Ruger Mark I .22 rimfire pistol - the
model for Crosman's Mark I.

They copied the Ruger Mark I
Crosman copied Ruger's most famous handgun, the Mark I semiautomatic .22-caliber pistol. Ruger introduced this pistol, which built their company, in 1949; the Mark I dominated the handgun world by the time Crosman first offered their Mark I target pistol in 1966. The Ruger is a 10-shot semiautomatic, while the Crosman is a single-shot.

Single-shots seem to bore a lot of shooters today, but target shooters all know that the most accurate mechanisms are those that load and fire manually. So, the single-shot Crosman Mark I is actually MORE ACCURATE than the .22 pistol it copies!

Crosman made it right!
When Crosman copied Ruger, they did several things that made their gun better. First, they gave their pistol an adjustable trigger that any Ruger owner would love to have. It can be adjusted down to mere ounces and has the proverbial glass-rod breaking point. Second, their gun had better grips than the Ruger. Theirs were more hand-filling, plus they gave them a thumbrest on the left side that Ruger never offered. Finally, they gave their gun a rifled barrel (in .22-caliber only) that was the finest of all air pistols for that caliber and time. A careful shot can group inside an inch at 50 feet - something a stock Ruger Mark I cannot do.


Crosman's Mark I is more attractive and even more
accurate than the Ruger it copies. This one has
aftermarket grips, but the rest is all Crosman.

Adjustable rear sights and a patridge front blade make for a perfect sight picture. Two power levels are determined when cocking by stopping at the first or second click while pulling forward on the cocking knobs located on both sides of the frame. The earlier versions of the gun also could have their power tweaked via a small screw in the front of the frame. All in all, a wonderful target air pistol.

How does it compare to the S&W pistols?
I was asked how the Mark I stacks up against the S&W 78G that I reported on in the Remembering Smith & Wesson’s pellet pistols posting. The Mark I is more accurate than the 78G, though I must say I like the feel of the S&W better.

Like S&W, Crosman also made this gun in .177, but unlike the S&W, theirs had a barrel that also accommodates BBs. It isn't as accurate as the .22 or either of the S&W pistols. The Mark I is the more desirable gun.

You can still get one!
Even with its reputation as a great shooter, a Crosman Mark I pistol is still very affordable - even more than S&Ws. A gun similar to the one shown here should cost $100 to $125 if it holds gas. If you like good air pistols, start searching for a Crosman Mark I!

Does a choked barrel improve air rifle accuracy?

By B.B. Pelletier

Some airgun chat forums are currently buzzing with discussions about choked rifle barrels and what they can or cannot do. As usual, there are a few knowledgeable people and a much larger crowd of kibitzers with nothing to say - and saying it very loudly.

What is a choke?
A choked barrel refers to a reduction in the bore dimensions at the muzzle of the gun. The purpose for this reduction, according to pellet makers at Handler & Naterman (H&N), is to size all pellets just before they leave the gun. It ensures uniformity.

Chokes are more than a century old
Let's examine history to see if chokes really work. First we learn that Harry Pope, the acknowledged Stadivarius of rifle barrel makers, almost always choked his barrels. Most of the guns he made (and ALL of the most accurate ones) were muzzleloaders, and you might wonder how a choked muzzle can benefit a bullet that is rammed through it during the loading process. Wouldn't that squeeze it too small?

Well, when the powder charge ignites, burning gasses smack the base of the bullet hard, smashing it out fatter until it hugs every crevice of the bore. When it gets to the muzzle, the choke sizes it down once more just before it leaves the gun. Pope's barrels set every world record in their day; a century later, they're still regarded as some of the finest barrels ever made.

Lothar Walther chokes their barrels, too
A second endorsement comes from Lothar Walther, the German company that is well-known for making fine airgun barrels. They can supply their barrels with or without a choke, but their choked barrels out-shoot their unchoked barrels by a significant margin. They tell that to anyone who does business with them.

Now, a word from the school of hard knocks...
There are the incidents of hundreds of airgun tinkerers who have cut off the ends of their barrels for one reason or another. They nearly always suffer an accuracy loss that they can never recover. They will tell you the reason the shorter barrels don't shoot as accurately is because of the new crown (the shape and uniformity of the muzzle), but the truth is that no amount of re-crowning will ever get those barrels to shoot again. The one instance where cutting off the end of a barrel improves accuracy is when the muzzle has been ruined by improper cleaning that has worn away the rifling.

How to tell if you have a choke
Use a cleaning rod to push a pellet through your barrel from the breech to the muzzle. You'll feel resistance at about 1.5" to 2" from the muzzle on a deliberately choked barrel.

Pope lapped in his chokes during the polishing process. Modern barrel makers squeeze the bore down mechanically - a process known as swaging. On many springers, the act of swaging in the front sight dovetails on the outside of the barrel also reduces the bore at the muzzle. It isn't a formal choke, per se, but it works just the same.

The choke discussion is a topic that has fueled conversations for more than a century, and it isn't going to end here. An interesting book on the topic of accurate barrels is The Story of Pope's Barrels by Ray M. Smith.

Daisy's Targeteer- the rest of the story

By B.B. Pelletier

We learned about Daisy's early Targeteers in the May 25 post, The BB pistol that didn’t shoot BBs. Today, we'll finish that story.

Daisy brought the Targeteer back!
Daisy stopped making the .118-caliber Targeteer pistol in 1952. In 1957, they brought it back as a BB-caliber pistol that some people mistakenly call .177. The model NUMBER is 177, but the caliber is BB. Regular steel BBs are smaller than .177; but, at 0.171 to 0.173, they're close enough to confuse. The new pistol was called the Targeteer B-B pistol. It was a 150-shot repeater with gravity feed, just like the earlier guns, and Daisy continued producing it until 1978.


The BB-shooting Targeteer looks like more of
a gun than the older .118-caliber pistol.

You won't break the sound barrier with this gun!
The bigger caliber made a HUGE difference in velocity. The new Targeteer had almost none! Mine is a brand-new condition gun that averages 116 f.p.s. just after an oiling. Without the oil, the BB goes about 6 feet! On the box, Daisy says it has controlled velocity suitable for target practice on indoor ranges of 9 to 12 feet. What they really mean is, don't shoot it outdoors or the BB will get blown about like a leaf!

From the type of box it came in and a few other things (like the fact that Daisy was owned by the Victor Comptometer Corporation when my gun was produced), I feel certain it was made sometime in the 1970s. I don't know if that's good or bad, but Daisy certainly had perfected their electrostatic paint and styrene formula by then, because my gun still looks pristine. I have Daisys from the early 1950s with plastic stocks that are warped and separated just from age.

Too hard to cock for the intended user!
My gun is very hard to cock - far more difficult than any of the earlier .118-caliber guns. Even as an adult, I find it extremely difficult to pull back on the "slide" the way Daisy intended. I do what every other .177 Targeteer owner does - I push the muzzle in with the heel of my hand. Then, I push it back the way they intended. The disconnector makes it impossible to shoot the gun until the slide and barrel are back in battery (in the forward position). There's no danger of shooting myself in the hand this way.

The gun finally got real grips in the form of blow-molded styrene panels that resemble walnut. They're too shiny to fool anyone, but they give the gun more of a 3D appearance than the simple sheetmetal grips on the earlier models. The sights are also adjustable, just like on the final version of the .118-caliber Targeteer. This might be the best LOOKING version of the gun they ever made - just not the best shooter.

That's the whole story of the Targeteer from 1937 to 1977. Its finest hour was when the nickel gun was sold with the red and white shooting gallery. It never quite made the transition to BBs, though Daisy certainly hung in there by offering that version for 20 years.

Shoot in style with Gamo's wheelgun

By B.B. Pelletier

If you're looking for a neat CO2 revolver, try Gamo's R-77 6 Walnut. It has the styling of the Smith & Wesson 586-6 but for a lot less money. With warm weather upon us, CO2 guns are ripe for outdoor shooting!

A secret technique for loading the Gamo swing-out cylinder
To load the Gamo gun, press each pellet deep into the rear of the cylinder. Don’t just stick them in - press with your finger until you feel the pellet pop past the restriction. Your velocity will climb significantly.

The action pushes the cylinder forward when you shoot, sealing the cylinder against the rear of the barrel. That's how Gamo gets so many shots at such good velocity from a revolver that would normally leak at the barrel junction. The only other way to do it is with tight tolerances, which costs a lot more money to make. Watch the cylinder as the gun shoots (without pellets!) to see what I mean.

I've noticed that this gun shoots faster double-action (just pulling the trigger to fire) than single-action (cocking the hammer first, then pulling the trigger to fire). I think more force hits the valve in the double-action mode.

For a budget gun, it's full of features
The sights are adjustable on all models of the R-77. The grips are large, comfortable and removable - to allow access to the CO2 powerlet. The R-77 even has a safety, which is not very useful on a revolver, but it's there and it works. Of course, the best safety is the shooter who keeps the muzzle and trigger under control at all times.

I steered you to the 6" barrel because it looks and balances better than shorter barrels. Also, it's the model that has walnut grips, which make it look even nicer. If you're on a tighter budget, though, Gamo has an R-77 under $70.

I would suggest lightweight pellets, such as RWS GECO or Gamo Match for the R-77, which isn't a fast shooter. Lighter pellets give it the extra oomph it needs to cut nice holes in your targets. And, R-77 shots can be safely stopped by a Daisy 850 pellet trap, which is both large and affordable.

The final word
Okay, I began by comparing this revolver to the S&W 586, and that really isn't fair. The S&W is all metal and there is a lot of plastic on the R-77. I will cover the Smith revolver in a future post, but let's stick with the R-77 for now. For the price, it's impossible to beat all the features it offers. If I were to buy one of the other two shorter-barrelled models, it would be the 4" version. If you like revolvers and one of these models fits your budget, they're great guns to consider.

What's the effective range of an airgun used for hunting?

By B.B. Pelletier

This question came in as a comment to the posting on June 8 - More about sighting-in. It's a good fundamental question that deserves a good answer, because the effective range depends on several factors.

What are you trying to do?
The first factor is always what you are trying to do. Killing rats? At what range can you do that without wounding a lot of animals? Even a rat deserves to die humanely. Rats are fairly easy to kill with body shots, providing you're using calibers .20 to .25. I believe .177 can also be used, but shot placement is MUCH more important, because .177 pellets tend to slip through tissue without causing damage to surrounding areas. I like .22 caliber for hunting, though I've also done well on occasion with .20.

For rats, I like to see 8 foot-pounds of energy on target. That means the pellet has to have 8 foot-pounds REMAINING when it reaches the rat. Other animals require more energy and a few take less, but I'm not going into that here. If you need some help calculating energy, read the article, Airgun formulas and other neat stuff.

How accurate do you want to be?
The second factor to consider is accuracy. How close to the aim point will you hit? I don't mean what's the best group you ever shot. I mean, what can you do right now from an awkward shooting position? The kill zone for most airgun quarry is 1.5" OR LESS. For head shots on squirrels, it's half that AND NO MORE! So you have to figure out WHAT you are shooting and HOW the shot will be made (head shot/heart shot). Then ask - Can I make this shot? If you can't, don't shoot.

How will the wind affect your shooting?
Wind never lengthens a shot; it only makes it shorter. Until you watch a pellet drift six inches sideways at 50 yards due to a strong breeze, you haven't learned to appreciate the effects of wind. This is an area where airgunners become better shots than firearm shooters. Because our pellets move so slow and nearly every shot is long range for us, we HAVE to be better, just to hit the target!

Everything I've written here assumes the best pellet for your gun (that's YOUR JOB to discover) and a gun that is dead-on reliable. Now, for the answer to the question in the title. Some airgunners are making 50- to 70-yard kills on woodchucks using Condors and Career 707s - or Webley Patriots for those who use springers. They hunt all the time and know all the factors mentioned here. The average shooter must start out with caution until he learns these factors for himself. I personally think a 40-yard shot is about my limit, assuming all the factors are right.

Got a variable-power scope? Use it!

By B.B. Pelletier

Today's post comes from a recent conversation with an airgunner having some scope problems. He has a variable scopes and told me the maximum magnification is too high.

Learn to twist the power wheel!
He has an AirForce 4-16x variable-power scope mounted on his Condor. He bought the gun to police his orchard in southern California. Ah, ain't life grand? Usually he shoots birds and squirrels at 40 to 60 yards, but at this time of year rats come down the mountainside behind his property to eat his fruit when it falls to the ground. They're much bolder than the other critters, and he often encounters them as close as 15 feet. Too bad his scope doesn't focus that close! He guessed he needed to remove the scope and attach open sights for those close shots.

The power wheel goes DOWN as well as up
All he has to do to see his target at 15 feet is dial the power wheel to its lowest setting, which in this case is 4x. With the parallax wheel set to the closest distance, he'll see targets even closer than 15 feet with clarity.

As I write this, I'm looking through a 4-16x variable set on 4x, and I can see stuff at 10 feet clear enough to shoot. At 15 feet, things are almost in sharp focus. And, with the AirForce scope, the change in magnification doesn't affect the zero. While some scopes will shift as the power changes, most scopes keep their zero throughout the power range. Shoot targets at the same distance using different power settings to confirm that yours doesn't shift. There's your homework assignment!

Remember - close shots require different aim points
Now, the message from the posting on June 1 about what range you should zero your scope will make some sense! When your target is at 15 feet and you are zeroed for 20 yards, you'll shoot low. VERY low, it turns out. The separation of the scope and barrel makes you point the scope downward to intersect the pellet's flight, and at 15 feet there hasn't been enough distance to get all the way down, yet. So, you might find your pellet striking 2.5" below the aim point of your crosshairs. This is where a duplex reticle comes in handy.

Duplex reticles have multiple aim points!
Besides the intersection of the crosshairs, the duplex reticle has four other aim points, which are the tips of the heavy part of the reticle that taper to the thin inner line. See a duplex reticle in the article All about scopes. Part 1 on this website. The bottom post has an aim point below the crosshair intersection. It may not be perfectly zeroed for 15 feet, but it's easy to use some "Kentucky elevation" with it. I bet you can hit a dime every time once you figure out where the pellet goes. That's how you shoot rats at 15 feet with a scope that's zeroed for 20 yards.

So, USE the variable power feature of your scope. Your scope can do more for you. You paid for it; let it pay you back!

A hoot to shoot - the Walther Lever Action rifle!

By B.B. Pelletier

A couple years ago, Umarex, the company that's famous for its airgun copies of famous firearm handguns, decided to do a rifle. They chose the Winchester 1894 lever-action and copied it well. True to their normal design, inside the action of the air rifle is a .177-caliber 8-shot rotary magazine.

The two CO2 powerlets are tucked away in the butt in a removable mechanism, so it's possible to pull them out without dumping all the CO2. What a great idea. Not only is it economical - it's a wonderful way for parents to make their guns safe when they're not around to supervise!

This is one heck of an accurate air rifle
When we think of lower-powered .177 air rifles, we tend to think they're not too accurate. That's NOT the case here! While the Walther Lever Action is not cheap, it seems to occupy the same niche as the Crosman 1077. Just like the Crosman, it's a very accurate little rifle. At about 20 yards, expect to hit a target the size of a penny using the open sights! That ain't bad!

Want to do better? Mount a scope on your rifle! B-Square makes a clever scope mount that accepts standard 11mm dovetail airgun rings. Leapers' Bug Buster scope is a perfect match. It's the right size and it focuses down as close as 9 FEET! Like the name suggests, you could even bust some bugs with a rig like that.

This little rifle is REAL!
It works just like you think it should. Work the lever; pull the trigger. Work the lever; pull the trigger. I own one and love to shoot it and show it off to my friends. A few years ago I saw Steve Kanaly, the actor who played the South Fork foreman, Ray Krebbs, on the TV show Dallas, holding this rifle on the cover of Airgun Illustrated magazine. It looked perfect in his cowboy hands.

Do yourself a favor
If you didn't click on the additional picture links of the Walther Lever Action rifle when you followed the link I provided above, go there now and click on it. The other photos Pyramyd provides tell a lot about how the gun works.

I'm going to cover the other Umarex airguns in the future, so this (and the PPK/S article from yesterday) is just a start. These guns are nearly perfect for the action shooter who wants an accurate repeater with realism and an affordable price tag.

Want a lot of fun? Blast away with a real Walther PPK/S!

By B.B. Pelletier

There aren't many semiauto BB guns around, and there are even fewer BB guns that recoil when shot, but the Walther PPK/S is one that does both. It's a unique air pistol that sells for a surprisingly small amount of money!

The name is Bond. James Bond.
That was the famous introduction of Ian Fleming's principal character. And, for many decades, his "go-to" gun was a Walther PPK in 7.65mm (.32 ACP). The "/S" in the gun's model name comes from American gun import laws that at one time specified a grip for handguns just a bit longer than the PPK. So the "S" (for U.S., as I understand it) was added and the grip was lengthened to become legal for American's import.

Now, it's an airgun, too!
A few years ago, Umarex, the company that owns Walther, started making this CO2 pistol with the Walther logo. Most of the guns they make are copies of firearms, but because they also make the PPK/S firearm, this little pistol is just as REAL as a .380 or a .32. That means Walther pistol collectors need to add this air pistol so they'll have all the models Walther ever made!

Even better news - you don't have to be a Walther collecter to get something out of this PPK/S, because everyone who shoots it gets a boatload of fun! The stick magazine holds 15 steel BBs in a stack, and you can fire them as fast as your finger can pull the trigger. VERY FEW BB guns or other airguns, outside of airsoft, allow this kind of operation! One of the few pistols that could do this was made in the 1960s by Crosman. The 677 Plink-O-Matic BB pistol, which was a sister to Crosman's famous 600 pellet pistol, was never a good seller and now commands a hefty price that reflects its scarcity. Lucky for you, the PPK/S isn't expensive, is readily available and just as much fun to shoot! In fact, it even has some features the 677 was lacking - like realistic recoil and the facility to be disassembled!

Some of the CO2 goes toward operating the slide, so power might be a bit lower than some other CO2 pistols. Also, the barrel is short (remember my post about how barrel length affects velocity in CO2 guns?), so this is not a long-range gun. But, at 15 to 25 feet, you can have a ball shooting at a Shoot-N-C target. Each BB that tears through the target leaves a really bright mark. When you're shooting rapid fire, this is exciting!

It's also fun to remove the magazine and fire the gun without BBs, just to watch it recoil. The magazine has a hold-open feature after the last BB is shot, so you have to remove it or the gun will only fire once and the slide will lock in the open position.

Not only is this a really fun gun that YOU need to try, it makes a wonderful gift (Father's Day is June 19!) because it is so reasonably priced. I especially like to see the first reaction of a veteran shooter who is unaware of this gun's existence!

At least one reader of the Pyramyd Air Report LOVES his PPK/S. What about the rest of you?

More about sighting-in: How to determine the two intersection points

By B.B. Pelletier

The following question was a comment to the June 1 post, At what range should you zero your scope?

Question:
How do you figure out what the two intersections are? Is there a formula?

Just shoot & see
No doubt, a formula could be constructed, but I do it the easy way. Simply aim at a specific point at a known distance, shoot and see where the pellet impacts relative to the aim point. That's where I came up with the distances I gave in my June 1 post.

Each pellet has a different trajectory
My distance figures in that posting were not exact. They change slightly because each type of pellet has a unique ballistic flight. If it has higher drag, it slows down faster and the trajectory is more pronounced. The figures I gave were for a domed pellet, like the Crosman Premier, which is pretty standard for field use.

If you shoot wadcutters or hollowpoints that have a sharp shoulder, such as the RWS Super-H-Point, your trajectory will be more pronounced because the pellet is less aerodynamic. The difference will be small at close range but will increase rapidly as the distance passes 30 yards. That's why wadcutters and hollowpoints are not as good for long-range shooting (unless you take the time to learn their performance characteristics well).

Twenty yards is a common zero distance
The initial point of intersection I gave in the posting (20 yards) is based on seven years of competitive experience shooting field target. I had to learn the performance of a great many pellets (all .177, but that makes little difference to what we are doing). Although there are a LOT of variables, I soon noticed that nearly every shooter had a first zero point of around 20 yards. When I tried it myself, I discovered why.

What a precision target shooter wants is the most forgiving zero possible. One where, if the yardage is not exactly what the shooter estimated, the difference in pellet impact point is very small. If you zero your gun so the first impact point is 20 yards, you'll get another 10 to 20 yards of flat trajectory and any apparent rise or fall of the pellet is less than one pellet diameter. The first intersection is at 20 yards and the second is at 30 yards (a 10-yard flat spot) with a gun shooting around 725-750 f.p.s. When you get it up to 950 f.p.s., the second point will be all the way out to 40 yards. If you go even faster, you'll have a flatter trajectory but also get blown groups and leading. It's not worth it.

You CAN stretch out the first point of intersection to 30 yards, if you like. All it takes is a scope adjustment. BUT, your flat spot will be MUCH shorter than when you were zeroed at 20 yards. It may only be 5 yards long. Zero at 40 yards for the first point, and the flat spot MAY be yards long. Get it?

What's really happening is that the pellet is dropping the moment it leaves the muzzle. You have about 30 to 40 yards to play with before the trajectory is a real downward slide. By zeroing at 20 yards, you get a nice long flat spot and can still adjust your scope or hold-over for distances outside that range.

Will zeroing at 5 feet give me a really long flat trajectory?
At this point you may be wondering why I'm saying 20 yards is a good zero point. Why not zero at 5 FEET and enjoy as much of that flat trajectory as possible? If your scope looked straight through the center of your barrel, you could do that. Because you have to mount your scope high above the barrel, you can't make it work that way. The separation of the scope axis and bore axis introduces parallax that has to be accounted for when you sight-in.

This is already a long post, so I'm going to end it here and continue this discussion on another day. I hope I've answered some of your questions. Please feel free to post comments or additional questions!

Do you have a "GO-TO" airgun?

By B.B. Pelletier

Last week's post about my old Silver Streak brought some comments that reminded me of an important concept - having an airgun that one can always go to in case of an emergency. Today, I'd like to tell you about one of mine.


My Blue Streak looks old compared to today's model.

Sheridan Blue Streak - my first go-to airgun
Although I've been an airgunner all my life, I didn't hold on to the guns of my youth, so the Blue Streak I bought in 1978 is the airgun I've owned the longest. As I mentioned in the Silver Streak post, I wanted a Sheridan as a boy, but it wasn't to be. As an adult with some control over my discretionary funds, I finally satisfied that itch.

The Blue Streak turned out to be everything I hoped for - and more. It was so smooth to pump compared to the Benjamin I remember having as a kid - a front-pumper pistol that I could barely work!


Push down the S for SAFE or the F for FIRE.
If the stock were off, you would see
that these two buttons are on a single rocker lever.

Sheridan - the best of the best
I have the model with the rocker safety that I believe is the pinnacle of Sheridan design. It's so easy to operate and the safety is manual, allowing me to decide where it should be. In my opinion, that's how all airguns should be made!

The stock is the full Mannlicher with a slightly fatter forearm that takes some of the effort out of pump strokes 7 and 8. Later guns have a forearm that swells where your hand grabs it, but mine is uniformly thick the entire length.

These two tips keep 'em like new!
Uncharacteristic for me, I read the owner's manual, which instructed me to always keep one pump of air in the gun to keep the valves shut. I did, and that's probably why it still works after 28 years and thousands of shots. I also oiled the pump mechanism periodically (with Crosman Pellgunoil), so the inlet valve seal and O-ring are as fresh today as when they were installed.

There are lots of .20-caliber pellets to choose from
When I bought the gun, only Sheridan made .20 caliber pellets. Robert Beeman changed that a few years later, when he decided that .20 was a perfect compromise between .177 and .22. Other types of pellets soon became available. Another 10 years passed and the British airgunners also embraced the caliber. Then, nearly every pellet maker in the world began to produce .20-caliber pellets.


Early Sheridan pellets standing on their yellow plastic box.

I've never been tempted to put a scope on my rifle, as I find the open sights accurate enough. My best shot was a one-shot kill on a cottontail rabbit at about 35 yards, and the gun proved very effective! Several times I considered installing the Williams peep sight, but I always chickened out. I've had several other multi-pumps with peep sights, including a Supergrade Sheridan, and I didn't find any of them to be more accurate than my Blue Streak.

That brings me to my final point. My Supergrade was no more powerful nor accurate than my Blue Streak. That's probably why I tend to go to the Blue Streak when I need to Git-R-Done! You can still buy a Blue Streak today. Although the design is different than my old gun, it still has the same power and accuracy.

B.B.'s Treasure Chest - The Daisy Avanti Champion Model 499

By B.B. Pelletier

Today is the longest day and shortest night of the year - in the Northern Hemisphere, at least.

Moms and dads - if you have children to train, this one's for you!

Daisy leads the world in BB gun training
In 1959, Daisy introduced their first specialized BB gun to support the shooter education program. The model 99 was a gravity-feed gun in the first year and held 850 shots. Then, the design was changed to a 50-shot forced-feed magazine similar to that found in a model 25 pump gun. Those gravity-feed variations command a small collector's premium today because of their scarcity.

The model 99 has an inexpensive peep sight that stays put by friction when adjusted. Some versions also had a cloth sling that was nearly worthless for any use.

Over the years, there were several configurations of the model 99, but they were all basically the same gun. Though it looked the part of a target rifle, it really wasn't, and coaches all around America clamored to Daisy for something better. In 1980, they got it - the 499. Known as "The world's most accurate BB gun," the 499 soon lived up to its name by revolutionizing BB gun accuracy.

It's a muzzleloading single-shot
The Daisy 499 is not a general purpose BB gun, despite how it looks. For starters, it's a single-shot that's loaded through the muzzle. One BB is dropped into the wide funnel-like muzzle to find its way down to the true barrel. The barrel is a precision tube, and it takes a BB several seconds to roll down because of the air it displaces as it goes. It hits the bottom with an audible click because of a magnetic shot seat.

After loading, the gun is cocked. This is when you notice the incredibly light effort needed to work the plastic lever. No BB gun ever cocked so easily! There IS a safety on the right side of the receiver. But to their credit, Daisy made it a manual type, so you aren't bothered by it. Safeties on target arms are next to useless, because safety on a formal range is ensured by the vigilance of the range officer and all shooters following range safety procedures.

It has peep sights for proper target training
If you're going to train your kids to shoot targets, do it right with peep sights. They're easier than open sights and almost as easy as scopes, which is why most armies have used them on their battle rifles for the past half-century and longer. All the shooter has to do is look through the rear aperture and center the bullseye in the front ring.

You'll be surprised by the accuracy!
The 499 is made for shooting at 5 meters, which is 16.4 feet. At that range, you should be able to shoot 10 shots into a group the size of a dime from the standing position. With practice, that group will shrink to the size of a pencil eraser.

Other stuff you need besides the gun
Always wear safety glasses when shooting anything, and especially a BB gun! Real targets are a must with this gun because the slow-moving BB will only tear a piece of copier paper. You'll never know where it went through. Finally, you need a good BB trap. I like Crosman's model 850 BB trap, which stands up to a lot of shots from a gun like the 499.

Don't forget BBs
You need ammo, and I recommend Daisy BBs to go with a Daisy gun. A box of 1,500 should last a long time.

A lot of fun for under $100
Although the 499 was developed for young shooters, plenty of oldsters shoot it, too. In fact, as long as you have a good trap to catch all those BBs, this is the nicest indoor airgun made. I think you'll be very surprised by the accuracy.

Bug bustin'!

By B.B. Pelletier

First of all, today marks the anniversary of the day Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. There!

What is a bug buster?
A bug buster is a pellet rifle or pistol used to kill insects at close ranges. It's a lot of fun and very few people mind, as long as you pick the insects carefully.

You don't need a lot of power
Bug bustin' doesn't require magnum power. All it takes is pinpoint accuracy at close range. I shot an old Diana model 27 breakbarrel for many years, and I still love the way that gun shoots. It's sighted-in for carpenter bees at 20 feet, so let me tell you the story.

Carpenter bees are like bumble bees on steroids - big & aggressive!
They look like bumblebees, except larger and more aggressive - and very loud! If you walk into an area where they are, they will fly up into your face and dive-bomb you. Their bodies are half furry and half beetle-like. Many of them have white dots on their faces, but it's their aggressive behavior that identifies them.

Carpenter bees love to hover and turn in all directions to see where the next threat is coming from. I used to stand about 20 feet away and draw a bead on them as they hovered, then blow them away. Sometimes they flew far, but usually the pellet shot through the body, and they fell where they'd been hovering.

I shot them with my Blue Streak!
Before switching to the Diana (because it was faster to load), I used my Blue Streak, also sighted-in for 20 feet. Another type of bug I blasted was a type of weird wasp called a cicada killer. They're about three inches long and dominate a particular spot. In my case, it was the front of my house! People were afraid to come to the door, so I would open the door and pick off the bugs wherever they had staked out territory. I didn't know they were killing cicadas when I first started shooting them; but after I found out that was their mission in life, I stopped shooting them because they were getting rid of a worse pest!

Here are some good bug bustin' guns
Have fun with this. Use something like Daisy’s 177X or a Crosman 1077. Bug bustin' is perfect for these guns, and they'll surprise you with their accuracy at close range. If you have a Benjamin or a Gamo, they'll work, too. Just be sure that what you pick has enough power to do the job. I would say at least 500 f.p.s. in .177 and 450 in .22 is the minimum.

What's the best ammo for bug bustin'?
Probably anything will work, but I like wadcutters for this sport. RWS Hobbys are a good choice, as is any premium target wadcutter you can find.

There's ONLY ONE scope for bug bustin'!
If you use a scope for this, the ONLY one to have is the Bug Buster from Leapers. It focuses as close as nine feet! Read about it and see for yourself.

If you can shoot outside, try bug bustin' and tell me what you think. Just remember not to go after a nest of hornets! They have short tempers and good eyesight.

My early Silver Streak

By B.B. Pelletier

A LOT of you own Sheridans, so today I’d like to share one of my favorites with you.

A LONG run!
The Sheridan Silver Streak is the longest-running model that a company ever made. First production began in 1949, after the company discovered that people just weren’t going to spend $56.50 for an airgun. The model A, or Supergrade as it is now known, is a wonderful air rifle, but Sheridan managed to cut the price back to $19.95 and put out a pretty good gun, just the same.


My early Silver Streak is a classic!

My gun is very early
In Ronald E. Elbe’s book, Know Your SHERIDAN Rifles & Pistols, my gun is shown to be early. Several features mark it as before 1960 and possibly as early as 1951. With the information in the book, there’s no way to pin it down more accurately than that, but I have a suspicion mine was made before 1955.


Two early indicators are the round bolt knob on a straight stem
and the screw that holds the receiver tube to the tang.
The Williams peep sight turned out to be a special surprise!

My gun has a Williams peep sight, which was always an option on Sheridan Blue and Silver Streaks. You bought the sight and put it on yourself or had a gunsmith do it for you. What I didn’t know until reading Elbe’s book very carefully was that there was once a special version of the Silver Streak that came ONLY with the Williams. It had no open sight in the rear. My gun shows no marks where a rear sight was ever attached, so mine is that special model.


My front sight is the second-earliest profile.
Notice that the barrel does not go all the
way to the end of the pump tube cap.

What keeps my gun from being a VERY EARLY 1940 or 1950 model is the lack of four screws to retain the pump lever/forearm. I have the two roll pins that Sheridan soon used for this purpose on all their guns.


The thumb safety has to be held down to shoot.
It was inconvenient for most people and
was often jammed down permanently.

Here is what I like best about this old gun. After being resealed recently, it shoots as hard as any Blue or Silver Streak ever made. Even though it’s an oldie, I can still enjoy it like the person who owned it first, so many years ago. I think that’s neat!

At what range should you zero your scope?

By B.B. Pelletier

Where to zero a scope is a question that always starts a friendly conversation among airgunners. I’ll tell what your options are and leave the final choice to you.

Pellets start to fall the minute they leave the muzzle
The moment a pellet (or bullet) leaves the muzzle, it begins falling toward the ground. It falls at the same rate it would if you dropped it from the height of the bore - assuming the bore is parallel to the ground! And that’s where the scope adjustment comes in.

Because a scope looks straight out and because it is mounted above the bore, it can only be made to intersect the trajectory of the pellet if it points down through the ballistic path the pellet takes. And, that is how scopes are sighted-in.

They are adjusted to look straight through the downward arcing trajectory of the pellet at a point close to the muzzle. When the pellet arrives at the spot where the downward-looking scope is pointing, the crosshairs will be exactly where the pellet is and the scope will be zeroed at that distance.

Beyond this point, the scope will actually be looking UNDER THE PELLET’S FLIGHT for a certain distance after the first point of intersection. Then the falling pellet will cross back through the scope’s line of sight once more, intersecting the pellet a second time and creating a second zero point.

How we correct the picture!
Nobody likes to think about their pellet falling, so we elevate the barrel so the pellet is actually going slightly up when it leaves the gun. Now, the whole thing makes more sense.

The pellet SEEMS to be rising when, in fact, it is only doing so because the barrel is tilted slightly up at the muzzle. The downward-looking scope intersects the pellet at some distance downrange, then the pellet SEEMS TO RISE above the straight line of the scope and intersect a second time further downrange.

What’s a good distance to sight-in a scope?
Now that we understand how it works, we need to find the right distance to sight-in. You now understand that the scope will actually be zeroed for TWO DISTANCES instead of one.

For a pellet gun that shoots around 800 f.p.s., I like to sight in at 20 yards for the near distance. The second distance will be around 30 yards, and the pellet will not rise by as much as one pellet diameter at the in-between distances (between 20 and 30 yards). If you sight in at 15 yards with the same gun, the pellet will be back to the intersection of the crosshairs around 40 yards, and it will rise more than an inch in between.

For a gun that shoots 950 f.p.s., I would still sight-in at 20 yards as the near distance but the far distance is now 37 yards or so. For both guns (800 and 950), the pellet will be about one inch below the aim point at 10 yards and will rise to the crosshairs as it approaches 20 yards. At the muzzle, the pellet will be as far below the crosshairs as the bore is below the optical path of the scope, which could be as much as three inches or more!

What if I only want ONE sight-in distance?
It IS POSSIBLE to sight a scope to intersect the pellet only once, but why would you want to? You align the scope to graze the pellet's trajectory, and after that it’s all down hill!