The green Benjamin box from the 1940s-late ’50s.
This report covers:
- Back to the beginning
- My first airgun
- Mine
- Underlevers = more power!
- My story
- Sheridan
- So what?
- I started out young
- |Back to the beginning
RidgeRunner kicked over the anthill of my childhood when he showed his new/old Benjamin air pistols a few days ago. He has a 130 and a 132, and they are most likely from the 1960s because of their white plastic grips. In the 1940s and ’50s the grips would have been wood — and not just any wood — walnut!
My first airgun
My earliest recollection of an airgun was my father’s Benjamin model 107 pistol. It was stored in a green cardboard box that said Benjamin on the cover — just like the box shown above.
The pistol’s nickel plate made it shiny silver in color. It had a pump rod that extended from the front and I think I saw my dad shoot it outside one time. As I recall, he put the pump rod end against a tree and pressed inward on the gun to pump.
Benjamin front-pump air pistol.
Mine
My father passed away when I was 9 and I inherited that pistol. Naturally I almost immediately tried shooting it. It took forever to pump and the best I could do at the age of 9 was three pump strokes. Yes, my mother let me buy a Kruger cap-firing “BB gun” but that was a cruel trick she played on me. I could throw a BB faster and more accurately than that gun could shoot one!
I often say the Kruger cap pistol was my first “airgun” but it was the first one purchased. The front-pump Benjamin came before it. I just had to grow into it. And you know what? Front-pumpers are still hard for me to pump today. Remember the Benjamin 700?
The 107 pistol was a smoothbore that shot BBs, darts and pellets. I found a couple darts in the box, so I shot those to begin with. The pistol wasn’t very powerful and I bet those darts left the muzzle at less than 200 f.p.s. They stuck in a dart board pretty well when shots from 8 to 10- feet, but that was about it. That little Benjamin pistol didn’t give me much satisfaction. I wanted more power!
Underlevers = more power!
Benjamin underlever pump pistols and rifles existed at that time. They could be seen in the ads in Popular Mechanics and Boy’s Life magazines. “We” (all the boys my age) knew that underlever pumpers had to be more powerful because we could see they were easier to pump. It seemed you could get 4, 5 or even more pump strokes into one of them. Surely the rifles could be pumped up enough to make them as powerful as a .22 rimfire! In fact I wrote a short story about it.
My story
In my book, BB Guns Remembered, the story titled, Squirrel boy is actually about me! I didn’t do all the neat things the boy in the story did, except in my mind, but the business about thinking a Benjamin underlever pumper was potentially as powerful as a .22 rimfire was all me.
Sheridan
And then there was the Sheridan Blue Streak. Not only was it an underlever pumper that also looked like a firearm, the ads showed that it penetrated a inch of wood!
Sheridan ran this ad for many years. This one is taken from the 1956 edition of Smith’s Standard Encyclopedia of Gas, Air and Spring Guns of the World, by gun writer W.H.B. Smith.
Oh how we boys wanted one of those! I heard that rich kids had them, but I never knew anyone who did. They sold for $19.95, which might as well have been a million dollars in the days when a $50 weekly paycheck was considered okay. But we all knew that they were as powerful as a .22 rimfire because they could shoot through an inch of wood!
So what?
If you have to ask you aren’t getting it. The reason this is important is because people are unreliable sources for accurate information, and you can include me in that. The guys who said a pump airgun can be made to shoot like a .22 had no way of testing it. They were just guessing. After all — shouldn’t pumpers become more powerful with more pumps? What could possibly limit that?
I grew up and learned better. And, as chronographs became affordable, more and more of us learned the truth.
I started out young
Pump guns were where this kid started with airguns and they are still a part of my shooting life. Yes precharged pneumatics are much easier, but with a multi-pump you don’t have to lug a scuba tank with you. You are as free as the spring gun guys say they are. You have nothing but pellets to buy and the world is yours!
RidgeRunner — thank you for inspiring this visit to the past!
In the end, everyone knows pumpers are superior, they just don’t want to admit it!;)
And speaking of ads from childhood, could Daisy/Gamo bring back the “Arkansas Can Opener”? I know my 362s are probably better, but a new one would be nice to pa-ting with!
Ohio,
Oh how I wish. I’ve emailed Daisy & Gamo as well as left comments on their social media posts, begging them to bring back that gun. 22X, 22SG or what ever as it had didn’t variations through time. I like the name Arkansas opener (being from Ark. myself). They are more or less a Metal Receive 880 in .22 cal. I kick myself because Academy Sports had these when no one else had them. They were about $100 and I guess I thought they’d always have them. They are sort of hard to come by now. The 880 Metal receiver (.177) can still be found. But not the 22.
Doc
Doc,
There is a .22 Arkansas Can Opener on eBay right now, but it’s priced over $300.
BB
B.B.
Yikes!! I love it, but not that much. That is too pricey for an 880 for me.
Doc
B.B.
Yes we all have a start with airguns. I think all regular readers should share how “they broke their cherry”.
Mine indoctrination even now brings a smile to my face. Good stuff!!
-Y
Yogi,
What was your indoctrination to airguns?
BB
I was either 5 or 6 years old. That summer we visited my father’s favorite cousin in the Netherlands(while visiting ALL his relatives). He had a house who’s backside was on a small river. He would throw a empty corked wine bottle upstream. We then went upstairs to his office and aimed at the bottle slowly floating by.
What really impressed me was we where shooting a BSA!! I knew that BSA made cool motorcycles, but not airguns. This was the mid 60’s so I assume it was originally an air rifle from the 50’s. What was cool about the river setting was that you could easily see your misses. I do not remember ever cocking the gun, just shooting it. A really fond memory!!!
-Y
PS what surprised me was that that cousin was a big environmentalist. So the idea of throwing a wine bottle in the river was paradoxical.
Yogi,
Wow! That was not at all what I expected. Good story. And yes, shooting glass bottles in the stream was very paradoxical!
BB
As a junior high kid until I got old enough in high school to work in the tile factory where my dad was a ceramic engineer, I would spend summers in Henry County, Illinois on my uncles’ farms. I was the kid on the tractors cleaning hog and cattle barns and up in the mow when the bales came up the elevators.
When not doing actual farm work, in the evenings, one of my uncles would get a five battery flash light and the Benjamin .22 pumper and we would clean out the pesky pigeons from the barn. They crapped over everything. My first introduction to shooting was that old Benjamin pumper into which, I now know, we would over pump it (and am surprised we didn’t valve lock it). So, I only shot in the summers and half the time as my other farmer uncle didn’t have air guns to deal with pests.
In the latter part of the 80s, I finally purchased a Crosman pumper and shot in my rural parsonage back yard. I moved on from that to my first high quality air rifle, an RWS Diana Model 36 in .177. It is STILL my gold standard of air gunning, and have had it rebuilt by UMAREX a few short years ago to BETTER THAN its original status! That’s because it is polished by tens of thousands of pellets and just needed its fourth mainspring and its first new seals. It is my STANDARD of what a break barrel should be.
Since ’89 and my purchase of my West German Diana, I have added a number of other Dianas, a Gamo or two, and some Hatsan pieces. I do have a Crosman pumper in .22 that needs to be serviced as the seals have failed. Part of the reason for the failure is related to my building a ten meter range in my basement where I shoot during the winter months.
The RWS/Diana Model 36 has relatives in the locker also by Diana, the prettiest one being a gas ram Model 340 in walnut, but in .22 instead of .177. My Hatsan Model 135 is also in walnut and a nice-looking piece in .25 but with a wickedly over-sized bore that has been a real problem until I found the JSB domes that are also enough oversize to make it finally capable of 10 ring shooting. A new cheaper Norica .25 Dragon is available as my last long gun purchase to shoot the .25 pellets that the Hatsan just sprays.
I have a selection of hand guns with the “Holy Grail” of the Beeman P-1, purchased in 1990, my most notable. Surprisingly, an Hatsan Model 25 Supercharger may be the best of the shooters in .177, and that came as a shock to me as good as or better than the .177 P-1 once I supplied it with Hatsan left hand grips! I’ve owned a real clinker, the Benjamin Trail Pistol which is junk; horribly designed and even worse assembled. I have an UMAREX pistol that’s chasing it for runt of the litter, but at least shoots, but poorly.
I did buy ONE piece that harkens back to my very first experience with air guns, a Daisy Model 25. That experience was in Louisiana when I was in single digits by age and was threatened by neighborhood kid thugs. If those thugs come by on wheelchairs today, I can return the favor! That’s because we’d be in our latter 70s. Of course, not having any connection over 6 decades how would we know each other today?
The consistent linking theme in my air arsenal is break barrel type. I have one non breaker, the Crosman .22 rifle that needs a rebuild of its seals. Oh well, I’ll get it boxed up and sent off sometime…
LFranke, I recently procured a Diana 36. Also a 38. I look forward to dancing with them both.
Roamin:
You’ll love the 36 when you get it slicked up.
I’d start with a JB Bore Paste “massage” and then a series of dry felt pellets PUSHED through from breech to bore until they come out clean. I’d then push through one soaked in Sheath/Barrier oil and let that soak into the barrel a day or weekend.
I usually use 2-4 drops of RWS Air Chamber lube into the compression chamber. Since the 36, at least, can be carefully de-cocked by maintaining control of the barrel, releasing the safety and, with control of the pistol grip and trigger, releasing it the trigger and taking the spring pressure back into the cocking lever. This feature (missing on too many of my breakers) allows one to lubricate the air chamber and spin the rifle on the bore centerling for a short while after admitting the Air Chamber lube so it encircles the compression bore.
By then using the de-cock feature, you can cycle, without locking into the trigger system, the air piston in the cylinder thus lubing the whole structure and seals BEFORE a firing sequence. I usually do this after the rotation and then let it sit butt down in the arms locker for a day or two. I then get my heaviest pellets and shoot a few ten shot targets to allow for the rifle to get rid of what it doesn’t want. Once all this is done, you’re good for a good number of 500 shot tins – or until it squeaks at cocking.
I use Minwax on my stock and do several coats. Summer is a great time for that! I put on a coat, rub it in carefully and thoroughly and leave the piece in the sun, then flip it. The heat helps build a hard wax coat. My Minwax is a colored wax from an old furniture project that just happened to be perfect for the stock! It was pure luck, of course. I put a couple of good coats on and also, if needed us a fine furniture felt pen on any glaring scratches to fill in color as needed.
Thereafter, I use a more liquid bee’s wax and cloth to touch up the piece at an end of a shooting session. It goes into the cabinet “wet” and I polish the coating when I next get the piece our for a session. The polish is just a clean old terry cloth towel that takes off the excess nicely.
The stock care is followed, by the way, be carefully removing any overage on the metal parts. These get a wipe down with Sheath/Barrier oil EACH TIME after use.
My rifle looks almost as good as the day I took it out of the box by this routine.
One more thing which you likely already know… The double recoil makes keeping a scope on the Model 36 a frustration akin to swimming home from the mid-Atlantic Ridge of the Atlantic Ocean. I tried virtually everything on the market and finally said, “phooey!” I installed a Williams Peep with Turret Knobs and added a Merit Disc to the Williams base. That has been the secret to near scope precision as one can adjust the Disc to the light conditions, and being lighter in mass, has less tendency to move on the scope rail.
It will be interesting to hear how you come to know your Model 36. It happens to be my Gold Standard of what a break barrel should be. Oh, and one more thing, secure the stock screws regularly, the double recoil likes to “free itself” from owner regulation, but don’t over do it on the front two – they are in wood, you know!
As with all the 6th grade boys in my neighborhood, we all loved shooting, both BBs and pellets. We’d long since graduated from playing cowboys and Indians with our trusty cap-pistols. We never missed a shot with one of those. How about you? My first pellet rifle was from Sears. I don’t remember it’s provenance beyond that. Anyway, one afternoon my buddies, Steve, Rudy and I were nailing stacked pyramids of Shasta soda cans down by the wash behind Rudy’s place. As with most young boys, we were screwing around, temporarily neglecting the rules of gun safety. Just as I leveled my sights on those soda cans, and Rudy yelled “stop!”, and raised his hand in front of my barrel just as I took my shot. The pellet got Rudy right in the meaty part of his thumb. We were all stunned. How could this happen? The pellet was too embedded in his thumb for us to prize it out. Now we had to get a parent involved. All hell was going to break out now. Rudy’s dad was the only parent available. It was decided between the three of us that I would take full responsibility for what happened as we didn’t want Rudy to get into Dutch. We piled into the car and to this day I recall Mr. (Rudy’s) dad chewing us/me out all the way to the doctor’s office. Rudy got a shot into his thumb that hurt more than the pellet did. The ride home was pretty silent as I remember. Our pellet rifles got put away pretty much after that. It wasn’t long after that that Steve, then I started taking our .22 cal. rimfires up in the mountains above our homes. We lived above Los Angeles at about 2100 ft elevation. It was a pleasant hike up to above 5000 ft where the air smelled of conifers and the temperatures were cool. Rudy went on to be an engineer for JPL, while Steve purchased an early Honda franchise back when they were called “rice grinders”. Steve and I are still best friends, while Rudy kinda went his own way. Thank you, BB for letting us share. I’m a much, much safer marksman to be around today. Orv.
I came pretty late to the party. The first airgun I had was a Gamo CFX. BB was there at the same shot trying to sell a couple of Kral clones of a CFX.
The very next year I bought my Izzy. The CFX has moved on, but the Izzy is still here and likely always will be. Many airguns have come and gone here at RRHFWA and RRHHMM, but some have stayed and will likely stay as long as I am breathing.
My first gun was a Coleman/Crosman 760 plastic-stocked pumper. I think now that the pump handle was purposely short to keep us scrawny-armed kids to 3 or 4 pumps. As we got older and stronger, we could achieve the maximum 10 pumps. Of course, sometimes we would lose count in our frenzy to make a follow-up shot, and we would pump 11 or 12 times. Luckily, I never experienced valve lock.
My Dad wasn’t really the patient type when it came to instruction. He might show you how to do something one or twice, but then you had to either catch on and keep up or figure it out yourself. Luckily, there was a manual, which I practically memorized. But my best shooting teacher was my uncle from Greece (God bless his soul) who taught me a version of proper offhand form. He nailed a metal one-cup measuring cup to a tree behind the barn and showed me that for every miss, I needed to take a half step toward the tree, and for every three hits in a row, I could take a step back. The “ting” of the soft, lead Crosman pellets against that metal cup gave me the instant feedback I needed to keep me going for hours, like a video game of today. But then I was well-prepared when my Dad sat me down under the ancient cherry-tree and ordered me to keep the marauding birds away. Very few of those feathered pirates escaped my deadly aim. It was the first year we ate cherries out of that tree.
Soon though, I was old enough to hunt and wield the single-shot .22 rifle (I was under orders to shoot at any woodchuck near the garden), a 20 gauge shotgun, and my wonderful deer rifle. I got into reading about hunting and fishing in Outdoor Life Magazine and Field and Stream, and loves to read the shooting columns first. Looking back, Carmichael and Petzal did not cover airguns and for practice, both recommended shooting up a brick of .22 rimfire. Recently I have seen airgun articles in Field and Stream, so I count that as progress. But the point is I got away from airguns and the 760 sat in the basement of my parents’ old farmhouse rusting away.
As my kids began to get old enough, I wanted to teach them about guns and safe gun handling so I was researching airguns and stumbled across this blog. Now, I’m an airgun addict, again.
BB,
Thanks for the blog. Made me remember my own history with airguns. My first gun I has asked for a 410 shotgun (I don’t remember why I was hung up on a 410 at that time, but I was) but my grandparents gave me a Daily 105. I shot thousands of BBs out of that gun. Then I got a Daisy 179, and shot that a lot too. Some of my favorite memories of my Grandpa was shooting those two guns together. Then I got a Crosman multi pump, probably a 760, but I don’t remember for sure. Then I got into firearms for many years with just a few airguns here and there that didn’t stay long. Including a lever action CO2 BB gun that I really wish now I had hung onto.
But then I saw some pests that I needed to eliminate that were in a place where a firearm was just too much. I found this blog, and was recommended a Benjamin 392. But what was available close by was a Daisy 22SG. So that was what I bought. Since then, there have been quite a few more (including a 392), but the 22SG was what brought me back into airguns as an adult. And I am having fun with them. Though I admit that I get as much or more enjoyment tinkering with them as I do shooting them.
Anyway, good blog.
CB
To be honest, I am glad I kicked over that anthill. It seems that you kicked over a few yourself, including mine. 😉
I pretty much wrote off airguns as a kid. I had a Daisy Golden 750 and Diana 16 break barrel. There were plenty of sparrows to be pested in my neighborhood, but it seemed that I could never hit them. My first accurate gun was a single shot 22 but you couldn’t pest with that In the small town I lived in.
I became interested in airguns again in my 50s when I read about Lewis and Clark’s airgun. I sawed the barrel off of a plastic Crossman 760 and replaced it with aluminum tube that I found at a hardware store. It would shoot .395 lead round balls at about 150-200 fps and would shoot about a 3-5 inch pattern at 15–20 yards.
I had moved to Tennessee at this time and discovered that there was a field target club nearby. The local Bargain Hunt store sold a bunch of random airguns that were returns or open-box items and I bought a Benjamin .177 Trail rather than a Diana 34 because the Benjamin came with a thumbhole stock that I liked better and it had a 3×9 mil dot scope Major mistake but I didn’t know any better at the time.
I also had a chance to buy a Mark I TX200 for $500 from Brad Troyer who is a member of the field target club I but passed on it. (I know, another major mistake 🙂
My first good air rifle was a Beeman R1 that it was able to buy at a pawn shop for $85. I think that they thought it a Beeman that was sold at big box stores. With a decent UTG scope, I was able to shoot a 25-26/60 shooting hunter class on a difficult 36 to 37 Troyer course at the club. I also got a Benjamin Maximus Euro PCP, but wasn’t able to shoot it much better than I did with the R1. I finally got an original model HW 100 with which I was able to shoot in the mid 30s with the best score of 45/66.
I’m a moderately good shooter in a club of former national champions so I’ve decided I’d rather experiment with different rifles since I know I won’t shoot near the scores that they do. Right now I’m experimenting with a Diana 54 and shooting 18/60. I’m becoming convinced that you need a match grade trigger similar to the one on my HW 100 to be able to shoot good scores on a tough field target course. The trigger on the Diana 54 is good but not match grade. I’d love to try an electronic trigger like Ray Apelles did on his bull pup 54 but I think that’s a bit beyond my modest mechanical skills.
Brent
Brent,
I have never embarrassed myself by shooting with any field target shooters. Being such a poor shot, I am doing good to hit feral soda cans around here.
I think you would be interested in what can be done to a Diana 54:
https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/the-020-cal-diana-54-project
A Slavia 618 was my first “real” gun. Remember that $10 bought the rifle and several boxes of pellets back in the mid 60s. Still have and shoot that little gun occasionally, its been retired/replaced with a HW30 that sees regular use.
My first target was a pickle jar – I was both surprised and disappointed when it didn’t explode into fragments at first hit. It took several straight on hits to break the jar and that was anticlimactic.
Spent days and thousands of pellets to teaching myself how to hold and aim. Still follow that learning, start (very) close and increase the distance as skill allows. Aim small, miss small.
The Crosman 101 was my first hunting power (rabbits and squirrels) rifle. I expected that if one pump was good for 50 feet then two was 100 and 10 pumps was 500 feet. A quick test at the river showed the falicy of that thinking – and rude welcome to the real world.
Learned real quick to make the first shot count as rabbit never gave you a second chance to pump up and reload. Dozens of times I wished that I could pump a bunch and get 2 or 3 shots before having to pump again. That’s probably why I have a strong preference for PCPs.
I’ve had airguns since the 60’s. Like most people, I was wooed away by rimfires and centerfires for a long time. Retired now and I’m back to pellet guns and homemade bows and slingshots.
Lots of fond memories of friends and airguns.
Hank
Hank,
There was a Benjamin at one time for sale that might would have met your needs. Custom Benjamin 392 Air Conserving Pumper (ACP) MkII. To this day I wish I had one. On high power you pump it up 8 times for a shot, then each additional shot just takes 3 pumps (up to 685 fps). On low power you pumped it up 8 times then got 3 shots in a row (no extra pumping) of 500 fps. It’s not made anymore. You can google and read it.
Doc
I wonder if it was simply a matter of installing a different valve, and whether those valves could still be found….
Roamin,
The volume of reservoir on a pumper is just enough for one shot at optimum pressure. That is what it was designed for.
Think that just changing the value wouldn’t be enough unless a major drop in power was acceptable.
Trying to compensate by going to a higher pressure would likely make the gun unpumpable by the average person.
Hank
Doc,
That 392 sounds interesting. I always thought that a “proper” PCP type valve and a larger reservoir fitted to a pumper was all was needed. Fx had one, I guess that there are/were others available.
My 101 still shoots but is totally worn out and officially retired. I have a Benjamin 362 pumper that sees fairly regular use when I’m feeling nostalgic. Have to admit that I’m lazy and much prefer a PCP, they are easier on my joints 🙂
Cheers!
It was about 1946-1947 when dad gave me a Daisy No. 25. My friends were in awe over its presumed higher power and cool look especially when held with the pump pulled back. It could be a Tommie Gun, MP-40, Grease Gun, etc. Take your pick. I was allowed to shoot pest birds and my definition got a little bit questionable. But it gave me my first lessons on stealth and adjusting my point of aim. Back then my eyes could follow the BB.
I continued shooting the No. 25 after getting a .20 gauge shotgun until age 14. Then my long addiction to shooting and collecting firearms began. I was fortunately raised in a family that taught and practiced gun safety. Mausers, Enfields, Springfields, Arisaka’s, Krag’s, Garands, Carbines, Swiss straight pulls, Lugers, Colt .45’s, Winchesters, Parker’s, Marlins, Rugers and more had my attention. Plus I almost left out reproduction black powder wheel guns.
Except for a Crosman 600 dad got us no other airguns appeared until BB hooked me in 2012 after chancing upon this blog. Thanks to BB and other enablers I have mostly replaced my firearms collection with airguns. The convenience of shooting at home plus the amazing accuracy of many airguns holds my interest. I still enjoy firearms but reloading and shooting are seldom events now. The fun of shooting airguns is just as strong as shooting firearms.
Thanks for enabling me folks!
Deck
M first air gun was a Daisy 25. I wore the first out shooting thousands of BB’s All my friends had Red Ryder’s. Seems like I was always reloading as they just kept cocking and shooting their Red Ryder’s. But, My Model 25 was more powerful.
My second air gun was a Sheridan that was stolen many years later. The next air gun was a FWB 124 that was also stolen at the same time the Sheridan was stolen. Replaced the FWB 124 soon after the first was stolen but it was over 50 years before I got another Sheridan. In fact, five Sheridans. In the last two months, I gave each of my four grandsons a Sheridan. I kept one.
I now have way too many air guns, over seventy, and at 84 need to do some reducing. But, my kids will probably have to take care of that task.
I’m on my way to amassing a collection too. Right now my focus is vintage Diana break breakbarrels and Crosman pistols. I will need to leave instructions on how to dispose of the ones the kids do not want. It may take a while.
However, one thing that I love to do is clean up and restore airguns within my limited abilities. I’m not a machinist, but I have started with a few Crosman Mark I and IIs and found it really fun to reseal them and polish them up.
One thing I would love to do is help all the orphaned front and rear sights from vintage Dianas and Weirauchen find new homes. I know they are out there, hidden in some nook or cranny; removed when a scope was installed and then forgotten. I have a few of those guns myself. A San Rafael vintage Beeman R7 missing a rear sight, for example. I would like to restore it before passing it on to its next owner.
This blog and the comments makes me want to assemble an inventory of my current collection.
Roamin,
I know what you mean about resealing the air guns. I started in 2015 resealing therm. S&W 78&79, Crosman Mki&II Sheridans Model C and many others. I have really enjoyed working on them. I’m not a trained gunsmith, but learned over the years on both firearms and then the air guns. Did a lot of tuning up Cowboy Action Marlin Lever guns and various single Action revolvers. Milled many ’73 carriers to lighten them and it also helped with black powder fouling. I have a small lathe, full size milling machine and a couple of drill presses. Did a lot of reloading when I shot Cowboy Action, firing around 50,000 rounds a year. Now I really only shoot the air guns as I live in the country and can shoot air guns here in the yard. Too many other people in the area to fire the firearms anymore. At 84 I am really slowing down. I am planning a sight seeing safari to Africa, but that will probably be my last hooraw.
Jonah, my parents are 88 right now and were planning a trip to Greece before they got sick with COVID at the last minute. They try to stay active, and I’m glad you are too. I hope you enjoy your “last hoorah” and hope you have a few more in your future. Hopefully, you have a plan for your airgun collection. If not, perhaps Roamin Greco’s Institute for Airgun Appreciation can help find new homes for them, where they will be well cared for and fed their favorite ammo.
FM and family took our dad on a Caribbean cruise in 2018 when he was 98; he had minor mobility issues but his mind was good and we just propelled him around in a wheelchair when distances were too far for him to walk. He had a great time and so did the rest of us. That was his last trip but a good sendoff; he stuck around until right after he turned 102.
Never say never.
I sure got my start with airguns. I just never quit them. My first was a Dasiy Spit’in Image 1894 BB gun. I shot it till it turned to junk. Next, my Dad replaced it with a Sheridan C with a receiver sight. That was like going from a Biplane to a Jet Fighter! Today I shoot Cowboy Action, Three Gun, Black Powder, Archery, and of course Air Guns!
Mike
My first airgun was a Daisy lever BB gun it was similar to a Buck but had a very light stock almost like white pine, maybe it was a 102 but sadly is lost to time. First pellet gun was a Benjamin 347 . The 347 spoiled me and it is still one of my favorites . My oldest Brother had a Benjamin .22 multi pump pistol with the “pearl” plastic grips, circa 1969.
My first airguns were a Marksman Repeater, and a Daisy Targeteer 118, both given to me by my grandfather.
Next came the Crosman 760 Pumpmaster. Though I did not come from a family that embraced the shooting sports, my father took me into a gun store to get that one. It was at time when many of the neighborhood boys were first armed with pump airguns, and I was so grateful to get that 760.
Many years later I bought myself a Gamo Hunter 220, my first spring powered “adult” air rifle. It was very exciting to me, but I did not understand why couldn’t achieve consistent accuracy with it.
Another 15 years or more later I discovered this blog, and started trying to learn everything I could about quality spring powered rifles. I eventually got myself a Beeman R9, and was pleased with the rifle. The collection just grew from there. It has been a lot of fun.
Thanks Tom, for encouraging us all.
All I knew was it was against the law to own an airgun, or any gun for that matter. No stores sold them.
Then one year in the 60’s we vacationed in a place called Greenwood Lake in NY. I was a young teen and noticed a Daisy Model 1894 Winchester Spitten Image BB rife sitting in a hardware stores window there.
What … You can buy them here? Never realized they were only illegal in New York City where I lived.
Well, I became an outlaw the day I returned home with that air gun, and it never left the apartment we lived in till I moved to Florida while in the Navy. Had no yard to shoot in all those years.
Then I realized I could actually own a firearm in Florida and picked up a new 22cal Ruger MkI pistol ($47.00) and proceeded to make up for lost time. Still have both here in CA. I got hooked up with a lot of Navy shooters. Count your blessings growing up in the rest of the free country.
Attempting to reseal that 1894 about 15 years ago led me to this Blog. Fortunate indeed.
Bob M
I do count it a blessing to grow up where guns were legal to own. But you eventually got blessed too. Interesting path you took to get it.
Years ago before so many mentally unstable people were out in public places our church hosted a Christmas International House (CIH). Foreign students attending colleges in United States could spend Christmas in this country during school holiday break. Once we had two students from Venezuela stay at our house. They were so intrigued by my Crosman 600 they went out and bought a Daisy 200 pistol. They spent hours shooting at pine cones. When it was time to return to college they couldn’t take it with them. I still have that pistol and I need to get roundtoit.
Deck
“…the Sheridan Blue Streak…the ads showed that it penetrated a inch of wood!”
BB,
Thank you for this most interesting report, and especially for the pic under the text above.
That ad is what made me really want a Sheridan! 🙂
Blessings to you,
dave
How many here as a kid thought that when cocking a piston pellet rifle you were “pumping” it , as in “it only takes one pump” ? My friends and I thought that while looking at them in the catalogs, I think it was the Gander Mountain that was similar to newspaper print.
My first piston gun was a B-2 break barrel followed by a wrath of B-3’s and the like until a Walther LGV Master made Boudreaux’s Island of misfit airguns it’s home, Oui ooh La La.
Roamin:
You’ll love the 36 when you get it slicked up.
I’d start with a JB Bore Paste “massage” and then a series of dry felt pellets PUSHED through from breech to bore until they come out clean. I’d then push through one soaked in Sheath/Barrier oil and let that soak into the barrel a day or weekend.
I usually use 2-4 drops of RWS Air Chamber lube into the compression chamber. Since the 36, at least, can be carefully de-cocked by maintaining control of the barrel, releasing the safety and, with control of the pistol grip and trigger, releasing it the trigger and taking the spring pressure back into the cocking lever. This feature (missing on too many of my breakers) allows one to lubricate the air chamber and spin the rifle on the bore centerling for a short while after admitting the Air Chamber lube so it encircles the compression bore.
By then using the de-cock feature, you can cycle, without locking into the trigger system, the air piston in the cylinder thus lubing the whole structure and seals BEFORE a firing sequence. I usually do this after the rotation and then let it sit butt down in the arms locker for a day or two. I then get my heaviest pellets and shoot a few ten shot targets to allow for the rifle to get rid of what it doesn’t want. Once all this is done, you’re good for a good number of 500 shot tins – or until it squeaks at cocking.
I use Minwax on my stock and do several coats. Summer is a great time for that! I put on a coat, rub it in carefully and thoroughly and leave the piece in the sun, then flip it. The heat helps build a hard wax coat. My Minwax is a colored wax from an old furniture project that just happened to be perfect for the stock! It was pure luck, of course. I put a couple of good coats on and also, if needed us a fine furniture felt pen on any glaring scratches to fill in color as needed.
Thereafter, I use a more liquid bee’s wax and cloth to touch up the piece at an end of a shooting session. It goes into the cabinet “wet” and I polish the coating when I next get the piece our for a session. The polish is just a clean old terry cloth towel that takes off the excess nicely.
The stock care is followed, by the way, be carefully removing any overage on the metal parts. These get a wipe down with Sheath/Barrier oil EACH TIME after use.
My rifle looks almost as good as the day I took it out of the box by this routine.
One more thing which you likely already know… The double recoil makes keeping a scope on the Model 36 a frustration akin to swimming home from the mid-Atlantic Ridge of the Atlantic Ocean. I tried virtually everything on the market and finally said, “phooey!” I installed a Williams Peep with Turret Knobs and added a Merit Disc to the Williams base. That has been the secret to near scope precision as one can adjust the Disc to the light conditions, and being lighter in mass, has less tendency to move on the scope rail.
It will be interesting to hear how you come to know your Model 36. It happens to be my Gold Standard of what a break barrel should be. Oh, and one more thing, secure the stock screws regularly, the double recoil likes to “free itself” from owner regulation, but don’t over do it on the front two – they are in wood, you know!
This may be boring as the story has been told before, or at least parts of it, in these pages. FM played with cap guns until about age 9 when, after much pestering of his mom and pop, he was allowed to have a Daisy Red Ryder bb gun, as most of his little friends did. Unlike them, however, he was NOT allowed to shoot bbs with it; to ensure that, pop removed the muzzle cap so the Daisy became a “Cowboys-and-Indians” play gun. It made a nice “bang” sound.
His older cousin owned a couple of airguns, pretty sure one was a Daisy Model 25 and the other – memory may be Fawlty here – some kind of break-barrel pellet rifle, maybe in .177; ‘lil FM got to shoot those under cousin’s supervision and even went with him on land crab hunts with those guns. Later, cousin owned the Crosman 38T .22 revolver which he loaned his by then teenage relative and which made an enjoyable shooter, though neighborhood pigeons did not share that opinion.
Eventually FM graduated to firearms, gifting himself a Ruger 10/22 for his 18th birthday – it still resides in Casa FM – and acquiring others over time. The 38T was set aside for many years until “resurrected” by Precision Pellet about 3-4 years ago. What made FM cross over decisively into Airgun World about 5-6 years ago was the need for iguana pest control in the Southern Sunshine State; also shooting firearms became more difficult and expensive over the years but airguns were doable in the backyard. When FM started doing his due diligence into figuring out what airguns to dance with, one of the first things that popped out was BB’s blog and so, here we are.
This is FM’s story and he’s sticking to it. Yes, he’s developed an addiction to Weihrauchs and the Maximus Family – no apologies. 🙂 He thanks all those responsible for aforesaid addictions. They know who they are.