Sheridan Calling all pumper experts

Some chrony numbers to get a better idea of performance would be a good start.

did you pull a few patches through ? barrels might look clean but can be dirty .

jccams said:

Okay, so I have recently acquired a 91 Blue Streak and a 97 392. Until now my only experience with pumpers has been with a Daisy 880, my first bb gun when I was 11. So they both shoot as they should, but the BS pumps much easier, I can pump it 8 times and it's not too bad. I usually shoot with 4 or 5. Now the 392 is not bad to 3 pumps, but it gets much more difficult than the BS past that. I was shooting it yesterday with 4 pumps and it really felt difficult at 4. I'm no weakling, but I can't imaging pumping this thing 8 times. Is this normal, or can there be a problem that makes it much harder to pump than my BS?,

Also, I have the Williams peeps on both guns, the BS is sighted at 25yds with 5 pumps and the sight is slightly below the center mark. The 392 is almost all the way down and still hitting 2 inches high at 25yds with 4 pumps. Both using a bullseye hold. Ideas?

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Easy to pump compared to the 77A which can be pumped 20 times. Another fine pumper of the past.

Pumps
Pumps……..Velocity
4…………….417
6…………….511
9…………….576
10……………592
11……………604
12……………620
13……………629
14……………631
20.............697

I have a 2003 Silver Streak that was hardly shot when I just recently got it. It was almost physically impossible to pump it even a couple pumps. I blew air down the relief hole a few times and lightly oiled the pump cup. It immediately pumped to eight pumps but still was tougher than my others. Kept blowing high compressed air down the hole. It kept improving. Now pumps fine. Check the crown for paint overspray. This is common. It will cause accuracy issues.

jccams said:

What does blowing air in the air tube do, out of curiosity.

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Your gun has been sitting idle for 30 years. I think moving out film and dust gets things moving again. It surely did mine.

jccams said:

Okay, so I have recently acquired a 91 Blue Streak and a 97 392. Until now my only experience with pumpers has been with a Daisy 880, my first bb gun when I was 11. So they both shoot as they should, but the BS pumps much easier, I can pump it 8 times and it's not too bad. I usually shoot with 4 or 5. Now the 392 is not bad to 3 pumps, but it gets much more difficult than the BS past that. I was shooting it yesterday with 4 pumps and it really felt difficult at 4. I'm no weakling, but I can't imaging pumping this thing 8 times. Is this normal, or can there be a problem that makes it much harder to pump than my BS?,

Also, I have the Williams peeps on both guns, the BS is sighted at 25yds with 5 pumps and the sight is slightly below the center mark. The 392 is almost all the way down and still hitting 2 inches high at 25yds with 4 pumps. Both using a bullseye hold. Ideas?

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Sounds almost exactly like my experience with my own 392s and 397s! As far as I know, time and regular use are the only things that'll help. Keep up with three pumps, which will help tremendously, going for four whenever possible, then go for that tougher fourth pump regularly, until it too gets easier (makiing three pumps a breeze btw), then use four pumps regularly, going for five when possible, until you can make five your regular power level, and on and on all the way up to ten, if you can be that patient. Then I bought my 397s, and basically, did the same thing with it too. I didn't use one or both every time I could do some target shooting, but they still were a common choice, since I really like their open sights. Also, by then I had a good collection of additional airguns from which to choose, but they still saw pretty regular use (and still do).

Later on, after maybe a year to a year and a half of very regular target shooting, six or seven pumps was easy enough with both that I backed off again and then... never really gave it a lot of thought again. They both saw pretty regular use still, all the while getting easier and easier to pump up, until today, about four years later, all ten pumps maybe aren't totally, dead easy to do, but they aren't really awful anymore either, and I can do ten now any time, or more accurately, if that's necessary (it almost never is) and I'm almost 70 and disabled. Just keep at it, whenever you feel like shooting, and time will take care of the rest. Good luck, and enjoy that fine Benjamin air rifle!

I am not familiar with a 91 Bluestreak. My newest is a 72, but as I recall my BSs are easier to pump than my 392. Sometimes I think it's that fat pump handle. My easiest pumper to handle is my 1955 Bluestreak, with that slim pump handle they have.

I don't quite understand the peep sight question, but it may just be terminology. Point of aim vs point of impact may help?
As far as the 392 it sounds like your front sight post is short. If the peeps won't go down, you're done. Maybe stretch it out to longer distance until you find its range.
Also the amount of strokes will obviously affect range. I get a one inch POI difference from four to five strokes at thirty yards from the Sheridans, for example.

I thought that most Sheridan's max pumps per the manufacture's manual was 8 pumps? That's what I recall from when I was a kid/teen....LONG ago!

Mike

Revoman said:

I thought that most Sheridan's max pumps per the manufacture's manual was 8 pumps? That's what I recall from when I was a kid/teen....LONG

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According to the Sheridan Bluestreak and Silverstreak manual in section 3, pumping your airgun, it says: "[...snip...]at least three, but no more than eight."

The Crosman 362 and 2023 also need only eight.

I always read the manual when I get a new airgun, yet for some reason, I was -certain- the Benjamin synthetic stocked versions needed ten pumps for full power, so I scrounged up the manual that was provided with my 392s in 2020, which applies to both the .177 & .22 caliber "s" versions, as well as the later renamed Benjamin Variable Pump air rifles from 2016 on, and discovered the manual is UNCHANGED in that regard, still stating "at least 3, but no more than 8" pumps. Sonuvagun!!! I almost never used more than eight pumps in my own 392s and 397s rifles, but I have put in ten tough pumps often enough, especially considering it's actually supposed to be verboten! I would swear I've seen copies of small game FPE charts with the energy for everything from three to ten pumps listed for various animals using the Benjamin rifles, or reading online articles by 'experts' using ten pumps for various things, as well as many online discussions in which users talked about full power needing ten pumps, and everyone in all of them 100% wrong, ME included! No WONDER it was so tough getting past eight pumps with those two air rifles! One thing I can remember quite clearly from those charts though, was the very small, basically insignificant benefit in FPS and FPE from any more than eight pumps, which is why I almost never used more, regardless of the circumstances. Thanks Revoman, for setting me straight. Also, my apologies go out to the OP and everyone else for the bad advice regarding setting as a goal making ten pumps easier to achieve. I am not only sorry, but very embarrassed too. Well, the suggestion for working up to more pumps still stands, only fewer of them will be needed now. Again, sorry all!