Vintage pumpers

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Anyone else shooting Benjamin or crossman pumps? Had these about 2 weeks so I'm still getting the feel of them. 
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Am I the only one still using iron sights? Seems like all I see are scopes on everything. What size groups at? Yds? What ammo? 

Want to try FT at local club but not sure if I can pump gun 360-400 times in 15min for 60 shots, lol, or hit anything out to 55yds…

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best group 1-½"
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What ammo yall hunt with? Got some gamo bluebomber 15.4 and just found some H&N hunter extreme 18.52. First grouping with H&N was 1-¾" so that one seems promising. Probably hunt at less than 20yds.
 
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Nice! 342? Looks really clean! What kind of groups are you getting? What yards? What ammo? Just plinking? Or do you hunt? I've been mostly focusing on my Crosman 392 trying to get it sighted in and get comfortable with a good hold. 

I'll get on the 342 next and see what kind of groups I can achieve. Although I did notice that the gap on rear sight is much bigger than the 392, more space between front sight and sides of rear, makes it a bit more difficult to keep tight groups. It's a very smooth shooter though. Unless i go with a peep it might be a 15yrd gun we'll see.

Getting ready for "pest" season, be taking them out as soon as I'm confidant i can make clean kills. 
 
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I have a variety of vintage pumpers, Benjamin 312x2, Crosman 101x3 and a 102 (repeater), Smith and Wesson Model 77A, Benjamin 392PA and a 392S and 1950’s vintage Sheridan Model C Silver Streak and Blue Streak. I only have a scope on my straight logo Crosman 101 and a red dot on my factory direct purchase 392S, the rest are a mix of iron sights or old school peep sights. 


I started out as a vintage springer guy and really enjoy them and the simplicity of cocking is attractive (single break of barrel) they are more challenging to shoot accurately due to barrel droop on some models and double recoil which sometimes leads to being scope killers. In comparison It may be work to pump doing multiple pumps but easier to shoot, they are not nearly as pellet picky and because there really is no recoil accuracy is easy to achieve and scopes don’t get destroyed.

At this time my go to guns are the pumpers because I like the trade off provided with a little pumping effort. By the way both of your rifles are very nice and I hope to add a 342 that looks that nice to my collection one day.


 
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I don't currently own a multi-pump rife, but have owned them ALL in the past (as documented in my fourth airgun book that documents testing of 349 airguns of all kinds, Airgun Chronicles- Thirty Years Of Airgun Testing And Competition). Matter of fact my five airgun books include chapters (plural) and countless references to pumpers, airgun sighting systems, and field target competitions.

SCOPED, a good Crosman, Benjamin, or Sheridan pumper can average 3/4" to 1" groups at 50 yards with correct JSB pellets for the power level. Hence why you see so few folks still using iron sights.

With something like 15 years of field target competition experience, much of that using rifles and pistols no-one in their RIGHT mind would use, or could use with any degree of success, trust me when I tell you that you can have good fun using an accurate scoped pumper in a (as in ONE) FT competition; but iron sights simply don't work for field target. A very good shot with a scoped pumper can post a double-digit field target score; perhaps even break 50%. The best shot will be lucky to break a single-digit FT score with the same rifle using iron sights.

Not trying to be an a**hole (this time), or discourage you. Just speaking the truth so you'll know what to expect and not be so disappointed when it happens. Truth be told, I'm trying to trick you into shooting field target in any way I can; in this case, to prove this a**hole wrong!

As always...

Happy Shooting Y'all,

Og

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View attachment Steroid Streak excerppdf.1631296527.pdf

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Og shooting field target competition with the 1963 Sheridan tested in the link above. Photo courtesy of Tom Gaylord.
 
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I have a variety of vintage pumpers, Benjamin 312x2, Crosman 101x3 and a 102 (repeater), Smith and Wesson Model 77A, Benjamin 392PA and a 392S and 1950’s vintage Sheridan Model C Silver Streak and Blue Streak. I only have a scope on my straight logo Crosman 101 and a red dot on my factory direct purchase 392S, the rest are a mix of iron sights or old school peep sights. 


I started out as a vintage springer guy and really enjoy them and the simplicity of cocking is attractive (single break of barrel) they are more challenging to shoot accurately due to barrel droop on some models and double recoil which sometimes leads to being scope killers. In comparison It may be work to pump doing multiple pumps but easier to shoot, they are not nearly as pellet picky and because there really is no recoil accuracy is easy to achieve and scopes don’t get destroyed.

At this time my go to guns are the pumpers because I like the trade off provided with a little pumping effort. By the way both of your rifles are very nice and I hope to add a 342 that looks that nice to my collection one day.

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Sounds like you have a very nice collection! I would love to add a few of those to mine. I thought about going with a break barrel, Beeman r9, or hw95, before I finally decided on these two. A big part of that (and the fact I got both of these for the $of an r9)was shooting my dad's Benji 342 growing up. I really wanted one just like it, too bad I wasn't able to get his. We would go out at night and shoot roaches out of the trees lol, those where some small targets at night! You knew you got a good hit when they either exploded, or you saw bark flying. 
 
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Pea-shooter, those are some beautiful rifles! I'll have to look into those, wouldn't mind having one that gorgeous too add to my collection!

I got a test sheet for the Benji 342 and it says 3 pumps-399fps, 6 pumps-496fps and 10 pumps- 585fps using Crosman premier 14.3gr. Not sure how those # translate into fpe, but sounds a little on the low side. It's a fine shooter and would like to see some numbers on it. I'll probably save up and get a chrony soon. I'll never max out that 342 using 10 pumps, 8 is a high as I need on such an old timer. No reason to abuse it. 

Don't know about the Crosman, but it feels like it's really thumping my targets compared to the Benji. Feels like there's a lot more power. It's slightly more accurate, but I believe it has more to do with the sights than the rifle. I immediately moved the Crosmans back as far as it would go and the sight picture is better. They were neck and neck at 10yds , but groups opened up on the Benji past that. 

They are both a ton of fun to shoot, but I'll be looking at eradicating some pests soon with the Crosman. 


 
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AirNGasman, books cool, I'll have to look into those, I'm an avid reader. That Sheridan is sweet! 

Once I looked into the rules for FT i realized I didn't stand a chance at those distances. I'm very pleased with the groups I'm getting with both guns and might scope the Crosman. I own scopes on my firearms and am under no dilutions that I could hit kill zones on targets at those distances using iron sights. Your not being an a$$. 

Believe me, I'm not discouraged, I'm looking at buying a pcp if I'm gonna go try my hand at FT. I may go try their .22lr bullseye competition till I save up enough to get a decent pcp, all ready to go with that. Haven't ever competed before but it sounds like fun! 

Any suggestions on a good pcp to get started in FT? Under $1,000? I already have a vortex crossfire II 4-16x40 I can use, guys at vortex told me they are rated for air guns. 


 
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That you not only are a reader but also have a sense of humor says much about your intelligence Corbin. Not to mention your grasp of written (and writing) English. Your lack of competition anxiety about getting into shooting competition(s) is also admirable.

Unfortunately a quick perusal of my two go-to online airgun dealers turns up little I can get excited about in a field target rifle under a grand. I did see a few I might suggest with qualifications too wordy to keyboard. Such discussions invariably get pretty long, and I can cover more ground better in a conversation than it takes five times as much time to scratch the surface by keyboard. I'll private message you my phone number to also avoid opening a can of worms here that will crawl all over cyberspace in a confusing tangle of dueling opinions. 
 
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The first pellet rifle I ever shot was my uncles blue streak wayyyy back in the mid 80’s. Brings back memories of my grandmother’s backyard and basically destroying my GI Joe collection. It’s been in my mothers attic for 20+ years and will be in my hands in a week or so. I know it will need some work, and that’s where the AGN will help me out
 
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The first pellet rifle I ever shot was my uncles blue streak wayyyy back in the mid 80’s. Brings back memories of my grandmother’s backyard and basically destroying my GI Joe collection. It’s been in my mothers attic for 20+ years and will be in my hands in a week or so. I know it will need some work, and that’s where the AGN will help me out
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Oil the plunger and stand it in the corner for a day. 5 or so drops of 30 ND it will probably still work.
 
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The first pellet rifle I ever shot was my uncles blue streak wayyyy back in the mid 80’s. Brings back memories of my grandmother’s backyard and basically destroying my GI Joe collection. It’s been in my mothers attic for 20+ years and will be in my hands in a week or so. I know it will need some work, and that’s where the AGN will help me out
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Oil the plunger and stand it in the corner for a day. 5 or so drops of 30 ND it will probably still work.
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I’ll reach out when I get it in hand. Can tear down a springer no problem but I’m clueless with pumpers
 
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The first pellet rifle I ever shot was my uncles blue streak wayyyy back in the mid 80’s. Brings back memories of my grandmother’s backyard and basically destroying my GI Joe collection. It’s been in my mothers attic for 20+ years and will be in my hands in a week or so. I know it will need some work, and that’s where the AGN will help me out
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Lucky you! Be great to find an old Sheridan and breathe some life back into it. I'll be interested in your progress when you start working on it.
 
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Have my .20 Blue streak I bought many years ago. And these Excellent Cll K .21 & .177 caliber round ball airgun bottom of picture. They were made in Sweden, and multi pump pneumatics. Both are from the 40s
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Awesome guns! I would love to find an old Sheridan! Can't believe those are from the 40's they look like they're in fine condition. You shoot them much?
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Aactually I did a video today on the Excellent Cll K .177 I will publish it soon.

Shot both these pumpers today.
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I love pumpers. Cheap to own and use and plenty accurate for backyard fun.
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The 760 second from the bottom is an '82. It is still accurate and works great.

The others are newer

I would also love to get my hands on a vintage Sheridan.
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Saw a couple Sheridans this afternoon on ebay, I've tried to get them before without success. 

This daisy 880 is what I've been using for about 8 yearsfor small pests, rats and mice. For some reason it's never been anywhere close to accurate with any pellet! Only shoot bb's, taken many rats and mice with this old girl. Got a rat last week from about 5yrds up in tree in the dark holding the flashlight, head shot. My wife was impressed lol. 
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