Sheridan Blue Streak - why so much love?

Is the blue streak the same as the silver streak (though obviously with a different finish)?

When I was around 12, my parents bought me a Sheridan Silver Streak. My cousin had one and after shooting it, I desperately wanted one. It was .20 cal instead of .177, had the heft and feel of a "real" rifle as opposed to the Crosman 1077 I had at the time, and it seemed to be more accurate and powerful than any other airgun I had ever shot. I made some ridiculous shots with that Sheridan...

I wasn't aware there was any sort of cult following for these things, but I can't say I'm surprised. Been years since I've handled it, but I remember loving everything about it. I always attributed the difficulty of pumping it fully to its amazing power. It was also a gloating point over the younger siblings who needed our help to operate it.

That Sheridan was the whole reason my first real gun (a couple years later) ended up being a 12ga shotgun. After all, why did I need a rifle when I already had that powerful Sheridan? (True story).

I grew up shooting a Crosman 1400 pneumatic 22 air rifle. I still consider some of the shots I made with that rifle to be some of the best long range shooting I've ever done.
Fast forward to this time in my life, and a renewed interest in airguns, and I bought a Sheridan rocker, the airgun I always wanted.
It is an excellent shooter, and I really like the .20 caliber.
When I was testing it, I shot at an old license plate I had in the garage. Now, I have a Bone Collector 177, and a Crosman 2400KT 22. Those just dent the license plate. The Sheridan Blue Streak, pumped up to 8 pumps, sends a 20 cal pellet breezing right through.
Pumping it isn't difficult, or "awkward", and stock, made of a nice grade of wood, fits very well.
The Sheridan is an American classic, made to last out of good materials. There is a smith who specializes in hotrodding these guns, and I may go that way eventually.
But, in the meantime, I like the Sheridan a lot.

I did replace the crappy rear sight with a quality peep. Great gun!

I grew up shooting my Crossman 760 in .177. My dad purchased a used Sheridan Blue Streak in .20 ?caliber along with yellow boxes of pellets.

It was a massive step up from my Crossman. Maybe the memories are why the "cult following".

Once I got my first .22lr that replaced the Sheridan.

Ahhhh yessss. Good memories.

I started out with a Crosman 760 that had a broken stock. I shot everything in the backyard with that thing. Then I saved and saved and saved and mail ordered a Blue streak in .20. Thought it was broken because I couldn't cock it (had to pull much harder than the cocker on the 760), but finally managed.

It was just so much nicer than the Crosman. Wood stock, bolt-action. It was about as close to a "real" firearm as I could get. (Although, according to NJ's rules, it was one. )

I shot that thing sooooo much!! Then one day my friend left it out overnight. Of course it rained. Nothing really bad happened except the stock got all messed up. Still have it today.

Actually, now that I think about it, since I've gotten into woodworking, I might have what I need to restore it. I should see about that....

As to your question, I bet it's an issue of nostalgia.

I love my Blue Streak, bought in the sixties at a local store for $25. It's an amazingly accurate rifle. Every Autumn I use it to cut apple stems of fruit too high to reach with a long pole. Definitely a keeper.

A couple of years ago it started to leak air pressure but a rebuild kit easily fixed that. Six pumps per shot keeps my arms in shape.

It's a classic. Same reason why some folks hate plastic guns. Some people just like hunks of wood that remind them of their yewt.

I love mine and taught my kids how to shoot using it.

I have one, or something close to one, I am not sure exactly what mine is called if it is a Silver Streak or what, but if it isn't a Silver Streak, it is the same basic thing by the same company. I haven't owned it all that long: 5-10 years.

Nostalgia did enter into my buying it initially. When I was a kid, my best friend had one and we shot it every day of our childhood. In the end, it had no finish on the metal or the stock. I never had one as a kid, so I bought one as an adult.

That being said, I got one and I put a peep sight on it and started shooting it into a bullet trap in the house, and I found that I really enjoyed it. Today, I own several spring guns as well as a PCP. But, when I shoot in my basement, it is almost always the pneumatic. I have no issue with it at all. I don't find it difficult to pump. It has plenty of accuracy for my shooting off-hand across my basement. I recently had it rebuilt by Pyramid Air when I took one of my spring guns in for repair. I shoot airguns with a bunch of other guys three times a week at an indoor archery range and when I got both guns back, I took both guns with me to the next shoot. I fired the pneumatic gun off sandbags and the other guys there were suprised at the group I fired with it at ten yards.
Last fall I spotted a mole above ground in my yard and the first thing I grabbed was the pneumatic gun. Again, I don't find that it slow or difficult to put into operation. I guess the fact that I have shot tens of thousands of pellets out of one, on and off most of my life might have something to do with it.

I can easily see why they have a following. I guess I could be accused of being one of the followers.

Well there are several things to take into consideration. Yes they take time to reload and get a shot off. In that way they remind me of my deer hunting with my muzzle loader when I have several repeaters that are so much faster to shoot again. I have to make shot number ONE work so I am more careful with it. It puts the hunt back into it instead of worrying about shooting so much. Secondly my break barrel pellet rifle is 1" longer and weighs the same as toting my 30/06 around the woods. Not as conducive to an afternoon of woods loafing as with my 36" long 5 LB. Sheridan. Thirdly I can adjust the power level depending on what I want to do. 2-3 pumps to shoot indoors, 4-5 for back yard "can killing" or full blown for hunting. For an afternoon of target shooting I take my break barrel because of it's easy load and shoot, but to loaf around a squirrel woods for the afternoon give me my Sheridan and a tin of pellets, and a shady spot on an oak ridge some where. YMMV

Thats another good point I forgot to mention.

The fact that you can regulate the power.

Like I said, I shoot mine 99% of the time in the basement with three pumps. On the rare occasion I want to shoot at longer range outside, I can increase my power. I have no real interest in shooting animals but I have shot a few pests and again, I could regulate the power to suit the situation.

I can adjust the power of my PCP but even on low power it is about what the Sheridan does wide open. You would never know it from talking to most people about airguns but for a lot of shooting, velocity and power isnt an advantage and may be a negative thing. A pneumatic gives you options.

When I was young kid, some six decades ago, I used to shoot one that belonged to a friend of mine, I couldn't afford one on paper route money so one day a few decades later I saw one in Kmart and bought it for old times sake. I did some trigger work on it to my liking and now it's great. I also put a red dot sight on it and now I can hit a quarter at 25 yards with it. There is no recoil like on a spring gun and it's way cheaper than a PCP gun.
Pumping it up 8 pumps, the recommended maximum, is not the problem it was when I was a kid and I seldom need more than one shot.
I also bought a Daisy model 25 that I drooled over as a kid because all I had was a well used Red Rider.

That solid nose, conical tip, 5mm pellet is a real penetrating round. My cousin accidentally shot me in the side of one leg, above the knee. That was in 1964, when I was 13. The range was about 20 yards.

The impact completely collapsed my leg and I went straight to the snowy ground. The pellet was propelled by 8 pumps from his Blue Streak. I carried a Silver Streak.

At the hospital emergency room, they decided to leave the bullet in place since it lodged deep against the leg bone. The foreign object has never caused me a problem.

I still have my Sheridan Silver Streak and have put a 4X rifle scope on it. At a range of 19 yards in my back yard, shooting from a bench, my shots cluster about 1/4" apart with 5 pumps in the pneumatic cylinder.

I love my Sheridan !

I will add that after I got my Blue Streak, I ordered up a selection of pellets.
One that stood out was the Sam Yang heavy .20 pellet.
This heavy pellet really hits hard, and is accurate.
Other pellets that shoot well are the Benjamin, the Polymag plastic tip, and the JSB.
My Sheridan didn't come with a rear sight, but it has a 2.5X pistol scope mounted scout style.

I grew up, with the Sheridan Blue Streak. I'm now sixty-four (64). I can't tell you how many Sciurus carolinensis' that I have taken, with my Sheridan. I took two (2) more, Saturday. R.I.P.

WardenWolf said:

I guess it was good for its day, but it's a design that has not aged well. You can get break-barrel rifles nowadays that have nearly double its velocity yet are quicker and easier to load. They can even be had with wood stocks. The few times we could have actually used a pellet gun to take care of a rattlesnake or pest, it just took too long to prepare.

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I regret trading off my silver streak to this day :banghead: but as far a break barrel I have a RWS 34 and have had several others Very few springers will nearly double the speed of a good pump up gun with real pellets (not light alloy pellets) springers are not as easy to hit with and are heavy I have benjamins in both .177 and .22 Closest thing to a sheridan you can buy today . They see 3 times the use of my springers . They are my go to hunting airguns
Roy

I've had a Blue Streak for about 45 years, had it re-sealed about 12 years ago.
Mine is accurate with the Sheridan/Benjamin 14.3 gr pellets, I would never choose not to have it.

Will anchor anything up to 20 lbs ,40 yards ,one shot!
Great rifles still!

springers are not as easy to hit with

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I don't understand why this keeps being repeated over and over again?

This at 20 yards off a step ladder hasty rest in the garage.

Beeman R-7 .177. (German)
Beeman C-1 .22 Carbine. (English)



The R-7 just don't care how you hold it, loose, tight, hold it down, let it jump?
It just don't care.
It puts them all in the same hole.

The C-1 is less accurate on its best day, but still puts the hurts on things out to 40 yards or so with little noise.

I have owned Sheridan, Benjaman, and Crossmam pump pneumatics over the last 50 years and got rid of them all for 2 good springers now

Pump pneumatics are TOO LOUD, and take too much work to pump them up each shot.

I gave them up inside the city, because I have .22 rifles that aren't as loud!!

rc

"I don't understand why this keeps being repeated over and over again?"


I do understand why this keeps getting mentioned. I own a couple spring guns. And they are hold sensitive to the extreme. I bought a PCP gun because I got tired of trying to deal with the issues spring guns gave me. This is also one of the reasons I enjoy my pneumatic gun: it's simple and not fussy.

The Blue Streak hit like a Hammer and the ones I shot killed rabbit's and squirrels with a single shot.

going into the 52nd year of owning my Blue Streak. Still love it. More fun for hunting bunnies and squirrels than a .22... taking it to Wyoming this year to hunt rabbits in between hunting Pronghorn...