Smith357
Member
I was raised with BB guns like the Daisy and Crosman but it wasn't until I was 30 years old that I bought first real air rifle, a Sheridan Silver Streak back in 1989 and it's power accuracy and reliability has served me well dispatching yard varmints. Here you see it with a 4x scope.
The Sheridan Silver Streak is an American classic pneumatic rifle that has been around since the 1950s. It also comes a blue version aptly called the Blue Streak. The barrel and air chamber are solid brass that's either nickel plated or blued, and a nice walnut stock. These rifles have earned a place in the hearts of many for being a powerful and accurate rifle suitable for plinking or small game hunting. With 8 pumps it can send its 5mm 14.3 grain pellet downrange at 675 fps putting out about 14 ft.-lbs which is plenty of power for those pesky tree rats and crows. Over the years there have been minor changes in the safety and the stock but it still remains one of the best values for a fine pneumatic rifle that will last a lifetime.
As good as the Sheridan is, after 50 shots my arm got tired pumping it up. It was great for hunting but for plinking, not so much. I have long wanted a fine Eruro springer but have never wanted to spend the money. The Gamo line looked good, but the plastic rifles seemed a bit pricey for me. I had been eyeballing a lone Winchester 800x .177 spring piston air rifle at a local big box store for some time.
It looked like a decent air rifle, and being the old school guy I am I liked the walnut stock, but ever being the cheap skate, I was not willing to fork out $119 for it. The rifle is made in Turkey by Hatsan, imported by Daisy and branded with the Winchester name. I guess the Winchester name just does not mean as much as it used to. This series of rifles have been getting fairly good reviews as a decent entry-level spring piston airgun.
So one day while tagging along with the wife, I noticed it was on clearance and marked at $79, I was bored it was winter and I had a hankering for a new project, I decided I would buy it. At the register they knocked off another ten bucks due the the box wear, so with tax and a tin of pellets I was out the door for less that $75.
When I got it home the first thing I did was head out to the garage to fire it a few times. Here was my take at that moment my take on this rifle.
--------------------
The Power seems good, with more than enough punch to dispatch typical yard varmints. I'm not sure If I can hit them with these awful plastic sights. But I plan on putting a optics on it so I can live with them until then. The bulky stock is solid Walnut but nothing special. The trigger is supposed to be adjustable, but the screw is far to short. There is about a mile of gritty creep and lots of side to side slop. It is built like a Russian tank, it ain't pretty, the welds are rather sloppy, but it is strong with a positive feel.
Bottom line;
What do you expect for a $100 air rifle. With a lot of tinkering I think I will have a decent plinker.
------------------------
The first thing I did was tear it apart and add some nylon bushings to tighten everything up a bit and replace the trigger adjustment screw with a longer one that actually works. Lube and polish the internals, and made some better fitting pins. After a few hours of work the trigger breaks cleanly at 3.5 lbs.
I bought a super cheap Leapers 3x9 AO, illuminated retical. I just followed the basic rule of spending the same amount of money on the optics as th rifle. The darn thing is huge, it works OK and seems to handle the dual recoil just fine, but the mil-dots look like holes in the paper during followthru. I should have gone with a straight 4x duplex. like the Sheridan has on it's back.
At first I could not get it shoot a decent group, then I looked down the barrel and noticed it was full of all manner of crud and I could barely see the rifling in the barrel. I ran a bunch of wet patches through the bore and they kept coming out black, after about 10-12 wet patches and another 20 dry they were coming out clean. For reference I have not cleaned my Sheridan for years, but when I punched the bore it only took one wet patch and 3 dry patches to get it like new. All the crud came out and I polished the bore with a bit of JB paste.
I went to my local air gun specialists at Champion Shooters Supply to get some quality pellets for accuracy and ballistic testing. The guys there were very helpful and steered me towards heavy pellets saying they work better in 800fps+ guns; I got a dozen tins of 8-9.5 grain pellets. Then I proceeded to drool all over the 50 or so fine Anschutz rifles on the wall.
These heavy match pellets fit in the chamber much more tightly and need to be pressed into place whereas the Daisy, Gamo, and Crossman pellets from Wally World just drop in. The match pellets are much better made and have no seams or mold marks of any kind. They shot some amazing groups from an inexpensive rifle.
I put in a bunch of trigger time searching for the best pellets to use in the 800x. Shooting a springer from a rest is a tricky business. At first I could not hit a thing, I could shoot it better off-hand than from the rest. After much trial and error I discovered that the BR style of ultra light hold and lack of grip was the major culprit. The rifle bounced all over the place without a firm hold. Soon after I got to the point where I was getting a consistant bench hold down. If I held the rifle too tight the shot was high, too loose and the shot was low, too much grip it was right, too little and it went left. It took some time and about 300 shots but I finally got it right.
I found that it liked the RWS target pellets, and the Gamo Hunters but they did not hit at the same point of aim.
Then one day while punching paper the mainspring on my cheapie springer basically exploded. After contacting Daisy and Hatsan I now have 2 new springs headed my way, one all the way from Turkey. Daisy's customer service is second to none, I told them I had heavily modified the trigger and as such surely voided any warranty, they said "No problem, we'll get a spring right out to you.
So now I had some time to play with the big bulky ugly stock. It's the clunky one on top. I hope to trim it down to make it light and sleek like the Sheridan, but that may be wishful thinking. especially with that monstrosity of a scope I mounted to it.
I reshaped the pistol grip area to fit my smaller hand, and leveled off the forend. Underneath the crappy brown sanding sealer was a half decent chunk of walnut. Though a bit on the yellow side there are a few streaks in the butt and a touch of burl on the comb. and near the breech.
I cut away wood on the grip with a large sanding drum chucked up in a good hand drill, and a small hobby plane, then smoothed with a file and hand sanded to 400 grit before using a good tung oil.
While I had it on the bench I fine tuned the trigger and added a trigger stop, polished all the pins the port, the chamber and the piston. I gently filed and cold blued the rough welds and sharp surfaces left from poor machine work, I polished and heat blued all the screws. I also fit the buttplate.
Well the new spring is working as well or better than the old one, it feels smoother......I think??
When I get the scope re-mounted and dialed in I'll be good to go.
I also tested the .177 Winchester 800x against my 5mm Sheridan Silver Streak. The Winchester is rated at 800fps while the Sheridan is rated at 675fps. The projectiles used were a 9.3 grain steel tipped Gamo Rocket vs a 14.3 grain Domed hunter.
Both projectiles were fired at point blank range into a block of plumbers putty. The 5mm pellet went much deeper into the medium and shows little sign of deformation. The Gamo Rocket expanded nicely.
The 50 year old pneumatic design of the Sheridan still has the punch but the accuracy edge goes to the Winchester as 10 yards groups were just a few millimeters tighter.
The Sheridan Silver Streak is an American classic pneumatic rifle that has been around since the 1950s. It also comes a blue version aptly called the Blue Streak. The barrel and air chamber are solid brass that's either nickel plated or blued, and a nice walnut stock. These rifles have earned a place in the hearts of many for being a powerful and accurate rifle suitable for plinking or small game hunting. With 8 pumps it can send its 5mm 14.3 grain pellet downrange at 675 fps putting out about 14 ft.-lbs which is plenty of power for those pesky tree rats and crows. Over the years there have been minor changes in the safety and the stock but it still remains one of the best values for a fine pneumatic rifle that will last a lifetime.
As good as the Sheridan is, after 50 shots my arm got tired pumping it up. It was great for hunting but for plinking, not so much. I have long wanted a fine Eruro springer but have never wanted to spend the money. The Gamo line looked good, but the plastic rifles seemed a bit pricey for me. I had been eyeballing a lone Winchester 800x .177 spring piston air rifle at a local big box store for some time.
It looked like a decent air rifle, and being the old school guy I am I liked the walnut stock, but ever being the cheap skate, I was not willing to fork out $119 for it. The rifle is made in Turkey by Hatsan, imported by Daisy and branded with the Winchester name. I guess the Winchester name just does not mean as much as it used to. This series of rifles have been getting fairly good reviews as a decent entry-level spring piston airgun.
So one day while tagging along with the wife, I noticed it was on clearance and marked at $79, I was bored it was winter and I had a hankering for a new project, I decided I would buy it. At the register they knocked off another ten bucks due the the box wear, so with tax and a tin of pellets I was out the door for less that $75.
When I got it home the first thing I did was head out to the garage to fire it a few times. Here was my take at that moment my take on this rifle.
--------------------
The Power seems good, with more than enough punch to dispatch typical yard varmints. I'm not sure If I can hit them with these awful plastic sights. But I plan on putting a optics on it so I can live with them until then. The bulky stock is solid Walnut but nothing special. The trigger is supposed to be adjustable, but the screw is far to short. There is about a mile of gritty creep and lots of side to side slop. It is built like a Russian tank, it ain't pretty, the welds are rather sloppy, but it is strong with a positive feel.
Bottom line;
What do you expect for a $100 air rifle. With a lot of tinkering I think I will have a decent plinker.
------------------------
The first thing I did was tear it apart and add some nylon bushings to tighten everything up a bit and replace the trigger adjustment screw with a longer one that actually works. Lube and polish the internals, and made some better fitting pins. After a few hours of work the trigger breaks cleanly at 3.5 lbs.
I bought a super cheap Leapers 3x9 AO, illuminated retical. I just followed the basic rule of spending the same amount of money on the optics as th rifle. The darn thing is huge, it works OK and seems to handle the dual recoil just fine, but the mil-dots look like holes in the paper during followthru. I should have gone with a straight 4x duplex. like the Sheridan has on it's back.
At first I could not get it shoot a decent group, then I looked down the barrel and noticed it was full of all manner of crud and I could barely see the rifling in the barrel. I ran a bunch of wet patches through the bore and they kept coming out black, after about 10-12 wet patches and another 20 dry they were coming out clean. For reference I have not cleaned my Sheridan for years, but when I punched the bore it only took one wet patch and 3 dry patches to get it like new. All the crud came out and I polished the bore with a bit of JB paste.
I went to my local air gun specialists at Champion Shooters Supply to get some quality pellets for accuracy and ballistic testing. The guys there were very helpful and steered me towards heavy pellets saying they work better in 800fps+ guns; I got a dozen tins of 8-9.5 grain pellets. Then I proceeded to drool all over the 50 or so fine Anschutz rifles on the wall.
These heavy match pellets fit in the chamber much more tightly and need to be pressed into place whereas the Daisy, Gamo, and Crossman pellets from Wally World just drop in. The match pellets are much better made and have no seams or mold marks of any kind. They shot some amazing groups from an inexpensive rifle.
I put in a bunch of trigger time searching for the best pellets to use in the 800x. Shooting a springer from a rest is a tricky business. At first I could not hit a thing, I could shoot it better off-hand than from the rest. After much trial and error I discovered that the BR style of ultra light hold and lack of grip was the major culprit. The rifle bounced all over the place without a firm hold. Soon after I got to the point where I was getting a consistant bench hold down. If I held the rifle too tight the shot was high, too loose and the shot was low, too much grip it was right, too little and it went left. It took some time and about 300 shots but I finally got it right.
I found that it liked the RWS target pellets, and the Gamo Hunters but they did not hit at the same point of aim.
Then one day while punching paper the mainspring on my cheapie springer basically exploded. After contacting Daisy and Hatsan I now have 2 new springs headed my way, one all the way from Turkey. Daisy's customer service is second to none, I told them I had heavily modified the trigger and as such surely voided any warranty, they said "No problem, we'll get a spring right out to you.
So now I had some time to play with the big bulky ugly stock. It's the clunky one on top. I hope to trim it down to make it light and sleek like the Sheridan, but that may be wishful thinking. especially with that monstrosity of a scope I mounted to it.
I reshaped the pistol grip area to fit my smaller hand, and leveled off the forend. Underneath the crappy brown sanding sealer was a half decent chunk of walnut. Though a bit on the yellow side there are a few streaks in the butt and a touch of burl on the comb. and near the breech.
I cut away wood on the grip with a large sanding drum chucked up in a good hand drill, and a small hobby plane, then smoothed with a file and hand sanded to 400 grit before using a good tung oil.
While I had it on the bench I fine tuned the trigger and added a trigger stop, polished all the pins the port, the chamber and the piston. I gently filed and cold blued the rough welds and sharp surfaces left from poor machine work, I polished and heat blued all the screws. I also fit the buttplate.
Well the new spring is working as well or better than the old one, it feels smoother......I think??
When I get the scope re-mounted and dialed in I'll be good to go.
I also tested the .177 Winchester 800x against my 5mm Sheridan Silver Streak. The Winchester is rated at 800fps while the Sheridan is rated at 675fps. The projectiles used were a 9.3 grain steel tipped Gamo Rocket vs a 14.3 grain Domed hunter.
Both projectiles were fired at point blank range into a block of plumbers putty. The 5mm pellet went much deeper into the medium and shows little sign of deformation. The Gamo Rocket expanded nicely.
The 50 year old pneumatic design of the Sheridan still has the punch but the accuracy edge goes to the Winchester as 10 yards groups were just a few millimeters tighter.
