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Slavia · Moderator

I bought this .20 Sheridan Blue Streak Model "C" new in 1977. About 10 years ago I re-sealed the valve/piston, refinished the stock, and added a buttpad. I got bogged down on the project trying to perfect a homemade scope mount, and because I couldn't get paint to stick to the brass. It sat in a pile in the garage for years getting dinged up, and parts were lost. Time to try it again now that I'm ten years smarter (at least about airguns).

This is the rocker arm safety model, made in the same year that Benjamin bought out Sheridan, but when they were still separate entities (and long before Crosman bought Benjamin). Here's a little history:
http://www.airguns.net/reviews_sherdan.php
http://www.cinedux.com/sheridan-airguns.php

Years of manufacture, by serial number:
http://www.crosman.com/cs/dates-benjamin

A parts diagram, in case you're curious:

http://www.luchtbuks.net/index.php?showtopic=4762

This is not going to be a complete makeover, but rather a light facelift. I do have a few twists in mind, but nothing exotic. Here is a good reference if you're reading this and are planning your own renovation:
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-sheridan-blue-streak-part-1.html
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-sheridan-blue-streak-part-2.html
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/search/label/sheridan

The stock had developed a good sized split. I put two deck screws across the crack, wicked super glue into it, and drew them tight:

I steamed out the big dents with a damp towel and iron. The chipouts were glued back in place with super glue. The crack, dents, and smaller defects were filled by wet sanding with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil and 320 grit paper across the grain:

The trigger guard had gone missing, so I bent another from hardware store flat stock, thinning the edges a bit with the Dremel so it wouldn't look so "blocky." Blueing was Birchwood Casey cold blue. Normally I would prepare galvanized metal for blueing by stripping the galvanizing with muriatic acid, but in this case grinding on it with the Dremel did the trick. The deck screw in the grip region was hidden by part of a drawer pull, and the butt pad hides the other one. All the wood screws had already been replaced with machine screws and anchors.

The stock had been refinished with Tru-Oil and without any stain, so this time around it was just a matter of smoothing it out and adding more Tru-Oil. I sanded out my cross-grain scratches with more 320 grit paper, and applied four coats of Tru-Oil, just wetting the surface each time. Each coat was rubbed out with 0000 steel wool, the final coat was rubbed out with paint polishing compound to remove the gloss, and two coats of paste wax were applied over that.

On to the metal work.

Slavia · Moderator

The two safety screws were missing. They fit into 6-32 holes, but the slots in the rocker and leaf spring are much bigger, so I had to made guide bushings for the screws. I turned down thumb nuts on my favorite mini-lathe:

Time to renew the paint in the stamped "F" and "S." Both were originally white, but I chose red for the "F" so it would be easier to see:

The parts:

The mounting screw inside the tube can't get out unless the valve is removed. Luckily I also still had the saddle-shaped washer, but the long hex nut was missing:

The new part is cut from a 1/4-20 "T" nut, with a screwdriver flat cut in so it can be tightened. The outside mounting screw was also missing, but was a simple replacement. I re-shaped a flathead screw to make it more like an oval head:

The "T" nut was narrower than the original hex nut, so I bored out a bit of a 1/4" steel pipe and epoxied it into place as a sort of recoil lug. The 8-32 "T" nut and keeper screw are for the overtravel limiter, which I'll get to in a moment:

This is the original trigger. It's super simple - the sear and trigger are all one piece, with no intermediate levers. In spite of its simplicity it has a nice crisp release with very little creep. On the down side, it was a little heavy for my taste, and had huge overtravel:

The overtravel limiter screw threads through the stock (the head was turned down to make it less visually obtrusive). The rebate where it touches the trigger was necessary to clear the "T" nut and keeper screw in the stock. To lighten the trigger pull a bit I cut into the trigger blade, and added an adjustment screw. The extra depth into the trigger blade and the threadless part of the setscrew replace the function of the floating spring guide, which was missing anyway. I didn't touch the sear latch or hammer:

Put back together:

From the outside:

At this point I'm thinking about appearance. I've never had much luck with brass black, so the choices are polish or paint. After photoshopping the possibilities I'm leaning toward all black, simply because it unifies the blued parts and scope:

More as I get it done.

robert w · Senior Member

nice work so far there

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

That’s a nice looking gun Slavia, I’ve never seen one of then before! It’s a shame it had to sit in a garage for 10 years and I can see your point about painting it black, but it reminds me of an old musket and in brass it would be the Bee’s Knee’s.

Al

Slavia · Moderator

Slavia · Moderator

The rear sight was also missing. I plan on mounting a red dot sight, so the open sight probably isn't necessary - but I don't like the looks of the empty space where it should be mounted. Some of these Sheridans have sight bases mounted with setscrews, and if that were the case here I would have simply removed it. Mine is crimped or soldered on. (I also read that the setscrew can contribute to separation of the solder joint between pump tube and barrel.) Windage is adjustable with two "loosen one/tighten the other" 6-32 screws at the front. Elevation is adjustable with a small jackscrew at the rear. The original:

I began by wrapping a piece of steel pallet strap around the threaded barrel of a 6-32 "T" nut:

That was soldered together, and another bit of "T" nut was soldered to the back for the elevation screw. My local hardware store didn't have setscrews long enough, so I opted for part of a brass thumb nut and a 6/32 screw

Assembled:

Polished and blued:

radar · Silver Status Member

Love it! Nice work, as always, and I love that rifle. That era, if not the exact year, was my first serious air rifle...a .20 Blue Streak like that.

Slavia · Moderator

AirGunEric · Site Admin

With the paint removed- is it now called a "Yellow Streak"?

Mr. Green

Slavia · Moderator

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Yup- I was hoping to be able to do that- but you had to get all spic-and-span on it...

Slavia · Moderator

I think now I'm obligated to paint it, just so I can hold my head up without disgrace in the airgun community.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Paint it pink or green- I think a "Pink Streak" or a "Green Streak" would be cool- even if only for the name.

Razz

Slavia · Moderator

With the number of parts I've misplaced it should be "Losing Streak."

Slavia · Moderator

Back to business.

While I did replace the valve seals about ten years ago, I didn't replace the bolt/breech seal. The 35 year-old "O" ring crumbled when I removed the bolt. Nothing that small was available locally, so I need to see if Crosman can replace it. In the mean time, I thought I would try to make my own.

I had a faucet washer that was about the right thickness at 0.064":

I drilled a hole and slid it on the bolt to rough-cut. It needs to be trimmed down to the size of the forward part of the bolt (so it will slide in the loading channel).

I spun it down with the dremel, using the drill bit as a mandrel:

Here it is on the bolt with a little silicone grease:

I also needed to fabricate the little screw that serves as a bolt lug. I made it from a 6-32 screw and the threaded portion of a 6-32 "T" nut. To remove the original a 1/8" nut driver is needed - pretty small. Mine goes in and comes out with a hex key (Allen wrench). Don't be confused if the screw and "T" nut next to the bolt look too large - I ran out of 6-32 "T" nuts for the picture.

The lug needs to be short enough to have clearance so it can swing outside the gun. After hand fitting that turned out to be 0.200" (not including the threaded portion of the screw). It also needs to be slender enough to slide in a cocking slot inside to cock the hammer. That turned out to be 0.160."

I read about a small spring and ball bearing that reside in the side of the bolt. Mine has a hole for them, right behind the bolt lug. My guess is that they keep the bolt from flopping around in the breech. Of course the little ball is missing. It amost looks to me like the spring is still in there - but stuck. So, I'll need to think of a way to duplicate that function.