04-08-2007 02:57 AM

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. I have long wanted a fine Eruro airgun 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 I was still 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 when I noticed it was on clearance and marked at $79 I decided I would buy it. At the register they knocked off another ten bucks 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 now breaks cleanly at 3.5 lbs.

I bought a fairly 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.


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. 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.

I went the Champion Shooters Supply to get some pellets for testing. They were very helpful and steered me towards heavy pellets saying they work better in magnum 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. And the match pellets 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 pellet rifle. 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. Soon after I got to the point where I was getting the proper bench hold down and finding if I held too tight the shot was high, too loose and the shot was low. 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 have some time to play with the big bulky 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.

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08-30-2006 01:02 AM

“Molon Labe: A Response to Tyranny”



"In 480 B.C. the forces of the Persian Empire under King Xerxes,
numbering according to Herodotus two million men, bridged the
Hellespont and marched in their myriads to invade and enslave Greece.



"In a desperate delaying action, a picked force of three hundred
Spartans was dispatched to the pass of Thermopylae, where the confines
between mountains and sea were so narrow that the Persian multitudes
and their cavalry would be at least partially neutralized. Here, it was
hoped, an elite force willing to sacrifice their lives could keep back,
at least for a few days, the invading millions.



"Three hundred Spartans and their allies held off the invaders for
seven days, until, their weapons smashed and broken from the slaughter,
they fought 'with bare hands and teeth' (as recorded by Herodotus)
before being at last overwhelmed.



"The Spartans and their Thespian allies died to the last man, but the
standard of valor they set by their sacrifice inspired the Greeks to
rally and, in that fall and spring, defeat the Persians at Salamis and
Plataea and preserve the beginnings of Western democracy and freedom
from perishing in the cradle.



"Two memorials remain today at Thermopylae. Upon the modern one, called
the Leonidas Monument in honor of the Spartan king who fell there, is
engraved his response to Xerxes' demand that the Spartans lay down
their arms. Leonidas' reply was two words, Molon labe:



" 'Come and get them.' "



A story we should all remember when faced with seemingly impossible
odds as politicians attempt to disarm honest people who have done no
wrong.



Molon Labe!

08-20-2006 02:51 PM

I have been a firearms enthusiast all my life, I remember fondly the days when I was a boy plinking at tin cans in the back yard with my father.

When I met my wife I new that her first husband (a tough guy wannabe) had soured her on firearms by forcing her to shoot his .44 magnum as an introduction to the shooting sports. From that experience she belived that all gun guys were irresponsible lunatics. Add to that the negative media reinforcement of that idea and an anti-gun person was created.

She knew I owned guns, and shot regularly at the local range. In an effort to make her more tolerant of firearms, but not neciasarily convert her, over the years I have tried to show her that not all gun guys are gun nuts. I have tried to keep them out of site and locked up around the house, I even have a few rifles stored in a vault at a friends house. When I sold my S&W M66 a few years ago because we needed money I think she thought all the handguns were finally gone for good. About a year ago I bought a S&W M14-4 .38 caliber Target Revolver to get back into shooting. When I purchased this gun she was upset, she said she didn't what to see it or know anything about it. So out of respect for her position, I keep my M14 target revolver and ammo in lock box under the bed. She has never shown any interest other than to hit me with a verbal jab when I occasionally go shooting or to a show.
The other day I mentioned in passing that I was saving up cash for another gun, her response was a surly, "that's a fucking waste of money!"

Yesterday I made the mistake of going to a gunshow, I half heartedly knew I was going but really was not sure about it. I had missgivings about going to the show because I knew I did not have enough cash to buy the gun I was looking for and did not really expect to come home with anything other than some cleaning suppies, and possibly a new work knife. My decision was a spur of the moment thing and I did not even call my gun buddy who always goes to shows with me. I wanted to take the bike but the forecast was calling for rain all day so I filled the car up with gas grabbed a cup of joe and headed for Dayton about 60 miles due west of Columbus. When I arrived at the show I was very disapointed, most of the space was taken by dealers, and their prices were very high. Everything I saw was priced 50-100 dollars higher than the local sporting goods store. The only things I saw that interesed me was a nice Nazi marked Mauser .22 trainer in mint condition, and a nice nickle plated S&W M&P circa 1947.

There was slim pickin's so after I had covered the entire floor once I sat down and had a snack in the concession area. As I was getting ready to leave an older gentleman sat down with his donut and coffee, in his had he had a S&W spanky new target 22 semi-auto, with target grips and a bull barrel. I asked him if I could look at it, now I have no need for a .22 pistol but when I asked how much he wanted for it I could not pass on it. He only wanted $200 for a pistol that retails at $425 and I could easliy turn around for $250-300. I though of it more as trading fodder for later on, and it would keep me from spending the $200 on house emergencys which always seem to rear their head when I'm trying to save up for something. My guitar fund was raided so many times I finally gave up, and my fix the motorcyle fund never even materialized. So I thought that I could always get my 200 back and not have the money laying around to get spent on stuff.

My big mistake was not telling my wife about this. I was organizing all my shooting stuff this morning and she popped out in the garage and startled me as I was closing the box with the new gun it. She wanted to know what I was hiding, so I fessed up. Now she is pissed because I lied to her, to which I plea guilty. Yes I should have let her know what I had done, but with her all her previous anti-gun talk I just wanted to take the easy path. Yes, I'm a coward who hates confrontation, and like to take the easy path.

07-04-2006 01:59 AM

Many years ago before I was married with children and had a disposable
income, I used to make knives on a regular basis. I started this hobbie
by buying pre made blades and parts the basically just assembled and
finished the knives. I later learned thastock relief method and was
making my own blades and cutting my own pommels and guards out of bar stock.
Around this transition time a good friend of mine and I picked up a
couple of nice Damascus blades from a local knife supply company here
in Columbus called Koval Knives to make a matching set of
nice Damascus skinning knives. I made up my knife very quickly and gave it to a very good friend for his 50th birthday.




Fast forward 10 years when my friend was cleaning out his basment last
weekend and found the parts for the knife he never made. These parts
have been passed to me for completion of the project. I'm going to eyeball
these parts for a while and decide how best to proceed. I'm
thinking about doing the handle in the Scagel style, and sanding and polishing
the blade to subdue the damascus just a lttle bit, I still
want to keep the pattern visible, just not so rough. And grinding the raised
ricasso flat  All this may change at any moment though.

And I will post my progress on this project 


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I just ground off the hump in the ricasso using my 12 inch disk sander.
It think turned out very well. I then used 400 grit sandpaper to make
the pattern a bit more subdued and buffed the blade with a cutting compound to get the pattern  where I wanted it.






I then had to flatten the face the cast brass guard so theat it mates up
better with the blade. Fitting these two pieces is crucial to a
professional appearence, you can see the large gap in the picture that will take a lot of hand fitting to get just right.




The easy part is done, I fitted the handle and have it pretty much the way
I want it.  I had some leftover exotic woods I'm using for spacers
rather than the standard plastic spacer material. I will be using Rock
Maple and Blood Wood for one large spacer between the guard and the
stag handle.



Now comes one of the most important steps, the hours of final fitting,
shaping, and polishing. I will use a good marine epoxy and a small
nickle silver pin to hold it all together.

I will try to keep the gentle S curve the knife has, now I need to find a small compass to inlay in the pommel



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After Hours of fitting sanding and final polish the knife is done.... almost..... It still needs to have an edge put on it.