Repair old Benjamin .177 pump rifle

L

Lemmon

New member
Does anyone have any knowledge of how to repair or refurbish an old Benjamin .177 pump pellet rifle. This rifle has a brass barrel and frame. Santa brought it to me in the very early 60's. It was very accurate and the black finish wore off on the barrel where my hand held it during the pumping process. I think the piston has problems. I have not taken it apart yet as I would like some instructions to help with taking it apart. I hope this is the proper forum for this request. Thank you in advance.

Lemmon
 
Now from what I know about Benjamin Sheridan air rifles they didnt make .177 cal guns until the 90's. All of them I have seen were .20 or 5mm. I have an old silverstreak that shoots really good groups believe it or not. I just bought my boy a brand new one and what POS it is . This gun shoots the most erattic groups I have ever seen.
 
I did a couple over the years and the older ones were .22 barrels. Seems like all the ones I worked on were "permanent" assemblies, rivets and rolled over pins. The pistons are always shot so be prepared to make one out of leather or teflon. Don't even start unless you have a way to machine parts.
 
Now from what I know about Benjamin Sheridan air rifles they didnt make .177 cal guns until the 90's. All of them I have seen were .20 or 5mm.
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Until the 1990s, Benjamin and Sheridan were two different companies. Benjamin made the "standard" caliber air rifles (.177 and .22), and Sheridan made the Blue Streak and Silver Streak air rifles in 5mm.

I had a Sheridan in 5mm when I was in junior high school, and there was a certain amount of status around it among us kids that owned air rifles. The hierarchy went Daisy (lowest), Crosman, Benjamin, Sheridan (highest). It fired a heavier pellet than other air rifles and would kill a squirrel or a jackrabbit flat out, it didn't take multiple shots to do so like a Crosman or a Daisy, and it looked a lot nicer than a Benjamin. I killed many jackrabbits with mine, usually with just one shot. I flattened a car tire with it one time (don't ask). A friend of mine in college used a Sheridan to kill a coyote that was in his back yard, one shot. They are a real air rifle.
 
I have a brass Benjamin BB rifle that belonged to my grandfather. And I am now 71. I have used it since childhood. The leather piston seal has been replaced several times by myself. It disassembles easily, a seven year old kid can figure it out ;) . I remember using a quarter as a guide to cut the piston. A hole needs to be cut into the center and the whole thing reassembled. I have lubed the piston with everything from butter to motor oil. Being older and wiser I would probably stick with mineral oil now, or maybe Neatsfoot.
BTW, the oldies have a small following for collector interest but they do not bring much money. Mine would probably get $100.00 from a serious collector.
 
I believe Crossman owns them now . At least that was the customer service number that came with the paperwork. They just really arent that nice anymore.

I hope the OP finds the parts he needs.
 
My folks gave me a Sheridan for Christmas many years ago. It finally stopped working a few years back so I put it away for storage. I had planned to have Mac 1 rebuild it eventually but I never got around to shipping it to them. http://www.mac1airgun.com/index.htm They have a pretty good reputation with the Sheridan guns--I assume they would be able to fix a Benjamin as well.

At any rate, before I finally got around to shipping the gun I found a repair kit @ Pyramid Air. The documentation in the kit isn't that good so you'll need to be very careful to keep track of the order things come on during disassembly. I actually found my old manual had better pictures.

The kit contained all the rubber seals/parts in the airgun so assuming that the rest of the gun is in good shape, the gun will be back in new working condition after the rebuild.

In my experience, airguns are a bit trickier to work on than firearms. It took me two tries to get the kit properly installed. The first time it leaked and I got frustrated and put it away. Got it out last night and pulled it all apart again, cleaned everything carefully and then reassembled it more carefully. When I got home from work tonight it was still holding the single pump of air I put in it last night as a test. Success!
 
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