Rediscovering the Air Gun:
The Basics Never Go Out of Style

by Mark Romanack

Like thousands of other boys at heart, my first gun was an air gun. A Sheridan 5mm Blue Streak to be exact. Although that gun came into my life over 20 years ago, I can picture it as clearly as the square Chevy keys hanging from my belt loop.

The Sheridan featured a split-style Mannlicher stock that provided a young boy's arms enough leverage to pump up the pneumatic air chamber. Eight pumps sent the 5mm pellet sailing out the barrel at over 700 fps.

At the time, pellet speed weighed heavy on my mind. My best friend and hunting buddy Glen talked his parents into buying him a Crossman 760 Pumpmaster. The Crossman shot .177 pellets or BB's and sent them sailing down the barrel at between 300 to 400 fps.

A great gun for denting tin cans and punching holes in paper targets, Glen and I quickly discovered that the Crossman wasn't much of a farm boy hunting weapon. The Crossman wouldn't even break a pop bottle, a major disappointment for a teenage boy on the prowl. Not surprisingly, we outgrew the Crossman almost before the first tube of BB's disappeared.

Glen was the first to discover the Sheridan Blue Streak. His older brother owned one and loaned it to Glen. Impressed by the gun's power, I became convinced it was the answer to my own air gun needs. My mind made up, I went home and confronted my parents. The gun retailed for about $60 at the time and I knew my parents well enough to know I'd have to earn the money if I were to own that gun.

I told my Dad I needed the gun to keep rabbits, woodchucks, and other critters out of the family garden. He was sympathetic, but didn't agree with my logic. Next I offered to clean out the garage (no small task) and help organize a yard sale. Now I was getting somewhere!

The opportunity to have that cluttered garage clean as a whistle and make money in the process appealed to the old man. I went to work immediately hauling out box after box of household clutter.

The garage sale was a success, earning me enough cash to buy the Blue Streak and a couple packages of 5mm pellets. Air guns in arm, Glen and I roamed every dirt road, creek bed, pond, and pasture within five miles of our homes. A neighborhood dairy farmer took a shine to us and asked if we would help him control the growing population of house sparrows, starlings, and pigeons that made a living raiding his corn crib.

The opportunity was like a dream come true for two teenage boys. I think the old boy knew that it was better to have the neighborhood terrible twins shooting at barnyard varmints than street lights.

I learned a lot about shooting thanks to that Sheridan air rifle. The basics of rifle shooting became second nature to me. Controlling my breathing, squeezing the trigger, using a steady rest whenever possible, the value of practice, and learning the effective range of my weapon were a few of the lessons I faithfully committed to memory.

Those early shooting lessons have followed me throughout my hunting career. These days my sights are aimed at bigger game like whitetails, mulies, and pronghorn, but the shooting techniques I learned as a kid are every bit as important on a big-game or sparrow hunt.

As the years passed I graduated high school, moved away to college, and outgrew that Blue Streak. More than 10 years went by and the Blue Streak hadn't moved from my gun cabinet.

The gun might still be there drawing dust if it weren't for my teenage nephew John. A young man that lives for hunting and fishing, John reminds me of my youth and--you guessed it--ended up inheriting the Blue Streak.

Through John I've rediscovered the fun of air rifles and backyard shooting. When it came time to add another pellet gun to my arsenal of rifles, my taste swung towards a more sophisticated gun designed for grown-up fun.

The Sterling HR81, a man-sized .177 caliber air rifle manufactured by Benjamin/Sheridan Company of Racine, Wisconsin, struck my fancy. Every feature of the gun says quality from the hand-cut checkering to the Monte Carlo deluxe walnut stock.

At first glance the weapon resembles a high-quality .22-caliber target rifle. The 18-1/2 inch German barrel features precision rifling that delivers uncanny accuracy. My 50-foot paper target tests yielded many three-shot groups that could be covered with a dime! Pretty amazing accuracy considering my gun is equipped with factory installed Williams peep sights. I can't wait to put a scope on this baby and really test its abilities at longer ranges.

The gun's power source comes from a spring piston that's put into action with a single pump of a steel rod located under the barrel. The .177-caliber gun delivers pellet speeds of approximately 700 fps. More than enough power for consistent accuracy and to put the hurt on barnyard varmints.

The under-barrel pumping action contributes significantly to the gun's impressive accuracy. Many pellet rifles require the barrel to be broke open when pumping the power piston. Break-open air rifles simply can't compete with the accuracy of the fixed-barrel Sterling.

A single-shot bolt-action design, the .177-caliber pellet feeds into the barrel through a concave portion of the barrel. Loading a pellet requires some dexterity, but the task becomes more manageable with a little practice.

Other factors that obviously contribute to the Sterling's tight groups are a match-grade trigger and a stout 9-1/2 pound overall weight. The gun shoulders and points nicely, giving the shooter the feel of handling a center-fire rifle or target-grade gun.

Grooved to accept dovetail scope mountings, the Sterling ranks an A+ on every rating except the cost. The plain stock model lists for around $350 and the deluxe model another 50 bucks. The cost of a Sterling is actually a little less than many comparable air rifles in its class.

Fortunately, I didn't have to clean the garage or organize a yard sale to afford my Sterling, but had that been my only option, it would have been worth the effort.

The gun has yielded my family countless hours of shooting fun. Not surprisingly, I've also noticed a pronounced improvement in my center-fire rifle scores as a result of all the basic shooting practice the Sterling gives me.

Shooting the Sterling HR81 has helped my hunting and shooting skills, but more important, it has allowed me to recapture a part of my youth I'd like to relive again and again. One of these days soon I'm going to give my old buddy Glen a call and invite him up for a weekend. He won't believe the toy I've bought for myself this time!!


Copyright (c) 1997 Mark Romanack. All rights reserved.

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