1981 Sheridan Blue Streak refurb and refresh
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:23 pm
I got this Sheridan Blue Streak a bit over a year ago I guess and by and large it was in fairly good nick for a gun it's age. The owner clearly looked after it as it came with the original manual. The stock had some sort of varnish stain on it and I decided recently that I's trip it back and apply an oil finish.
Here it is as I got it. These guns are made of a brass alloy and the had wear you can see shows the brass metal under the Ebonal C finish these guns were given. As I understand it, brass black can be used to touch them up. This could well be on the menu.
And with a 4x32 Simmons pistol scope sitting on Crosman mounts and in Weaver Grand Slam rings - the lowest 3/8" rings you can get. As you can see, the scope sits too high thanks to the design of the Crosman bases. It does work well otherwise and allows correct hand position for pumping of the rifle. These rifles were never really intended to have a scope on them, just the factory rearsight or a Williams peep. But they can be very accurate and a scope lets them reach full potential.
Getting the stock off one of these involves removing one screw in front of the trigger guard. From there you need to close the spread ears of the two split pins used to hold the trigger guard on. I don't like these pins!
The fore end / pump handle is held on by two roll pins which need to be pressed out. I'm not a real fan of these either, TBH.
Anyway, with the stock off it was time to get to work.
I scraped the old finish off with a sharp knife and got to work with the sandpaper. My finishing sand was with 320 grit and then polished with 000 steel wool. The usual dampening and resanding was done a few times.
The timber on these old guns is American walnut and some have superb wood while some have no figure. Mine had some figure in it but nothing like some others I've seen.
I applied a thinned coat of an oil based jarrah stain to add a reddish brown tinge as the base timber was lighter than I prefer.
Here is the stock with the stain and a coat of 50/50 boiled linseed / turps mix.
Here it is as I got it. These guns are made of a brass alloy and the had wear you can see shows the brass metal under the Ebonal C finish these guns were given. As I understand it, brass black can be used to touch them up. This could well be on the menu.
And with a 4x32 Simmons pistol scope sitting on Crosman mounts and in Weaver Grand Slam rings - the lowest 3/8" rings you can get. As you can see, the scope sits too high thanks to the design of the Crosman bases. It does work well otherwise and allows correct hand position for pumping of the rifle. These rifles were never really intended to have a scope on them, just the factory rearsight or a Williams peep. But they can be very accurate and a scope lets them reach full potential.
Getting the stock off one of these involves removing one screw in front of the trigger guard. From there you need to close the spread ears of the two split pins used to hold the trigger guard on. I don't like these pins!
The fore end / pump handle is held on by two roll pins which need to be pressed out. I'm not a real fan of these either, TBH.
Anyway, with the stock off it was time to get to work.
I scraped the old finish off with a sharp knife and got to work with the sandpaper. My finishing sand was with 320 grit and then polished with 000 steel wool. The usual dampening and resanding was done a few times.
The timber on these old guns is American walnut and some have superb wood while some have no figure. Mine had some figure in it but nothing like some others I've seen.
I applied a thinned coat of an oil based jarrah stain to add a reddish brown tinge as the base timber was lighter than I prefer.
Here is the stock with the stain and a coat of 50/50 boiled linseed / turps mix.
