Quote Originally Posted by flatrajectory View Post
Most collectors rave about the Sheridan pumpers.....mainly due to the fact that they are more 'handsome' looking....but the Benjamins are every bit as robust, are shorter,lighter,much easier to pump and...... in my experience of both makes over the last half century far more ACCURATE.!
There I have said it........tin hat on, in my foxhole.
Pete.
I can vouch that is true! I still have an early Benjamin 347 which I found under the Christmas tree in 1968. My younger brother still has his 1970-vintage Sheridan. As kids I could regularly out-shoot him! I still love that rifle--recoilless, hard-hitting, accurate, and light and slender enough to carry effortlessly all day. The Benjamins are very much underrated as shooters IMHO.

It has to be said the issue with the Sheridan was not the rifle, however, but the horrid house-brand "Bantam" slug-type ammo. Very unstable in the barrel, we would often find where these pellets had struck sideways or even backwards in a backstop! But of course it was the only .20 cal airgun ammo around in those days.

His gun, and the 1966 Sheridan I've since acquired, are very accurate indeed with modern .20 cal pellets.