the first firearm I “owned” was a Sheridan Blue Streak, chambered for 5mm. (.20 cal)

Now owned by Crosman,these rifles were, at the time, the high end of pneumatic pellet guns. While all the other kids were wandering around with their Red Ryders (yes, I eventually got one too) I had an actual rifle.

Now, I won’t say I wasn’t jealous- the other kids could just do one quick pump, and shoot. I had to pump and pump, and load it by hand with the tiny bolt action, and only then could I shoot- but the difference was, I could shoot crows out of trees sixty feet away, and everyone else could see their BB’s arc in flight before hitting the ground in front of the tree.

When I got serious about squirrel hunting, I could pick squirrels out of trees with no effort. With my young eyes, I would regularly pick the bushy bastards off branches thirty feet out. Of course, it was a couple minutes before I could shoot again, because it took eight pumps to get the speed up to 900 fps.

I used a williams peep sight because the buckhorns have always been hard for me. I also eventually got the scope mount and put a little weaver 4 power scope on it, as my eyesight got worse.

Anyway, Mom was always a hoplophobe. The exception was the Sheridan. She could shoot that thing like an olympic biathelete, and her favorite target was wild dogs. We had more than our share of them, and she was bound and determined to keep them away from our Brittany Ginger.
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