GTA
Airguns by Make and Model => Vintage Air Gun Gate => Topic started by: VPilot on June 28, 2012, 12:50:28 PM
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After an unfruitful search for a Benjamin 397C (Carbine), I decided to change tack and found a similarly sized Racine-built Benjamin 342 .22 cal pumper. This thing delivers one of the nicest feels I've yet experienced when shouldering the rifle. Besides that, I much prefer .22 cal over a .177 397, so I've no complaints over the direction this search went. After spending years with large, heavy springers, all the MSP's I've purchased are a joy to use, but this one practically aims itself - like an extension of my arm. It will be a good candidate for a MAC1 Steroid treatment down the road as well. Based on my initial impressions of this rifle, I can heartily recommend if you can get your hands on one - do it! You won't be disappointed. In the second pic below, you can see a comparison in length between the Blue Streak on top vs the 342 below it.
Tim
VPilot
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3711/benji342a.jpg)
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6647/comparei.jpg)
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Beauty of a 342.
They are great guns.
You might want to ask in the Mac1 gate, but I don't think he will steroid a 342. It's somewhere on his website, the cut off for a steroid tune depends on the style of piston.
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Beauty of a 342.
They are great guns.
You might want to ask in the Mac1 gate, but I don't think he will steroid a 342. It's somewhere on his website, the cut off for a steroid tune depends on the style of piston.
It looks like I've got the one he can do. It is a post-78 Racine model with the pre-drilled holes for the williams peep and has no hex nuts or felt on the pump shaft. Nonetheless, even without the Steroid tune, it's a great little gun.
Tim
VPilot
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That's very cool.
My 342 has the older piston, which is why I wasn't sure if a 342 was a candidate.
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hey-Hey!!!,
It looks like the entire length difference is tied up in the action behind the breech notch; the 342 is shorter by a lot. I wonder how they gained this length and Sheridan decided not to. I would not mind either lengthening the C barrel or getting an overall length reduction of the C with the 342 design...:)
cheers,
Douglas
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i have four 342 s , one steroid, the one v has is doablke for a steroid, as it depends on whether it has felt or not, he wont however dovetail them , i think the 342 were the most accurate ones and had best barrells out of that whole paltform , i too have a racine wisconsin made gun, they are the best candidsates for a steroid ,, because he can get more out of them , mine really whistles , ive had at one time or another all the variants including tootsie roll, great find and great gun , i have one being resealed by dave gunter of oregaon, a real precision meticulous guy, its the tootsie roll stock, complete polished brass , steroided or not by timmy, they are great guns good luck with it