Solid Wood Dart
Solid Wood Dart
Benjamin 342 Air Rifle questions?
I know very little about air rifles, please help me determine age and value. I got a nice Benjamin as part of a group of 6 guns I got dirt cheap from an estate sale this weekend.
On the left of the receiver:
Benjamin Franklin '196***' Model 342 5.5mm (.22 cal)
--Pellets and Darts--
On the right:
Benjamin Air Rifle Company
There is a very cheap junk Tasco 4x15 scope on it, but the scope mounts look solid and sturdy. Rear factory sight is missing.
Metal is at 95%, wood has some wear and a minor crack (repaired) aft of the receiver. I'd say 80% on the wood, but easily refinished.
It pumps nicely and seems to cock and release pressure, however after shooting the pump handle becomes loose until you pump it one time.
Hi DJ, man long time since I been on here but here it goes:
MODEL 340 SERIES (MODELS 340, 342, AND 347)
- BB/.175 smoothbore, .177 or .22 cal., SS, rifled barrel, similar to Model 310 series but has centrally positioned tang safety, traditional grooved "corn-cob," checkered, or smooth walnut pump handle. Mfg. 1969-86 (Model 340), and Mfg. 1969-92 (Models 342 and 347).
100%....95%......90%.....80%....60%...40%....20%.
$145...$125...... $115...... $95........ $70.....N/A.....N/A..
Add 15% for traditional grooved, "corn-cob" pump handle.
Add 10% for Williams peep sight.
Add 10% for 4x15 scope.
Add 10% for box and instruction sheet.
Add 20% for two-piece cocking bolt.
Values on Benjamin models are based on guns in good working order with no missing parts. Guns that have had their finish removed and the brass polished have their value reduced to one half or less of the 90% value.
The Benjamin Air Rifle Company has its roots in the St. Louis Air Rifle Company, founded by Walter Benjamin in 1899. The St. Louis Air Rifle Company produced several unique, but unreliable, air rifles until 1901. Because of low production, and the propensity of these guns to break and become unrepairable, very few specimens of St. Louis air rifles exist today. Sales of these air rifles are too infrequent to establish price levels. Some replicas were produced in the 1990s.
The Benjamin Air Rifle Company was formed in 1902 when Walter Benjamin purchased the patent rights from the defunct St. Louis Air Rifle Company. Production from 1902 to 1904 and from 1906 to 1986 was in St. Louis, MO (extremely limited production of the Single Valve Model 'B' by the W.R. Benjamin Company from 1904 to 1906 was in Granite City, IL). Regular production facilities were not established until 1908 when the Benjamin Air Rifle and Manufacturing Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Wissler Instrument Co. In 1977, the Benjamin Air Rifle Company purchased Sheridan Products in Racine, WI, and moved production there from 1986 to 1994. In 1991, they started to merge the Benjamin and Sheridan pistol designs, as the pistol models shifted to a Sheridan-type design and were marketed as Benjamin/Sheridan.
There surely will come a time in the future, especially for the Sheridan PB and HB20 models, and the HB17 and HB22 pistols made in WI, where the manufacturing address and markings will be of importance in determining values. The marking of 'Benjamin Franklin' on some older models evidently has no significance, except as a marketing ploy.
From about 1935 until recently, Benjamin used a model numbering system for both its air rifles and pistols. Model numbers ending in 0 are smooth bore for lead or steel BBs and .177 caliber pellets or darts; model numbers ending in 7 are rifled for .177 caliber pellets or darts; model numbers ending in 2 are rifled for .22 caliber pellets or darts. To keep things interesting, it is apparent that the ever-frugal A.P. Spack and his son, who ran the company during most of its early history, might not have bothered to change stamping dies when they changed model numbers in their advertisements and bulletins. So a gun advertised and sold as a Model 107 might have come out of the factory stamped as Model 177, etc. Such situations evidently were confined to guns which actually were the same, but were under different model numbers, i.e. apparently no guns were stamped with incorrect numbers. Ref: AAG - July 1991.
Hope this helps some !
Good Luck & Happy Shooting !
hommade gun
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