Benjamin Air Guns. Also known as Benjamin Air Rifle Company was formed in 1902 by Walter Benjamin. Shop available Benjamin Air Rifle parts today! We've been supplying customers with hard to find parts since 1950. It was purchased by the Benjamin Air Rifle Company in 1977, and later purchased by Crosman in 1994. In the early 1940s Co-founder Ed Wackerhagen, dissatisfied with a pellet gun used by his son, set out to build one of the finest airguns in history. The links below will help you find your manufacture date by Serial Number BENJAMIN & SHERIDAN PRODUCT DATES OF MANUFACTURE CROSMAN PRODUCT DATES OF MANUFACTURE.

Here is my new toy. It is a Benjamin Franklin Air Rifle model 317. My mother in law's husband owned thisgun when he was a kid. He told me that his dad bought it down the street from their house at a local gunshop in Falls City, NE.

According to the markings on the gun, it was made in the USA. I assume it was made in St. Louis because the endof the barrel says 'Benjamin Air Rifle Co St. Louis U.S.A.'. It seems from what I have found on the Internet, that theBenjamin Franklin Company was bought out by a company called Sheridan and became Benjamin Sheridan for a while. Then in theearly 90's Benjamin Sheridan was purchased by Crossman. There is a serial number printed on the left side of the gun backunder the bolt. It says 'H 50157'. According to Crossman's website (link below) serial number indicates mygun was manufactured in the late 50's. Apparently Benjamin didn't start putting serial numbers on guns until 1957so it must be at least that old, but the Crossman website shows the lowest serial number for 317 rifles starting at 'H59440'and my number is slightly below that so I am a little fuzzy on how to interpret that. If anyone knows what the letter 'H'stands for, please let me know. I have been unable to find much information about Benjamin Franklin air rifles online.Message forums have proved the most useful.

It shoots standard .177 caliber pellets. It is charged by pumping the lever on the bottom of the barrel. I have neverpumped it past 10 times. 5 times seems plenty sufficient for most circumstances-- and I haven't tried to kill anythingwith it yet. 10 pumps will go through a piece of tin metal at 15 feet.

When I obtained the gun, it was in working order, but needed a good oiling. I had it for about a week before I realizedthe barrel was constructed of brass. I had originally thought the barrel to be steel painted black with shiny worn parts.Apparently Benjamin air rifles shipped with all visible parts colored with Black Nickel or Black Oxide process.I have been told my gun was Black Nickel. The Black Nickel process works like this: the brass is first finished with nickel, then a coatof shiny black is applied, and after that clear coat added over the nickel. My gun wasn't too pretty, most of those layers had wornoff and what was left was covered in a layer of black tarnish.

I took upon the cleaning project with a can of gun oil, some bearing grease (to lube the plunger), a can of Brasso anda healthy stack of rags. Disassembling the gun wasn't too hard. The solid wood stock came of with one screw. I wiped downthe wooden stock and pump handle with bore oil to keep it from drying out and cracking. Next, I removed thebolt, spring-loaded hammer and cap from the back of the barrel, the trigger, sights, and the plunger/handle assembly. I didnot attempt to take apart the inner chamber where the pumped air is stored. It all appeared to be in working order and Ididn't want to mess it up. From what I have read on the Internet, it appears that the early models require a special toolto remove the valves.

Benjamin Franklin Air Rifle Serial Numbers

Once I had it completely taken apart I wiped down all the parts of dirt and grease and began polishing the brass parts.The polishing took about 4 to 5 hours. I know I made it through a number of Any Griffith episodes. The parts which made it hard, werethe hard to reach corners and crevasses down the muzzle. The only black metal parts left now are the trigger, trigger guard, rear sights, bolt,safety, and the tip of the larger bottom barrel where the plunger resides. I have seen web sites which advertise re-painting guns,but personally I like mine with the shiny brass visible.

Once she was shiny again, I spent the second night carefully executing the reassembly. I oiled the moving parts as I went andused the automotive bearing grease on the plunger setup inside of the barrel which pumps air into the chamber. I then set upa piece of wood with a target drawn on it with a magic marker, and fine tuned the sights by shooting across my living room.Needless to say, I locked up my rabbit in its cage. I couldn't have him hopping around in front of my target.

Below are some pictures of my gun before and after I cleaned it. If you have any questions or want me to add some links, pleaseE-mail me. Better yet, if you know any thing about Benjamin Franklinair rifles, then you probably know more than me-- E-mail me and tell ME about my gun. :)

~Brad

Benjamin franklin air rifle serial numbers

Benjamin Franklin Air Rifle 312 Serial Number

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Benjamin Franklin Air Gun Serial Numbers

Sweet. Is that a .22?
Looks like a 342 with the tootsie roll handle. Mac1 can probly help you out.
- This reply was modified 1 year ago by biohazardman.
Looks like a 342 with the tootsie roll handle. Mac1 can probly help you out.
its most likely a 312 or a 317…dunno who painted the black caps on the end of the tootsie roll pump handle , but it doesnt look that bad actually…. you get on ebay and find a pump cup – but they want around $12 for a rubber plunger cup , i get em in the 5 pk from mccaster-karr (u can darn near find any part you'll ever need there)….but usually ,that and some lube usually fixes it enough — and , those just unscrew where the pumparm connects (others we have to drive out pins)…. —- make sure theres nothing stuck in the barrel by opening the bolt all the way and looking thru the muzzle for light (of course, you'll have hold the open bolt area up TO the light) because ive made this mistake here lately…… i fix of these things for folks here around ft.w / dallas area (n.texas) as a hobby anymore …. it used to be a bigger thing , but whatever…. i'll help you all i can. – paul. north texas airgun repair on fb. (formerly rane air)… cheers , man – ps: great bunch of guys here , bro…
its most likely a 312 or a 317..dunno who painted the black caps on the end of the tootsie roll pump handle , but it doesnt look that bad actually.. you get on ebay and find a pump cup - but they want around $12 for a rubber plunger cup , i get em in the 5 pk from mccaster-karr (u can darn near find any part you'll ever need there)..but usually ,that and some lube usually fixes it enough -- and , those just unscrew where the pumparm connects (others we have to drive out pins).. ---- make sure theres nothing stuck in the barrel by opening the bolt all the way and looking thru the muzzle for light (of course, you'll have hold the open bolt area up TO the light) because ive made this mistake here lately... i fix of these things for folks here around ft.w / dallas area (n.te