Classics versus new

[Rightguard147]

Just curious wether anyone still hunts with their classic rifles, and how you rate them compared with some of the newer kit.
For example how do you think something like an old airsporter or original 50 would compare to something more modern in a similar price range, say a s/h lightning?

Reason I ask is because since i joined this forum Ive come across rifles that I had never even seen or heard of before. This got me thinking if the development of airguns really has advanced so much in the last 20-30 years? (not including pcp's )
I mean all were really after is something that looks good and can get a tight group at 30 odd yards, right? so does newer mean better?

[I. J.]

Good question.
In my personal opinion and experience a nicely tuned FWB Sport or HW35 (and one or two other classic spring rifles) can hold its own against any modern springer.

ATB
Ian

[keith66]

I would go along with IJ on this one there are many old classics that are well capable of hunting, My first proper rifle ws a FWB sport i now use a mk 3 webley and have used a prewar BSA as well, the bunnies could not tell they had been whacked by a 90 year old rifle.
One thing i like about most old rifles is they can be cocked silently, there is nothing like a noisy anti bear trap device for scaring quarry away!

[Gareth W-B]

Yep, even though I have a rim fire rifle and an FAC p.c.p. air rifle (all legal and on ticket), can't imagine not going hunting Thumper with my trustee old .177 Webley Omega carbine (best rifle Webley ever made ), or my 1978 .177 HW35 from time to time too : Gareth.

[mallyally]

personally i dont think the fwb sport has ever been bettered "equaled mabe" also we are tied to a f lbs limit so efficiency has peaked

[look no hands]

Well a few years back I was quite happily hunting with a Mercury "S" and a Challenger which I regret selling, admitidly they were both tuned by SFS and shot very nicely after that but they brought home the bacon or should I say rabbit and pigeon.

Pete

[Arai]

personally i dont think the fwb sport has ever been bettered "equaled mabe" also we are tied to a f lbs limit so efficiency has peaked

There's a lot of eulogy surrounding the FWB Sport, but I honestly think it wasn't as good as many of it's competitors. Like many, it was both handsome and accurate, but it's trigger, rear site, safety mechanism, barrel lock up, and perhaps it's use of steel to aluminium threads, let it down. It's appearance in MK III guise, made certain of it's end.

Price wise too, it was simply uncompetitive. In 1983, a MK II Sport, (with a much plainer stock than the MK I), cost £104.50. Contrast that with a HW35 at £63.50, an HW80 at £79.50, an RWS 45 at £75.50, or a Mercury S, at £71.95, making it an expensive rifle.

[Blackrider]

Yep, even though I have a rim fire rifle and an FAC p.c.p. air rifle (all legal and on ticket), can't imagine not going hunting Thumper with my trustee old .177 Webley Omega carbine (best rifle Webley ever made ), or my 1978 .177 HW35 from time to time too : Gareth.

Hey Gareth, howya getting on with the old "trusty old Omega carbine" these days ?



"B'rider"

ps. sorry mate, I just could not resist !

ATB,

J.

[Hsing-ee]

Modern pellets make a massive amount of difference to the accuracy of rifles. If you try an old, good quality rifle, which has been lubed properly, with modern pellets, they give very good results.

For example in the last year I got the following results

1978 Weihrauch HW35 Export, with .22 Air Arms Field pellets - 24mm group 45 yards.

This would never have been possible 30 years ago, you would have been looking at 50mm at least, even with the best pellets.

1975 BSF Bavaria B55, with H&N FTT, .177 - 20mm group at 30 yards. I remember this rifle would do 70mm at 40 yards with the old pellets.

1979 Feinwerkbau Sport, .177, with H&N Match, 7mm group 25 yards, average, some of them much smaller and spread was probably down to my poor technique. This is about as good as a HW97/ProSport etc...


Etc etc ... Of course air-rifle design has improved - best place to see this is in the development of the Air-Arms rifles from the rather crude Jackals through the more sophisticated Air Arms sidelevers to the TX200 series and then to the immaculately conceived ProSport. The direct-loading fixed-barrel sporting rifle was a great step forward, but the pellets have given alot of the increase in accuracy. Even the leather washers don't affect things that much in the old guns, and I have a feeling they might actually be better, especially in a variable climate like the UK has.

I suggest you get a quality older springer, like an early 1970s HW35, and try it out after scrubbing the barrel and giving it a clean and re-lube. You might be very pleasantly suprised ...