Guns of youth--Which ones?

[hwvixen]

I had the "loan" of a BSA Meteor when in my teens....it was from a family friend who I can't remember now,but it meant everything to me.(sad)

I remember building a bonfire & putting an old tyre in it to get it going....then showing my cousin how I could shoot a bottle top off the top of the tyre....you've guessed it...I missed the top...hit the tyre and the rebound just missed my gonads..... happy days.

[corbett]

A friend gave me an old Diana that cocked like breaking a shotgun. It was necessary to take out the barrel tube to load a pellet in the end. I adapted a knitting needle so that, to save time I could muzzle-load it with cat slugs. I used to shoot flies on the cherry tree outside my window, but I was only twelve. I think I got as much fun with that old gun as any since.

[Hsing-ee]

I have bought some of the 'guns of my youth', but remembering back to way back when I spent alot of time trying to find the perfect rifle, one that didnt actually exist at that time. I bought a Original 50T01 on the back of a AGW article as it claimed 1" groups at 40 yards, but it simply wasn't true.

The rifle I really wanted was the Air Arms Prosport, but it would be 20 years before that would appear.

But in terms of guns of my youth ....

The Hammerli 401 is my favorite rifle from that time, I do have one now awaiting some kind of restoration, but I see it for what it is now and so it is not as good as it once seemed.

The best rifle I had was a Weihrauch HW35 Export in .177. It was really everything an air-rifle should be, and I stupidly sold it for a song.

The one I was most hopeful for was the Anschutz 335, but I was too critical of it and sold it too soon. Its build quality wasn't as good as the Weihrauch.

The HW77/97 and AATX200/Prosport are in a different league from those rifles of yesterday, even the really good ones like the Feinwerkbau Sport and the HW35E. The consistent accuracy they provide and the soundness of the design puts them in a different class.

[uk litehammer]

The first airgun I remember owning was back in the sixties when at school. I can't remember the model number, but it was a little smoothbore Diana rifle that broke open like a single barrel shotgun. No stock, as such, just the wooden butt on the back end. Quaint little thing and it cost 25s/6d brand new in it's box.

[jonnyone]

I bought a Original 50T01 on the back of a AGW article as it claimed 1" groups at 40 yards, but it simply wasn't true.

Yeah I recall that article- think it was Rod Lynton who did that- I was very taken with it too

My mouth used to water when reading the Optima advertising blurb they did on the HW35e. If anyone has got an old AGW- read it and see what I mean

Anyway- I now own both the above rifles and the reality is not quite the same- however- they are still fine rifles.

Dave

[barryeye]

In 1958 I was 10 and dad gave me a Diana Mod 22. It was crap but I did not know that at the time. I thought that if I missed my target it was my fault not the rifles. I loved that rifle but it got broken and lost. Bought another one 48 years later and it is still crap.
When I was 13 I was allowed to hunt with dad’s 1910 BSA .177 under lever. It was my dream rifle and it could out shoot anything that it came up against. However it was not a trendy looking rifle and I wanted something that looked more like a firearm.
When I was sixteen I ordered a Webley MKIII in .22 with sling eyes and Parker Hale Aperture sight all fitted at the Webley factory. At the time 1964 this was the most up market rifle belonging to anyone in my social group. When I was 19 I bought a Webley Senior .22 air pistol. To my limited knowledge I then had the best of the best.
With the exception of the original Diana I still have those rifles and pistol. I now own a small collection of firearms and air guns but none can ever replace those I grew up with.
The problem with “dream” rifles is that should one achieve the dream you then need another dream to replace it.
I have a new dream. That of finding a nice but very cheap Falke Model 80. NICE-CHEAP and FALKE. Now there are three words I’ve never seen in a sentence before.
Dream on.

[les-goose]

First gun was a Diana G80 then got an Original and didnt have it long as I sold it at a nice profit.Then my brains got corrupted with women and ale and sold the Diana for peanuts.It was a minter as I look after my gear.Got back into guns a couple of year ago and recently got a Diana G80 other guns I have-Airsporter mk6-HW95-AA 400 fancy a new Diana Stutzen next

[bootneckbob]

My first was BSA Mercury Challenger. I was shot with one by one of the older kids in the neighbourhood; from quite a distance I should add. When his parents found out, via mine, he had the rifle confiscated, probably got a right belting aswell.
When I was 14 I bought one myself, (not for revenge by the way!) Then I got a ASI para trooper repeater, AA Firepower and the list goes on!

I should add, that my father was a serving Royal marine so I was shooting responsibly and safely from a young age. Perhaps if his parents had "educated" him he would of stuck to paper targets in the back garden, rather than opportune targets on the beach!

Kn*bhead, me, I don' think so!

[T 20]

I'm a bit lucky in that I still own every gun I've ever had.

I started shooting as soon as I was able to pick up my dad's MK2 Airsporter.
When I was eleven he bought me a brand new Hawk Mk2 for Christmas.
Then I bought a Meteor for £2 off a mate at school, and I just carried on buying.

I seem to have collected all my family's shotguns as well.




In the early Eighties I stopped shooting for a while to concentrate on Beaver hunting.
Unfortunately this period in time coincided with some of the greatest advances in airgun technology and design, so I missed out on a few guns which I should have bought at the time.

I still have a couple of guns on my wish list but I'm sure I'll be able to buy them one day so all is not lost.


All the best Mick

[Gareth W-B]

I had the "loan" of a BSA Meteor when in my teens....it was from a family friend who I can't remember now,but it meant everything to me.

Yep my first air rifle was a BSA Super Meteor .177 (circa '75), but it was the Airgunaid and Vulcan as detailed in my previous post (#12) that I lusted for but had to wait 25 years to own, as birds beer and bikes got in the way first (yes I am a sexist pig before anyone feels the need to point this out to me ) ... Love this thread though, real nostalgia, although it must be said that nostalgia just ain't what it used to be ... . Ha ha. Atb: G.

[big_phil555]

I still have a Milbro mkiv pistol (identified on this forum - )

Shot it down the range last night - great fun

[Gareth W-B]

I still have a Milbro mkiv pistol (identified on this forum - )

Shot it down the range last night - great fun

... And that is what it is all about ... (nice one Phil ). Atb: G.

[BRET22]

Diana Model 16 was my first proper 177 airgun as I had a Daisey underlever before that which was awful as you had to undo the barrel for every shot!
It would take BBs but you couldnt buy them round here then, my Dad could light a match with that little Diana at about fifteen feet on a still day.
Then I had an ASI Commando in 22 for a couple of years which was my first hunting gun and accounted for a few rabbits with it! wish I could find another as I PXd it for a 9mm garden gun which I still have.
I now have a Diana mod 16,15,22,25,etc and am a losy shot with all of them,I suppose its because as a kid your judgment of distance is not very accurate or I have become a crap shot
Also had a few Meteors but the best by far was the mark 1, they got it right first time with that one I have now just acquired a mark one Airsporter 177 in need of restoration and with the usual cracked stock so now on the look out for one?

[roduk]

forgot to mention the Saxby Palmer Galaxy .22 that I won from Airgun World.

My first brush with pneumatisism.

Straight off to Manchester Airguns to acquire more cartridges than the five supplied. Worn in a 12g cartridge belt I looked the biz. ( a bit of a pillock on the bus tho' ). Pumping those cartridges made me the man I am today.

Anyway it was nicked by one of my sister,s gruesome and chemically addled suitors who was caught with it whilst breaking into a chemist. He still languishes at HM's pleasure and I never saw the rifle again.

For it's time it really was a remarkable air rifle.

it's funny the memories this forum triggers

regs

rod

[trevor1]

a regular BB sprayer!