Airgunaid

[richywilk]

Did any one ever buy an airgunaid SP5 in the late 70's or early 80's,just been
reading a test on one from in an old edition of AGW,if you did did it live up to
the hype' that the rifle got? Just curious as I always wanted one as a kid.
Rich

[Gareth W-B]

Yep I have one. Lived in the same street as the creator of the same (Eddie Barber), was a contemporary with his daughter, remember the shop vividly, and there is a bit about it all in AGW next issue . Photo of my Airgunaid SP-5 .20 cal Hunter (as it was called), and pellets, and an ad attached. Atb: G.

[junglie]

looks very like a diana g80 with a custom stock to me?

[BTDT]

looks very like a diana g80 with a custom stock to me?

It was based on the G80, but it was a radical re-working of it, as described in my 'Blast from the Past' article in the forthcoming (November) edition of Airgun World.

[Gareth W-B]

looks very like a diana g80 with a custom stock to me?

Airgunaid SP-5 Recipe & Ingredients: imported Walthar .20 cal barrel (these were the first commercially available British built .20 cal air rifles), Eddie Barber/Airgunaid internals based on out-sourced components, Eddie Barber two-stage trigger unit, based around a G80 trigger block (very innovative for the day), a locally made stock once production was properly up and running (although early examples did indeed sport G80 stocks ), and action tubes manufactured by Milbro, and stamped 'AIRGUNAID' under licence (these shared same dimensions as that of the G80). Allow to simmer in the hands of one of AGWs most noted writers and gunsmiths (Eddie B) and serve to the public as an accompaniment to enhance any a hasenpfeffer ...

[Rellum]

Airgunaid SP-5 Recipe & Ingredients: imported Walthar .20 cal barrel (these were the first commercially available British built .20 cal air rifles), Eddie Barber/Airgunaid internals based on out-sourced components, Eddie Barber two-stage trigger unit, based around a G80 trigger block (very innovative for the day), a locally made stock once production was properly up and running (although early examples did indeed sport G80 stocks ), and action tubes manufactured by Milbro, and stamped 'AIRGUNAID' under licence (these shared same dimensions as that of the G80). Allow to simmer in the hands of one of AGWs most noted writers and gunsmiths (Eddie B) and serve to the public as an accompaniment to enhance any a hasenpfeffer ...

I always wanted one of these Gareth but somehow never managed to get one I will enjoy reading Jim Tylers "Blast From The Past" (its the first thing I read in AGW) lets hope the triggers ok on this one Jim seems to have had a run of bad luck lately with badly adjusted triggers from previous owners gunsmithing handywork ATVB regards Paul

[Gareth W-B]

lets hope the triggers ok on this one Jim seems to have had a run of bad luck lately with badly adjusted triggers from previous owners gunsmithing handywork ATVB regards Paul

Hi Paul, yep, although now dated, they were state of the art 30 years back . Doubt our Jim will be unhappy with the trigger however, as the gun he got to play with, was mine as above, and it is in tip-top fettle for what it is, and it's age . Atb: G.

[yoshiwolves]

on a slightly diffrent note, i remember buying a " airgunaid tuning kit" for my mercury , would have been about 1979 i think, were they the first company to offer a d.i.y tuning kit ?? it consisted of a spring, some dri-slide , moly lube,abbey sm50, a tube of solvol autosol, a polishing rod and mop, and instructions, worked quite well if i remember correctly, they also sent a new order form which i still have
atb
paul

[I. J.]

looks very like a diana g80 with a custom stock to me?

Nah! More like a Relum Telly.

ATB
Ian

[Gareth W-B]

Nah! More like a Relum Telly.

ATB
Ian

... which is one step up from them ten-a-penny BSF Mod.65s, innit ...

[I. J.]

... which is one step up from them ten-a-penny BSF Mod.65s, innit ...

11 minutes ......

I'm sure we can do better.

ATB
Ian

[BTDT]

I always wanted one of these Gareth but somehow never managed to get one I will enjoy reading Jim Tylers "Blast From The Past" (its the first thing I read in AGW) lets hope the triggers ok on this one Jim seems to have had a run of bad luck lately with badly adjusted triggers from previous owners gunsmithing handywork ATVB regards Paul

The SP-5 trigger travel was correctly adjusted, Paul. My only criticism of it was that the first stage of travel could have been a little smoother.

The SP-5 was the first British air rifle conversion and, as such, has an important place in modern airgun history.

I'll add only that Gareth is going to hammer Cloggy into the ground like a tent peg when he sees Cloggy's Relum Tele remark.

[Hsing-ee]

on a slightly diffrent note, i remember buying a " airgunaid tuning kit" for my mercury , would have been about 1979 i think, were they the first company to offer a d.i.y tuning kit ?? it consisted of a spring, some dri-slide , moly lube,abbey sm50, a tube of solvol autosol, a polishing rod and mop, and instructions, worked quite well if i remember correctly, they also sent a new order form which i still have
atb
paul

I bought one of those in 1980 or 1981. I am still using the Dri-Slide! The polishing thing (wooden rod with sponge stapled to it) didn't work that well but it inspired me to make my own Mk 2 version.

[Hsing-ee]

The SP-5 was the first British air rifle conversion and, as such, has an important place in modern airgun history.

It is a shame Airgunaid didn't make more of the completely new guts fitted to the SP5. As far as I remember, it came out and everyone assumed it was 'just' a G80 with a lube job and a .20 barrel fitted. Rod Lynton's article didn't seem to mention the extensive internal work and when we saw the power at 10.5 everyone lost interest. It HAD to be 11.9 in those days for a 'top gun'.

Look forward to the article.

[BTDT]

It is a shame Airgunaid didn't make more of the completely new guts fitted to the SP5. As far as I remember, it came out and everyone assumed it was 'just' a G80 with a lube job and a .20 barrel fitted. Rod Lynton's article didn't seem to mention the extensive internal work and when we saw the power at 10.5 everyone lost interest. It HAD to be 11.9 in those days for a 'top gun'.

Look forward to the article.

I would have loved to have taken the rifle apart and photographed the internals but, unfortunately, Gareth was standing right next to me the whole time.

You're bang on the money with the 10.5 ft. lb. putting people off buying the SP-5. The daft thing is that the contemporary air rifles they were using themselves were quite possibly producing far less, but they didn't know it.