As all will know on here, and it's not news.......the "wasp" pellets being sold these days are not made on the same dies as the originals, and all reports say they are vastly inferior in every respect to that long lasting favourite of kids/shooters through the last 80 odd years. When I was a nipper (late 1960's - early 1970's were my teens) it was Wasps or webleys/pylarms.......all others (ie. marksman, milbro calis, etc)...were seen (rightly or wrongly) as inferior in performance.

Anyway, to my point, (and favour please)......They were introduced in the 30's I believe, as a replacement for the "whitton" pellet..And if anyone out there has any historical facts on the history of these wasps I would be VERY grateful......In my collection I have examples of tins through the ages, but often wonder if (as usual) there are other variations I havn't seen....the pic below shows tins (.177 x 500)in order of age, earliest on the left ( also have....not in photo...the same tin as the 4th from the left with an ICI logo on the graphic).....So if anyone out there has seen any different styles (.177 x 500 size only please), I would like to see a pic!, or a description please!

P.S. two things to note....

This thread is NOT a wanted or sales jobbie....I am not looking for stuff to buy, only information for collecting purposes....so please no offers of tins etc.

By "ones I havn't seen".......I don't mean those ones that un-named the Rivvi culprit and I.J. photoshopped and laser printed up, that had me going a while back

I know some people think tins are a bit sad to collect compared to guns, but if you have any boxed rifle/pistols, an original, period box or tin of pellets is a must have, and for me they are a (fairly) affordable source of enjoyment, also hopefully, if not an investment, they will hold their value, and a wide selection of visitors to our house seem to like them as decorative items (some get a bit strange when they realise it's "ammunition"

So it's a bit, collecting wise, like having one of each variation of say pre-39 BSA rifles....but a lot cheaper!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3122848...7607964699940/