Airgun Myths and outrageous claims

[ggggr]

As a follow on to the "guns of youth" thread, crosman 766 thread etc, what are the myths you heard as a youth (Airgun related---keep it clean)? The common ones were either paratrooper or Relum related about going through a milk bottle without smashing it and breaking a widow at 200 yards. I know some of the advertising blurb bent the truth but lets keep it to what we heard off our peers.
Also---daftest thing you heard of someone doing ( again airgun related). Ive a feeling this might involve mainsprings.

[keith66]

In the Shooting Times on the 28th October a reader asked for info on a Relum tornado he owned.
John Knibbs replied & i quote "Unfortunately the company no longer supplies air rifles, it is a very well made & robust air rifle with a fixed barrel, a loading tap and is cocked by an underlever, it was only produced in .22 calibre and, when well maintained, is very powerful producing energy slightly under the british legal limit of 12ftlds".
I couldnt resist posting it here

[I. J.]

In the Shooting Times on the 28th October a reader asked for info on a Relum tornado he owned.
John Knibbs replied & i quote "Unfortunately the company no longer supplies air rifles, it is a very well made & robust air rifle with a fixed barrel, a loading tap and is cocked by an underlever, it was only produced in .22 calibre and, when well maintained, is very powerful producing energy slightly under the british legal limit of 12ftlds".
I couldnt resist posting it here

I remember someone once boasting they could HIT a milk bottle using a Relum Tornado (aka The Hungarian Swamp Donkey - thanks H.S ).

ATB
Ian

[barryeye]

Back in the 60s I decided to experiment with some rolls of caps as used in kid’s cap guns. I carefully cut out and glued some to the heads of some .22 air rifle pellets and yes they did go CRACK on impact. Then (I had just read an article in Guns and Ammo about a Daisy rifle that used compressed air to ignite an explosive compound behind a small slug) I tried sticking the cut out caps inside the pellet skirt. If memory serves me well the caps did ignite but I observed no obvious benefit to this and the powder residue made a (corrosive) mess in my Webley MKIII.
When bored I was known to stick a second pellet head first in the muzzle of my MKIII and fire it in the air. The result was a noise not too dissimilar to a Hollywood ricochet.
Oh the folly of youth.

Barry

[le frelon]

Yup, me too!
Still got some old .22 pellets with a cap glued on them, and some rolls of caps.
( can you still buy caps? ) Great fun, especially when we were shooting at night. A good Webley Premier could 'lob' a pellet and awfully long way. Aim high and wait for the flash.
You could, in the 30's I think, buy some ready made called 'BANGO' and there is a picture in Airguns and Airpistols by Lesley Wesley of one 'detonating on impact with a brick wall'.
I was fortunate to live not too far from LW's shop in East Molesey and would hang about on the pretext of wanting to buy something but really it was just to soak up the atmosphere and hang about with the older boys.
LW didn't suffer fools gladly but once he knew you had a genuine interest in the old stuff he could show off a bit.
Imagine today shooting 1/2" lead balls from an antique pump up out the back of the shop into the old outside brick toilet at whatever target could be found of interest!
Happy days.

[imorik]

As a follow on to the "guns of youth" thread, crosman 766 thread etc, what are the myths you heard as a youth (Airgun related---keep it clean)? The common ones were either paratrooper or Relum related about going through a milk bottle without smashing it and breaking a widow at 200 yards. I know some of the advertising blurb bent the truth but lets keep it to what we heard off our peers.
Also---daftest thing you heard of someone doing ( again airgun related). Ive a feeling this might involve mainsprings.

Had a Webley Vulcan .177 in my late teens that did exactly that .

[Pad. E]

Had a Webley Vulcan .177 in my late teens that did exactly that .

My first AA Firepower done that a few times

Also shoot a plastic 2lt bootle of water, first shot goes though without any water leaking, 2nd shot then it starts to pour out.

[Nikkormat]

Also---daftest thing you heard of someone doing ( again airgun related). Ive a feeling this might involve mainsprings.

I tried to put a Meteor Mainspring in a Gamo Falcon when I was about 14. It ended up in the bin

[keith66]

First mainspring i ever took out aged 13 was in a Warrior air pistol, as i unscrewed the front block i had no idea it was under tension & as it got to the end this fat lump of iron plus spring leapt from my hand & exited my bedroom through the window which happened to be shut at the time. I found it in the garden & i remember my dad was not best pleased.

[bluesman]

A friend of my Dads wanted to give me his air pistol,a Diana(gat type).
This was many years ago before gun paranoia took over.The transaction took place in a pub garden,where I was told"you can hit split matchsticks with this"I dont know about that but it certainly devastated my Airfix collection!
atb Glyn

[mallyally]

As a follow on to the "guns of youth" thread, crosman 766 thread etc, what are the myths you heard as a youth (Airgun related---keep it clean)? The common ones were either paratrooper or Relum related about going through a milk bottle without smashing it and breaking a widow at 200 yards. I know some of the advertising blurb bent the truth but lets keep it to what we heard off our peers.
Also---daftest thing you heard of someone doing ( again airgun related). Ive a feeling this might involve mainsprings.

AH the " BOTTLE TRICK " only works with BBs

[hyscore100]

A school friend and I many years ago, Fitted a cut down Puch maxi fork leg spring into my webley mk3 in order to tune it.

[ogilkes]

...breaking a widow at 200 yards... .

I suppose if youhit her with it... Sorry could not resist

Have to say though those old adverts are a bit fanciful, its the Webley pistol=accuracy ones that get me though, espeically the pre-war variety with groups of army or navy personnel confidently practising with their Mk1s.

[jefL]

I remember the local "big Kid" (a thirteen or fourteen year old) bragging to us (10 year olds) that the rifle slung over his shoulder could penetrate a dustbin and come out the
other side and this whilst stood outside the local newsagent's , and in the days of solid galvanized steel dustbins that were built to withstand being bounced on the edge of the dustcart when being emptied by the binman.
When asked to prove it he said he was short of ammunition and was saving his last few pellets for rabbits, no doubt to be shot at 100 yds.
This was in the mid-1960s

[BenGun]

As a follow on to the "guns of youth" thread, crosman 766 thread etc, what are the myths you heard as a youth (Airgun related---keep it clean)? The common ones were either paratrooper or Relum related about going through a milk bottle without smashing it and breaking a widow at 200 yards. I know some of the advertising blurb bent the truth but lets keep it to what we heard off our peers.
Also---daftest thing you heard of someone doing ( again airgun related). Ive a feeling this might involve mainsprings.

I had a very close call as a youth trying to fit a monster ox mainspring into the cylinder of my bsa mercury. I was straddled over the the top of the cylinder pushing down on my dads shed floor with all my might, then it slipped and the ox spring very nearly entered me ..