There were a lot sold and so all kinds of history and all kinds of abuse The rifles have a great design, were well made with good materials and fine finish. The basics are right.

Stocks have broken but mainly down to abuse or from a fundamental flaw that anything with wood might have. No fundamental problem. The safety is basic and nothing special but then in its day no one really used them. Never trust a safety catch anyway.

Early models and different batches can have the slightest changes in tolerance and piston heads may well be needed to be tunes to get the top 12 ft/lbs. The rifle was designed for this power level and not more. Lots shoot well below what they should and its not easy to bring them up. 127's are the easier to get right as the 124's, .177's, are pushing the boat. However, the all can shoot smooth and accuracy is great for a springer. They are not very forgiving but for their weight fantastic compared to most of the usual competition of the day.

The trigger is fine but nothing great. The HW record is superb so don't try and compare them. Compared to everything else in its day the Sport was excellent. In truth it does the job and is usable.

Sports are from £120 to £250. You get a sporting rifle that points superbly, at a very field carry weight, accurate as a spring thing can be without being custom, ok field trigger. A bread and butter rifle that will always sell and spare parts and custom parts are readily available. It excels at standing shots out to 25m so power at 9.8ft\lbs or 11.9ft\lbs isn't going to make a hoot of difference to the quarry at that range. It isn't a 45m tack driver and behaves badly on the bench rest (works lovely in the field were it belongs). Lastly it is easy to cock so you can plink away for ages which you can't say with a whole lot out there. Remember if you want to be any good at standing shots you need to practice a lot.

Buy one and enjoy working out how to get the best out of it. Thats have the fun and they will reward you.