interesting weihrauch

[Garvin]

Here's some more info on the Barakuda from the Air Rifle Headquarters in the US (when it was run by Robert Law in the '60s/'70s). ARH and later Robert Beeman sold the EL54, I believe. A failure really, but an interesting one :

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[air-tech]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the air blast could blow the centre out of ordinary pellets

ATB
Ian

That 'behaviour' is certainly what will happen when you put too much oooph behind a diabolo. The skirt expands till it tears from the pellet head and ends up as a ring lining the chamber, going no-where, while the head does actually depart!

(Don't ask...)

[frakor]

The early models where actually 5,6mm and where shooting 5,6mm round ball ,because the "normal" pellets where shot to pieces.
When better ( heavier) pellets became available (a few years later) the caliber was changed to 5,5mm.

This is the early 5,6mm model:






And the 5,5mm model:






And this is how it looks when dis-assembled. :-)




----------------------------------
Frank

[frakor]

These are the Ether containers for the HW35 Barakuda:






--------------------------
Frank

[red bob]

frank and dan those piccs are much appreciated and will join my library of the "out there
and extraordinary", come to think of it as a continuation of this post ;what other "off the wall"ideas were there that got into production maybe in a limited way .i cant think of many but for starters how about the two springs used in a relum[WHY] nothing of note was achieved surely this was apparent in preproduction or was it simply different and used as a selling point! anyone think of another?.
bob.

[MarcDV]

For the information of potential collectors, there is one of these for sale on a US web site (American Airguns Classifieds) Go to: http://www.airguns.net/classifieds/s...umberOfPages=5

This is the second one I've seen in about 6 months. If anyone wants to buy it, since I live in the US, I'd be happy to help if I can. The price is around 460 pounds. I'm told that they can be charged with the ether loaded aerosol cans containing starter booster for lawn mowers etc.

[Garvin]

For the information of potential collectors, there is one of these for sale on a US web site (American Airguns Classifieds) Go to: http://www.airguns.net/classifieds/s...umberOfPages=5

This is the second one I've seen in about 6 months. If anyone wants to buy it, since I live in the US, I'd be happy to help if I can. The price is around 460 pounds. I'm told that they can be charged with the ether loaded aerosol cans containing starter booster for lawn mowers etc.

Although I think you'd find the Barakuda would be illegal to own in the UK, or at least would have to be on an FAC.

[I. J.]

.....come to think of it as a continuation of this post ;what other "off the wall"ideas were there that got into production maybe in a limited way....
bob.

IIRC wasn't there a break barrel air gun that had a disc/firing pin attachment that could be fitted in place of the piston head and this allowed the break barrel rifle to fire .22 shorts?

Ive also seen .22 and .177 airgun shotgun cases.

ATB
Ian

[le frelon]

Quackenbush No.5
Wasn't there one for sale on here a few weeks ago, missing the 'firing pin'?
Carl

[Greenwing]

frank and dan those piccs are much appreciated and will join my library of the "out there
and extraordinary", come to think of it as a continuation of this post ;what other "off the wall"ideas were there that got into production maybe in a limited way .i cant think of many but for starters how about the two springs used in a relum[WHY] nothing of note was achieved surely this was apparent in preproduction or was it simply different and used as a selling point! anyone think of another?.
bob.

My favourite "oddball" is the Feinwerkbau pistol where the barrel coils around the air cylinder.

[red bob]

wasnt there an british pistol that did that to,someone will come along in a mo and remind me which one.

[oldcurmudgeon]

This rifle comes in two parts - rifle and injection tube, remove said tube and you have an ordinary air rifle and you can posses without any problems arising in Law. What is really interesting about this design is how it led to Mr Cardews (flawed) detonation theory that still rears its ugly head from time to time, but enough on that can of worms and back to the rifle itself.
As was previously mentioned the common pellets of the day were found to be wanting and yes this is how the Barakuda pellet came to be. The main reasons for the systems failure may be in part due to the piston seals burning away and needing frequent replacement which would lead to very inconsistent performance when the injection system is employed. Given that newer examples exist it may be possible to find out the exact pros and cons and then come to a conclusion to systems merits

[I. J.]

My favourite "oddball" is the Feinwerkbau pistol where the barrel coils around the air cylinder.

THIS one?

ATB
Ian

[red bob]

i must imagine that there was sound reasoning for the helicol barrel design ,to look that different encourages attention in it self;cant imagine holding on to that and not getting the feeling the pellet was about to go into orbit! thanks for that.

[I. J.]

i must imagine that there was sound reasoning for the helicol barrel design ,to look that different encourages attention in it self;cant imagine holding on to that and not getting the feeling the pellet was about to go into orbit! thanks for that.

Only three were produced. I think it was just a design exercise, summat the lads knocked up one dinner break, to prove that it doesn't matter if the barrel is straight as long as its pointing in the right direction at the muzzle at its properly crowned.

ATB
Ian