The air rifle or air pistol that you most wanted as a kid.

[bigtoe01]

I begged for a HW35, got one for Xmas when i was 14, still have it now (43 now), after that always wanted an 80 but did not get one till 4 yrs ago, 4 more 35's came before it

Addicted to 77's now though...the 80 is nice but i find the 77's(97's) sweeter to shoot.

The 35 was bought from MAG, Alan sold the gun to my dad, obviously he does not remember but is was fun asking my dad if he remember what the guy looked like and finding he has not changed much over the past 25yrs LOL

[edbear2]

First a Webley Mk3, but then I shot an Airsporter Mk1 and wanted one instantly (this would be about 1970 ish)...I took a paper round and collected every pop bottle I could find for what seemed for ever, eventually I was doing 3 paper rounds until I had a good sum, I was then devastated to find out that I could not actually buy a new Mk 1 any more

Anyway, Coles of Cirencester had just taken delivery of the newly released Mercury rifle, so I must have had one of the first ones about...It was certainly the only one in town, and I had to fight people off for quite a while who "wanted a go"

The funny thig is, I cannot for the life of me remember what happened to it...probably flogged by my big brother for beer money at some time

[Gareth W-B]

The rifle I most wanted as a thirteen year old kid? Well the BSA Airsporter Mk.VI was the new kid on the block back then (I had a BSA Super Meteor .177 at that time), and I really wanted one.

Took 25 years before I finally added an Airsporter Mk.VI to my collection however, and three examples of the same later (I kept thinking they can’t all be this cr*p), on finally realising that they are all total pants, they have all now gone and I wouldn't keep another even if I was given it ... Some childhood dreams are best left as just that it seems, just dreams?

[R10_Mark]

When I was a nipper, the gun I wanted the most was the Air Master STS 77... What a piece of kit, saved up all my pocket money for a whole year
and bought a Webley Vulcan instead.. Still haven't managed to find one in 30yrs of looking..

I'm content with my TX & PS or am i

[mangerover]

my 1st lust was a bsa meteor saved all winter shoveling snow to get it now I have done a full rebuild and still love it dose high 700fp.shot a robin with it and my father made me cook and eat it still a family joke at xmas 35 years later

[Dan J B]

It was the Sheridan Blue Streak that I lusted after from the pages of Airgun World!

Dan

31 years later and I fulfill my wanting at last - picked up my new Sheridan Blue Streak today. Very happy!

Dan

[Dan J B]

Forgot to mention that if anyone wants/needs a new boxed Sheridan Blue Streak I know where there are still two in stock. PM me if you want details. Cheers.

Dan

[Matou]

In the 1970's I used to drool over these in the local gunshop:
ASI Paratrooper Repeater - BSA Buccaneer with an Aimpoint Sight - BSA Shadow

35 years on and I now have all three

Still looking for a Daystate QC in .177 though, and an Air Arms Pro-Elite (Santa please make it a .25 calibre)

[Airfix]

Being a huge fan of starsky and hutch age 11, and having curly black hair the diana SP50 was my first gun.
I lusted after a milbro BB repeater that looked like a 45 auto in the local camera shop window.
I got one years later having progressed through several webley juniors and a bsa scorpion I was thoroughly disappointed. I still have it but wish I still had the other pistols instead, especially the juniors I used them so much my dad had to weld the sear several times.
the scorpion had a very distinct smell that I can still rememember 35 years later!

[Daryll]

ASI Paratrooper. I think I was 14 at the time. I owned a Relum Tornado and liked it well enough but I really covetted the Paratrooper.

Cheers

DaveD

+1 for this.... i originally inherited an old Webley mk 3, first air rifle i had new was a meteor, eventually bought an airsporter then a supersport... but i always lusted after a paratrooper.

[windygap]

I wanted a Sheridan Streak ...so bad I dreamed about it..... I was a lad of about nine .....the new guns were around 30.00 in the mid -late 60's ...alot of money for an airgun for poor folks. There was an older 16 year fellow had a used Streak he had bought from an older boy who didn't want it anymore, It was 56-60 model hold down with alot of the old features., and he had let me shoot it often as he hunted in the woods below my families property. I was spoiled after shooting that gun, my little Daisy sucked (kids stuff) . Parents just wouldn't spend the money and really weren't sure they wanted me to have an airgungun that powerful I think. I was enterprizing youth with a piggy bank though and had been quite frugal with my allowance and gift money. And I was about to turn 10 that summer, the fellow with the gun offered to sell it to me one day (WOW!). We made a deal for 10.00 ! That cleaned me out, I was nearly pennyless but in heaven . I didn't tell my parents I bought it, just to risky they might make get rid of it. I buried the gun out in the woods . I would go dig it up and go shooting. I didn't have money for pellets or anyway to get them . So... I used the BB's my parents bought for the old (TIRED) DAisy BB gun .
Had to be careful less they would roll out the barrell. But, I still killed several varments shooting BBs out of the 5mm SHeridan . Eventually couple years latter I owned up to having it and parents were ok ..I hadn't shot my eye out and I paid for it my self. They even bought me boxes of Pellets. I was especially good at eliminating stray cats .

[Rapidnick]

I'm another chap who wanted an Airsporter but didn't own one until much later. It certainly doesn't compare in performance terms with modern rifles but I still think that it is the prettiest air rifle of all time-well at least until the Pro Sport was introduced. I didn't have any land to shoot over and my parents didn't really approve so all I did as a 'yoof' was buy a Meteor Mk 1 and a Webley Senior pistol out of my own money. I still recall the Airsporter ad in the comics. I think I have a copy of it somewhere.
My first air rifle bought as an adult was a Webley Mk 3 which was a pile of poo and then the fun really started with my purchase of a HW35. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Grayling]

Back in the early to mid 70's it was the ASI Paratrooper repeater in Liverpool. That was the dogs danglies to us when I was hitting 13 years of age. The Sussex Armoury Firepower took over later as I was Army Barmy by this time and this was the nearest we could get to an FN SLR. To be honest in reality this rifle was not as good as it looked, it was bloody awful to shoot, nor was the reloading system up to the magazine hype. The Paratrooper failled aswell when I eventually procured one and its mag system wasn't up to much either, although not as pellet fussy as the SA Firepower . I am still well chuffed to own both these rifles now though, nostalgia and all that. I was lucky enough to become the owner of an FWB 127 in the late 70's and that was everything and more I had ever dreamed of in an Air Rifle and still is.

[junglie]

I lusted after a good few, the HW35, FWB sport BSA mercury & BSF b55 being the rifles to have. Just finally got my hands on a BSFs70 for my 50th birthday & the HW35 for xmas, well worth the wait.

[ccdjg]

I always wanted any that was in my copy of L Wesleys airgun book!! (still have the book and now have quite a few of the guns!!- none of those beautiful Giffards though )


John

As a thirteen year old, more years ago than I like to recall, I was greatly influenced by Lesley Wesley’s book “Air Guns and Air Pistols”, and after reading it from cover to cover many times I lusted after any production pump-up pneumatic or CO2 gas gun. They seemed to offer fantastic potential . After all, surely you could keep pumping a pneumatic until it had something like the power of a firearm? CO2 was a liquefied gas and must already have super pressure? The fact that these types of weapon were illegal in the UK also suggested they had dangerous power and gave them an extra kudos to an impressionable teenager. But of course they were unobtainable. It was not until many years later that I was able to fulfil my dream and get my first pump-up pistol – a Daisy I think, and my first CO2 pistol. What a disappointment. Mechanically boring, fiddly to use and no more power than a good springer. I soon moved these on. I have now been collecting airguns for many years and have more springers than my better half thinks is good for me, but in all my collecting years I regret to say that I have never been able to feel any enthusiasm for pneumatics or gas guns (unless of course it was a genuine big-bore antique pneumatic, but these need deeper pockets than I can muster).

As Gareth says, some childhood dream are best left as dreams.

Apologies to all you pump-up enthusiasts!