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

[evert]

As a kid, I was drooling over ads in dads "deutsches waffen journal"(he is into archery, and was buying all magazines that had archery articles in them)...

And the Smith and wesson ads really got my attention: The S&W 79g looked like a "real pistol", and the 78g, the .22 version, was the first .22 air pistol I was ever aware of existed. That had to the thing to own, at least in the mind of a ten year old boy. I own two 79g's today, and sadly, have to say they are not what I was hoping..

[The armourer]

Hi all,
for me at my age it would have to have been the first model Meteor, and sadly I have only just recently got one.
However prior to certain knee jerk reactions I had a Ruger .22 bull barrel and a .45ACP before them, and then changed to a Remington 1100.
Now I am happy with what I have got and am making some projects, bull pupping is my latest idea.

[junglie]

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?

I was lucky enough to shoot a few freinds mk VI's at the time Gareth, put me off big style, nasty twangy inaccurate things (& that was before ox springs were about!). The RB carbine I had recently did live up to the name though.

[BigPeteT]

And the theoben eliminator later.

[copperjacket]

I always wanted a HW35 and bought one in c1976. I loved that rifle but it was ultimately a disappointment especially when my brothers Mercury was more powerful and accurate. I bought Cardews book and an Abbey Tuning Kit and I ended up with a lot of smoke and Slam! I eventually found out it had LBS - leeking Breech Syndrome!

I still hanker after a really nice early 35 as it felt so right...or is that rose tinted glasses?

[MarcDV]

As schoolboy waiting for the bus in the late '50s, I made frequent pilgrimages to a sporting goods store's display in the gardens behind the St. Albans Town Hall. There I regularly ogled at a brand new Mark I Airsporter. Wow! What a thing of beauty and elegance! Fast forward eight years, returning to UK after working overseas, I bought a brand new Airsporter in haste. I did not know at that time that the BSA companies' models had evolved and the then current Airsporter was now a MK5. I had already owned a used MKI and knew how really good they were. In comparison, the MK5 was a piece of crap, it had a blocky beach stock, plastic sights a flat top piston with an O-ring piston seal and the tap was no longer self opening. Now, years later and with serious money on already spent on air rifles, I am still sad to say that I never did find a brand new MKI Airsporter. I still regard it as the most elegant rifle every designed, firearms included.

MarcDV

[mrto]

The air rifle of my dreams as a kid was also an Airsporter and this was in the mid 1960's so the ones I ogled were probably MK 2's or thereabouts.This coincidentally was also in St.Albans Herts and I think in a gun shop that used to be towards the top of The London Rd.I now have a very reasonable MK1 and a very good MK2 fortunately I bought these when I knew the later ones were carp!I also have an RB2,but rightly or wrongly I categorise this particular model seperately to the later tap loading A/sporters.

[Papa g]

A Sussex Armoury Arctic Carbine

No idea why looking back. For those who don't know, it looks like this.

I'd still like one, with a Single Point sight on top.

I remember them! I liked the look of those in them days they appealed to my teenage mind! Tried to get my dad to get one as he was after a new gun, he didn't like it & went for a bsf s54 bayern which I'm glad he did now as I now own it!!

[WILBA]

Feinwerkbau sport 127 loved the quality look of them. and pistol wise had to be the bsa scorpion in .22cal again. it was gay to want .177cal in the old days but ended up with a webley hawk mk2 with the 2 barrels ( hid the .177cal as my m8 hated them lol ) and had a webly junior pistol. loved both guns and loved my childhood along with them. in them days we would take our airguns with us camping and kipping rough to. those were the days. chris

[ccdjg]

As a twelve year old in the early 1950’s I lusted after a Webley Senior, in its pristine box with oil can, box of spare pellets and targets, as displayed in the window one of the well known gun shops in Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham (near Lincoln Jeffries old shop). But unlike many of you, my dream came true. My dear old dad decided to treat me, quite out of the blue, for doing much better in my Grammar school exams than anyone expected. I can remember the day we bought it, for the immense sum then of 8 guineas. I still have it today, in pride of place in my air pistol collection. Alas, the box and oil can have long gone, but after more than 60 years of major use the gun shoots as well as ever.

[Minuteman]

No mention of the BSA Scorpion,
the small rifle that was a pistol. I drooled at the pics in airgun world and eventually got one about five years ago. This thing is not a pistol it’s a beast in disguise, looks good but to shoot it’s a bitch unless you bench rest it. Too much power in a pistol grip the design is all wrong but hey it is an icon of British air pistols. Or not

No he means the BSA Scorpion air pistol. I never could get on with one and agree with the comments.

I lusted after a scorpion and got one, then lusted after a hw45 though it went unrequited for over 20 years.

Having owned both, I still own a scorpion

As far as rifles went I wanted a HW77k, but in later life chose TX's over the 77's I had.

[Gerard]

ccdjg; Had I been aware of Webley's work I too would most likely have lusted after a Senior, when I was a pellet-shooting kid in the late 60's/early 70's. But on the West Coast of Canada we didn't get a lot of information about such exotics. Daisy was pretty much the only supplier I knew of, then a bit later Slavia. So I started with what I wanted; a Daisy underlever 300 shot BB repeater my stepdad bought me after it turned out I was a dud with a baseball glove. I took to that 'rifle' like a duck to water, even hunted small birds successfully before turning 9 years old in 1970. From there I saved up for a Daisy break-barrel .22" and used that for a couple of years. Wanting better accuracy and more power, I saved newspaper delivery money and bought a Slavia rifle at age 13 and was very impressed. It was like shooting a laser, just hit whatever I pointed it at at any range.

By 14 I realised that killing things just didn't sit right in me so I sold that to a friend and thought no more about shooting until I was 19 and stumbled across a reference to the Beeman catalogue in the Whole Earth catalogue. Ordered that, and was soon lusting after two pistols: the FWB 65 and the Webley Tempest. Bit of a strange duo there, not really very similar, and the conflict in me made for a long enough delay that in the end a Leica M2 camera won out in the battle for my night shift savings while going to art school. Easier to use a nice old camera in making art than an air pistol I guess. So my airgun daydreams went to sleep for a few decades...

Then about 3 years ago I bought a cheap Beeman P17 on a lark from a hardware store, thinking I could shoot cleaning pellets at the squirrels tearing up my garden. Or maybe even kill the pesky things, though as a decades-long vegetarian that seemed unlikely and as it's turned out I've done neither. So far. But that soon-broken piece of garbage pistol got me hooked, and I found an old Gamo Center to shoot next. Did a lot of modding on that to make it target-worthy (new front sight assembly made of aluminum, stabilizing work on the rearsight, custom wooden grip, bit of barrel truing, trigger work) before realising that I really, really liked 10 metre air pistol shooting. And the result of that was a strong desire for a Baikal 46m. Found one slightly used, did a LOT of work on it to make it lighter (1050 grams now) with a custom grip (some scrap violin-grade maple lying around the shop) before figuring out that I wanted something even finer.

Now I have pretty well arrived at air pistol Nirvana as far as I'm concerned. I have a Pardini K10 with a grip I carved to fit absolutely perfectly with the angles corrected to my anatomy such that the thing virtually aims itself. Competing with it is a joy, taking away any possible concerns about the mechanics and leaving all my focus on the target and sights. And as a bonus, from having a grown up income, I've bought a Tempest and a Senior for plinking fun and the challenge of shooting springers when wanting a break from practice towards competitions. Wish I'd bought that FWB 65 when I was 19 though. Might have advanced rather well in competition before needing glasses and worrying about shoulder strain.

Still, when I was a kid a $12 break-barrel was about all the gun I needed, so safe to say I got what I wanted then. And the bonus of course was that with practically zero interest from police I was free to spend many a summer and autumn day wandering around with a pocket full of pellets, looking for interesting challenges. One of the most difficult was grasshoppers. Learning to nail those at 20 feet was probably one of the most satisfying accomplishments of my young life.

[laverdabru]

Due to the influence of my (late) elder brother, a Webley Mk 3 .177 Supertarget. Recently acquired an early '60's .22 Mk 3, in VGC. Which is a seriously accurate item. As good with iron ones as my BSA Goldstar is with telescopic sights, at 20/30 yards.
Having said that, think my early Weihrauch 77 was more accurate/consistent than either of the above.
Other lusted after items in the '70's? Most German underlevers & Webley Premier/Senior pistols.

[Geezer]

Thanks to the sensible influence of my father, I had a Webley Typhoon (first gun), an Original 66 and (once I had saved up for it), an FWB 127.

But I really wanted a Jackal AR7 or Air Arms Firepower.

[craig9mm]

crossman 600
first saw it in Wesleys Gas, Spring and Airguns....looked like something from Star Trek
something that would demolish houses ,with more shots than Elmer Fudds shotgun