Hy-Score Sporter - UK model

[DavidC]

Thanks for the additional pics David. Agreed at the time a working repair to the holster would have been considered as practical. Considering the completeness of your set and the provenance you have, I would ask £250 as a minimum if it were mine. These pistols were not made for long and are attractive, without a doubt. They are starting to become desirable and who knows, in the future, may well become even more so.

Thank you for sharing it with us. I have really enjoyed this thread.

John

You are very welcome, and I am glad it has been of interest.

Hi David,
I have been doing some research recently on the Hi-Score pistols and the UK cased versions are quite rare now, yours is the first I've seen complete with a holster. I agree with John a minimum price of £250 probably more, I've seen single pistols without the extra barrel going for well over £100 and the cardboard boxed sets £200 upwards depending on condition and yours is the first I've come across with a Weihrauch type rear sight, the later Phoenix type is not the best I've used and in my opinion not as good as the original American version...
Thanks for posting an interesting thread...Dave...

Thank you for that information Dave. The letter from Phoenix (I'm getting the spelling right at last!) did say that the Weirauch rear sight was to be a temporary thing until they started to make/use their own. I don't know how many were produced with that sight but it was certainly expected to be limited to no more than 200 and could have been considerably less. Do you have any information on what the total number of sporters made in UK was, including those produced under both the Phoenix and Hy-Score Arms Company Ltd labels?

[DavidC]

Incidentally, if anyone wants a copy of the review article I am happy to email it in pdf format.

And there is now a For Sale thread in this collectables forum for the set, holster and all associated paperwork.

David

[DavidC]

Just realised all of the pics of the pistol so far are with it in the case, which will not show some of the features that might be of interest. So here are four more, out of the box.

[harvey_s]

Just out of interest - you said this last pistol was much better than the pervious two tested for the magazine article, did those improvents apply to the velocity pruduced as well?
I'm curious to know if the British Hy-scores ever got near the 500 fps claimed in the adverts....

[jasond642]

Sorry to go off the HY-SCORE subject but I still have issue 2 of the excellent SWAT magazine and was a subscriber. Issue 2 survived as it had a test of the short lived Wilkinson sword survival knife which I always wanted but could never afford.

[DavidC]

Nice to hear from another SWAT reader, Jason. I still have all my copies from, first to last, in binders, and the annuals. To be honest, I don't think you missed much not getting the Wilkie; I was never overly impressed by it. I thought the early model of the MOD survival knife was better, even though it was a much simpler design without all the Wilkie's features.


Harvey, I don't keep the selection of pellets that I used to but I will test what I have in both .177 and .22 to see what results I get from this pistol. I believe John has an even later model than mine so it would be good to see what output he gets too. From all reports though, I don't think Hy-Score arms ever did get close to the potential, on the production pistols they sold.

[Josie & John]

Nice to hear from another SWAT reader, Jason. I still have all my copies from, first to last, in binders, and the annuals. To be honest, I don't think you missed much not getting the Wilkie; I was never overly impressed by it. I thought the early model of the MOD survival knife was better, even though it was a much simpler design without all the Wilkie's features.


Harvey, I don't keep the selection of pellets that I used to but I will test what I have in both .177 and .22 to see what results I get from this pistol. I believe John has an even later model than mine so it would be good to see what output he gets too. From all reports though, I don't think Hy-Score arms ever did get close to the potential, on the production pistols they sold.

I have owned 4 Phoenix Hyscores and although perfectly adequate, none have exceeded 3.5 ft lbs in muzzle energy in either calibre.

John

[DavidC]

Hi Harvey

I've just tested my cased Hy-Score and the results are very similar to those I got before. None of the pellets I tested today gave greatly varying results.

Best of the pellets tested today in .177 were the Eley Wasps 7.6gn @ 421 fps for 2.99 ftlbs. (The Hy-Score Hornets (provided with the kit) 7.25gn @ 419fps for 2.82ftlbs)
Best in .22 were Air Arms Diablo Field 15.89gn @ 301fps for 3.19ftlbs (14.5gn Wasps gave 304fps for 2.98ftlbs)

All results average over 10 shots

[thisisdonald]

i used to have that exact pistol, cased with the tool and barrels .. loved it - let it go in a moment of madness along with most of my guns.. ahhhhhh i feel sick just thinking about it!

anyways, this might tweak some interest - this was back about 2002-ish and I was doing a bit of research on the hyscore factory (from buffalo NY if I remember correctly) and I tracked down a guy who had bought all the tooling from the factory and still had it stored. He also had a number of the multishot conversion kits available ( which as far as I remember replaced the twisty breech at the back)... the down side to this is I cant remember any of the vital info.. I cant even remember what email I was using back then... if I can dig any of this up Ill post it on here.. if there are any super internet sleuths out there - maybe you could pick up the trail!

[thisisdonald]

well, looking into this again, my memory must be terrible.. I definately was offered multishot breeches from someone, but I cant remember who.. here is an interesting lead from beemans.net:

"Mrs. Beeman and I have a special feeling for the American-made HyScore Air Pistols, not just because of the wonderful design (can you believe that “bumper car” repeating mechanism?) but because of our special relationship with the late Steve Laszlo (founder and president of HyScore). For some reason, he gravitated to us and we became fine friends. The standing joke every time that we would meet would be him asking us “Well, do you want to buy all the HyScore pistol machinery today?”. I’d always say: “When you add a politically correct safety to the design and cut the price 90%”. (After all the good reamers, etc. were cherry-picked over and removed, the "interesting" Richard Marriott-Smith of England purchased the whole pile for next to nothing and proceeded to put out the ill-fated British HyScore pistol – still without a safety and, almost as a bid to kill potential sales to the USA, with a silencer!). As noted in the HyScore introduction in Blue Book of Airguns, Steve sent us the NIB specimens of the delightful Acvoke and Abas Major air pistols that his brother Andrew Lawrence (nee Laszlo) had used, but never acknowledged, in designing the concentric piston HyScore air pistols. He also sent us a huge box of “junk” that they had cleaned out of the “loft” – just a wonderful array of well preserved specimens of all the prototypes of the HyScore pistols, as well as prototypes of air pistols which they had never put into production – a compact pneumatic, etc. a never produced self-scoring metal target, etc. Later in 1980, Mrs. Beeman and I had the last dinner anyone had with Steve and his really delightful, very intelligent wife (staff member at NY Metropolitan Museum of Art) in San Francisco. They were on the way to Hawaii for a vacation and he died of a heart attack there. We called his NY office to find out when he was supposed to be back and asked if he was still in Hawaii. The office staff of one said “Well, I guess that you could say that!” but she would say nothing more. We learned of his death thru friends and after a couple of months to allow things to settle down – we called and asked to pay up our account – we owed in the low four figures. We were referred to his lawyer who told us, in no uncertain terms, that the Laszlo children wanted no contact with his old “gun trade” and that they wanted “our kind” to please go away and not bother them again! He said that as far as they were concerned, the accounts no longer existed. Okay, we can take a hint."

the man Richard Leonard Marriott-Smith apparently owned a fair few different companies and ruined them all, maybe it was he who was trying to get back a few of the quids he put down the drain?

[trevor1]

Hello all. I'm new to the forum, though not to airguns which I have been shooting for over 50 years, and starting with a question.

Is there any collector interest in the UK produced Hy-Score Sporter air pistol?

I have been sorting through my boxes in preparation for a house move and came across an air pistol I had forgotten about. I originally bought an early model Hy-Score from Pheonix Arms in late 1989 or early 1990 with the intention of reviewing it, back when I was writing for Survival Weaponry And Techniques magazine. The pistol I bought had problems and I exchanged phone calls and letters (which I still have) with Mr R L Marriott-Smith of Pheonix Arms regarding the pistols, with the intention of giving Pheonix an opportunity to comment on my findings before submitting my review for publication.

During this time various changes were made to the pistol, they sent me newer models which I also tested, but they still weren't right and eventually the article was submitted and published in August 1990. Pheonix continued to work on the pistols and produced several variants and accessories. I returned the pistols I had and after a considerable wait, due partly to the formation of the Hy-Score Arms Company Ltd as an independent entity from Pheonix, exchanged mail (also available) with Trevor Skelly of Hy-Score Arms Co Ltd and received a new boxed pistol set from their latest production batch. This pistol was much better, with many of the previous faults rectified and featuring a Weirauch rear sight, though this was due to be replaced by one of Hy-Score's own on later models. Many of these changes are discussed in the letters and might provide some historical insight, if there are indeed any collectors of these pistols. I can also photocopy my SWAT review if that is of interest.

The pistol and all the accessories are in the case and unmarked, though the pistol is not strictly speaking 'mint' as I did fire some pellets through both the .177 and .22 barrels to test the pistol when it first arrived. There is also a thin leather holster with external pocket for the silencer/cocking aid.

I would have included pictures but I don't have permission to do so, I would guess because I am new to the board.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for replying if you do so. I look forward to exploring and joining in with other conversations on the board.

http://www.cinedux.com/the-hy-score-story.php

[DavidC]

Thank you Donald and Trevor, interesting information

[Rob M]

Excellent Link Trevor!

A while back on another thread we were speculating who had made the pellets for Hy-Score, I reckoned that they were Eley Wasps and that seems to be born out by the picture of the pellet tin on the article, around the edges of the Hy-Score label on the lid, you can clearly see that it's an Eley Wasp tin underneath.

Cheers

[thisisdonald]

the man Richard Leonard Marriott-Smith apparently owned a fair few different companies and ruined them all, maybe it was he who was trying to get back a few of the quids he put down the drain?

funny how things turn up when you start talking about them... was reading more about airgun history the other day and came across this

it would seem my initial perspective of the man may have been misinformed.. I hadnt heard of him until a week or so ago, now I find out just how influential he has been on the international airgun scene.