AirGun World memorabilia

[BSFNUT]

I remember the issue of AGW which came with a free sample of Prometheus (sp) on the front! Ooops.

ATB
Ian

I still have mine with the said pellet sample 'virgo intacto' ( I have 13 issues for that year - May 1989 ) how much is that worth ? - they were swiftly withdrawn - the editor should have got the boot earlier than he did

[clarky]

I also much prefered the old Airgun Worlds but would go even further back than the 90s. The qaint hunting articles with simpler guns was a real joy and very little PC around to blight things. Heck, how i hate PC.
I agree with Terry that the modern version is very high quality, with much better photography. I also noticed recently that the mass of advertising that blighted the late 90s magazines has been reduced back to virtually nothing. That has to be creditted.
I just opened an early 2000 edition here, with no less than 18 pages of adverts in it. It was the the point where i stopped my purchase, prefering to hand select an article in Smiths.
The magazine does look to be in a lot better shape now and i made purchases of both the Dec and Jan editions for reading over the xmas period.
I think there is possibly room for 2 very different mags really.
The magazine from around 2000 has had a greater emphassis on high end tackle and field target stuff. The equipment is super good for this type of shooting but if your not into being strapped into a gizmo with a 2ft scope on board (complete with shooting cushion) it might not be your bag. Thus a magazine with this emphassis for those who enjoy that but one for classic Springers and pistols, with simple hunting articles.

Its interesting that we have lost sight of the old classic, sleek sporters with a simple 4x32 or 40 scope which everyone loved but all fell into the trend for gigantic stocked strap ons with wind detectors and anodized blue paint jobs. What real field shooting is all about is classic simple lines and ease of carry just like sleek full bore firearms. or fine shotguns which never followed the gawky trend of the Airgun industry just to put the cheeks closer to the scope. It looks like im right too, with the latest Daystate sporter leading the field, everybody picking the thing up in Sportings guns yesterday, loving the simple sleek lines.
You can raise your head a little on the cheek piece and have a gun with beautiful lines, just like what full bore shooters have done for 100 years!
Just a thought for the manufacturers there.

[Terry D]

What real field shooting is all about is classic simple lines and ease of carry just like sleek full bore firearms. or fine shotguns which never followed the gawky trend of the Airgun industry just to put the cheeks closer to the scope.

Fullbore rifles and shotguns don't follow air rifle trends because they are completely different devices, with equally different ways of going about their business.

Hunting with an air rifle is primarily about placing the pellet with target standard accuracy, and all other considerations should be prioritised below this, in my opinion at least. If it takes features that owe a debt to target rifles, then so be it. If the degree of control required for precision shooting can be incorporated while retaining traditional sporting lines, then that's fine too.

The same goes for scopes. I did OK with my 4 x 40 many years ago, but I know a higher spec scope helps me to be a better shooter, so that's what I use.

Make no mistake, though, a hunting air rifle is more about what it does in the field than how it looks or how convenient it is to carry.

[maximus]

Fullbore rifles and shotguns don't follow air rifle trends because they are completely different devices, with equally different ways of going about their business.

Hunting with an air rifle is primarily about placing the pellet with target standard accuracy, and all other considerations should be prioritised below this, in my opinion at least. If it takes features that owe a debt to target rifles, then so be it. If the degree of control required for precision shooting can be incorporated while retaining traditional sporting lines, then that's fine too.

The same goes for scopes. I did OK with my 4 x 40 many years ago, but I know a higher spec scope helps me to be a better shooter, so that's what I use.

Make no mistake, though, a hunting air rifle is more about what it does in the field than how it looks or how convenient it is to carry.

Having your cheek in the correct place on a shotgun has always been critical to achieving accuracey. It frustrates me how low in the comb many air rifles are when it comes to lining up with scopes, especially on guns that will never have open sights fitted. Its one of the things that Theoben seemed to be more in tune with than most manufacturers, or maybe Custom stock sorted it for them as their own stocks also have much better ergonomics than most.

[clarky]

I guess its a matter of opinion. Terry your opinion being highly respected by myself, considering your massive input/success over the years but coming more from the field target side of the opinion and the maxim of success.
All ill say is, there is huge weight of followers/lusters for the new Daystate, suggesting such supporters of PCP stuff have been starved of a sleek rimfile style sporter but this maybe just me.
Trust me, the position of the head for the scope is as vital on a full bore as it is on an air rfile as i have used them just as extensively as air rfiles in the past but i guess this industry has simply magnified the need for perfection due to its greater limiting factors. Shotguns are of course completely different but i was merely using them as example of sporting style and simple beauty.

Its interesting that we have a growing number of collectors on here, and at clubs i have attended, who clammer for the sleek lines of the likes of Webley mk3s, Airsporters and the like, while Beeman himself constantly backed the view of sleek sporters in the states.

I attended a shoot during October where one guy showed up with a Steyr that he had modifed for perfect fit. The lower stock of the gun had fixed to it what i can only describe as an undercarriage or Keel which he mentioned as being ideal when shooting from the kneeling position. The scope had a bell housing pushing out its length to 2.5ft in length and he had a wind pressure gauge strapped to the base of the forend. This is not sport shooting with a rifle in my opinion but a contraption. Heck he may as well have been shooting from a bench!
Any self respecting woodsman, or field shooter would agree with me.
Dont change the table tennis bat.....learn to use the bat being my philosphy i suppose.
I might agree that very simple stock design was probably never designed with scope use in mind and will have a level of limiting factor but are we going too far is all im suggesting.

[Terry D]

This is not sport shooting with a rifle in my opinion but a contraption. Heck he may as well have been shooting from a bench!
Any self respecting woodsman, or field shooter would agree with me.

I'm very much a self-respecting woodsman, Clarky, and I completely disagree with you, mate.

You see that Steyr? That wasn't the rifle of a woodsman, but a match shooter and it will be pitted against other rifles of the same quality and carrying the same degree of shooter control, so once these factors cancel themselves out, we are left with the skill and judgement of the shooter, which is how it should be. If it was a hunting version of the Steyr match gun, it's designed for absolute precision in the field, and that's never a bad thing.

Seriously, try taking on an FT or HFT course, even with one of these 'bench' rifles, and you'll soon see just how much skill is required to put in a top score.

Once, there were many shooters who decried the advent of telescopic sights, claiming they took the skill out of shooting. Even today, some airgunners quote much the same thing in connection with PCPs. Things move on, and we can choose to embrace these moves, or we can stay where we prefer to be. It's one of the many joys of our sport - we can enjoy it as we please.