AirGun World memorabilia

[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.

[Mole trapper]

airgunner was releashed iirc 1985 and had jd on the front cover with a webley vulcan again this sounds right to me. it was aimed at naive teenagers and well judging by its content it still is! sar had the best cover photos always plenty if detail for the enthusiast. i dont want to knock what agw does now as i know the contributors and editor mean well to keep everyone content but i cant help hankering after the old 1990 editions. jim and carl hunting article phil bulmer adam smith james marchington, jon paris test reports and collectable section. im hoping that the report on the ken turner semi recoiless break barrel makes it to print, looking forward to that one. must confess i like the john miloski articles re. collectable guns is always topnotch and interesting and also i did enjoy the recent walther lgv test report a very good read.

You did not mention Arthur Shepherd , died way before his time, got a small book written by him.
I still love going back through my eighties copies every now and again, The stories seemed so much better than today's, they weren't of coarse it is just that they were read at a time in my life when (unfortunately )everything seemed so exciting . I still really enjoy getting all the airgun mags now. Hopefully this wonderful past time will be still available to the youngsters who will look back on today's mags with the same rose tinted glasses.

[johnbaz]

I had airgunner and airgun world from issue #1, when I went through them a few years ago loads were missing, When I read through them and didn't put them away, i'm sure the missus put them in the bin


Also, I had a load duplicated so I put loads on fleabay with a 99p start, it was amazing how much some of them went for!!, upto £25 a copy!!

Someone got in touch and offered me £80 for three of my copies that weren't duplicated!!

I ended up selling them as so many were missing ending up


I still have a few bits that came free with the mags somewhere, A yellow sew on badge, a thing made of rubber to put pellets in to and hang around the neck, an oil applicator, possibly a few other things, I just don't have a clue where they actually are!!!



John

[clarky]

Mole Trapper, i agree with you. You dont have to excuse your view, im sure this forum can take it/should take it.
It may well be that we were younger and the magazine the first of its kind but it was somehow simpler and without the gloss, if lower quality pictures.
I remember the 3rd issue (the first i ever saw) looking at the cover pic at age 13. The shooter was after pigeon with an unscoped Lincoln Jeffries.
Damned if i can remember the name of the shooter now as my copy long gone. Maybe Terry can remember it.
As John above my ex threw out my old copies....its why shes my ex along with a few other things.

[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.

[Terry D]

I remember the 3rd issue (the first i ever saw) looking at the cover pic at age 13. The shooter was after pigeon with an unscoped Lincoln Jeffries.
Damned if i can remember the name of the shooter now as my copy long gone. Maybe Terry can remember it.

Was it Guy N. Smith? He used to wear a deerstalker hat and smoke a pipe - a bit 'Sherlockian' if memory serves.

David Lane used an old LJ, too, I think.

Jumpers for goalposts ... and Wagon Wheels were bigger then.

[Hellequin]

Was it Guy N. Smith? He used to wear a deerstalker hat and smoke a pipe - a bit 'Sherlockian' if memory serves.

David Lane used an old LJ, too, I think.

Jumpers for goalposts ... and Wagon Wheels were bigger then.

I remember that, and the Flying Saucers and Sherbert Dip (with liquorice in the middle) were bigger too... The summers were scorching hot, and we had proper snow in winter!

Right, rose tinted specs now removed...

[clarky]

Thats him Terry...complete with deer stalker.
I here you on that. I guess if i was more heavily involved in the sport of FT, rather than rough shooting, i would have to alter my stance and cave in with the contraption crowd.
Just glad i dont have to lug the darn things around the fields with me....and where the hell do i stick the cushion lol
Thats my point really. Wasnt it originally set up to replicate the infield environment to hone the hunters skills but sort of went off at tangent
A 6-20 x 50 scope for pigeon control?... completely surplus to requirements with the bird lost in the trees above an 8x setting i shouldnt wonder.
I guess the sport just evolved away from the hunter as you say.
Maybe your right and ive had my day at 47.

Maybe some level of equalizing should be brought in for your sport though. You have just got to respect the humble dude with his 4x40 HW77 but how does he compete fairly.
Target pistols have quite a rigid level of equalizing.

All true though Hellequin...apart from the flying saucers which have got worse!

[where's it gone]

.. do me a favour and study those 1990 issues s Please do that comparison and get back to me - and that goes for anyone else - I'd be interested in your thoughts. .

The font was bigger and darker, making it slightly easier on the eye.

[BTDT]

Maybe some level of equalizing should be brought in for your sport though. You have just got to respect the humble dude with his 4x40 HW77 but how does he compete fairly.

A new outdoor competition format was run at a club nine miles west of Worcester this year, not too far from you. The top score over the three shoots was by a very competent shot using an HW77, and the joint third highest score was also from a very competent shot using an HW77. There were a lot of PCPs competing, so I think the format could be described as equalising.

The dates for 2013 shoots are being finalised now. Details can be found here.

There's no reason why a well set up HW77 with a 4x40mm couldn't win.

[Neil.]

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....haley-Crossman

[clarky]

A new outdoor competition format was run at a club nine miles west of Worcester this year, not too far from you. The top score over the three shoots was by a very competent shot using an HW77, and the joint third highest score was also from a very competent shot using an HW77. There were a lot of PCPs competing, so I think the format could be described as equalising.

The dates for 2013 shoots are being finalised now. Details can be found here.

There's no reason why a well set up HW77 with a 4x40mm couldn't win.

Well you just got to respect that guy. Full marks to him....and if didnt have a cushion ill buy him a drink.

[Elliott]

I love my .22 HW77K with 3-9x40 scope. Simple, reliable and just as accurate as my HW100KT

[Amac]

Like many, I own both a multi shot PCP and some classic springers. I am sure that when Airgun World first appeared, the lack of available PCPs obviously accounts for the lack of "technical" guns in the magazines content. As field target shooting gained in popularity, it was only a matter of time before those competing started to consider the use of hand tuned springers that were capable of competing with the best shooters at the time.

For me, this was the golden age of spring powered development as tuning companies such as Airmasters and Venom started to produce items that not only shot beautifully, but looked like the true works of gun art that they are. The magazines at the time,for those of us fortunate enough to have a few knocking about for a swift dose of nostalgia including "Sporting Air Rifle", "Airgun World" and "Airgunner" are still a great read for those of us who have fond memories of those times. Younger readers might not agree however. I have said it before, but I genuinely think that the magazines produced today do as good a job as possible of reflecting the interests of all of us. Just imagine how hard it must be to try and maintain this balance for the benefit of all enthusiasts, at all levels of experience. I reckon they manage to do a pretty good job.

Andy