Well it's nice to see one of the prizes from my youth.

At the time that this would have been offered I religiously bought Airgunner and Airgun World and entered the competitions, as we had no local gunshop just a fishing tackle emporium that sold a GAT pistol in the local town which was beyond my meagre financial powers.

For a young lad whose parents wouldn't allow an air gun in the house the copies of the these magazines offered a glimpse to the outside world, and what could be achieved with the right skill and equipment, the feats of John Darling were always eagerly awaited.

I came to believe that my years of entry fee each month was just going in someones pocket and the offered prizes must be pure fantasy, so I stopped entering the competitions and did any job going until I could afford a secondhand Mk1 TX200 in .22, I think saving for this took well over a year.
Sending off for this from Michael Tawn Airguns, having given my money to my brother as he had a cheque book, although I'm sure he determined a fee for writing the cheque.
I never considered that this would be delivered by post and at that point my parents would discover my purchase, although not pleased by the rifle my father was impressed by my tenacity to earn the money and he didn't carry through his initial threat of taking it to work and dropping it into a furnace. My parents were distinctly less impressed by the Barnett pistol crossbow that turned up a year later, after 3 shots even a teenage me determined it to be lethal.

I still have that rifle and once I left home it went to Webley Venom to be tuned despite living in a house with a shoebox size garden, doubt I can ever sell that gun as getting it took so much.

But good to see that my childhood thought that all these prize draws were fixed was unfounded. Just unfortunately that HW77 is out of my price range.

Lee