Anyone any thoughts on this?

[trevor1]

I rode a BSA with rams-horn handlebars from about 1947-53.I was king of the road!(until I got hit by a tram car!) My bike shop had tons of tinned things.Puncture kits and pellets.

[Rickenbacker]

Ahh, days gone by, slinging an un-cased .303 Enfield No. 4 across your back and pedaling off down to the rifle range after school?

No, I don't remember that. Our school didn't have a rifle range.

[AC99]

Our local bike shop also repaired radios and re-charged accumulators for them. In addition he also sold a selection of pellets - Beatall, Lanes cat slugs and others. I think he also must have been an agent for Webley because my mate's older brother ordered a mk3 through him which eventually arrived a week or so later.

[ccdjg]

Our local bike shop also repaired radios and re-charged accumulators for them.

My God! Accumulators - I had forgotten about them. How old do you have to be to even know what they are? Thanks for depressing me!

[mel h]

My God! Accumulators - I had forgotten about them. How old do you have to be to even know what they are? Thanks for depressing me!

I've got a couple in my shed.
Mel.

[ggggr]

I'm sure that this has been mentioned on one of the nostalgia threads on here, but I remember when most fishing tackle shops also sold airguns and a lot of newsagents had gats for sale in the window. Some of the pet shops sold fishing tackle as well and would have catapults, a crossbow or 2 for sale, along with a few Relums, Milbros and the odd pump up.
I think Ironmongers in Scotland used to sell air rifles and stock spares as well.
To think they have gone from that to wanting to licence everything

[Rob M]

they did make bicycles

BSA did make bicycles!...I remember as a kid, having an old grandad bike with a BSA badge on it.

Off topic, but they sure did make bicycles as well as motorbikes, guns and airguns. How many know, that for a while they even made cars too?

BSA Cars

[Troubledshooter]

The first car I can remember was my Father's BSA Scout, the first bicycle I had was a BSA Sport which was purchased from a local garage that did not sell air guns as far as I can remember, the first moped I had was a BSA Dandy and the first Air Rifle I had was a BSA .22 Airsporter purchased from a gun shop, from where I used to purchase Eley Wasp pellets along with Eley Fourlong 410 cartridges for my under and over shotgun.

[Garvin]

The first car I can remember was my Father's BSA Scout, the first bicycle I had was a BSA Sport which was purchased from a local garage that did not sell air guns as far as I can remember, the first moped I had was a BSA Dandy and the first Air Rifle I had was a BSA .22 Airsporter purchased from a gun shop, from where I used to purchase Eley Wasp pellets along with Eley Fourlong 410 cartridges for my under and over shotgun.

And you collected... Webleys.

[laverdabru]

Can't say I can remember our local cycle shop selling pellets, but guess they would have appealed to the same age group.

Can remember in the '70's many ironmongers, model & fishing tackle selling airguns & pellets.

Can also recall my 2nd pushie being a s/h BSA, with cable brakes & a 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub. Luxury after the old single speeder with iron brake rods I'd had before! At weekends used to cycle Friday evening to my mate's dad's farm with the fishing rod tied along the crossbar, basic tackle & a Junior in the seat bag, & my '50's Diana 27(in a gun slip) across my back. Kip in his barn, return home Sunday.

[Benelli B76]

Probably came about from a clever BSA bicycle sales rep talking the bicycle shop owner into stocking pellets as well. Sort of thing I would have done in my repping days. Probably not like the French stocking .22 blanks in their bicycle shops for the Fritum type "bicycle gun" used to frighten off dogs that chased bikes.
Below ....

Baz

[Troubledshooter]

And you collected... Webleys.

And quite a few BSA's as well along the way.

Benelli B76

Probably came about from a clever BSA bicycle sales rep talking the bicycle shop owner into stocking pellets as well. Sort of thing I would have done in my repping days. Probably not like the French stocking .22 blanks in their bicycle shops for the Fritum type "bicycle gun" used to frighten off dogs that chased bikes.
Below ....

Baz

http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/...ps18568aee.jpg

That's an interesting looking .22 Blank Firer.

[Phil Russell]

And why not? I ask. If you could not buy them at a cycle shop ... and in my youth cycle shops were real cycle shops who sold and mended cycles ... where would you buy them. No, not a daft question but consider that where I lived in Birmingham the nearest 'gun shop' was a long way away and most likely was centred on shotgun and small bore activities so may well have not stocked meagre airgun pellets. So who would sell the pellets? The greengrocer? butcher? chemist? out of all the shops in a typical B'ham suburb the humble cycle sop and repairer is the best fit and, as stated above, the link to BSA cycles could be a key factor. I remember major brands being Marksman in cardboard boxes (100's, 250's and 500's) Pretty certain on the 250's. Then Webley Specials(? round with screw on lid, blackish top), Beatall. Can't remember any others. I think Marksman were made by Lincoln Jeffries and hence a link to BSA. No doubt the same sales agent coped with air gun pellets as well as cycles. And of course the fishing connection ...
So I see nothing strange in buying from a cycle shop ... I did and had great fun.
Cheers, Phil

[ccdjg]

I too lived in Birmingham in the 50's, and in my area there must have been 2 or 3 ironmongers shops (a now long-gone concept thanks to B& Q and the likes) to every cycle shop. I would have thought that ironmongers were just as suited to be stockists of pellets as cycle shops, and yet none of those I knew ever stocked them. Sports shops were sometimes stockists, but only those that also sold airguns. Most avoided airguns like the plague and tended to be too upmarket to sell such lowly juvenile items as pellets.

I think the BSA bicycle explanation is the most likely for the cycle shop / pellets connection, especially in the Birmingham area. In the early 1900's the huge numbers of working class club airgun shooters needed easily accessible local sources of pellets, and who would be better placed than BSA to exploit this?

[Josie & John]

My God! Accumulators - I had forgotten about them. How old do you have to be to even know what they are? Thanks for depressing me!

Speaking of which, I could do with one for a 1927 BSA radio set I have but have never used due to the voltage required. I also have a boxed set of BSA branded headphones for the radio and would like to see it working one day.

On to the topic in hand, as Lakey has alluded in an earlier post, many Ironmongers and bicycle shops held an account with BSA, hence were a national source of guns, ammunition and spares. It's one of the reasons Lincoln Jeffries sold a lot less of his rifles than BSA did, although he also supplied dealers nationwide on a smaller scale. These outlets specialised in the great variety of goods they supplied and airgun pellets were just one such product.

I bought my first Harrington darts and Beatall pellets in an Electrical shop in Cricklewood and also recall buying pellets from a Funeral Director's premises in Horden County Durham, Josie's neck of the woods. I think the latter were boxes of Milbro Caledonian.

John