Old bell target competitions

[Airsporter1st]

Wouldn't it be great if bell target comps proliferated to the point that one of the major manufacturers, preferably BSA of course, would manufacture a 'retro' range of comparable or better quality than the real thing?

I would be happy to spend a lot more on a quality new retro gun.

[edbear2]

Very cool Ed, that is awesome history.

Great articles in the Airgun Collector Magazine volume 1, posted above and the BSA rifles that were used early on.

If I can get that old BSA rifle I will build a bell target, but the price of that BSA on this side of the pond is a little more that 100 pounds!

Have you tried asking around?...When I was in Indy about 4 years ago I saw a couple in poor but usable condition for sub £150 at pawn shops, and I asked in Gander Mountain if the guys at the gun desk had seen any (I went prepared with an A4 photo of a BSA Standard)...Turned out one of the guys shopping there knew someone who knew someone etc. and later that week a guy brought in a Standard in good original order with some etching and a Quackenbush,he wanted 500 bucks the pair but sadly the Standard's chamber had a deep ding and the Quackenbush was not my sort of thing.

As I flew back I regretted not going ahead as he was open to offers, but my point is they were well advertised in the USA back in the days when they were made and there may be one closer than you think to you...You need to get some feelers out / maybe an advert in the paper etc. as you just never know.

I know it seems as if they are used as fenceposts here as once said, but good ones are getting hard to find and some of my best ones have been from totally "off the radar" places as when I was in "full collector frenzy" mode I would basically steer the conversation with anyone I met anywhere to the subject of old air rifles

So that means neighbours / work mates / any storekeeper with an antiques / flea type outlet / yard sales / small town auctions / even trade drivers to my workplace...all the previous have paid off over the years!

Happy hunting pal, it's the best part!

ATB, Ed

[Phil Russell]

Re: Ring My Bell by Frank Spittle.
I am pretty certain that I bought a copy at 'The Shooting Show' a few years ago ... there was a Bell Target stall organised by a Bell Target Club, or maybe an Air rifle club that had Bell Target. Maybe if you find out the name of the stall holder organisation you may be able to find a copy.
Maybe if someone on here has a copy of the show guide it will give the club and contact details.
Cheers, Phil

[abellringer]

HI guys I am proud to say I knew Frank Spittle and his family from 1971 ish, when Frank was instrumental in opening an air gun range under Bilston Town Baths. Prouds Lane. Bilston I worked for him as an repairer and paid for all my original air gun shooting kit that way. Shortly before his untimely death, Frank gave me a signed copy of his book, as well as another book featuring his brothers model lorries, that man was also special and to see his models, you would not believe how he made them.
Frank was an international shooter and his house is adorned with the most amazing memorabilia from all of his family. His knowledge of bell target was very extensive and his museum [ now in storage] had to be seen to be believed.
I started 'Bell' in 1973 on the Wolverhampton League [still competing, not missed a season], the ethos had already moved to include and use the latest equipment, and so it progresses I suppose, when I started shooting the Bridgnorth League around 1976, there were so many people using older, even pre war rifles, that we were ''advised'' not to bring coats / gloves / boots or 'those damn recoilles rifles'', so I went out and got an Or 50 to compete with, however this league eventually succumbed to the technology advance and recoilles guns made their appearance.
I have to say the enjoyment of shooting at a Bell Target and shooting well, as a competitive person, with an old rifle is more satisfying than a modern PCP and I don't know many people who think otherwise.
Great sport, amazing history, made and met unbelievably fantastic people, [ Pops and Alice from Quatt the truest of true Lady and Gent] god rest their soles; and I have still got memories that make people laugh or gasp even today.
Hence the name tag and proud of it.
abellringer

[DT Fletcher]

When Ring My Bell was first published, there was a blurb about it in the American Airgunner mag (think that was the name of it) but there was no info on costs to ship to the US. So, I wrote a letter (how quaint) to Frank asking for the cost and ship info. Instead of replying with the answer, Frank graciously sent me signed copy of the book, refusing any idea of my sending money. Needless to say, especially after reading his book, I became a big fan. All of us are very lucky to have had a guy like Frank to take the tremendous amount of time and effort it took to record a history that has been otherwise largely unrecorded.

Here's Ring My Bell in pdf format: http://www.belltarget.com/resources/...rget_Story.pdf

It was my hope to visit Frank and his pub with all the historic material and when the time finally came to visit, but, unfortunately heard the sad news of his passing.

That his collection is still hidden away is a true shame. Would like to see something put together to make it available to the public. Are there not still airgun manufacturers and shooters in the UK?

While I'm at it, here's my take on how the sport of Bell Target shooting helped start the Crosman Rifle Co.

This is one of those things that you can never know for sure but there are enough points lined up that I think this is how things went. One clue I got in my research on Crosman Arms was that the inventor, McLean, who was a chauffeur for a very rich Rochester resident, received from his employer an air rifle from Europe that he thought McLean might be interested in. The early speculation was that this would have been a Giffard; which is exactly what I wrote in my book on the Crosman Rifle. However, after reading Ring My Bell, and after finding the personal notebook of W.R. Benjamin, I am now of the belief that it was the Airgun Riots in Birmingham, which sparked curiosity around the world -in W.R.'s scrapbook there was a newspaper clipping on it- and the famous BSA rifle so closely associated with Bell Target at the time that McLean would have received. This thought is seconded with the discovery that McLean produced .22 caliber pellets at his home address prior to his going to work at Crosman. At that time in America, there was only one model of airgun that used a rifled .22 caliber barrel: the BSA. There were a few other .22 pellet guns but they were all smooth bore and shot either slugs or darts.

One obvious question: why, if he had the BSA rifle in hand, did he not produce a copy of it? Ans: the BSA is the product of a large arms manufacturer with advanced capabilities that a guy in his garage (like McLean) could never duplicate. The brilliance of McLean, which is the very foundation of the now traditional pump pneumatic American airgun, was bringing together the advanced idea of the rifled barrel .22 with the very simple to manufacture pump-pneumatic as seen in the then current top American Airgun... the Benjamin Air Rifle (the then current Benjamin would have been the model E or F.)

[trajectory]

Definitely a pity that the museum exhibits are in storage & have been for such a long time. Does anyone know if there is a possibility of them being photographed & put online until they can be displayed again. Or is there a plan to put them on display again?

[spartan]

I shoot bell target in the same club as Ray aka Bellringer, i made a vintage looking bell target for our club that's candle powered, with the intention of having comps using old recoiling springers and candle light only, makes a change from clinical pcps and led lights, Any other clubs fancy a friendly match, by candle light, all in the spirit of the original, let me or Ray know

[elewis411]

Re: Ring My Bell by Frank Spittle.
I am pretty certain that I bought a copy at 'The Shooting Show' a few years ago ... there was a Bell Target stall organised by a Bell Target Club, or maybe an Air rifle club that had Bell Target. Maybe if you find out the name of the stall holder organisation you may be able to find a copy.
Maybe if someone on here has a copy of the show guide it will give the club and contact details.
Cheers, Phil

The book was still available a few years back by writing to Frank spittles wife/widow enclosing a postal order for ( I think ) around £5, when I got my copy by return post there was a card inside from Brenda wishing me good luck....