Browning Airstar not for the faint of heart, lol

[45flint]

A prime example of an engineered solution to a problem that doesn't need fixing.
You're right though, 29 years as an electronics engineer has taught me not to rely on electronics
Can't wait till we're sharing the road with Google and Tesla's self driving execution wagons.....

Don't the top of the line air pistols have electronic triggers?

[Biker_Bob]

It's the cocking mechanism I was thinking of.

[45flint]

Also just some engineering flaws probably caused by the gun just being made too complicated by all the electronics. Though my issue seems to have been cured by some lubrication of the safety mechanism, there is no provision for any manual overrides if anything gets out of electronic sequence. Luckily I enjoy taking things apart, and it took taking off the stock to decock the gun. Any person that just buys guns to shoot would have to send the gun in for repair with the spring cocked for who knows how long. I think I can see why we don't see the Rutten name on airguns anymore. Lol But still goes down as the weirdest rifle I have ever seen, and I can see why you can get them so cheap. As I said before you don't have to be nuts to buy one but it sure helps.

[Benelli B76]

Also just some engineering flaws probably caused by the gun just being made too complicated by all the electronics. Though my issue seems to have been cured by some lubrication of the safety mechanism, there is no provision for any manual overrides if anything gets out of electronic sequence. Luckily I enjoy taking things apart, and it took taking off the stock to decock the gun. Any person that just buys guns to shot would have to send the gun in for repair with the spring cocked for who knows how long. I think I can see why we don't see the Rutten name on airguns anymore. Lol But still goes down as the weirdest rifle I have ever seen, and I can see why you can get them so cheap. As I said before you don't have to be nuts to buy one but it sure helps.

Agree with your conclusion regarding Rutten, my experience with the underlever version, the Winstar left me with a damaged hand, and my mate shot a hole in his front door with it.

Baz

[gingernut]

I did.
When you shut the underlever it hit the trigger mechanism and the gun went off.
Baz tried to fix it and it attacked him.

Got refund.

[Hsing-ee]

Suddenly my curiosity and interest in being a Browning owner has evaporated. Saved me £400, thanks for this post.

[DT Fletcher]

Great post!

To me, this is a clear reminder of the decocking issue seen in the old Girandoni and also the London Air canes: difficulty of safely decocking. Like as seen with later versions of the Girandoni, there needs to be a decocking override button to bring the gun to a safe decocked state.

The inherent danger of the Girandoni type is memorialized in the Meriwether Lewis journal and the air gun accident on Bruno Is.

This Browning safety issue sounds even worse.

[45flint]

Suddenly my curiosity and interest in being a Browning owner has evaporated. Saved me £400, thanks for this post.

Probably wise but I am still enjoying mine but my entry point was £155. Actually the stuck safety was probably a blessing cause it made me find my way inside very quickly. It's two screws to get the stock off and that gave me access to all the mechanics. Had some Beeman Spring oil and lubed the spring and the chain and gears. It did quiet down the mechanics some. Have not had issues with the safety since I lubed it. New battery is still going strong after 3 days and probably 75? shots. I thought the Windstar had potential but the accounts above make me want to pass. I think the inherent flaws of no manual decocking and potentially inability to fire of the AirStar is pretty fatal, unless you feel comfortable going inside and doing it yourself.