Springer joy!

[tinbum]

What springer makes you smile?

I have recently endured a period of ennui with springers, everytning is just so "samey" if you know what I mean? It's all just the same old reheated format with the only new models of note being copies of something else from the dawn of time.

Where is the innovation? Where is the "Wow!" factor?

I only went and found it didn't I!? It was hiding in 1993 all along.

It's a Park Rifles RH93, a glorious homage to over-engineering and bonkers design. The heft (polite word for weight) is very solid as is the build quality. Despite this it shoulders well and is steady on target. I have also been lead to believe it was a bit of a beast to cock. Now, I'm only comparing it to my other special guns from that period, the Theoben Fenman and Parker Hale Dragon, but this is a doddle. In fact, the first attempt nearly ripped the cocking lever off as I put a massive burst of effort into it.

On firing there is a twang, not HW with the wrong spring bad, but there. Trouble is over the chrono it's doing a pretty steady 11.2-11.3 ft/lb, so I don't really want to fiddle around with it yet. Maybe later......

I've had recoilless springers before, sled systems, hydraulic shock absorbers and even another opposing system set-up, but this really is a pleasurable rifle to use.

Bring back the days of innovation and the built to excel ethos, rather than copy and built to a price.

[Mole trapper]

Yep, but you get easily bored
Just saying you know where I am.

[Mole trapper]

Yep, but you get easily bored
Just saying you know where I am.

Me being an arse aside, do you reckon it would be possible to revisit say the 70,s Webley hawks mk3, the original 27 etc that took a terrible toll on the rabbits and pigeons of the Cotswold's and make them actually pleasant to shoot?
Edited to confirm, not the poor Beastie's, I mean the guns

[tinbum]

Me being an arse aside, do you reckon it would be possible to revisit say the 70,s Webley hawks mk3, the original 27 etc that took a terrible toll on the rabbits and pigeons of the Cotswold's and make them actually pleasant to shoot?

Some more than others, but to a degree yes! If you can avoid the ones with the more terminal problems it's perfectly reasonable to make a decent 70's or 80's gun outperform its original factory form. A lot of the improvement will come from the advance in pellet design, but if you can group ot at 30 yards you can shoot rabbits at 30 yards. Just look at the early 77's and 80's, with a little tickle they're every bit as good as a factory fresh one.

Do you have a donor in mind?

[Mole trapper]

Some more than others, but to a degree yes! If you can avoid the ones with the more terminal problems it's perfectly reasonable to make a decent 70's or 80's gun outperform its original factory form. A lot of the improvement will come from the advance in pellet design, but if you can group ot at 30 yards you can shoot rabbits at 30 yards. Just look at the early 77's and 80's, with a little tickle they're every bit as good as a factory fresh one.

Do you have a donor in mind?

Usual thing, rose tinted glasses and all that nostalgic stuff. I'm seriously on the look for a hawk as I paid for that one by shooting rats on a game farm, but I would like a 27 because it was my first.
Bugger it, yes I want them both.

[Geezer]

Me being an arse aside, do you reckon it would be possible to revisit say the 70,s Webley hawks mk3, the original 27 etc that took a terrible toll on the rabbits and pigeons of the Cotswold's and make them actually pleasant to shoot?
Edited to confirm, not the poor Beastie's, I mean the guns

27s should be good to shoot without fettling. One of the better springers. Ever.

Some more than others, but to a degree yes! If you can avoid the ones with the more terminal problems it's perfectly reasonable to make a decent 70's or 80's gun outperform its original factory form. A lot of the improvement will come from the advance in pellet design, but if you can group ot at 30 yards you can shoot rabbits at 30 yards. Just look at the early 77's and 80's, even without a little tickle they're much better than a factory fresh one.

Do you have a donor in mind?

Fixed that for you.

[charub]

I have recently bought an earlier HW50 (not sure of age, but not a 99) and I love it. I have replaced the perfekt trigger with a nicer Rekord and it's a joy to plink with.
It sits in my kitchen by the back door, whenever I walk past I can't help but send some lead down range.

[tinbum]

Fixed that for you.

You are right, I'm thinking of the canal finds with a fitted "Hox" and handful of washers that usually end up here.

[robs5230]

Always hankered after a Park and very nearly couldn't resist one about 6 months ago. Never seen one in the flesh so I'd like to see that when we hook up Nick.

[tinbum]

Always hankered after a Park and very nearly couldn't resist one about 6 months ago. Never seen one in the flesh so I'd like to see that when we hook up Nick.

We could maybe meet up for a shoot later in the week? Have you been to the club at Pyworthy?

[TonyL]

So, so many springers have that quality that demands that you get to know them intimately. That's the joy of a good old Boing-machine. Thinking back to that halcyon period, there were many innovative designs (some maybe flawed) that were over-engineered and so different. Many would reveal the character of the designer. Maybe some of the designers had in mind to fight back against the PCP onslaught and saw the higher ticket prices as indicators that there was, indeed, a market for more expensive airguns. And, I believe, so much of this drive was created by a more enlightened buying public, courtesy of Airgun World.

Of the 70s and 80s rifles, the Mercury always held a special place in my airgunning history. Graceful, sweeping lines with superb handling and the feel of a true "sporting" rifle (the blonde "slabby siders a little less so), but they're not a challenge to get shooting sweetly as this is quite easily achieved with them.

I even thought the triggers weren't that bad, especially for a field rifle. Sometimes the flaky build and materials would be a source for disappointment and that barrel hinge PIN on many models a major let down. But those later ones (and Airsporter) felt so nice and so natural.

And whilst I don't think it will be that long until I succumb to one again, it would be so nice if BSA decided to launch an improved version. Can't ever see it happening, mind.

[cooper_dan]

Of the 70s and 80s rifles, the Mercury always held a special place in my airgunning history. Graceful, sweeping lines with superb handling and the feel of a true "sporting" rifle (the blonde "slabby siders a little less so), but they're not a challenge to get shooting sweetly as this is quite easily achieved with them.

I even thought the triggers weren't that bad, especially for a field rifle. Sometimes the flaky build and materials would be a source for disappointment and that barrel hinge PIN on many models a major let down. But those later ones (and Airsporter) felt so nice and so natural.

And whilst I don't think it will be that long until I succumb to one again, it would be so nice if BSA decided to launch an improved version. Can't ever see it happening, mind.

We recently got ourselves a Mercury Challenger Carbine. It's a bugger to cock and it smokes and twangs, but it might be my new favourite. For now at least...

[TonyL]

Get the Marlboro Reds out of its system and de-twang it, sensible tune and spring and it will be lovely, Dan.

[TonyL]

Thinking back just a short while and for sheer shooting enjoyment (not talking clinical long range accuracy here), some of the most enjoyable I have had the pleasure of was a certain weekend at a certain Quigley Hollow when I had the undoubted pleasure of shooting a few of Ray / Trans-dresser / of Culty fame's Air Arms sidelevers. Absolutely lovely. Swing that lever out, return, open tap, lob a pellet in, close tap, fire. And all even quicker to do than to describe.

But even they were narrowly beaten by the sheer joy and simplicity of shooting Mr Severnsrider's, Les's and Vernal's absolutely splendid pre-war Lincoln Jeffries / BSA underlevers. So sweet shooting and the positioning of the underlever makes perfect ergonomic sense facilitating even quicker tap operation and loading.

Now, of all the guns that I really, really MUST have one day, one of these has got to be right at the top of my list.

[Phil Russell]

I well remember the first time I took my RH91 to an HFT shoot. Yes... it had to go in the Open class with pcps as it was recoiless but many shooters had not seen one before and wanted to know what it was. Many fell about laughing when they saw the cycle chain inside it but when they had a go, their reaction was full of the 'wow' factor.
I seem to remember I did quite well (for me anyway).
Cheers, Phil