Restoring an antique strike-pump air gun

[junglie]

You've certainly eared any profit you'd make selling that one, great restoration , well done!

[greenwayjames]

Thank you for an interesting post and even better photos. Why are they called a strike pump? Your fine old air rifle works using a piston to compress air and blow the dart down the barrel or have I misunderstood how it works?

[ccdjg]

Thank you for an interesting post and even better photos. Why are they called a strike pump? Your fine old air rifle works using a piston to compress air and blow the dart down the barrel or have I misunderstood how it works?

That is a very interesting question and one that I don't really know the answer to. You are right in that the system is basically what we would call now a spring piston mechanism. The term "strike pump" seems to have been coined by Arne Hoff in his 1972 book "Airguns and other pneumatic arms", and he has a whole chapter entitled "Strike-pump Guns". Wherever it came from, the term has now come into general use (especially by auction houses) as a descriptor for very early spring-piston airguns where the cylinder is concealed within the stock. It is also popularly used in Germany, as "Schlagpump".

If anyone knows of any use of the term before 1972 I would be very interested to know.
Thanks,
John

[45flint]

That is something special, fine work. Reminds me of the fine brass inlay work done on flintlock rifles in this country. Something I’ve always admired.

[njaw]

Thanks for such a great post. It made my morning commute bearable!

[greenwayjames]

That is a very interesting question and one that I don't really know the answer to. You are right in that the system is basically what we would call now a spring piston mechanism. The term "strike pump" seems to have been coined by Arne Hoff in his 1972 book "Airguns and other pneumatic arms", and he has a whole chapter entitled "Strike-pump Guns". Wherever it came from, the term has now come into general use (especially by auction houses) as a descriptor for very early spring-piston airguns where the cylinder is concealed within the stock. It is also popularly used in Germany, as "Schlagpump".

If anyone knows of any use of the term before 1972 I would be very interested to know.
Thanks,
John

Thank you for the reply. I will have to look out for Arne Hoff's book. Xmas is a long way off but I have a birthday before that

[micky2]

What a very good job you have done on restoring a antique airgun not an easy job, and putting it back to more like it's original state brass work. and working order again.

[greenwayjames]

That is a very interesting question and one that I don't really know the answer to. You are right in that the system is basically what we would call now a spring piston mechanism. The term "strike pump" seems to have been coined by Arne Hoff in his 1972 book "Airguns and other pneumatic arms", and he has a whole chapter entitled "Strike-pump Guns". Wherever it came from, the term has now come into general use (especially by auction houses) as a descriptor for very early spring-piston airguns where the cylinder is concealed within the stock. It is also popularly used in Germany, as "Schlagpump".

If anyone knows of any use of the term before 1972 I would be very interested to know.
Thanks,
John

Arne Hoff doesnt sound like an English name. Do you think something may have got lost in the translation? Perhaps strike pump is the name given to spring piston guns in his native language? Only a thought.

[DT Fletcher]

Arne Hoff doesnt sound like an English name. Do you think something may have got lost in the translation? Perhaps strike pump is the name given to spring piston guns in his native language? Only a thought.

Hoff is Danish.

At the intro of chap three, Hoff explains how he came to use the term "strike pump."

'Systematically different from the bellows gun is a type which is generally called a spring gun, where the momentary air pressure is created by a spring-propelled piston rushing forward in a pump-cylinder. The term spring gun is rather unsatisfactory as it ought to indicate a gun where the projectile is expelled by the direct action of a spring. In the following, the gun with spring-propelled piston will, therefore, be called strike-pump gun.'

[cinedux]

Never mind,off to a St Patrick's DO on the 17th!

[greenwayjames]

Hoff is Danish.

At the intro of chap three, Hoff explains how he came to use the term "strike pump."

'Systematically different from the bellows gun is a type which is generally called a spring gun, where the momentary air pressure is created by a spring-propelled piston rushing forward in a pump-cylinder. The term spring gun is rather unsatisfactory as it ought to indicate a gun where the projectile is expelled by the direct action of a spring. In the following, the gun with spring-propelled piston will, therefore, be called strike-pump gun.'

Thanks. That explains it. It was the strike part that threw me off. I thought it referred to the energy from the spring being being passed to the projectile by way of a stiff rod

[DT Fletcher]

Thanks. That explains it. It was the strike part that threw me off. I thought it referred to the energy from the spring being being passed to the projectile by way of a stiff rod

Hoff closely follows Wolff, so, he tends to be a stickler for terminology: see Wolff's Air Gun Batteries.

By the way, there are very few proper antique air gun references available. Hoff's work and Wolff's are absolutely essential. Not much else is.

[Garvin]

Hoff is Danish.

At the intro of chap three, Hoff explains how he came to use the term "strike pump."

'Systematically different from the bellows gun is a type which is generally called a spring gun, where the momentary air pressure is created by a spring-propelled piston rushing forward in a pump-cylinder. The term spring gun is rather unsatisfactory as it ought to indicate a gun where the projectile is expelled by the direct action of a spring. In the following, the gun with spring-propelled piston will, therefore, be called strike-pump gun.'

That explanation would apply to virtually all spring piston airguns!

I'd say 'strike pump' is a weak term for a spring piston design and there must be a better way to distinguish spring piston airguns from direct spring guns. It's the sort of thing a Dane with English as his second language might come up with!

'Spring-powered air compression' would be more accurate, though it's a bit of a mouthful... 'Spring air' gun would be a possible compromise.

I suppose that at the time Hoff was writing, he was thinking of those horrible anti-poacher spring guns, which I think did not employ air at all to drive a missile, more like a spring-powered animal trap.

[Shed tuner]

Great work. These days I enjoy restoring basket cases more than I do actually shooting

[ccdjg]

That explanation would apply to virtually all spring piston airguns!

I'd say 'strike pump' is a weak term for a spring piston design and there must be a better way to distinguish spring piston airguns from direct spring guns. It's the sort of thing a Dane with English as his second language might come up with!

'Spring-powered air compression' would be more accurate, though it's a bit of a mouthful... 'Spring air' gun would be a possible compromise.

I suppose that at the time Hoff was writing, he was thinking of those horrible anti-poacher spring guns, which I think did not employ air at all to drive a missile, more like a spring-powered animal trap.

After re-reading the chapter in Arne Hoff's book, it seemed clear to me that he did indeed intend the term "strike pump" to cover all types of spring (or rubber band or hand) driven piston air guns. The first use of the term after his book was published, was to the best of my knowledge in Germany by the Hermann Historica auction house. They seem to have annexed the phrase for their own convenience to describe specifically spring piston airguns where the cylinder is in the stock and the system is cocked by a winding chain mechanism. They probably did this because there wasn't an easy alternative available. Already they had words like Bugelspanner, Hebelspanner, Kurbelspanner, Hebelschieber-Verschluss, Laufeindrucker other types of cocking system. Whatever the demerits of such a term, it seems to have caught on and has appeared increasingly in auction catalogues and articles.

To show the language problems you can get with descriptive terms for guns, take the direct spring propelled guns (i.e. those not using air compression) for example. In the USA these are referred to as "catapult guns". In the UK this would conjure up a picture of something quite different, something that would be translated back into America English as "sling-shot gun".