Restoring an antique strike-pump air gun

[D10bore]

A wonderful job you have done bringing a piece of history back to life thanks I enjoyed reading that mike

[averageplinker]

Wow, what a fascinating rifle and resurrection! Great work

At first the bang sounds excessive for the output but then I start wondering, is it deliberate? Was it intended to replicate the recoil of shooting a powder burner of the same era? Whatever the intention it's great to see her working again.

[Troubledshooter]

Very nice bit of necessary restoration work, John. Good to see an old timer brought back to life.

[RichardH]

Fascinating work

Well done

[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