Kempton

[walnutfarmmick]

Pete was my very first contact and friend on here, about 20 minutes after I joined the forum. I take the piss and tease him whenever I get chance but today I can only salute him for organising a first class do.

Thanks, mate.
Mick

[Troubledshooter]

As has already been said, first class fair, Liz and Pete, looked to me as if there were even more attendees than last time, well done, and good to put a few more faces to BBS names, Mick being one of them, but I obviously missed a few, again.

[gingernut]

Well done again Binners and co.

I had a great day, and feel about 100 this morning.

Special thanks to Mrs Binners who is so charming on the gate and puts wristbands on old men
Not to mention all the emails and other work behind the scenes.

Dont worry about the flask Andrew.
It was a good demonstration as to why Thermos lost out to modern flasks that dont use glass!

[gingernut]

Nice to put faces to BBs members.

And although BBS chaps obviously come in a variety of shapes and sizes I always guess ages wrong from their posts.

[mrgeoff]

I had a hard time not buying another rifle. So bought 2 pistols!

Straight down to Bisley after to shoot them, what a great day!


Cheers!

[chieffool]

Nice to put faces to BBs members.

And although BBS chaps obviously come in a variety of shapes and sizes I always guess ages wrong from their posts.

....couldn't agree more. It was nice to say 'Hello' face-to-face too.
Many thanks to Binners - really looking forward to the next one.

Cheers
Richard

[Abasmajor]

Another roaring success, Mr and Mrs B; you should both be suitably proud of yourselves, as this fair keeps getting better and better.

I managed to find some interesting items. the icing on the cake being a 1930s AGP marked Sprawson Parker Traversing Foresight fitted to a contemporary BSA T prefixed Standard. I have spent 30 years looking for one of these, so finding one I could buy certainly made my day.

John

Hello John,

Glad you finally sourced an example of the Sprawson Parker Traversing Foresight which I have only seen advertised in an old PH catalogue together with this Gibb Headrest for the No 8 sight.

It would be nice to see a few photos and I'm sure Danny would appreciate the opportunity to add some pictures to the Gallery.





Regards
Brian

[Garvin]

It would be nice to see a few photos and I'm sure Danny would appreciate the opportunity to add some pictures to the Gallery

It would, but I respect the fact that John may have other plans for the pics first.

A quote on this interesting sight from Brian in an old BBS post:

"I’ve just been browsing through a 1939 Parker Hale catalogue and came across a couple of interesting items.

First is the "Sprawson-Parker Traversing Foresight" made specially for the B.S.A. Club Air Rifle. This apparently ensures “ a Dead-on Aim” and is “ a necessity for a Winning Matches”. It consists of a traversing block running on a steel ball which is backed by a strong coil spring which eliminates any slackness. The sight has “strong wings” to protect it from damage and was available with interchangeable elements. The chief feature was that the traversing movement could be controlled by a coin slot screw which permitted all shooters to take a “dead-on” aim by means of a scale on the sight mount.

Mr Herbert Sprawson was apparently a well known Birmingham air rifleman and record holder and designed the fore sight which Parker Hale produced."

[Josie & John]

It would, but I respect the fact that John may have other plans for the pics first.

A quote on this interesting sight from Brian in an old BBS post:

"I’ve just been browsing through a 1939 Parker Hale catalogue and came across a couple of interesting items.

First is the "Sprawson-Parker Traversing Foresight" made specially for the B.S.A. Club Air Rifle. This apparently ensures “ a Dead-on Aim” and is “ a necessity for a Winning Matches”. It consists of a traversing block running on a steel ball which is backed by a strong coil spring which eliminates any slackness. The sight has “strong wings” to protect it from damage and was available with interchangeable elements. The chief feature was that the traversing movement could be controlled by a coin slot screw which permitted all shooters to take a “dead-on” aim by means of a scale on the sight mount.

Mr Herbert Sprawson was apparently a well known Birmingham air rifleman and record holder and designed the fore sight which Parker Hale produced."

Thanks Danny and Brian,

I intend to include the Sprawson - Parker sight in my long awaited book and it will be good to feature images of an actual example rather than just a catalogue description.

However, as that may not be ready for a while yet, I do intend sharing the sight with readers later in the year through my regular Airgun World column. I also have access to some interesting aspects of Herbert Sprawson's shooting career, which I hope readers will find as fascinating as I do. I've already had a quick play with the sight and have found it incredibly easy to adjust in comparison to a standard dovetail fitting. The fine blade is useful as it is a lot narrower than a standard BSA bead and does not obscure the target to the same degree as a bead.

Believe it or not, an example of the Gibbs Headrest also turned up at Kempton and was snapped up by a keen Bisley member (no, not me!). I took a few snaps and have passed all of my images to Binners to use on his website, so I am sure that as soon as Mr B has uploaded/downloaded them, he'll share a link.

Kind regards,

John

[Garvin]

Thanks Danny and Brian,

I intend to include the Sprawson - Parker sight in my long awaited book and it will be good to feature images of an actual example rather than just a catalogue description.

However, as that may not be ready for a while yet, I do intend sharing the sight with readers later in the year through my regular Airgun World column. I also have access to some interesting aspects of Herbert Sprawson's shooting career, which I hope readers will find as fascinating as I do. I've already had a quick play with the sight and have found it incredibly easy to adjust in comparison to a standard dovetail fitting. The fine blade is useful as it is a lot narrower than a standard BSA bead and does not obscure the target to the same degree as a bead.

Believe it or not, an example of the Gibbs Headrest also turned up at Kempton and was snapped up by a keen Bisley member (no, not me!). I took a few snaps and have passed all of my images to Binners to use on his website, so I am sure that as soon as Mr B has uploaded/downloaded them, he'll share a link.

Kind regards,

John

Thanks John. I look forward to seeing them.

I have pics of the Gibb headrest here.

[Abasmajor]

Although not as exotic as some of the other finds at Kempton, I finally managed to source an example of this 1970s .22 Webley pellet tin produced to hold 250 rather than the normal quantity of 500. Iv'e lost count of the many hundreds of these tins Iv'e trawled through at various fairs in search of this particular variant.




I'm now on the hunt for another similar tin seen on the right in this photo and belonging to another BBS member which is almost mythical, but they are out there somewhere somewhere if only I can find out where. This tin also ignores the normal Webley convention of orange for .22 and green for .177 only seen on the also extremely rare miniature tin of 250 .177 pellets.

So, please have a look through your hidden away stocks of old pellet tins and see if you may have one these tins you may be prepared to part with.






Brian

[pjbingham]

Well done to Binners & Team,the biggest and busiest yet! Suprisingly I walked away empty handed this time(makes up for the last two times) not that there was a shortage of things on offer.
Although I find social occasions somewhat of a challenge it was nice to meet Mick (WalnutFarmMick) allbut briefly and say hello. Somehow although I was looking for him and him for me I managed to miss Zuke for the whole event so looking forward to catching up with him next time

[Josie & John]

Well done to Binners & Team,the biggest and busiest yet! Suprisingly I walked away empty handed this time(makes up for the last two times) not that there was a shortage of things on offer.
Although I find social occasions somewhat of a challenge it was nice to meet Mick (WalnutFarmMick) allbut briefly and say hello. Somehow although I was looking for him and him for me I managed to miss Zuke for the whole event so looking forward to catching up with him next time

I think Gareth's idea of a meetup is a good one. I also liked Gareth's BBS badge, which instantly identified him. It may not always work though, as my eyes are invariably fixed and focused at table level while I'm browsing. Amazing I don't bump into anything really

John

[Shed tuner]

Yeah, BBS badges for the next event is a great idea

[Lakey]

Yeah, BBS badges for the next event is a great idea

+1 Fabulous Idea. I attended yesterdays event, and apart from one or two people that I knew, I didn't identify any new BBSers in the crowd. Would love to put faces to some of the names on here.

Here's to the next one !


Lakey