Quote Originally Posted by 45flint View Post
Yes my early model 50 is the same, in German they were into target guns at the time. Even with a better power plant this later model is in the 9 FPE. Reason I’m sure it didn’t continue as power was king in the 1980’s. In German these older rifles bring a premium given their limits are 6 FPE.
Yes, pre-1970 airguns (that’s when the law changed) over 7.5 joule (5.53 ft-lbs) are still free to own in Germany (“grandfathered” as they say in the states). A niche enthusiast market for pre-70 HW35s, BSF55s, D35 and 50s etc. I’m favourably impressed that the Germans didn’t make the law retrospective.

Happily for the German makers, not long after their domestic market for what were then “high power” premium airguns was ended by legislation, the US and U.K. ones grew rapidly. If the US market for “adult airguns” and the U.K. one for “full legal hunting power” ones had only arrived in the 80s, the history or airguns would have been very different. The Germans would have gone very hard to 10M match, but the US and U.K. markets would have been happy hunting grounds for Webley, BSA, etc.