Registered User
at the bay.Spring/piston powered,this rare BB shooter is on 'buy now'($159) with no takers!
Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
Can't believe this rarity hasn't been snapped up.It took me a long time to get one of these, as you well know Trev. Unique among spring air pistols as the only one that uses a stretched spring rather than a compressed sping for power, and also great fun to use.
The Chrono Slayer
On Fleabay?
I can't find it!
John
for my gunz guitarz and bonzai, see here
www.flickr.com/photos/8163995@N07/
Registered User
The clue is in the $, it's listed on US bay.
.com instead of .co.uk
The Chrono Slayer
Originally Posted by magicesperanto
Ahh, Thanks
John
for my gunz guitarz and bonzai, see here
www.flickr.com/photos/8163995@N07/
Registered User
No problem John, I had a quick peek, it looks mint to me.
Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
This thread aroused my interest in this rare pistol and made me dig out my own example for a fresh look. As it is so rare and, as far as I know, has never been reviewed anywhere before, I thought I would put up a few pics and comments on how it performs. Its correct full name is the Healthways Western Plainsman, not to be confused with the much better known CO2 Healthways Plainsman. To make things even more complicated, this gun was made in two versions - this spring powered one and a CO2 powered look-alike, which not only had the same name but was sold in identical packaging. Not surprisingly, in the USA the more powerful CO2 version was a much better seller, explaining why so few of the spring version were ever made. Pictures of the pistol and its paperwork can be found on Trevor's website here http://cinedux.com/healthways-bb-pistols.php, or now reproduced in the Vintage Airguns Gallery here https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....om/healthways/.
The gun is very heavy and quite a handful. It is cocked by pulling back the hammer which retracts the piston against the restoring force of optionally one or two small but strong coil springs. Squeezing the trigger releases the hammer which drives the piston forwards with surprising force.
You can select the power setting by adjusting a small screw at the base of the hammer, and a small screwdriver is provided in the hollow grip for this purpose. You can see that there is also space provided in the grip for a tube of BB's.
The gun is a repeater for BB's and you can see here the spring fed magazine which lies along the barrel. It seems to work faultlessly with steel BB's.
Alternatively the pistol can be used to fire darts, in which case you have to remove the barrel and insert the darts manually into the breech. The barrel is spring loaded and very easy to remove by just pulling on the magazine sideways when it automatically pops out. Everything has been very well thought out in the design of the pistol, and it is very solidly made.
Cocking the hammer on full power is not too difficult once you have got used to it and it is surprising how much power it develops with such a small piston stroke. I chrono'd mine and over 10 shots it registered 185 fps with a variation of only plus or minus 5fps. Only a short range plinker of course, but definitely not a toy. The advertising literature is a bit optimistic, claiming that it will penetrate a can at 15 feet, as the best I could get was split indentations in an aluminium can. All in all a great collectible from the early 60's.
Dodgy Diana User
Fascinating. Never heard of that before. Thanks for posting.
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