Sterling airguns

[WILBA]

They wern't 'too quirky' for most tastes.

Fact is they are very heavy for a 12 fpe rifle, the trigger is sub-Rekord standard and they are inefficient which results in a heavy cocking effort. In addition they are not easy to work on.

The heaviness and hard cocking might be overlooked if they were spectacularly accurate, but the fact of the matter is that a TX200 will exceed the Park in this area, and you can do alot more practice with the TX before you get tired.

The Park came out as direct spring competition to the PCPs and unsurprisingly lost.

the quirky comment was regarding the stirling guns not the park.

[WILBA]

Park is a production air rifle, Whiscombe is more like a custom airgun made and hand assembled by a craftsman.

What do you think a custom like a Venom Mach 1 or 2 is worth?

I'm not saying I'd pay 4-5k for a Whiscombe, but people do...

As for the double (triple on the 80!) cocking, yes it's quirky, but what about the bike chain on the Park

Also, the trigger on the Whiscombe has no equal when it comes to airguns (maybe only the German FT guns come close), and they easily achieve 12ftlbs (30ftlbs in FAC), the Park especially in .177 struggles to get 12ftlbs out of it.

thought there were problems with the fac whiscombes? whats the cocking effort on a whiscombe like at fac?

[kennyc]

thought there were problems with the fac whiscombes? whats the cocking effort on a whiscombe like at fac?

You work the cocking lever 3 times as its a ratchet system so effort is ok they are extremely well made and accurate rifles , designed to be a dedicated target rifle in a time before pcps. I used to be in a club with John whiscombe and he often would bring his personal rifles out to play. A very ingenious design

[nurek]

thought there were problems with the fac whiscombes? whats the cocking effort on a whiscombe like at fac?

What problems are you referring to? I have not heard of any problems with FAC Whiscombes except for the normal stuff like finding the right pellet etc.

As kennyc says, the JW80 is cocked 3 times, the third cocks the trigger only. On a FAC Whiscombe cocking effort on each stroke is similar to cocking a 'hard' 12ftlb gun, if you think about it there are 2 powerplants each producing 15ftlbs for a 30ftlb gun, so the cocking effort is split in half and the cocking lever is of reasonable length.

The point I was trying to make is that the Whiscombe can easily achieve 12ftlb with the 2 strokes, the Park struggles to get 12ftlbs in .177, and hovers between 10 and 11.

If 12ftlbs could be achieved in one stroke, John would have probably done it...

[WILBA]

What problems are you referring to? I have not heard of any problems with FAC Whiscombes except for the normal stuff like finding the right pellet etc.

As kennyc says, the JW80 is cocked 3 times, the third cocks the trigger only. On a FAC Whiscombe cocking effort on each stroke is similar to cocking a 'hard' 12ftlb gun, if you think about it there are 2 powerplants each producing 15ftlbs for a 30ftlb gun, so the cocking effort is split in half and the cocking lever is of reasonable length.

The point I was trying to make is that the Whiscombe can easily achieve 12ftlb with the 2 strokes, the Park struggles to get 12ftlbs in .177, and hovers between 10 and 11.

If 12ftlbs could be achieved in one stroke, John would have probably done it...

rather a pcp if you have to cock it 3 times. imagine using it for hunting you would be knacked with all that cocking effort. and lets be honest 3-4k for a secondhand air rifle is rediculous. people slag daystate off for their prices and they are on the high side new. collectable or not the price is far to high for whiscombes. i know they are ulta rare but people are themselves pushing the prices up! i can afford to buy one if one was available,but would i would never pay that price as it is just to much for an air rifle. each to their own i guess.

[MartynB]

do you honestly believe though that the whiscombe is worth £2500+ more than a park though?

Yes

In fairness, it's what someone is willing to pay if they want something

[Shed tuner]

Holts have a park for auction at £1400ish tomorrow

Let’s see how that goes.

Amazingly it didn't sell

It's still available for the same money in the unsold lots auction. I guess they think it's worth more; "This example was Roy Hutchinson's second prototype of the Park Rifle"

[RichardH]

Lots of the expensive stuff goes to the US, exchange rates are very favourable right now for yanks buying british guns.

Even with its provenance it’s still looked toppy to me though..

Maybe next time.