Does anyone have a wooden air-rifle? A friend of mine who spent some time as a teacher/civil-engineer/anthropologist in Botswana says he made a fine airgun from stinkwood, ebony, leather and the barrel of a broken .22 rimfire pistol. He got the mainspring from a BSA Airsporter (it is not recorded whether it was from a model with a self-opening tap) by writing to a gunsmith's in Johannesburg. It was of the underlever design, heavy and accurate to 10 yards with .22 ammuniton he cast himself.

Sadly he was unable to bring it back with him, as his Botswanese girlfriend, a lady of fiery tempers, wanted to keep it. She was very fond of drinking rum, and then taking pot-shots at the weasel-rats that are such a plague in the Botswanian Riviera.

Has anyone made an air-rifle from wood? Obviously my friend had the advantages of plentiful African hardwoods and a lathe, but surely someone else must have tried this obvious experiment?

Yours In Sport

Mr D