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Thread: Early airgun memories

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by TonyL View Post
    My very earliest memories are a little hazy.

    My mum and dad live next to the canal and we were out there fishing from about 7 years old. By about the age of 10 I'd also be shooting rats down the canal with home made catapults and I was my dad's "rabbit carrier".

    Now, one or two of the older lads that we met down the canal had airguns. I think the Webley Premier was the one that stood out most. And I started getting interested in airguns. But they were to allude me until I was about 11......At secondary school, I had a couple of mates and their dads had land. One of my mates had a BSA Merlin and the other a Relum Jelly (Telly?) Junior. I was a little apprehensive at first and that little Relum seemed to be quite harsh and I think I can remember it rattling my cheek!

    But the bug had been well and truly bitten. I kept bugging my parents for one and the answer was a big, fat "no". All the grown ups I tried to speak to looked at me with a very bemused expression when I tried to explain that an airgun that was a gun that used air to fire projectiles as opposed to a power tool.

    I eventually got my first one aged 12 or 13.....a Relum 822 which my dad haggled a lass who used to fish with us down to a fiver. It was a nasty, low powered, inaccurate little thing, but it satiated my thirst a little until I finally, at age 14, I think, bought a new Super Meteor.

    And, around that time, Airgun World was released, bringing new found knowledge and enlightenment and my World changed forever.

    Happy Days Tony.


    My Father took me hunting with him when I was tiny (3-4 years old) and I shot my first rabbit with him holding the rifle (some low mag scoped spring rifle, probably catalogue purchsed) whilst I looked through the scope and pulled the trigger-I asked my Mum about this fairly recently and she told me she was furious when she found out he was letting me shoot.


    I had to wait a lot longer for my "own" rifle-as the youngest of all the male cousins, I was the last one to take possession of a well used, by several cousins ( but beautifully stocked) little Diana break barrel. It was my birthday present aged 11-I bloody loved that rifle and became a very good hunter with it-I had to learn real fieldcraft to be able to get within range.
    Like our Tony, I graduated to a Meteor Super, then onto an ASI Magnum, later an HW35. These were followed by an HW80- and HW77 purchased from our beloved forum sponsor (those were the days!).
    Fast forward 5 years and I treated myself to my first pre-charge-a second hand Titan Manitou in .22 and wow. Just wow-the boundaries and possibilities were pushed.
    Many years and probably close to 100 rifles later, I can honestly say that nothing comes close to that very first little Diana rifle.

    Great thread chaps-keep it up.
    Never go off half cocked....

    All lies matter

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baxterbasics View Post
    Happy Days Tony.


    My Father took me hunting with him when I was tiny (3-4 years old) and I shot my first rabbit with him holding the rifle (some low mag scoped spring rifle, probably catalogue purchsed) whilst I looked through the scope and pulled the trigger-I asked my Mum about this fairly recently and she told me she was furious when she found out he was letting me shoot.


    I had to wait a lot longer for my "own" rifle-as the youngest of all the male cousins, I was the last one to take possession of a well used, by several cousins ( but beautifully stocked) little Diana break barrel. It was my birthday present aged 11-I bloody loved that rifle and became a very good hunter with it-I had to learn real fieldcraft to be able to get within range.
    Like our Tony, I graduated to a Meteor Super, then onto an ASI Magnum, later an HW35. These were followed by an HW80- and HW77 purchased from our beloved forum sponsor (those were the days!).
    Fast forward 5 years and I treated myself to my first pre-charge-a second hand Titan Manitou in .22 and wow. Just wow-the boundaries and possibilities were pushed.
    Many years and probably close to 100 rifles later, I can honestly say that nothing comes close to that very first little Diana rifle.

    Great thread chaps-keep it up.
    Like Tony and your good self,my 1st gun I bought my self was a bsa super meteor,and I still have it.
    I still enjoy my airguns 40+ years later,but the very early years hold great memories for me.
    Les..

  3. #18
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    First time I saw a old break barrel air gun. Was my pal at school had one. We didn't have pellets or allowed any!!!!! So we fired nails out it! Oh the good old days.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baxterbasics View Post
    Happy Days Tony.


    My Father took me hunting with him when I was tiny (3-4 years old) and I shot my first rabbit with him holding the rifle (some low mag scoped spring rifle, probably catalogue purchsed) whilst I looked through the scope and pulled the trigger-I asked my Mum about this fairly recently and she told me she was furious when she found out he was letting me shoot.


    I had to wait a lot longer for my "own" rifle-as the youngest of all the male cousins, I was the last one to take possession of a well used, by several cousins ( but beautifully stocked) little Diana break barrel. It was my birthday present aged 11-I bloody loved that rifle and became a very good hunter with it-I had to learn real fieldcraft to be able to get within range.
    Like our Tony, I graduated to a Meteor Super, then onto an ASI Magnum, later an HW35. These were followed by an HW80- and HW77 purchased from our beloved forum sponsor (those were the days!).
    Fast forward 5 years and I treated myself to my first pre-charge-a second hand Titan Manitou in .22 and wow. Just wow-the boundaries and possibilities were pushed.
    Many years and probably close to 100 rifles later, I can honestly say that nothing comes close to that very first little Diana rifle.

    Great thread chaps-keep it up.
    Yep, certainly a good thread, Graham. These type of threads also seem to go down well and remind people of those glorious early days and the happy, carefree times we enjoyed.

    Hope you're okay, Bash Daddy!

    Now, back in my very early days of Relum ownership, we didn't have a gun shop in town. Just a sports shop that sold Relums, Dianas, Marksman & Milbro pellets and we had the local Co-Op store that sold Dianas in the sports section. Milbro Dianas, that is.

    Now, I really can't remember if AGW had been launched when I got that Meteor Super. But the magazine certainly got me interested in the technical side. And the shop, a sports / fishing / shooting shop 8 miles from home sold Eley Wasp and BSA Pylarms pellets! Remember when the gun tests included a strip-down guide? Once I'd had my rifle a while I managed to get my mate, who lived two doors away, interested. And his mum and dad bought him a Diana G80. I had a rabbiting permission and we'd share many happy times chilling in the countryside. Oh yes, just remembered; shortly before he got the Diana, he had borrowed a Webley Hawk from another of our school friends. After about twenty shots with it, on discharge it made a bit of a din.......a broken spring! So we had to source a spring and strip the gun & replace the spring, guided by Eddie Barber's instructions. We'd have been 14 or 15 and re-assembling the trigger I remember was a bit of an ordeal! Whilst we were in there it received a spit and polish tune. Seem to remember using LT2, but can't 100% remember! We got into tweaking our guns and those of other school friends. My friend was given some dry graphite powder that his dad brought home from work and we played with a few different ideas.

    Now, round about late 14 / early 15, I got my first HW35. Lovely rifle. Got my first long range crow with it....35 yards using RWS Diabolo "Squirrels" wadcutters. Remember them? Due to a combination of lack of strength and skill, I defected for a short while (like a month) and traded the Weihrauch in for a Norica 3 shot bolt action .410. Hopeless beyond 20 yards. I ended up swapping that for a BSA Mercury which was my one and only gun for a long while and the little Beesa and I accounted for many bunnies and rats and that's the rifle I really learned to shoot properly with. Then followed the FWB Sport, HW80, another 35, the 77, plus one or two that didn't stay for long, like the Crosman 766.

    First rabbit at 3 or 4 years old? That's got to be some kind of record? Nice one!
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  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by baldinio View Post
    My first ever airgun was my dad's old relum jelly which had no rearsight so I cobbled one up out of a piece of tin. That was about age 11, I badgered my dad for a better rifle as I would read airgunner and airgun world and longed to try my hand at hunting. The old man said I wasn't allowed to shoot animals, and that if i wanted a better airgun i had to join a club. So age 12 I joined the local 10metre indoor club and received a gamo compact pistol for my thirteenth birthday. Age fifteen i started saving all my pocket money and wages from working in my dad's shop to buy a proper rifle as soon as I turned sixteen. Shortly after my birthday i persuaded my dad to drive me All the way to Blackpool so could purchase a theoben fenman, I had seen one month's beforehand in one of the magazine's and had fallen in love at first sight, hence my enthusiastic saving over the previous long months. I joined the local ft club and used my theoben on their indoor range and their outdoor course, at the club i met a few guys who were into hunting and was taken along by one of them, I was hooked from the first outing and have never looked back
    Lovely little story, Chris. And your very own Theoben Fenman at just age 16! Well done that lad. And no wonder you were so keen on getting another recently, it must have brought back some very special memories.
    Last edited by TonyL; 20-06-2019 at 04:32 AM. Reason: Well some?.. Well done!
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
    NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by les allam View Post
    Like Tony and your good self,my 1st gun I bought my self was a bsa super meteor,and I still have it.
    I still enjoy my airguns 40+ years later,but the very early years hold great memories for me.
    Les..
    Special times, Les, and priceless memories.
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
    NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!

  7. #22
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    My first airgun was a GAT pistol,I was 11,I went on to a Diana 22 then a Milbro 22(model numbers.)
    I could shoot a match in a swirling stream with them nearly every time.
    When the PCP's came out I couldn't believe the lack of kick.I was fascinated how you could keep the scope on the target after you had shot without the gun moving.
    I was fascinated with hotting springers up,but when the 12ftlb law came in I lost interest in springers.
    I had the HW 80 for quite a while,I was hitting rabbits at 70-80 yards,but the law changed,so my interest in springers went out of the window.
    I have an Airarms s400 at the moment,with a very nice scope on it.

  8. #23
    robby is offline Whos the odd one out now
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    My earliest air rifle was a Diana model 25,its uses leather piston head rather than today plastic material,had load of fun with it and it is a .177 if I remembered correctly!.There was no dovetail groove to mount a scope only open sight,fun knocking off those toy green soldiers too.

  9. #24
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    First airgun was like most a gat. For my 12th birthday my mum bought me a webley hawk mk2. Back in them days we could walk down the street on our way to the woods and the local Bobby would stop and have a chat and ask us to be good and stay safe. He was a hunter himself in his younger days.we would sometimes just go up the woods to go for long walks with the guns and just have fun hitting targets of some sort and not shoot anything else. Other times we would go up behind the local dog homing place and where they dumped the sawdust there were loads of rats and we would kill loads. Never many rabbits up our woods except on the farmers land which we stayed off as they knew our parents. We had respect for that even as young as we were. When I left school I bought a Benyamin pumper which lasted about 2 weeks as I got knacked pumping it up. Changed it for a hw35 export. Then a year later I changed it for a hw80 which I tuned and was putting out 21ftlb. Then he law changed so I ditched airguns and went in to shotguns for many years. My love affair with airguns came back to me in 1990 where I bought a new hw80 and went hunting rabbits and rats on the farmers land in a village called crynant in Neath. The farmers was a gem and me and my mate would always buy him a bottle of whiskey at Christmas time as a thank you.since then I have bought and sold around 50-60 airguns. I currently have 20 which I am gonna thin out as I do not have the time to use them these days but even now when I hold one of them I can drift off back in to my memories and think of he younger me starting out. I miss them days the older I get. Wish I could be that young lad again even if it was for just one day.

  10. #25
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    First gun a gat bought with pennies from jam jars back to Meadow dairies, 120 of them.
    Then a Diana 15, spring out every 100 shots or so to stretch it for more power🙄
    At 15 bought a webley mk11 for £4 ten shillings and shot literally hundreds of rabbits/rats/starlings etc.
    Swapped it at 17 for a mk4 Enfield in 303

    Happy days😊
    snarepeg.

  11. #26
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    barf zader

    Quote Originally Posted by TonyL View Post
    And a very warm welcome to you too, sir.

    Thank You for that young Sir.

    Still have the Webley Junior and not long ago I was given a BSA Meteor, was shooting it at Kibworth Wednesday, shoots nicely.

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by dancer View Post
    when the 12ftlb law came in I lost interest in springers.
    The Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) Rules, including the 12 ft-lb limit, date from 1969.

  13. #28
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    Brilliant responses, certainly alleviated my "cabin fever"

  14. #29
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    first ever has been meantiond. a gat gun. second an old rusty BSA superstar. loved it to bits as i had to unrust it and reblue it hand rub the woodwork. took ages. (well two weeks) first thing ever shot, a stick of rhubarb.
    Last edited by max headroom; 24-06-2019 at 01:21 PM.
    the only thing i can find wrong is the nut on the steering wheel.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by max headroom View Post
    first ever has been meantiond. a gat gun. second an old rusty BSA superstar. loved it to bits as i had to unrust it and reblue it hand rub the woodwork. took ages. (well two weeks)
    first thing ever shot, a stick of rhubarb.
    Stem shot or leaf?

    Never go off half cocked....

    All lies matter

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