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!