Days of Old

[Muskett]

There just wasn't the bombardment of entertainment and MSM in those days. Making Airfix models, Blue Peter, and going off with the air rifle was the entertainment.
AGW was the source of all information. Then save up and buy what sounded fantastic and what you could afford. But the greatest test was simulating the same results as stated in the magazines!!! Thousands of pellets later an Airsporter S can't head shoot a wood pigeon at 35m. 20m was more like it with practice.

I fast switched from a Webley MKIII .22 4x20 scope to FWB 124 3-9x40 with one piece mount. That rifle I did master, and even gave my own light tune to. I could reach out to 35m, but rarely did so as I could stalk in close enough to make sure. 20 to 25m was the norm; head shots too.
Later I shot Theobens. To then take a break for years shooting 7.62... Since then I have shot most what was in those early magazines. Most rifles of those days could be said to be fair for farmyard ranges. Original 45, FWB Sports, and HW77/80 stand out as better than fair. Maybe Webley Omega and BSA Goldstar might creep into that list. Theobens were my choice for a while but whopping expensive, though held their value well. Inflation and trading second hand helped.
All a bit disappointing that the rifles weren't as good as the media hype. Little in the magazines I hadn't worked out myself. However, the AGW and AG were entertainment if a bit repetitive. Good times for sure.

[TonyL]

Some excellent posts up above bringing back happy memories of those hazy, halcyon days.

Steviebee........I remember getting my dad to drive me to a gunshop out of town when I was about 14 or 15 and buying some of the Lane's Heavyweight Special whilst there. Pretty sure they'll be the ones you mention and were truthfully and woefully awful in consistency of dimensions.

Thinking back, I think I bought my silicone cloth (maybe a Garcia one?) at the same time. I still use that cloth to this day with a tiny drop of Abbey 35.

[Benelli B76]

Now I am really feeling old, the Halcyon days were past 50's and 60's when you could legally walk in the street with an uncovered air rifle or even a shotgun, and you were not considered a dangerous freak for having shooting as a hobby. Remember with happy thoughts of patrolling the fields around Luton Beds., for any unwary rabbits, hares, pheasants or partridges. Had a cop pull up along side me in his whispering Velocette LE and and have a chat on the good points on my rifle. Today I would be arrested or shot.

Baz

[MartynB]

Thats exactly what I did in the same year when I last moved house

Shame they aren't available digitally, or at least not to my knowledge

[micky2]

Now I am really feeling old, the Halcyon days were past 50's and 60's when you could legally walk in the street with an uncovered air rifle or even a shotgun, and you were not considered a dangerous freak for having shooting as a hobby. Remember with happy thoughts of patrolling the fields around Luton Beds., for any unwary rabbits, hares, pheasants or partridges. Had a cop pull up along side me in his whispering Velocette LE and and have a chat on the good points on my rifle. Today I would be arrested or shot.

Baz

Yes those were the days, gone for ever now.

[Muskett]

There wasn't a chance that my father was going to get up that early on a weekend to go shooting with me, for he had to commute and done "early" all week. It was "the doors open, let yourself out, and see you at breakfast." I was probably 11 or 12.
The vermin list was longer too. Starlings and some Chaffinches were agricultural pests, maybe sparrows too. Having said that it was rabbits, squirrels, and wood pigeon that were the prize, plus Magpies and collard doves, which the latter just weren't plump enough over a wood pigeon.
Wasn't there a squirrel tail bounty at some point, or for trout fly tying???
Agriculture was different too.

There are more deer now, more foxes, more badgers, and more magpies. Less song birds, and less hedgehogs. A heck of a lot less insects. I wonder why? Maybe because there are less people working the land, less cows, and more "tourists".

[Phil Russell]

I was shooting airguns (rifle) as a nipper in the very late 50's / early 60's. No idea what my rifle was... some tin plate or another. And yes, I did shoot matchsticks out of it. Then a friend got a BSA Merlin for Christmas. Suddenly he was very popular. Another friend up the road had a rifle as well, no idea what. We shot (plinked) in his garden. His dad bought packs of Marksman pellets and split them up into small packs of 100 pellets. We had to put 6d (2.5 new pence) in a tin for each pack of 100 we used. Great fun.Time moved on a bit; I got a holiday job working in a tax office. I guess I was 16? Blew virtually all of one week's pay on a Webley Ranger. Bliss.
I sold my Ranger a couple of years later when I left home for university. I should not have sold it. Shooting then took a backseat for a long time.
I remember all the writers mentioned at the start of this topic. Do I remember the author's photo being included? Maybe, but I do recall Geoff Boxall's picture in a magazine. Do I also remember his gun reviews? I am pretty certain he had a unique writing style where virtually every sentence ended with an exclamation mark !
The magazines ... lovely adverts that I drooled over, hoping to own one of the super-duper full power rifles.
Happy days.
Cheers, Phil

[C3PO_1]

😀😀😀😀😀

[C3PO_1]

That’s the thing people who don’t shoot don’t understand about shooting - often it takes us back to long-before times and a link between the past and present. And what better link than a sweet-shooting springer.