Collecting.....blowing hot and cold

[ptdunk]

This is a very interesting thread, and for me rather timely as my venture into the world of vintage airguns has hit a bit of a wall.

I only started collecting a couple of years ago, and it was mainly due to the Lea Valley monthly Vintage and pistol comps which me & the missus have religiously attended for the last 3 years.
This gave us the opportunity to compete with pre-war, classic and also semi-recoiless match rifles in both HFT type comps and bell target.

Over the 3 years I've collected a few fine vintage rifles, one of each type of the classic 10m rifles and most of the pistols I'm interested in.

So there was a nice symbiotic circle: research - buy - service - practice - compete - share - make video - then put into the rotation for competition....... and so-on on until there is a great selection of airguns which are all set up for competition or a bit of plinking.

I was always conscious that if we didn't have anywhere to shoot them competitively then one of the driving forces behind my passion for this hobby would go....... and sure enough Lea Valley has just undergone some 'management restructuring' which means we won't be shooting there anymore from the new year onwards.

I can still shoot my collection at our other HFT/FT clubs but a casual plink with maybe one or two fellow enthusiasts is nowhere near as inspiring and fun as a vintage comp with 30 odd competitors.

Coinciding with this I feel I have all the rifles I want (25 at the mo, don't know how that happened) and most of the pistols I want too. (with a few exceptions that are proving to costly to aquire)
So I've reached the point where further purchases are proving unlikely, but I definitely don't want to sell anything, I just need to find new ways of enjoying what I have.

There are whisperings of a new vintage shoot somewhere else, and I think we will try to join Bisley who do a pre-war shoot as well as pistols, HFT & FT.

I suppose I can rotate the 10m springers for informal Bell Target at one of our other clubs. It's always mildly disappointing when you bring out a really nice old vintage rifle and no-one's interested! Nothing beats a group of fellow enthusiasts.

I have some interesting Vintage projects on the go, and am still very enthusiastic about making the Vintage airgun videos, to try to spread the word.(Les's 600 thread was very nice to read)

Me & the missus are both heavily into HFT and I'm just starting FT so plenty of competing there
....We will really miss the Lea Valley Vintage comp though... really was nothing like it.

Cheers,
Matt

[cinedux]

I don't shoot.If I did,I be kicked out of my salubrious accommodation before I could say 'Jack Robinson! I 'handle'my shooters and bang off the odd CO2 gun. Love the kick of my Crosman 451! I sort out my pellets etc,thumb through old literature....spend a lot of time in the past and enjoy most of it. Get palpitations if I contemplate empty gun racks! A once handsome metal waste paper basket looks woeful after having been given the Ampell Super Magnum treatment. Something rather satisfying about BBs twanging around one's ears/Very much an aquired taste. Trev

[ggggr]

I have "few" cough cough airguns, and to be honest they rarely get used. I bought some just to look at and strip down for "the idiots guide" . Some were fettled a bit and others just stripped and lubed.
I dont really want to get rid of them as I feel a part of me is involved in some of them. I always say I'm not a collector, but just a big kid who enjoys plinking. I do enjoy seeing some of the modifications or bodges that have been done to guns over time and there is something "FUN" about plinking with a rough gun.
On Christmas Day, which should be my first drink for 5 weeks, I plan on a quick plink with a rough, tired Webley Falcon. Why? It hs become part of my Christmas tradition
On My birthday, I get a 1907 Bsa out and shoot a few "Zulus " , little bits of black wood with eyes painted on The Webley Service Mk2 is good for this as well.
If I am trying to teach someone to shoot with a rifle, the little Baikal Ij 38 is usually used.
If it is with a pistol, usually a Tempest.
My favourite pistol is a dog rough Bsa Scorpion. The pistol I have been know to have the odd drunken Saturday night plink with.

When I'm in the mood on calm days (gets bloody windy here) , sometimes various Webley pistols will come out for a plink.

I have the odd go with a Mibro Cougar i got together. It is odd as the sight base goes one way, the sight the other and my home made foresight post is not straight either

With some of the things, I try to share them and Danny has put a few things up on his site, Webley Tempest trigger tuning, Milbor Cougar Trigger and the differences between Relum breakbarrel and underlever pistols. It is just a small way of trying to help people and give something back.

But I'm not planning on getting rid of all my guns just yet and I am still after a few things as well.

(Rough Webley Typhoon anyone? I want to make a Typest)