Quote Originally Posted by ccdjg View Post
I think the mystery about this gun has been solved. A search of net turned up some references which make it clear that this type of pistol is not an airgun after all but is a spring driven dart gun. In fact it is just a traditional Chinese tubular “sleeve gun” which has been adapted into a pistol by adding a grip, trigger and slide. There seem to be quite a few about so I suspect they are not genuine antiques but are being made in China and cleverly antiqued for the martial arts fraternity. The steampunk look is probably deliberate to give it a look of originality.

This link gives some nice close-up pictures of the trigger mechanism http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14727
and this link has a video showing the cocking mechanism in detail http://www.assistedknife.com/index.c...3676/id/572131 (stick with video until you get to item 4).

I owned one of the tubular versions a few years ago and found that the power and accuracy were disappointing so I soon moved it on. Here are some pics of me firing it into a potato. I suppose that with a poisoned tip of the dart these things could be lethal, but otherwise they are not going to be much use in self defence.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...psd7b10f82.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...pse91bf357.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...pscbed3484.jpg
The reference above to the Viking Sword website reminded me of a lot in an auction last week, described as a Viking Knife. I expected either modern film prop or some rusty artefact dredged from a bog but neither surmise would have been correct. It was clear to me that the Vikings apparently went to Bridlington for their holidays as half the lads on our annual school trip in the '50s came back with an identical staghorn handled sheath knife. With it's split handle it would have been expensive at 50p but when the auctioneer tried to start the bidding at £100 all he attracted was laughter.

Ah, well, 'tis better to travel hopefully than to arrive, Mick