Your "keeper" pistols - let's hear what and why

[Inspector 71]

I've owned a lot of pistols over the years, as I'm sure have the majority of browsers of this sub-forum.

I've had spring powered, CO2 powered and PCP and in the main have enjoyed shooting with all of them during our
time together. Most I moved on to other shooters as I owned (temporarily) my way through a significant chunk of the mainstream pistols, past and present.

There is a very special pistol in my small collection though; that I acquired about two years ago - and it's going nowhere.
It is the very best all rounder and one that I always look forward to shooting.

It's a Smith & Wesson 79G circa. 1978ish and it's a veritable belter of a pistol.

It's a handsome piece, based on the Model 41 .22lr target pistol.

It's light and manageable, powerful (480-500fps) and incredibly accurate. Despite its somewhat unrefined trigger, it performs very well when used for 10m match shooting.

Considering its muzzle velocity, it returns a decent shot count of 50+ before phutting to empty.

My 79G is in excellent condition and came in the original box with guarantee card. It wasn't cheap but it's more
than paid for itself in smiles and its ability to garner much interest and conversation from those who see it in action.

Here's a couple of photo's:

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL217.../411133312.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL217.../411133311.jpg

[Gerard]

Guess I'd have to say my Pardini K12 is 'the' keeper. Had it about two years, after selling my K10 to a friend. It gives me aboit 100 shots per fill at 580fps with H&N Finale Match. 130 shots if I back off the velocity adjuster (hammer spring preload) to aboit 500fps. Puts pellets on top of pellets from a rest. I can shoot 550/600 or a bit better with it on ISSF targets at ten metres. It's quiet, has lottle to no recoil, and the maple grip I carved for it fits perfectly, no effort at all to hold the sights on target. And she's beautiful.

http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/K12.jpg

[Inspector 71]

She is beautiful Gerard. Absolutely stunning. The grip looks great too.

[beagle2]

The one pistol that I will never let go is my all steel Webley Premier in .22 it is the black painted one I would have preferred to have a blued one with the brown grips but it is in mint condition and I love shooting the thing that I really like about it is being a spring gun when you pull the trigger it does not just go pop like the co2 and pcp guns you can feel the whole thing burst in to action.

I also enjoy my Nagant revolver in .177 that is also great fun to shoot you do not get the same response when you pull the trigger but in single action it is more accurate than you would expect it to be I do not think that I will part with ether of them.

[derekj]

Guess I'd have to say my Pardini K12 is 'the' keeper. Had it about two years, after selling my K10 to a friend. It gives me aboit 100 shots per fill at 580fps with H&N Finale Match. 130 shots if I back off the velocity adjuster (hammer spring preload) to aboit 500fps. Puts pellets on top of pellets from a rest. I can shoot 550/600 or a bit better with it on ISSF targets at ten metres. It's quiet, has lottle to no recoil, and the maple grip I carved for it fits perfectly, no effort at all to hold the sights on target. And she's beautiful.

http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/K12.jpg

God that's gorgeous. Wonderful pride of ownership. Derek

[Geezer]

I've often wondered how the S&W/Daisy 78/79Gs compare to the Crosman Mark I/II. "BB Pelletier" and some chap on the yellow forum say the Crosman is better (esp the trigger), but I've never seen a detailed comparison. Anyone know of one?

And that Pardini is great on looks alone. Proper Italian style.

My "keeper" is the one I didn't keep - my first air pistol, a .22" Webley Typhoon (the youth variant of the Hurricane, not the recent Turkish jobby). Swapped it aged 14 or so for a Paratrooper repeater, a deal that I was very happy with at the time.

[thisisdonald]

Mine is a .22 Tempest my Grampa gave bought me from McCrirricks in Kilmarnock around 1990. A keeper for obvious reasons, but in my heyday I could hit anything with it - I must have put close to 10000 pellets through that pistol!
Ones I wish I had never sold.. its cousins - junior, premier, senior, typhoon, hurricane... also a complete hyscore sporter set, a scorpion that I tried to make a buccaneer with..

one day I will have a hw45 - the pistol I always wanted, and another scorpion - a nice one this time! I quite fancy a diana lp8 as well... oh, and a few others

[Gerard]

While I've never sold an air pistol and regretted it, I did once sell a pair of Leica rangefinders and three lenses for far too little money. Just because I was between jobs and needed to pay the rent. And I was young and silly. Could have slept in a park for a month, it was summer... and I'd still have the beautiful M2 and M4, and the finest part of the lot, an f1.0 Noctilux 50mm. That lens practically inhaled light. Astonishingly clear shots even by candlelight with no tripod and Ilford's dye-transfer B&W film. It was great for IR photography too. My heart went out of photography after that. Never could enjoy SLR cameras with all their clackity-clack nonsense. The Leicas were whisper quiet. Perfect machines. So densely made, a lot like the earlier Webley pistols. And by the time I was earning enough to buy another Leica I was no longer interested.

But I do have a near-mint Senior in .22" which shoots well, and a well-loved Junior smoothbore .177", and a mid-1990's Tempest in .22". I wouldn't sell them. But I will one day hand them over to my son. He's not 9 yet and can't quite manage to cock the Junior, so it'll be a while yet. I enjoy these very much as pocket plinkers when out on hikes and camping. But the PCP stuff is just so much more accurate, it's no comparison really. So I use converted pistols as carbines, a compromise which keeps the weight very low, length short, the power adequate, and accuracy very good. Nice for FT. Perhaps some day I'll buy or build a carbine in the class of the Pardini. If/when that happens then such a rifle will probably take over top spot and become the 'one keeper which must not be sold.'

[Inspector 71]

I've very recently acquired a Diana LP8 with Galbraith Bros. grips. I've only used it once and was bowled over by the power, accuracy and looks. I love plus size magnum air pistols. The trigger is heavy though and is not adjustable. It's a fly in a brilliant tub of ointment. I'm looking for a smith to take a couple of pounds off the pull weight. I think it's a keeper though

[Gareth W-B]

My only remaining pistol is a Webley & Scott .22 Nemesis. Wanted one for ages, and now that I have one, it will stay with me for as long as I continue to enjoy air gun pistol plinking alongside my love of air rifles. For imho, the Webley & Scott Nemesis in .22 is the finest recoil-less self powering pistol for despatching tin cans at ten yards () that one could ever own.

[harvey_s]

I love my Crosman .22 38c its an early gun and its got the sweetest single action trigger, its inception and history though is what i find fascinating.
But if I had to keep just one it would have to be my .177 Webley Senior - Its a beautifully made and proportioned gun and one of the very few airguns made to firearms standards, if made today it would cost a fortune...

[Twodoctors]

I'm less adventurous than you guys... only been shooting for 4 moths, so don't own any "classic".

My favourites are my Beeman P17 and HW45. The Beeman because it's so easy to shoot, and accurate. Bargain at £60. My HW45 because it's a beast, a beast to be tamed. Bought it secondhand at £140 (I think). Both are more fun and accurate than my CP-1, and my Desert Eagle. CP-1 is also accurate but the novelty is wearing off... the iron sight is terrible to adjust, shooting it with a 2x scope is too easy in my garage range. Desert Eagle is just a fun plinker, it does group in my indoor range, but the novelty of blowback is also wearing off.

Adrian

[blooregard]

Desert Eagle is just a fun plinker, it does group in my indoor range, but the novelty of blowback is also wearing off.

The novelty wore off on the Desert Eagle for me the second I got it out of the box!! Unforgiveably awful trigger, horrible flimsy plastic (with my pet hate, moulded in controls), gas hungry and way over priced. As far as blowback guns go this has to be my least favourite, slightly more accurate than most but no-where near as much fun. Umarex would have been much better off without the blowback and making it like their other pellet shooters. Try a few other blowback pistols, you will see what I mean (My KWC luger is currently entertaining me a great deal, the action is perfect).

I tend to keep all of my pistols, the one I like the most though is an old smoothbore .177 Webley Junior that is almost free of blueing, has a bent barrel and is in real need of a service. I will get around one day to doing something with the pistol, maybe I'll even replace the bent barrel.

I was given it when I was 14 and thought it was amazing!!

[max headroom]

Baikal target cerca 1978. spring powered and accurate. well as accurate as i made it.

[derekj]

I know its not worth bugger all but I bought a Makorov pistol in 1999 and absolutely love its all steel construction and weight and feel. Its mechanism is lovely and slick making a real chunky clank sort of sound. I only look at it and give it a wipe over now and again. A keeper for life. Derek