Howa 55G Top Quality Gas Rifle

[gingernut]

Baz thought it was a Howa too.
But I think it was a Taiyo Juki now I see the name.

[trevor1]

Yes,Taiyo Juki (evidently their parent company was Miroku) made Bobcats(single shot)and Kingfishers(repeaters) that were very Crosman reminiscent. Cost around $80NZ to $120NZ at the time.Sold by PIC in the USA and the Crosman agent(Mitchells)in NZ.The Howa 55 and the Miroku Grand Slam II CO2 rifles were handsome brutes but like the Sharp GR75(.20 cal),very ammo sensitive.I found some locally made Winchester .22 dome-heads seemed to work in the force-fed magazines.The weird thing about these pellets was they seemed to most people to be sub .22(minimally)(made on old machines????),anyrate,they would fall through a 5.6mm barrel,no trouble.For some reason they seemed to suit the Howa magazine though.I bought the rifle second-hand for $120 and eventually traded it to Myron Kasok
It used a lot of CO2!.

[Hsing-ee]

God that video brings back memories Hsing - ee, I remember lusting after those Weatherby .22's back in the 70's in copies of Guns and Ammo. I think it was Roy Weatherby's California style stock influences that appealed to me most.

Yes, I used to love Guns 'n' Ammo when I was a kid. The Weatherby semi-auto just seemed too out of reach but I had plans for a Remington Nylon 66 (which is why I bought a Crosman 766, a very similar looking thing) and later on the Browning T-Bolt which was made by FN. If I ever get another rimfire I might try to find a T-bolt, my interest in semi-autos having waned since I used an Erma at the club.

The Weatherby belted magnums were just far-out, the sort of thing that the kind of aspirational Playboy millionaire or James Bond would buy. White-line spaces and all that...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=we...FSHW-4YeJOM%3A

They seem so tasteless and flashy now compared to a decent 1954 William Evans .275 Rigby ...


http://www.williamevans.com/products...vans-275-rigby

[Mark D]

Baz thought it was a Howa too.
But I think it was a Taiyo Juki now I see the name.

TJ Bobcat top or TJ Junior bottom



Borrowed these from the AVA - as most of these Japanese home market rifles have ended up in the US.

Recognise which one it was?

[AllanM]

Thanks for posting all the photos -- they really are absolutely stunning looking rifles and £400 doesn't seem too outrageous for one if it was as nice as the one in Mark D's photos.

In my rimfire days I had a Nylon 66 which was a great little rifle and very advanced for the time and I also had a Browning slide action (called a trombone action by them) which could take a mixture of .22 shorts, longs and long rifles and still shoot flawlessly -- those were the days!