Over the last month or so I seem to have been bitten by yet another collecting bug... damned evil things:-)
I wanted a paratrooper as a kid,but nasty parents didn't like things like that. Probably figured I'd get into more trouble, it's not as though I shot all that many people when they got me a bow for Xmas... It was only a couple of mates and my little bro lol.
So I had to make do with mates air guns, luckily there were always plenty to go round. Being able to afford ammo was always our biggest problem.
Seeing paratroopers in the catalogue all the time was painful... but by the time I could do what I wanted I had more expensive interests.
I saw a tidy mk2 paratrooper on Protek's website at New Year and was extremely pleased when it arrived...just missing the horrendous tnt price hike.
It's average condition, but everything is there. All the plastic is intact and it shoots really smooth. May not be very powerful but it's accurate.
Any old way...I liked it and thought that it was an old itch scratched and I could get back to old beezers
Then a mk1 repeater was offered on this here fine page. Oh no another collection started!!!
So I thought I'd best see what I could find out about various models that were available back in the day.
I knew there were mk1s and 2s, an advert found online suggested that the repeater was only made in.177 .
I had an idea that some were about with wooden furniture...But couldn't be sure. Then I stumbled upon a post on German site co2air.de . Unfortunately Google didn't do a great job with translation, but I was able to confirm a few facts.
There were possibly 500 wooden stocked mk1s, before el gamo cut costs and switched to plastic. The obvious difference between 1s and 2s is the added plastic foregrip on the 2s. But there were a few changes over the years, unfortunately this is where the translation falls down. Making it difficult to understand what changed when.
There are 2 different front sights. Cocking arm changed from two piece articulated to a one piece. Different grip shape. Plastics painted, rather than self coloured. Smooth or faux grain?
The German site also shows two different shapes of trigger guard and non adjustable plastic triggers.
So do we have anyone who will admit to knowing anything about these old Spanish plinkers???
Thanks for ploughing through my little ramble