The Hy-Score 804 Repeating Sportster - completes collection

[45flint]

The Hy-Score Pistol is one of my first acquitions when I started collecting. They are very well made and designed. First acquired a 800, then a 802 Repeater, the 803 Sportster with interchangeable barrels and to the 804 arriving today. Made for only two years 1953-4 they are not an easy find, especially in this excellent condition. The repeating mechanism is ingenious but not automatic like the Haenel 28. The short pistol with the large loading knob make for kind of cool odd look?

Hy-Score pistols generally in the US are a easy find cause they were very successful for a long period of time. But the challenge is condition, the repeaters usually have lots of wear on the rear mechanism cause it must be hand rotated with every shot and rotated when loaded. Also crazy prices occur on the auction sights all the time as these pistols look so cool people don’t realize they really aren’t that rare. Lucky to get this one, which is a little rarer at a reasonable price.

https://imgur.com/a/SkmJzc8

[Unframed Dave]

Got the others, didn't know about that one though.

Dave

[45flint]

I really don’t know how rare these are? Funny the tube says interchangeable barrels but these were fixed by the punch put under the barrel, see pic. I’ve only seen one other in a couple years of looking. Made for very short time. You just don’t see many Sportsters period.

[Benelli B76]

The British made Phoenix Hy Score is quite common here, sometimes with the dual barrels. Normally have a silencer to make them look more balanced.

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....er-air-pistol/

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....stols-For-Sale

[ccdjg]

The Hy-Score 804 Repeating Sportster - completes collection

There is still the somewhat puzzling 805 to find:





This appears to be the pinned barrel version, infering that the better known 804 must have unpinned barrels for interchangeability. And yet, as you say, many 804's have pinned barrels. My own 804 does have interchangable barrels however. Obviously an area for further investigation.

Details can be found on Trevs Scrapbook (Trev owns the only boxed example yet to surface). http://cinedux.com/the-hy-score-story.php

[Geezer]

That is indeed quite a special little beastie. Good find, especially in that condition.

[thisisdonald]

Someone out there has a pile of multishot conversions.
I had one of the British made guns when I was about 13. I remember reading in one of the airgun magazines about who had bought all the tooling, I wrote them a letter and they replied that they would supply me the kit for about 12 quid.. this was about 1993 or thereabouts. Someone must know who it was and could potentially track down the parts. IIRC it was that fellow Marriott something that owned Sussex armoury? I could be way off the mark with all 3 of those facts!!

Ps... I ended up not buying the kit!

PPs... here is a pic of me and my pal back then! Me with the Hyscore and my pal with a Tempest.

[Geezer]

Someone out there has a pile of multishot conversions.
I had one of the British made guns when I was about 13. I remember reading in one of the airgun magazines about who had bought all the tooling, I wrote them a letter and they replied that they would supply me the kit for about 12 quid.. this was about 1993 or thereabouts. Someone must know who it was and could potentially track down the parts. IIRC it was that fellow Marriott something that owned Sussex armoury? I could be way off the mark with all 3 of those facts!!

Ps... I ended up not buying the kit!

PPs... here is a pic of me and my pal back then! Me with the Hyscore and my pal with a Tempest.

Ah, the good old days when state of the art airgunning kit was an army surplus jacket (mine was one of those Italian "NATO" green ones - you knew it was Italian because it had a pinched-in elasticised waist) and a pair of jeans.

Richard Marriott-Smith, who created Sussex Armoury and then, after it went bust, Phoenix.

I had not realised he sold repeater conversion parts. That must create potential provenance issues for the rarer repeaters. Though flint's does look all of a piece and therefore I'm not questioning its originality.

[45flint]

Phoenix never seemed interested in the repeater though they bought the tooling. They were a popular version over here. Though not sure it was that useful in that you had to turn the mechanism open the the breech let the pellet drop and then close it again. Crazy carousel with 6 pellets certainly fun as a collector but single loader seems more practical. The repeating Haenel is really cool because it loads every time it’s cocks. That mechanism was ingeneous and took a lot of fine machining.

[thisisdonald]

Ah, the good old days when state of the art airgunning kit was an army surplus jacket (mine was one of those Italian "NATO" green ones - you knew it was Italian because it had a pinched-in elasticised waist) and a pair of jeans.

Richard Marriott-Smith, who created Sussex Armoury and then, after it went bust, Phoenix.

I had not realised he sold repeater conversion parts. That must create potential provenance issues for the rarer repeaters. Though flint's does look all of a piece and therefore I'm not questioning its originality.

Ha ha.. I had quite a few German and Dutch army shirts and a couple of m65 jackets.. also used to buy German para boots and British high ties.. there used to be loads of good surplus stores, sadly and inexplicably, nobody Seems To want surplus anymore.

I think the letter I received stated that there were only a dozen or so repeater conversions that came with all the tooling. It was a sitting in a drawer somewhere scenario. I wish I'd bought them all!

[Geezer]

Ha ha.. I had quite a few German and Dutch army shirts and a couple of m65 jackets.. also used to buy German para boots and British high ties.. there used to be loads of good surplus stores, sadly and inexplicably, nobody Seems To want surplus anymore.

I think the letter I received stated that there were only a dozen or so repeater conversions that came with all the tooling. It was a sitting in a drawer somewhere scenario. I wish I'd bought them all!

Nice one, Donald. Good info on the conversion parts.

By the way, I think I still somewhere have my surplus "NI" boots that were very Gucci when I was a cadet in the early-mid 80s. And I was using an old cotton gaberdine "Arctic Warfare" DPM smock in the field until fairly recently. Amazing how much fleece and Gore-Tex (and the like) have improved things.

My recollection of the 80s outdoors is basically being wet and cold. But happy, as I did not know any better.

[Mark D]

I have this one
[IMG]MVC00002 by Mark Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Pinned barrel - standard markings on cylinder

[45flint]

I have this one
[IMG]MVC00002 by Mark Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Pinned barrel - standard markings on cylinder

That’s interesting, different tube markings, yours doesn’t say Sportster? Also the tip of your barrel is smooth vs mine which is groved. Mine has screw in end of grips, yours does not? What is your serial number?

[Mark D]

Steve - serial number is 931413 and it says 'Hyscore Target Air Pistol' and is plain on reverse apart from serial number near the front sight

[IMG]DSC03596 by Mark Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[45flint]

Steve - serial number is 931413 and it says 'Hyscore Target Air Pistol' and is plain on reverse apart from serial number near the front sight

[IMG]DSC03596 by Mark Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Mine is 901699, makes sense cause the screw in the grip was phased out. They probably at the start used the groved removable barrels because that’s what they had and pinned them. My Tube markings make no sense since it says the three barrels can be used. Again probably used the tubes on hand at the time and evolved it. Interesting the same pistol can have three differences? Thought that 9 may designate this model but Trevor’s 805 starts with 9 also? My Sportster with removable barrels # starts with a S?

Looked at my long barrel Repeater it’s # starts with a 9, looks like the serial numbers aren’t model specific. Makes it impossible to know how many were made.