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It’s been interesting for me going back in time with my vintage airgun purchases. I’ve been fortunate to buy some old but virtually new guns. It’s like a time machine seeing what it was like to airgun in 1959? Yesterday it was finally warm enough to take out my BSA Airsporter MK2. The lubricated leather seal gave me 575 fps with a 14.5 grain pellet for 10.5 FP. Did some close target shots, so nice. Yes we have “progressed” to more powerful rifles but I could care less? Do I really need more power? What is amazing to me is that with this technology and craftsmanship a Airgun made it 55 years with no degradation. My Beeman R1 couldn’t make it 15 years without losted performance.
Yes ... I see nothing wrong with the old leather seals and it somehow feels wrong to replace an original leather seal in a vintage gun with a modern plastic seal. But I have known leather seals to fail with age; but they are easy to make and replace, which all adds to the enjoyment. However, a quirk I am very aware of is that an old leather seal that falls apart on stripping the rifle and thus needs to be replaced can often be doing a very good job before the strip.
Cheers, Phil
Good deals with these members