Marksman air rifle pellets.

[jjjjjj]

When I started shooting air rifles back in the early 1970s the pellets we all used then was marksmen in .22 cal, and never had a problem with them but then our local sports shop did not have much to chose from, I have a full tin of 500 marksmen pellets in .22 that has a push on lid not the screw on type it has the price on the back six shillings ( that's 30p in new money ) I have just ordered a new box of these to compare with the old ones I will be using them in an old airsporter, does anyone else still use them?

[oliver13]

I've got half a box from the 70's, & ordered a couple of new ones for old times sake. They'll do for plinking but they're pretty rough, & the box is slightly different to the original. They all appear to have the same degree of oxidation too.

Back in the '70's I'd have Marksmen, Milbro Caledonian & maybe some Wasps, all mixed up in the same pocket with a bit of fluff & some small change - it's amazing I hit anything really.

[The armourer]

I have an original box, about two thirds full of the .177s, I have had them out and given a "wash and wipe" wit light oil and then back in the box, they are great but I only keep them because of their age. I havn't shot any.

[Rob M]

I use them for plinking, they're not much good for longer range shots but for short or medium range plinking with old British pistols they're alright. They're cheap, British made, by a firm owned by descendants of one of airgunning's pioneers, Lincoln Jeffries. Heritage in an old-fashioned cardboard box! Often they don't shoot well in continental or metric barrels but for some reason Marksman Points shoot very well in my little old Record Jumbo.

[Imelda]

I use them for plinking, they're not much good for longer range shots but for short or medium range plinking with old British pistols they're alright. They're cheap, British made, by a firm owned by descendants of one of airgunning's pioneers, Lincoln Jeffries. Heritage in an old-fashioned cardboard box! Often they don't shoot well in continental or metric barrels but for some reason Marksman Points shoot very well in my little old Record Jumbo.

Strange to think that these rubbish things are associated with the wonderful Lincoln Jeffries firm.
Imelda

[Rob M]

I don't think they're rubbish at all. They're good value for money and ideal for cheap plinking in low to medium powered airguns, especially British airguns with non-metric barrels.

[martin bingham]

i've used marksman .22 for 35+ years for plinking,

[laverdabru]

I've got half a box from the 70's, & ordered a couple of new ones for old times sake. They'll do for plinking but they're pretty rough, & the box is slightly different to the original. They all appear to have the same degree of oxidation too.

Back in the '70's I'd have Marksmen, Milbro Caledonian & maybe some Wasps, all mixed up in the same pocket with a bit of fluff & some small change - it's amazing I hit anything really.

Yes, have similar memories of pockets of mixed pellets from those days, I think if I was really skint there would be Beatall(?) or Bulldog(?) pellets. And Webley's if I had some birthday money!

I also remember red plastic indoor pellets in .177 for use in smooth bores, which of course was what my tin grip Junior was.

Bru

[FattMann]

Now that brings back some memories used to get my pellets from the local Sadlers in Mountain Ash or latter on from Lloydds at Aberdare. Usually Milbro Caladonian or if could get them Eley Wasp( the proper ones not the crap of today). Marksmann were allways a 2nd choice has they worked ok in my old Meteor. LLoydds at Aberdare was a bit different in that it was a Barbers Shop which allso sold guns Had and still own some very good rifles from there. In some ways better days, in others not.

[Josie & John]

Strange to think that these rubbish things are associated with the wonderful Lincoln Jeffries firm.
Imelda

I understand the design of the Marksman pellet has not changed over the years and when the design was new, it would have been seen as state of the art. The waisted pellet was ground breaking compared to hollow slugs and probably did as much for airgun design and development as any air rifle design. The Marksman was at the dawn of these developments and as such, I for one do not see it as rubbish. It was never intended for 1/2" groups at 55 yards but can still account for itself at shorter distances. For example, free standing I shot a 5 shot 1 holer at 6 yards, which is barely larger than 2 pellets placed side by side a from a 1910 BSA yesterday. More than good enough for me!

Interesting the tin mentioned at the start of this thread had a push off lid. I don't have one like this and if anyone hears of one for sale, please let me know.

John

[edbear2]

As John says really...and here is the proof in a test I did some time ago;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...7616669873978/


In this particular old BSA, they performed better than anything except Finale Match H+N's this was 10 yards or so rested, have not tried at longer ranges. The tin age is 1970's I was assured by the guy I got them off (got some .22's at the same time) and he had owned them since then...can be hard to tell as the lid design lasted a long time with no little clues as you get on other brands such as postcodes etc.

As someone else has mentioned, in the late 60's / early 70's Wasps were the premium pellet if pocket money stretched, with Webley and Pylarms (wasps) I seem to remember being almost the same price, maybe a few pence less (big deal when you could actually buy things for a penny then...well sweets anyway!)...Then it was Bulldogs / Marksman / Milbro Calidonian which were a bit cheaper.

In those days the quality of the Wasps was obvious as they were just so shiny and well made, with practically no deformed or half pellets (some cheapo brands needed about 15% throwing away, rising even higher if you bought slugs) but to be honest very few people I knew at that age did group size comparisons or proper accuracy testing between types on a particular gun, we went by price and assumed the most expensive were the best to use and of course the gunshop owner agreed...I never knew if the profit on Eley stuff was higher for the shop

ATB, Ed

[mallyally]

of marksman pellets ! from john knibs
anyone know if the ones he sells are the original's ? they certainly work well in my mk 3 webley

[jjjjjj]

Thanks for all the replies, yes I to had pockets of mixed pellets in with the bits of straw and dust, great pellet testing there edbear2 our test in the early day was if you can hit a can at 30 yards it was ok for hunting with, bit different now lol I will be doing a few test with the old ones I have and the new ones I have ordered.
My first encounter with marksmen pellets was not the pellets themselves it was the box, when I was about 10 I saw a lad down our street shooting from a bedroom window and saw him shoot the bulb out in one of the street lamps, these was the green lamps with a normal house hold bulb in them and a couple of days later outside his house was an empty .177 marksman box I had that box for years so marksmen pellet have always had a fascination for me.
Sad I know lol.
JJJJJJ

[harry mac]

Now that brings back some memories used to get my pellets from the local Sadlers in Mountain Ash or latter on from Lloydds at Aberdare. Usually Milbro Caladonian or if could get them Eley Wasp( the proper ones not the crap of today). Marksmann were allways a 2nd choice has they worked ok in my old Meteor. LLoydds at Aberdare was a bit different in that it was a Barbers Shop which allso sold guns Had and still own some very good rifles from there. In some ways better days, in others not.

My first air rifle (a Webley Hawk MkII) was also bought from a barber's shop. Harry Singleton's back room was a little sports shop; golf balls, a few clubs, cricket jumpers, whistles, stop watches, etc. On the back wall was a rifle rack that held a few rifles, mostly second hand, but he was also an aproved Webley retailer as attested to by the sticker on the shop door, so the rack also held some nice shiny new Webley rifles, while a glass cabinet on the counter had Webley pistols and telescopic sights in it (on an internal shelf above the pellets, stop watches, golf tees and such like). Harry only sold Webley and Eley Wasp pellets, but they were beyond my pocket money, which, if I remember correctly was 50p a week. My pellet of choice was Marksman, and a yellow box of 200 could be bought from the sports shop on the high street for 20p. I went into that shop every Saturday for the next few years and bought a box of pellets. One day, when I was about 15 I went into the shop as usual and asked for my pellets only to be refused because I wasn't 17. No matter how much I protested that I'd been buying them for ages, the girl behind the counter wouldn't be persuaded so I had to go to the bike shop 4 doors down and buy them there instead, but they charged 2p more, and like the good Yorkshireman I am, I was most agrieved at the extra expenditure!

[FattMann]

My first air rifle (a Webley Hawk MkII) was also bought from a barber's shop. Harry Singleton's back room was a little sports shop; golf balls, a few clubs, cricket jumpers, whistles, stop watches, etc. On the back wall was a rifle rack that held a few rifles, mostly second hand, but he was also an aproved Webley retailer as attested to by the sticker on the shop door, so the rack also held some nice shiny new Webley rifles, while a glass cabinet on the counter had Webley pistols and telescopic sights in it (on an internal shelf above the pellets, stop watches, golf tees and such like). Harry only sold Webley and Eley Wasp pellets, but they were beyond my pocket money, which, if I remember correctly was 50p a week. My pellet of choice was Marksman, and a yellow box of 200 could be bought from the sports shop on the high street for 20p. I went into that shop every Saturday for the next few years and bought a box of pellets. One day, when I was about 15 I went into the shop as usual and asked for my pellets only to be refused because I wasn't 17. No matter how much I protested that I'd been buying them for ages, the girl behind the counter wouldn't be persuaded so I had to go to the bike shop 4 doors down and buy them there instead, but they charged 2p more, and like the good Yorkshireman I am, I was most agrieved at the extra expenditure!

thanks for that, my brother in law is a Yorkshireman, and exactly the same
great bloke though, respect to a citazen of gods county.