Yes Danny, Fred made a similar type to the Girandoni with all metal reservoir stock, but he made walking stick guns in metal that he covered in plastic wood with very realistic finish with knots and such. He used to work a local foundry and had access to some handy equipment. When I came back from Africa, i had not seen him for over 30 years and he was quite aged and still lived in his old house with loads of old tooling and bits around.
Baz
Last edited by Benelli B76; 17-07-2021 at 12:08 AM.
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
I read this a while back. It may not be correct and before anyone trots out the Bill Harriman is not an expert I have heard it before .
https://publications.parliament.uk/p...ff/95/9508.htm
Quote.
125. The power levels above which air weapons are treated as section 1 firearms are set out in the Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) Rules 1969. Mr Clarke told us that when the levels were determined, they
"were intended to include those types of air weapons in common circulation at the time. These in turn were based, for air rifles, around the muzzle energy needed for shooting small vermin such as rats or rabbits. The limit for air pistols was intended to reduce the likely harm these might cause if misused to a minimum".[203]
Mr Bill Harriman, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, noted that
"air rifles whose energy value is near to this [12 ft/lb] limit are very useful for shooting . . . . pests, particularly in places where it would be dangerous or inappropriate to use a cartridge firearm".[204]
He told us that in practice airgun manufacturers produced air weapons with a "'safety zone' which is broad enough to keep energy levels away from the upper limit in the event that something [e.g. a lighter pellet or over-oiling of the barrel] causes the original energy level to rise".[205] This meant that the effective power limit for low-powered air rifles was between 10 and 10½ ft/lb: for air pistols the limit was effectively reduced to 3 ft/lb.
I once owned a .22 Mk II BSA Airsporter and I was very surprised that after re-springing with a standard spring that it was doing 12.5 fpe. I had to take some coils off. Generally these are a 10.5 fpe model. It was 'just' over the limit, and I don't think anything BSA made without radical modification e.g. long-stroking a Mercury could go seriously over the limit.
The "Sporting" .22's with the longer stroke than the later 1919-39 Standards if in VGC can exceed 600 fps with Wasps, I have had two that went to 615/620 and needed the springs collapsing to make legal, both had modern Airsporter / Knibbs looking replacements but were not exceptionally hard to cock or harsh to shoot.
This well preserved one does 11.6+ at the moment happily and easily with original BSA marked springs and normal Knibbs leather washer set with no mods.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...7615751921626/
ATB, Ed
At risk of getting further away from the original post I'd already been wondering why aircanes fell out of favour when Danny mentioned the topic in post 15. It has almost become a race memory that somebody in the next street had one that would shoot through 3 dustbins at a time.
By the same token have punt guns actually been banned or simply become socially unacceptable?
ATB, Mick
When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns .
Good deals with these members
~This was in the days before traffic jams were invented though!
On a more serious note CO2 guns were put on Section 1 restrictions for many years, I was told by "unreliable" sources that this was because somebody in the Home Office didn't understand that connecting a bigger cylinder would not make the gun/s more powerful. Or was this an urban myth that we heard? While I know this is not the actual case and it's quite difficult to get a .22 rifle powerd by CO2 up to more than about 11.5 FtLb as no matter what size cylinder you have the lquification pressure of CO2 doesn't increase unless you bump the temperature up massively.
I do remember as a kid reading books that stated CO2 guns needed a licence in the UK but if that was indeed a fact when did they get taken off Section 1?
BSA Super10 addict, other BSA's inc GoldstarSE, Original (Diana) Mod75's, Diana Mod5, HW80's, SAM 11K... All sorted!
Circa 1997, when centrefire pistols were banned. I suppose being able to have an Umarex Beretta was meant to be some kind of consolation?
IIRC CO2 wasn't banned specifically, just guns that were propelled with 'noxious substances' (rather than air) which up until '97 CO2 was considered to be in the absence of Home Office clarification. It's still illegal to use any gas other than air or CO2.
Last edited by eyebull; 25-01-2022 at 03:48 PM.
Good deals with these members
As I understand it when they banned air guns using "Noxious Gasses" they meant to just ban the use of Propane, Butane and Ether, but accidentally banned CO2 as well as they didn't realise it was classed as a noxious gas.
So the next time the government had a big amendment of the firearms act they gave us back CO2 powered guns.
I often wonder if the noxious gas bit came from the HW35 Baracudas using Ether injection to up their power ?
All the best Mick
I remember Coles in Cirencester in the 60's /70's had a cupboard full of Schimels and the like pistols and gas rifles and the owner would taunt us with them, and tell us we needed a FAC to have a "gas gun" , the rotten old bugga!
He also had a mint Highest Possible in a box in the window in about 1975 up for £20 I recall, I was a regular there as had moved on to Shotguns but had bought all my airguns and pellets from him since I was 12 or so (gave people the money outside the shop to get them!) and still had a Mercury and Model 50.
He said:
"Edward......you should buy that and hide it away, and one day it will be worth £100's, I will put it away for you and you can pay me what you have spare till it's yours".......
It seemed like a lot of money for a big clumsy like device to my eyes then so I never took him up........wonder where it is now!
ATB, Ed
I thought the CO2 ban came about because a 1960ish judge misunderstood the law (originally from 1920), which was intended to ban things that sprayed out poison gas (“noxious substance”). Someone misused a CO2 pistol, which were on free sale in the 1950s though not common, and the judge ruled that it was a banned item because it used a noxious substance. Which CO2 obviously isn’t, and if it was CO2 fire extinguishers would appear to be illegal.
Of course - the answer was hidden in plain sight! Also 'hidden in plain sight'.
Oddly enough there was a walking stick .410 in a collective auction sale last week - described as 'only for display purposes' or similar. I wouldn't have fancied arguing for that one in court. In fact a traveller lad I knew got 5.5 years in about 2015, although having shot his cousin with it didn't help his case.
ATB, Mick
When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns .