Hello from Wiltshire

[Slartibartfast]

Bit of background. Recently retired, moved house, along came lock down and when tidying/unpacking I found an ancient air pistol and a can of pellets. Being bored, and having a handy walled garden at the new house, I printed off some home made targets and realised that plinking away and trying to become a better shot was strangely addictive.

I'm now at the stage where the very ancient and hopeless inaccurate (that's my excuse) Milbro SP 50 I unearthed from the box it had been in for maybe 40 years isn't really up to the job. I'll try and post in the right section, but basically I'm after a bit of advice as to what to buy, having pretty much narrowed down what I think I want and trying (probably in vain) to match my desire to my budget.

[laverdabru]

Welcome!
How is the planet designing coming on? - take it your user name comes from HGTTG?

Having got back into pistols I've got mainly Webleys, possibly because of rose tinted memories - they don't seem as accurate as they used to!

ATB

Bru

[Slartibartfast]

Thanks for the welcome. I did particularly enjoy designing the fjords . . .

I can't really remember too much about the older airguns I had as a kid. I remember modifying a Diana break barrel rifle with a stronger springer, and trying to get the right mix of 3 in 1 oil and petrol to try and get it to diesel. I remember being very envious of a German made 0.22 rifle a schoolfriend had, it was massively more powerful than my much modified Diana. The SP50 I bought sometime in the late 1970's I think. Really weird thing is that the old tin of Marksman pellets I found, that are as old as the gun, look absolutely identical to the same tins sold today.

I have a bit of experience with guns, dad taught me to shoot with his Browning .22 pump action rifle when I was about 9 or 10. I was then given a crash course in handling a pistol in Cyprus in 1974 and was issued with another Browning, a Hi Power, for self defence. I still have a scar where the slide caught my hand and cut it quite badly. Years later I got to run several hundred rounds through the (then new) SA80 L85A2, when H&K were doing endurance testing on the range at Warminster. Nothing since then, until unearthing the ancient SP50 just before Christmas.

[rapidresponse1]

welcome to a great forum

[clipper]

Just up the road from you at Quarley is Targets and Tins, based at Lains shooting school - on any given day you'll find a wide selection of air weapons in use up there, most shooters will be happy to let you hold, more than happy to chat at length, and the folks in the shop (others are available of course, including the BBS sponsor) will steer you as well

https://targetsandtins.co.uk/

I'm on holiday next week and weather dependent will probably have at least two half day sessions up there - it'll cost you £15 for a days use of the range, but more than happy to bring up all my toys and let you play