What was your FIRST Airgun?

[Bear-O-Grayling]

Hello everybody. My absolute first airgun was a Daisy model 25 pump bb rifle with a Walnut stock. Approximately 1964. Then in 1968 the world changed for me. (And small moving objects) I got a old and worn Crosman 101. (borrowed pic) Within a mile radius of my house it looked like a Nuclear Test Field. I wish I still had them both. Sweet memories!
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[Strimmer]

Gat.
Simply the best 👌

[Antoni]

Gat.
Simply the best 👌

Gat.
Simply the worst introduction to airgunning.

[Strimmer]

Gat.
Simply the worst introduction to airgunning.

Not at all.
Not every family had a big income. Gats were cheap, could be reasonably used in the home with corks, mass used on fair stalls so it hooked intrest from a young age.
Are they any good, damn right they ain't. Absolutely shite, we all know that and I don't think that's the dispute. Out of all my mates, one had a webley, rest of us had to make do with gats until we saved up

[tomdavies9]

I was 14 and asked everyone just for cash for Christmas so I could add to it, went to Guns International in Barnsley (some may remember it, what a cracking shop!) and picked out a .177 Mk1 HW98 that I had my eye on for months leading up to it…

Fell away from shooting for a while so I ended up selling, I probably wouldn’t even use it much now but still wish I’d never got rid.

[Simon P]

Webley Jaguar about 1978. I remember the scope kept creeping back and left grooves in the stock.

[bighit]

Gat.
Simply the best ��

Same here. Not great but it was a start.

First rifle. It was a webley Osprey. It had brass add on parts .
Brass at the rear sight ,brass trigger if I remember right and some other parts.

The weld on the compression tube that held the trigger and other parts failed. I gave it to my mate who turned it into a sawn off shotgun look a like as a wall hanger


My current Air rifle is a Mk1 HW80 that was made when I was aged 10. A 1983 model. It has a MK2 stock though as I prefer it.

[Antoni]

Same here. Not great but it was a start.

The Gat.

As already said, the worst. Even worser because I remember the legacy of my ownership of it - the damage done to the various pieces of furniture in my bedroom that I cocked it against.

How did it come to be called "GAT"?

Went through a few crap break barrel pistols then the classic Crosman multi-pump. Whose seals failed. As they always do. Probably not helped by my adjustment of the dead-space.

Then a Diana side-lever which turned out to be a bit hot according to the local gun shop and therefore needed some attention. Quality. I liked it but in those days I had no use for it. Even after cooling, it still seemed too powerful for plinking. Even at my young age, genuinely do remember thinking that. And no desire or opportunity to hunt stuff at the time.

[bighit]

The Gat.

As already said, the worst. Even worser because I remember the legacy of my ownership of it - the damage done to the various pieces of furniture in my bedroom that I cocked it against.

How did it come to be called "GAT"?

Went through a few crap break barrel pistols then the classic Crosman multi-pump. Whose seals failed. As they always do. Probably not helped by my adjustment of the dead-space.

Then a Diana side-lever which turned out to be a bit hot according to the local gun shop and therefore needed some attention. Quality. I liked it but in those days I had no use for it. Even after cooling, it still seemed too powerful for plinking. Even at my young age, genuinely do remember thinking that. And no desire or opportunity to hunt stuff at the time.

The Gat may be the worst in your eyes but I bet a lot started off with them . They went on to others that were better.

[Chippendale]

A 'Big Chief' I was nine years old, I think, a 1952 Christmas present. I picked one up about four years ago at the Melbourne Fair, just for nostalgias sake.

My father had a Buck Jones 52 shot Daisy that had a compass, I think, and a sundial on the stock, it was a pump action. I remember seeing him dispose of a rat with it that was under our chicken hut.


Chippendale. (with clothes on)

[Unframed Dave]

Crosman Ratcatcher, aged 23.

Dave

[laverdabru]

Pistol - 'tin grip' Webley Junior, handed down from elder bro' in the '70's

Rifle - 1950's Diana 27. with the nice alloy trigger.

ATB

Bru

[BAD DAZ]

My first gun was a webley Hawk, my father bought it from a mate down the pub, this was 1978 ish and I would have been 12, when a kid could walk around with an airgun on his shoulder and no one even blinked, the gun wasn't very good, it twanged really bad and the 4x20 scope kept jumping off the rails, I had to get my dad to weld the mounts to the rail in the end, it helped a bit and I became quite proficient at killing Coke cans at 20yds, happy days, Daz

[Paul SE]

My first airgun was the ultra accurate Diana SP50

I could easily obtain 12" groups at 6yds with Jackal pellets

[NewPaul]

Wembley Tempest 1978. I had it for many years and then gave it to my son, I don’t know if he still has it. I only really got into airguns in 2015, I have a few now