We where spoilt in the 80's for Custom Rifles.

[gsxrman]

During the eighties I would imagine that springers out sold PCP by a lot.
Most springers were still relatively basic and crude, and so could really do with improving.
The custom houses capitalised on this especially when the HW80 and 77 came along and they could develop them into very consistent and accurate rifles.
Now we have an off the shelf TX that shoots as good as most tricked up 77s. To improve the TX will cost a lot fortune for very little gain.
Couple that with now very affordable PCPs which are easier to shoot than the best tricked 80/77 or even TX.
There is no real need for the Venom Lazaglided re stocked springer probably costing £2k or more. Yes they will be the odd person who would pay for this but so few that the business model would not get off the ground.
You could argue that we are spoilt now. We can mostly afford the "dreamt" or rifles of yester year if we can find them for nostalgic reasons and have the best the manufacturers have to offer to shoot efficiently when we want. There is still a lot of old or new crap out there to buy, strip and experiment on too, so the fun tinkering is still there. Best of both worlds, maybe?

Different world too, think we wanted 77/80 on steroids and tried to make it ourselves as we couldn't afford one.
Think like this, HW100 + scope+ silencer+bag+7L Bottle etc. Then think the kids of today spend £1-1.5k on iPhone.

[Muskett]

The business model for custom premium air rifles didn't work in the 1980s either.

Affordable Jap scopes meant that many shooters wanted to reach further than just the farmyard. All because they could see further
The HW35 could be tuned to get out to 35m which was progress. A lot of trial and error by hobbyists was done on the HW35 to make it reach the longer range. Most HW35s couldn't do it out of the box.
A market grew so a few shed tuners got so busy that they become small businesses. Both super premium walnut rifles and for knockdown target tac drivers. But these businesses barely got away from the shed. A couple went big: Theoben, Daystate, Air Arms.... Some of the new ventures didn't last long: Sterling, Park Rifles. BSA and Webley struggled to change with the times. BSF failed. HW80 and the HW77 saved one company.

And then PCPs arrived that can do 35m plus, and makes that easy. Now 200m plus and knock over an Elk.

If the UK was The driver of progress in the 1980s, the USA is now. Innovation coming from many countries though the UK is at the forefront of much.
There is room for springers, gas rams even, but it will be PCP that is the future. Manufacturers will support springers so long as they sell. Home shed tuners, hobbyists or small scale professional, will continue, but as for the latter I suspect they will always struggle as did those in the 1980s.


All done because air rifle shooting is fun and there is something for everyone.

[MrGreengrass]

Had a few of them oldies when they were out..but much prefer todays guns.
Especially as nostalgia is usually an expensive business.
E Type Jags and Lambrettas spring to mind...a good bean can cost more than a SH superbike...