Airgun Obsessions of The 70s

[Hsing-ee]

Things that used to concern airgunners in the U.K. in the late 70s early 80s included Â…

1. Buying British. While it was obvious that the German rifles (Weihrauch, Feinwerkbau, Original Diana, BSF) were of much better design and better quality, people would encourage eachother to 'Buy British' and get the inferior although admittedly cheaper BSA, Webley and Milbro guns. As there wasn’t any competitive shooting outside of 6 yard & 10 meter match at the time and airguns were used for plinking and hunting pests this was actually fair enough. With a British gun you just had to stand or stalk closer to the target or quarry.

2. Headshots or heart/lung shots? Enough said. With most spring guns grouping about 1-2” at 20 yards with the pellets of the time, you can see how this was a thing.

3. Open sights or a scope? Many thought a scope would mean trigger snatching as the crosshairs danced over the mark, or that hunters would try to shoot quarry at unrealistic distances. Fogging & fragility were also seen as minus points.

4. Dieselling. Everyone was scared of it ruining accuracy and internals like the spring and piston, while the Cardews built an entire theory of airgun power development around it. No one talks about dieselling any more.

5. Twelve Foot Pounds. 12 fpe is just another power level to todays shooters, albeit the threshold for an FAC so quite important. Back in the 70s rifles that could actually get close to this number were held in awe. No one had a chronograph so no one really knew how powerful their guns were. Webley and BSA rifles in the usual maintenance condition of the time would probably be doing 9 fpe, so something like a Feinwerkbau Sport was a real cannon.

6. .177 or .22? The larger caliber was seen as more powerful than the smaller one BECAUSE IT WAS. Only the FWB Sport and BSF break barrels had .177s that went over 11 fpe. A .22 Airsporter of the time would do 10.5 and a .177 about 9. .177 pellets were available as flat-head match pellets which were much more consistent and accurate than .22s so Eddie Barber in Airgun World started to push .177 as a hunting caliber even though it was less powerfulin most rifles. 'A hit in the brain of a pigeon with a .177 beats chipping its beak with a .22 any day' was the philosophy. When FT came along the superiority of the .177 at variable ranges pushed its popularity and displaced .22 for many hunters.

7. Scope creep. Mounts were cheap and often scope ramps were shallow so there were lots of articles about arresting scope creep. From Araldite to arrestor blocks to one-piece mounts and the dreadful BSA scope stop, everything was thrown at this problem. Even so, your scope moving under recoil was the main reason you could use for missing.

8. Pointed pellets. Some people conflated 'penetration' with 'killing power' so they were keen on these things, but there was debate about them being just gimmicks. Power testing was done by shooting through old catalogs or telephone books, and pointed pellets did this with style. All the ones I tried were bloody awful, though I never tried the Silver Jet ones from Japan which were very well made and appeared to give good groups in the magazine tests.

9. Paramilitary looking rifles. In the days before airsoft, while it was still legal to buy a semi-automatic full bore military rifle, if you wanted an Army-look gun off-ticket you could only get a Sussex Armoury Jackal or Hammerli 420 or ASI Paratrooper. Some people frowned on these as bad PR for shooting, others smiled with joy at the fun they brought to the game. No one cares about this any more, some guns don’t even look like guns anymore, more like weird TV cameras or a goofy Hollywood prop from a sci-fi film.

ADDITIONAL POINTS!

10. Leaving your rifle cocked while waiting for a bunny or pigeon to appear when hunting from a hide? Experts said it would weaken the spring, some people cried nonsense, but it was an anxiety known to many airgunners. Without a chronograph no-one had a clue if it made any difference or not. If you left it uncocked then you might miss your chance at a critical moment, or the beastie may be startled by the sound of the cocking action. This was a major selling point of the restricted power pump-ups like the Sheridan, Benjamin and Crosman when they were imported.

11. The Weihrauch 'click'. HW35s and probably the lesser spotted HW50 had articulated cocking levers which, after the barrel latch was popped, made a loud 'click' as the knuckle of the cocking lever impacted the stock. Apparently it was so loud that game in the next county would cock their ears and head for the Arctic. There were several solutions, most involving rubber material of some kind.

12. 'Swedish steel'. If it was made of this then you would have the strength and power of the Norse god Thor. We made sure our replacement springs were specified with this miracle metal.

[Born Again]

Break barrel Vs fixed barrel. Some break barrels were a bit wobbly.

[Hsing-ee]

Break barrel Vs fixed barrel. Some break barrels were a bit wobbly.

Too right. I had lots of obsessive trouble with that, culminating in a dreadful decision to buy a Original 50 T01.

My best air-rifle of the time was a very heavily used secondhand HW35 Export. Beautifully accurate, powerful, well balanced and so easy to maintain.

[ggggr]

Things that used to concern airgunners in the U.K. in the late 70s early 80s included Â…

1. Buying British. While it was obvious that the German rifles (Weihrauch, Feinwerkbau, Original Diana, BSF) were of much better design and better quality, people would encourage eachother to 'Buy British' and get the inferior although admittedly cheaper BSA, Webley and Milbro guns. As there wasn’t any competitive shooting outside of 6 yard & 10 meter match at the time and airguns were used for plinking and hunting pests this was actually fair enough. With a British gun you just had to stand or stalk closer to the target or quarry.

2. Headshots or heart/lung shots? Enough said. With most spring guns grouping about 1-2” at 20 yards with the pellets of the time, you can see how this was a thing.

3. Open sights or a scope? Many thought a scope would mean trigger snatching as the crosshairs danced over the mark, or that hunters would try to shoot quarry at unrealistic distances. Fogging & fragility were also seen as minus points.

4. Dieselling. Everyone was scared of it ruining accuracy and internals like the spring and piston, while the Cardews built an entire theory of airgun power development around it. No one talks about dieselling any more.

5. Twelve Foot Pounds. 12 fpe is just another power level to todays shooters, albeit the threshold for an FAC so quite important. Back in the 70s rifles that could actually get close to this number were held in awe. No one had a chronograph so no one really knew how powerful their guns were. Webley and BSA rifles in the usual maintenance condition of the time would probably be doing 9 fpe, so something like a Feinwerkbau Sport was a real cannon.

6. .177 or .22? The larger caliber was seen as more powerful than the smaller one BECAUSE IT WAS. Only the FWB Sport and BSF break barrels had .177s that went over 11 fpe. A .22 Airsporter of the time would do 10.5 and a .177 about 9. .177 pellets were available as flat-head match pellets which were much more consistent and accurate than .22s so Eddie Barber in Airgun World started to push .177 as a hunting caliber even though it was less powerfulin most rifles. 'A hit in the brain of a pigeon with a .177 beats chipping its beak with a .22 any day' was the philosophy. When FT came along the superiority of the .177 at variable ranges pushed its popularity and displaced .22 for many hunters.

7. Scope creep. Mounts were cheap and often scope ramps were shallow so there were lots of articles about arresting scope creep. From Araldite to arrestor blocks to one-piece mounts and the dreadful BSA scope stop, everything was thrown at this problem. Even so, your scope moving under recoil was the main reason you could use for missing.

8. Pointed pellets. Some people conflated 'penetration' with 'killing power' so they were keen on these things, but there was debate about them being just gimmicks. Power testing was done by shooting through old catalogs or telephone books, and pointed pellets did this with style. All the ones I tried were bloody awful, though I never tried the Silver Jet ones from Japan which were very well made and appeared to give good groups in the magazine tests.

9. Paramilitary looking rifles. In the days before airsoft, while it was still legal to buy a semi-automatic full bore military rifle, if you wanted an Army-look gun off-ticket you could only get a Sussex Armoury Jackal or Hammerli 420 or ASI Paratrooper. Some people frowned on these as bad PR for shooting, others smiled with joy at the fun they brought to the game. No one cares about this any more, some guns don’t even look like guns anymore, more like weird TV cameras or a goofy Hollywood prop from a sci-fi film.

So these are the dead debates I can remember. What are yours?

British was more easily available and cheaper. A consideration when shooting on a budget or just plinking. BSF 55's are really crude and so it the pistol.

I know that they used to recommend the "engine room" of heart and lungs for bunnies and shooting a pigeon in the back to avoid the crop.

I still don't like scopes but I only plink at very short range. A lot of the scopes were very crappy. A 4 x 32 was the dogs danglies..

I still talk about dieseling and have had some guns that had obviously had the power aiding squirt of something down the transfer port or barrel. I remember the horrible smell of Triflon and the carriers in that dieseled like hell.

You never heard of chronographs and Cardew had the ballistic pendulum. I remember them testing a couple of Hw35's in AGW and they theorised that the E was lower in power (9ft lb?) because of the longer barrel. The search for power brought us Ox springs etc and those "tuning kits" with bits of sponge on a stick.

.22 for me now except for guns that only came in .177 (Bsa Cadet and Major and the Webley Junior pistol) . I remember AGW testing a FWB in .177 and a MAG Bsa Mercury in .25. The bloke shot a rat in a barn with the FWB and it kept on coming and leapt over his shoulder. With the Mercury, he just hit them and they stopped. One bloke said he preferred .22 because they were easier to load with cold hands. He was (and is ) right.

The BSA scope stop was a horrible thing. I think i bought one off the bay a few years back but gave it to a collector. Yes a lot of scopes and mounts were very crappy.

I still don't understand why there are so many different types of pellets now. All you need are Diablo and wadcutters. I did once try some Champion Hunter flat point pellets. They seemed to be pretty accurate in an old Meteor I had.

I never liked the look of the Jackels other than the Woodsman? Paratroopers look like toys. There used to be a Sussex Armoury shop in Shambles Square in Manchester. A fine selection of right wing types used to hang about drooling over coshes, blackjacks and billy canes.

I guess it's not a debate, but time has proved how many lies and BS was talked in AGW. Remember Rod Lynton?

[MartynB]

When I hunted alot in the early 1980's, always a head shot, if I couldn't get a head shot I would wait or let it go

[Mark Palmer]

As a pre teen in the late 70's .22 ruled as far as we were concerned, the Airsporter was lusted after because it was so 'powerful' (a pig to cock and a dreadful slammy shot cycle, so it had to be powerful!!) , the Webley mk3 that my mates dad had was the most accurate gun I shot back then, and nice and smooth to shoot, I didnt have the strength to cock one back then (I was only 9 or 10), open sights ruled and pellets were often bought a couple of hundred at a time from a jar at the local newsagent (weighed out in the same scales as the sweets and fruit n veg) and came in a paper bag, if we were flush and could scrape together enough for a box full, they were usually Bulldogs or Marksman , accurate was hitting a tate n lyle syrup tin at 15 to 20 yards free hand! Care free times

[AC all day]

Anyone mentioned square springs??

[foby75]

Superb original post!

Spot on and much of that resonated into the early 80s for me born in 1970 but obsessed with air weaponry/all weaponry!

[Elwellaxe]

Good post this one, hope it runs for while, I had ascended to firearms by then but have come back to airguns since ammo prices & reloading components have gone crazy, now I know what I've been missing.
Elwellaxe.

[Powderfinger]

Big objective lenses (possibly more of an eighties thing) to let more light in. Affordable night vision for hunters and the nuances of depth of field for target shooters have replaced the big lenses.

.22 was the same calibre as the most popular firearms so it had to be better. .177 was for effete Continentals. Bigger was usually considered better in the seventies (industries, engines, movies, LPs were doubles or even triples, hair, hems of your jeans and…other things).

Everyone knew of someones brother who had a superpowered airgun that could shoot through both sides of a metal dustbin. Truth be told it was most likely doing about ten foot pounds.

[rapidresponse1]

always tried for head shots in the 70s with my springer

[MrGreengrass]

Accuracy, quality power, sturdy mounts .
My obsession still remains from then.
Have recently bought a nr mint FWB 124, 11.5 ftlb
I fitted it with a Sportsmatch op adj mount and a Bushnell Legend.
Running on either QYS 9.56 domed or JSB Exact.
Seriously good performance still ,out of a 40+yr old gun.
The 124's are still the business, especially when they were fitted with the 300S barrels...and now ..the really good ammo...wow.

[Hsing-ee]

BSF 55's are really crude and so it the pistol.

I remember AGW testing a FWB in .177 and a MAG Bsa Mercury in .25. The bloke shot a rat in a barn with the FWB and it kept on coming and leapt over his shoulder. With the Mercury, he just hit them and they stopped.

I still don't understand why there are so many different types of pellets now. All you need are Diablo and wadcutters. I did once try some Champion Hunter flat point pellets. They seemed to be pretty accurate in an old Meteor I had.

I never liked the look of the Jackels other than the Woodsman? Paratroopers look like toys. There used to be a Sussex Armoury shop in Shambles Square in Manchester. A fine selection of right wing types used to hang about drooling over coshes, blackjacks and billy canes.

Haha the old anti-BSF sentiment! The 55 is not THAT crude, just not as well finished as the price would indicate.
100% on the pellet shape, should have been settled ages ago.
The .177 vs .25 story, while plausible, is almost certainly AGW fiction. And yes, Rod Lynton owned up to making up test results at one point .. he was a friendly bloke though just liked exaggerating and erm 'fibbing'.. writing things like he shot pigeons through the head at 40 yards with a Crosman pistol and trap-thrown clay pigeons with a Jackal AR7. John Darling was the real hunter type.

Brilliant bit of mass observation about the truncheon-fanciers in Shambles Square. They were probably just re-enactors wanting to get their cosplay outfits for the Battle of Cable Street.

[MartynB]

Big objective lenses

Optima Moonlighter

[flyingfish]

They were probably just re-enactors wanting to get their cosplay outfits for the Battle of Cable Street. [/QUOTE]

Liberty! Justice! Reasonably priced love and a hard boiled egg!!!