Luckily I have paperwork and a receipt signed by Mr.Pope.
I sort of had this dilemma the other year when I bought that Venom BSF Bavaria, it had the Venom stock and silencer and was obviously tuned but it was old and didn’t shoot overly well in my eyes, at the time it was the question of do I open it up and refresh the innards, which could have caused problems with collectors, it was swapped in the end for a lovely Longbow.
Far too many rifles to list now, all mainly British but the odd pesky foreigner has snuck in
The HW77 I’m looking at has the original 80s stock (which I love), blued transfer sleeve, set back trigger, top end blueing, brass safety, correct period scope etc. etc. I’ve followed these rifles since the mid 80s and this looks the nuts to my eye. Claimed Venom tuned….tbh it looks good and triggers the nostalgia enough that maybe it doesn’t matter (subject, as ever, to price!).
Takes me right back to being a young lad reading and re-reading Airgunner, making mix tapes off the ‘Top 40 show’, tinkering with my BSA Mercury and wondering what I had to do in life to buy a Venom 80/77 like the poster on my bedroom wall. John Darling syndrome……never leaves you.
No idea, mate. But to be fair, who’d turn up with calibration equipment when buying a second hand air rifle?
What I’m trying to say is some rifles have been maintained over the forty odd year period and as a result may not have original Venom parts inside - but they were still purchased from those hallowed premises all those years ago.
Paperwork is also extremely rare in these early cases. I’ve had three rifles purchased direct from Venom Arms, including a Relum Tornado I had tuned at Venomac. Each came with a piece of A5 notepaper, written onto a carbon copy sheet. I doubt many people kept that paperwork.
Put on heading 270, assume attack formation
It was my uncles rifle and one of the very first air rifles I ever shot. It was given to me after my uncle passed away. I had it tuned at Venom Arms and reblued by Shaun.
It’s still nothing special (as it’s a Relum) and it’s still a dog to shoot - but it’s one of my most treasured possessions. My uncle was very special to me.
Put on heading 270, assume attack formation
I'm not sure I agree with the chequering comment. I've had dozens of of original Venom Arms stocks through here for refurbishment or repair one the years and the 'original chequering', especially that done at CS when they used powered chequering tools, has been at best, abysmal. If I wanted to replicate that I'd get stuck into a bottle of whisky before I commenced..
Even some of the later, hand cut work that was done at Webley Venom, (of which one of the guys who used to do it is a friend of mine and have a couple of his cutters here, so I'll choose my words carefully), hasn't been brilliant. A few examples of both can be seen here:
Multipoint chequering patterns which appear on Venom stocks are just that, there's nothing 'Venom' about this pattern as the design spans decades on shotgun and full bore stocks. It's impossible not to 'replicate it', when laying out certain patterns on certain stock areas.
Put on heading 270, assume attack formation
What is it about the name Venom that makes me hard ..
A 1965 HW35. So you would need to take it apart and have a look at the piston as it might be an O ring conversion but depends at what point the previous owner had it tuned. I haven't a record of serial numbers and guns tuned but full custom rifles serial numbers will give an indication of the period tuned
Venom Industries, Venom Arms, Venomac, Webley Venom.
Mach 1.5
Last edited by Mach 1.5; 18-03-2023 at 08:03 PM.
Venom Conversions -Trapshot - Lye - 1981 - March 1984
Venom Arms Company - Gun Barrel Works - Cradley Heath.
24th March 1984 - 1995
Venomac Ltd. - Mucklow Hill - Halesowen.
1st August 1995 - September 1998
Webley Venom Custom Shop - Frankly Ind. Est.
October 1998 - 23rd December 2005
V-Mach - Stourbridge
10th April 2006 to 26th November 2020