Yesterday while in Tony's Cammo near Chester, a guy came in looking to buy a new rifle, as part ex he was offering an ASI Paratrooper (Gamo 68). Seems a friend of his had the rifle since new but it had spent the last few decades in the shed stored in its original vinyl bag and the ASI was given to him when he showed some interest. This old 70's era rifle stunk of damp but luckily it had been liberally greased before being left in the shed and although caked in a dusty, greasy gunge and stinking it certainly showed potential. Tony offered the rifle to me for what he gave for it which was a real bargain.
I remember these rifles well as a young lad and always wanted one, but at the then £12 asking price they were to expensive and way above my pocket money. But a few mates later were able to get them and to my knowledge these were the first real go at making a repeating air rifle. I don't remember anything before it anyway.
Luckily mine is in pretty good condition thanks to the grease coating and after a good clean with a lint free cloth it looks pretty good. As a bonus the 25 shot spring loaded tube magazine still works perfectly as does the auto load system. There was some powdery corrosion on aluminium parts although not to bad and a crack in the plastic cheek piece. Although this particular one does not have a scope ramp fitted so is hopefully one of the earlier examples. The crinkle finish that was so characteristic of these particular rifles is still also in excellent condition as can be seen from the photo's.
I've seen a few of these rifles since the 70's and the ones I have seen have been in pretty poor condition with the mags missing and fairly tatty, so the condition of this one and the very low price meant I could not miss out on such a bargain.
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