Baikal Ij 40 pistol wanted + a few questions for the historians

[ccdjg]

The pistol you mention http://www.vzduchovka.cz/prehled/45300/45300_en.html does bear a superficial resemblance to the Lampagyar (FEG) pistol you saw on muzzle.de (which I also pictured in my thread 3 above), but it is quite a different beast. Whereas the Lampagyar comes from Hungary, as the above website indicates, this one was made in Hranica, Czechoslovakia by Josef Brunek from 1947, and was called the Hurikan 47. It is cocked by an underlever and is a 5-shot repeater, firing 4.46 mm lead ball, gravity fed from a magazine located above the barrel breech. The subsequent history of this design is complicated and you can find a few more details than on the Czech website in the Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols. Basically it seems that Josef Brunek allowed a version of his pistol with a modified underlever pivot to be produced by the Czech company KPP, and they marketed this version between 1947 and 1949, as the MMH 47. (An example is illustrated on the Czech website)
The pistols were available with a wood or plastic grip frame. There then seems to have been a gap in production until 1954, and the gun was then made by the company OPK in Hranica, sold as the JBH 54, again available with wood or plastic grips. http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...psbd7d27be.jpg

The gun was sold up to about 1956 when it disappeared altogether. Unless you believe in coincidences, I would say that FEG borrowed more than a little from this design when they introduced their own underlever pistol in 1954.

As far as availability goes, hens’ teeth come to mind. The only one you stand a chance with is the later JBH 54, and then only in the Czech Republic, and still very rare. I managed to get one eventually off the Czech version of fleabay (“Aukro”), with the aid of Google translator, and even then it needed quite a bit of sympathetic restoration on my part.

I am not sure what Haenel model you are asking about, as the link you give is incorrect.

[By the way, I notice that a copy of the Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols is up for auction in the Southams December 12th auction, along with other airgun books (nothing to do with me incidentally). If you have an interest in the more obscure air pistols it would be worth trying to get a copy, although it has now been out of print for a while.]