The Norica Commando, that's the one with the weird camo pattern and sliding collapsible stock..... Very weird thing... Didn't have one, but did sell a few through the shop I worked in.
Hi Chaps,
As I was clearing away some old magazines...Airgun World for the curious I came across an advert for a Norica Commando, has anyone ever owned one? As a teenager I would have loved one of those but never really heard of them. I assume they will be fairly pants alongside the Gamo Paratrooper? Having never seen one for sale would they be expensive on rarity value alone?
I certainly do not need any more old springers but this oddball would make my list!
Any stories about these would be very interesting.
The Norica Commando, that's the one with the weird camo pattern and sliding collapsible stock..... Very weird thing... Didn't have one, but did sell a few through the shop I worked in.
They definitely exist, but are rare.
Thanks Chaps... its made my list but will probably never see one.
i remember reading about this gun
Funnily enough I was thinking about one of these a few weeks ago myself for a play, I mean serious test.
Just the sort of thing to find at Kempton.
John
Currently looking for Baikal Makarov pistols with the following prefixes to the serial number: 98, T01, T09, T21, T22
Prefer boxed or cased but will consider loose examples too.
I actually thought about one of the most likely places one of these would turn up would be a fair.... sadly though John I don't think there are any around the Lancs area.
My first gun was the ASI Commando, which was a good solid gun in traditional style. I think these were later badged as Norica or NAC Commando, still with the wooden furniture. But I think the one you're talking about, with the camo skeleton stock, looks more like it was based on either the ASI Paratrooper or perhaps ASI Sniper which were much inferior guns with lower power.
You were lucky Bill! Its a great looking rifle... I always thought that ASI-Anglo Spanish Imports was Gamo but possibly not as I have read an article about a rifle that was not a Gamo. (I reserve the right to play the old man card if I am wrong!
ASI was indeed mostly, though not exclusively Gamo. Weirdly, they sold the cheapo Gamo stuff and the FWB Sport, which was one of the most expensive sporting air rifles at the time.
The 70s ASI Commando was a NAC/Norica, I believe the Model 61 Comando (note slightly different spelling). I think they may have briefly recycled the Commando name later for a Gamo, but my mind may well be playing tricks.
The early/mid 80s sliding-stock Norica Commando (Comando? I dunno) was sold here as a Norica, and not, I think, by ASI. I believe it was still based on the basic 61 action, just dressed up with a (very vaguely) pseudo MP5A3 stock.
The late 70s/early 80s Noricas are a bit more interesting than many equivalent Spanish/E European cheapies, especially the Model 80.
Unfortunately they were never very popular over here, and English-language info about them is scarce, probably the best accounts being in John Walter’s Airgun Books.
Thanks for that Geezer I thought I was going nuts in my old age... I think ASI is still going even!?
Yup. Stand by for Cometas! (Or don’t.....)
https://www.a-s-i.co.uk/
Haha maybe I will sit idly for them.... to be fair some of them look OK? I have fond memories of my ASI sniper in .22 indeed I wish I had it now for some bizarre reason
I remember looking at the Sniper in the gunshop window (Crockart in Stirling), it had better sights than the Commando. The Sniper had sights like the Paratrooper, with proper windage and elevation knobs, where the Commando had a stamped metal rearsight with a sawtooth elevation ramp and no windage adjustment.
It was my 14th birthday, and I had wanted a Milbro G4 pistol, but my dad, who was an RAF Gunnery Leader during the war, insisted pistols were rubbish and I was getting a rifle. Way to go Dad.
I too got a rifle for my 14th.... good old Dad did me proud and got me a Jackal, back in the day when it seemed to be the done thing.