Break-Barrel Is Broken

[Hsing-ee]

When reading the magnificent 'Gas, Air and Spring Rifles of the World' by W.H.B.Smith I was slightly irritated by the title (spring guns ARE 'air' guns after all, although there are a few like the Daisy Peacemaker pistol which are purely spring operated) but majorly irritated by his use of 'barrel-cocker' instead of 'break-barrel'. Or maybe it was John Walter in his 'The Airgun Book', I cannot remember and those books are sold now. I am getting old.

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that 'barrel-cocker' is a much better term than break-barrel. Who thought of 'break-barrel'? It's rubbish. It breaks at the breech, not the barrel.

Although not as bad as the German, which translates to 'bend-barrel'. Maybe that is why some HWs and the FWB Sport were known for barrel-droop.

Barrel-cocker and underlever-cocker and side-lever cocker. That's enough.

[TonyL]

Good call, Al. I've often thought that it sounds a very strange term. To "break" the barrel almost implies that you are making the barrel non-operational!

The terms are stuck with us now, though, and I can't see the description changing. Even if any new naming was employed on here we're just a tiny part of the whole community.

And when it comes to the various propulsion systems, it does seem stranger to me that the CO2 guns come under the airgun umbrella when they're using a gas other than air. In that respect, that old author was more on the money.

[EricP]

We get stuck with these things, it’s like driving a car and riding a bicycle
For a bicycle you provide the motive power so you drive it but not in English.
For a car you steer and control the motive power but do not provide it so as in the control of a horse, you ride it but not in English.
The only case where the language seems to be right is a motorbike, which you ride.

With these idiosyncrasies and its plethora of irregular verbs it’s obvious the English language has been evolved by idiots. Don’t get me started on the subject of a thesaurus, how many other languages have one? In most languages the concept of synonyms and autonyms does not exist. Language is supposed to be a means of communication. How can that be achieved efficiently with over 200 irregular verbs?

How do you teach someone to read and write when the spelling does not reflect the pronunciation? Bough, Enough, Rough, Through. Row as in propel a boat. Row as in have an argument.

I am trying to help a Ukrainian lady with her English. It’s a nightmare!

My rant is over for now!

[Waddy]

I always wondered where the phrase "ey up me old cocker" came from

English is a mash up of two languages with even more influences & bits & pieces thrown in as far as I can tell, but at least inanimate objects don't have genders and we've dumped the archaic complexities like "he standeth" which other European languages still have.

If the Boinger Bash was in Germany would it be the "Bender Bash" ?

[Neil54]

I thought break action was more apt.
I have always broken shotguns open.

The breaker bash.
Doesn't ring the same.

[Hsing-ee]

I thought break action was more apt.
I have always broken shotguns open.

The breaker bash.
Doesn't ring the same.

That's it! Break-action! Barrel-cocker sounds like some kind of gun dog that stands right under the guns.

The 'Bender Bash' is appropriate for those that spend the meeting working their way through tinnies and forget to get their rifles out of the motor.

[Hsing-ee]

With these idiosyncrasies and its plethora of irregular verbs it’s obvious the English language has been evolved by idiots.

I am trying to help a Ukrainian lady with her English. It’s a nightmare!

My rant is over for now!

PMSL

Yet it's the UK's most successful export. Maybe it's got the wiggle room and fudgeable slop that people want from a language, perhaps too much precision would be like wearing box section steel trousers.

[angrybear]

That's it! Break-action! Barrel-cocker sounds like some kind of gun dog that stands right under the guns.

The 'Bender Bash' is appropriate for those that spend the meeting working their way through tinnies and forget to get their rifles out of the motor.

What is the part that you break open & use to cock it ?
is it not the barrel ? so, quite correctly, it's a break barrel.

[Hsing-ee]

What is the part that you break open & use to cock it ?
is it not the barrel ? so, quite correctly, it's a break barrel.

The breech opens, not the barrel.

[TonyL]

Barrel-cocker and underlever-cocker and side-lever cocker. That's enough.

Barrel / underlever / sidelever cocking spring powered airgun sounds about right to me. It'll never catch on, though.

[angrybear]

The breech opens, not the barrel.

The barrel opens 'at' the breech, & opens by use of the barrel as a lever.

"Break barrel" also rolls of the tongue far easier than "barrel cocker", although in order to make the set it should surely be underlever, sidelever & barrel-lever