Air Arms S310 (Serial No. 097) - .177 Calibre

[muddyboots]

I have an old Air Arms S310 which might, or might not, be considered to be collectible.
According to the Air Arms records, it was built in January 1998 and originally purchased by Ken Turner, who had well known links to the factory. It has a deluxe walnut thumbhole stock (with shortened and tapered forend), a forged steel one piece bolt handle (gloss black finish), machined steel barrel band, fettled gold plated trigger, and 1/2” threaded Parker Hale silencer. It seems that the gun was customised for Terry Le Cheminant, and he can be seen using it in the ‘Total Airgun Hunting - Volume 1’ video (it also appears on the jacket photo), in ‘The Airgun Hunter’s Field Guide’ book, and various ‘Air Gunner’ magazine articles. It’s still fitted with the period Simmons WTC scope, Harris bipod, Velcro tab for a lamp switch, etc, so it looks exactly the same as when he owned it. The rifle was subsequently sold to a friend of his, who owned it for 23+ years, before he sold it to me. To my mind, it still looks and feels a bit special. Unfortunately, I don’t seem able to upload any photos, so you’ll have to take my word for it, for the time being. I realise it’s a bit of a long shot, but if anyone knows Terry Le Cheminant, worked for Air Arms at the time, or is able to add to the history, I’d really like to hear about it. Any assistance with posting photos would also be greatly appreciated.
Andy

[nurek]

Being an old S310 doesn't make it collectable, but being purchased by Ken Turner (and I assume worked on by Ken) and owned by Terry Le Cheminant certainly does!

It would be great to see some pictures. You could use a hosting website such as

https://imgur.com/

or

https://imgbb.com/

[muddyboots]

Being an old S310 doesn't make it collectable, but being purchased by Ken Turner (and I assume worked on by Ken) and owned by Terry Le Cheminant certainly does!

It would be great to see some pictures. You could use a hosting website such as

https://imgur.com/

or

https://imgbb.com/

For some reason, the Posting Permissions don't seem to allow me to post attachments.
So, uploading photos is currently a problem for me.
Hopefully, that can be remedied.
In the meantime, this is all that I know about this rifle...

From Air Arms:

Details of the rifle are as below:
Serial No – 097 Model Details – S310 .177 Std RH T/H Walnut Manufactured – 21st January 1998

The recorded velocity for the rifle is 694 fps.

We do not carry out customisations at the factory, but upon reviewing our records, it appears this rifle was originally sold to the late Ken Turner. Ken was well known for producing custom work and prototypes for us, so it’s likely that any modifications were carried out by him. He may have later sold the rifle to Terry le Cheminant or completed custom work on Terry’s behalf.

The rifle originally left the factory fitted with a thumbhole walnut stock. The current stock appears to be one of the modifications made post-sale. Additionally, the Parker Hale silencer is an aftermarket addition, as this is not a component we would have supplied with the rifle.

From the previous owner:

Like I said during our previous conversation, the gun was made for Terry through his association and friendship with Bill Sanders at AA. By that I mean that they took a stock S310 ( obviously an early one due to the serial no.) and the internals (trigger mech, bolt, gold plated trigger etc) as well as the visual tweaks (shortened fore-end, A-frame clamp and screw-cut barrel with PH moderator) were modded by Ken Turner who, from memory of what Terry told me, was the gunsmith for AA at the time.