Treat me gently....

[ditchman]

I bet you've seen fat sarah though...

 

and im not about to put a shot into her either.........

[viking]

go on DD, pump her full of lead.

bet you wished you had never mentioned her now

[la bala]

go on DD, pump her full of lead.

bet you wished you had never mentioned her now

[ditchman]

you all are a bunch of totally wicked b*******..................now get lost and do something useful.........

[Mentalmac]

What a great thread Ditchman - I feel the PW forum would be a much more boring place without you.

 

I enjoy the serious and technical bits, lots of pictures (oooh err) but also the banter and irrelevant bits in between. This makes (in my opinion) a great thread.

 

It's a good way of breaking up the really heavy technical bits and does certainly make me laugh out loud a few times.

 

I have met overly serious people at various airgun places - i.e I was at my local airgun club with a mate, and was enjoying some plinking on the plinking range, until some strange chap turned up - unfurled his olive green specially designed mat and whipped out his interestingly coloured anodised airgun (looked more like something you'd see on Star Trek) and he started warming up.

He then proceeded to give me a lecture about how my £100 springer wasn't any good, my technique was amateur at best and how to be competitive I needed to take things much more seriously...

(he obviously didn't get the memo at 16 like you did haha)

[ditchman]

airgunning is all about fun..............aaannnd cheap fun.....i often think serious pigeon shooters should take a step back and do some ratting with a springer and a flask of coffee and a mate...leave the farm yard lights on and just enjoy yerself...

[oowee]

Of all the shooting i do rat shooting provides some of the best sport. Its grrrrrrrreat

[UKPoacher]

Rats to me were work. I only did it as part of the agreement to get some pigeon decoying and latterly helping out on shoots. Never enjoyed it. Always seemed dirty somehow -all that grubbing about in the dark inside barns and dryers.

 

Now squirrels are a different matter. For my money they present the finest sport for an air gunner especially in late summer when they are running through the tree tops.

[ASunnyD]

Agreed, I love picking squirrels off, I do enjoy rabbits and birds but the birds have usually disappeared as soon as I come by the gate and rabbits are mainly as part of the agreement with the farmer and he keeps them

[Kev1gun]

Well thanks Ditchman, I have come into this thread late and have really enjoyed it, you have made me want to sort my old Dads BSA Airsporter Mk1 I have loads of Air rifles but there is something special about a springer.

 

I remember when I was 12/13 year of age waiting for hours under a tree just to have a shot at a pigeon and the great feeling when you finally got one.

 

Anyway going to dig out the Airsporter and start stripping it down.

 

Kev1gun

[bruno22rf]

Anyone wishing to drag out ancient Airguns from the depths of their cellars might be advised to purchase a pair of Rose Tinted Specs - gonna come in handy

[ditchman]

Anyone wishing to drag out ancient Airguns from the depths of their cellars might be advised to purchase a pair of Rose Tinted Specs - gonna come in handy

 

 

you are right what you say.............a pcp will out shoot in accuaracy any springer..............................where im coming from is way back...to a time where none or very few of us could afford a webley mk 3 or a bsa stutzen...or airsporter.......they were on our wish list....we (if lucky ) could go as far as a 177 diana or an oldish meteor..............so it is only now we can afford to aquire such weapons...

 

12ft/lbs is 12ft/lbs wether it is delivered from a springer or pcp...and most of the top range springer models can achieve an inch group at 30 metres....and that is good enuff for anything........

 

i like oldish springers of yesteryear....cant be doing with valves and tanks and gauges...funny shaped stocks....for me it dont seen right...

 

and yes we have our rose tinted specs on...and grey hair....false teeth....bad hips...........

[bruno22rf]

"Grey hair.....false teeth.....bad hips" have you been stalking me? I started with a Relum T200 and I could only dream of old Diana's! In my day it took 2 weeks to save up for a tin of Milbro Caledonian pellets and it would be 7 years with the Relum b4 my first months wages bought me a HW35 (with a scope-virtually unheard of in those days) and I can recall drooling over the catalogue from the Sussex Armoury, makers of your gun. I have since used, pretty much, just about every Spring powered gun out there and have enjoyed, mostly, every minute - there have been highs, Original45, Annie335 and my HW80 and lows Daystate mk3 Diana G80 and every Gammo that I ever met. So I do know where you are coming from - I was bought up the hard (right?) way and still refuse to spend money on Bell's and Whistles, in fact I am lucky enough to be able to buy any gun that I choose and not worry about the cost but I buy like I am still a teenager back in the days gone by and buy using every ounce of experience I have gained and , by and large, stick with Air Arms - not the dearest by any means but , in my opinion, the best. The AAS410 does everything you will ever ask of it simples, and saves you money by making any other gun you might fall for superfluous. BTW have a near mint Mercury S in .177 if you cannot find a rough one.

[ditchman]

"Grey hair.....false teeth.....bad hips" have you been stalking me? I started with a Relum T200 and I could only dream of old Diana's! In my day it took 2 weeks to save up for a tin of Milbro Caledonian pellets and it would be 7 years with the Relum b4 my first months wages bought me a HW35 (with a scope-virtually unheard of in those days) and I can recall drooling over the catalogue from the Sussex Armoury, makers of your gun. I have since used, pretty much, just about every Spring powered gun out there and have enjoyed, mostly, every minute - there have been highs, Original45, Annie335 and my HW80 and lows Daystate mk3 Diana G80 and every Gammo that I ever met. So I do know where you are coming from - I was bought up the hard (right?) way and still refuse to spend money on Bell's and Whistles, in fact I am lucky enough to be able to buy any gun that I choose and not worry about the cost but I buy like I am still a teenager back in the days gone by and buy using every ounce of experience I have gained and , by and large, stick with Air Arms - not the dearest by any means but , in my opinion, the best. The AAS410 does everything you will ever ask of it simples, and saves you money by making any other gun you might fall for superfluous. BTW have a near mint Mercury S in .177 if you cannot find a rough one.

 

 

...me and you..........the reason im looking for a mecury S....isssss...............................my so called mate who so called gave it to me turned up the other day...and had a few shots with it and started to drewl over it and his bottom lip started to quiver....yes you have guessed it....he wanted it back.....i couldnt say no as he is always so generous with me on other stuff....so thats why im looking for a model S.....22 of my yesteryouth.....i have kept the scope which was given to me and will fit that to my very own air rifle.....funnily enough you are the 2nd person today to have offered for sale a Model S in .177

 

my biggest regret of my youth was been paid a penny a sparrow down on the farm yards....then there was at least 500 to a flock then....my old 177 diana supplemented my pocket money ration goodstyle.............now i do everything possible to encouge sparrows in the garden....i dont cut the ivy anymore as they roost in it...and squabble in the morning

 

ditch

Edited November 2, 2016 by ditchman

[Kev1gun]

Well it just brought it all back to me, i was fortune enough to be allowed Dads Mk1 Airsporter which he bought brand new in 1953 when he was demobbed and had come back from Korea. I remember i use to use a piece of stick with a split in the top and i'd wedge a 2p in it

pace out 25 paces so it was probably about 10 yards in those days, i use to practise and practise until i could hit it everytime, which never happened however 9/10 was my best effort i used to get tired cocking it, i was only 12 at the time!

 

I shot hundreds of Rabbits, Pheasants, pigeons and Rats with that gun over my Childhood all with open sights, i would lay in wait for bloody hours on end ( couldn't do it now to stiff ) when i started reading your thread it just tickled me and i started thinking of the old Days

 

I still have the Old Airsporter and i think she's due a refurb i got her on the Chrono @9ftlb and a group like a scatter gun then i remembered you need to use 5.6mm Eley Wasp Blue tin , not the modern 5.5mm got some coming so hope there better, possibly needs a new Spring and Leather washer.

 

Kev1gun

[ditchman]

Well it just brought it all back to me, i was fortune enough to be allowed Dads Mk1 Airsporter which he bought brand new in 1953 when he was demobbed and had come back from Korea. I remember i use to use a piece of stick with a split in the top and i'd wedge a 2p in it

pace out 25 paces so it was probably about 10 yards in those days, i use to practise and practise until i could hit it everytime, which never happened however 9/10 was my best effort i used to get tired cocking it, i was only 12 at the time!

 

I shot hundreds of Rabbits, Pheasants, pigeons and Rats with that gun over my Childhood all with open sights, i would lay in wait for bloody hours on end ( couldn't do it now to stiff ) when i started reading your thread it just tickled me and i started thinking of the old Days

 

I still have the Old Airsporter and i think she's due a refurb i got her on the Chrono @9ftlb and a group like a scatter gun then i remembered you need to use 5.6mm Eley Wasp Blue tin , not the modern 5.5mm got some coming so hope there better, possibly needs a new Spring and Leather washer.

 

Kev1gun

 

 

the mecury and airsporter have the same spring...you can still get all the parts..and shout be able to acheive 11.5ft/lbs when you have fetteled it.....

[bruno22rf]

Before you buy a .22 you might consider that not many pellets of good quality are made in 5.6 anymore - the Stutzen .22 that I had was very fussy and worked best with old Wasps but these are no longer made to the same standard - the .177 gives you a far greater choice - not trying to push my gun at all, I could sell it easily as the smaller calibre is rarer and there is a healthy demand

[ditchman]

Before you buy a .22 you might consider that not many pellets of good quality are made in 5.6 anymore - the Stutzen .22 that I had was very fussy and worked best with old Wasps but these are no longer made to the same standard - the .177 gives you a far greater choice - not trying to push my gun at all, I could sell it easily as the smaller calibre is rarer and there is a healthy demand

i believe the mecury and the stuzen when new came with a tin of wasps.........

[Kev1gun]

Don,t need to buy one Bruno22rf, it' s been in the family since 1953, I know what you mean about diminishing quality of not only pellet but everything else, I'm a mechanic by trade and even the snap on spanners are made in china now.

 

I have an uncle who is an Airgun nut building his own air rifles through the years and he said he could make me a pellet mould if I can't find a suitable pellet for the old Airsporter, might have to take him up on it, although I am going to keep busy helping me build a New Theoben Rapid from scratch, there is a guy Dr bob on another forum who has commissioned 20 Theoben Rapid blocks wit an extended pre chamber built in so it would lend itself to a good FAC air rifle I'm just deciding what calibre I want to build, I already have 4 Theoben Rapids in .177, .20 and .22 so I think a .25 could be in order.

 

Kev1gun

[bruno22rf]

Before you buy a .22 was "aimed " at ditchman, Kev1gun. As for pellets for the Airsporter, the best modern pellet seemed to be AA Field, they were small and dropped down the port quite a way but their consistency at least kept the group sizes reasonable. Rapid 7? I remember when they first came out and I also remember beating , I think, Ben Taylor with my HW80 against his tuned FWB127 many, many, years ago - we were shooting those plastic "Caps" that the better toy guns fired over about 25 yards, those were the days

[Kev1gun]

Yes I remember having a Venom tuned HW80 it was the only German gun I could bring myself to own built like a Panzer tank, could never get on with it. It was a fine rifle, only I couldn't hit a barn door with it. Had mostly BSA when I was younger the old Airsporter was always there, but I've had meteors and mercury, mercury s and several guises of Airsporter would love to get hold of a Stutzen Airsporter, one will come along one a hope.

 

Kev1gun

[ditchman]

Yes I remember having a Venom tuned HW80 it was the only German gun I could bring myself to own built like a Panzer tank, could never get on with it. It was a fine rifle, only I couldn't hit a barn door with it. Had mostly BSA when I was younger the old Airsporter was always there, but I've had meteors and mercury, mercury s and several guises of Airsporter would love to get hold of a Stutzen Airsporter, one will come along one a hope.

 

Kev1gun

 

 

did you see the pics of the stuzen belonging to whitebridges...earlier on in the thread....

[ditchman]

Before you buy a .22 was "aimed " at ditchman, Kev1gun. As for pellets for the Airsporter, the best modern pellet seemed to be AA Fiel

 

Don,t need to buy one Bruno22rf, it' s been in the family since 1953, I know what you mean about diminishing quality of not only pellet but everything else, I'm a mechanic by trade and even the snap on spanners are made in china now.

 

I have an uncle who is an Airgun nut building his own air rifles through the years and he said he could make me a pellet mould if I can't find a suitable pellet for the old Airsporter, might have to take him up on it, although I am going to keep busy helping me build a New Theoben Rapid from scratch, there is a guy Dr bob on another forum who has commissioned 20 Theoben Rapid blocks wit an extended pre chamber built in so it would lend itself to a good FAC air rifle I'm just deciding what calibre I want to build, I already have 4 Theoben Rapids in .177, .20 and .22 so I think a .25 could be in order.

 

Kev1gun

 

d, they were small and dropped down the port quite a way but their consistency at least kept the group sizes reasonable. Rapid 7? I remember when they first came out and I also remember beating , I think, Ben Taylor with my HW80 against his tuned FWB127 many, many, years ago - we were shooting those plastic "Caps" that the better toy guns fired over about 25 yards, those were the days

 

 

 

i was thinking about this pellet size stuff a while ago....the AA field 16gn all have skiets @ 5.6mm....but the heads are 5.5mm.....i think we all agree that the quality of the AA field are good.....

 

 

sooooo..............why not make a small hand held press...like a primer press that i had in africa for loading centrefire....put a AA pellet in it with the head sticking out and as you squeeze the lever , a press mould drops onto the head and squashes and spreads and shapes the head to 5.6mm....leaving the skirt untouched below in the mould.....??

 

what do you rekon....

[Kev1gun]

Yes i did and it reminded me it's one i want/need for my collection just to hang on the wall and look at. i will have to keep an eye out for one

 

I was up in Norfolk last week on Holiday at a Windmill at How Hill Ludham Been to Norfolk about 45 times on the Broads so decided to be a Landlubber this time, your so lucky its a lovely county. Beers not bad either, i made my annual pilgrimage to Woodfordes Brewery to Stock up for Christmas trouble is i think i might have to go again before Christmas because i keep sampling the fine stuff Keep looking at properties up there, one day i will do it. Bloody football teams gone on a wobble again though, used to be a season ticket holder

but it got too expensive travelling up from Basingstoke every other weekend.

 

Kev1gun

[ditchman]

Yes i did and it reminded me it's one i want/need for my collection just to hang on the wall and look at. i will have to keep an eye out for one

 

I was up in Norfolk last week on Holiday at a Windmill at How Hill Ludham Been to Norfolk about 45 times on the Broads so decided to be a Landlubber this time, your so lucky its a lovely county. Beers not bad either, i made my annual pilgrimage to Woodfordes Brewery to Stock up for Christmas trouble is i think i might have to go again before Christmas because i keep sampling the fine stuff Keep looking at properties up there, one day i will do it. Bloody football teams gone on a wobble again though, used to be a season ticket holder

but it got too expensive travelling up from Basingstoke every other weekend.

 

Kev1gun

 

used to go to woodfords quite regular as there was a gunshop around the counrner.......frank (from darlows) used to rent a space there...and service my sxs's.....the gunshop owner was a total loss and turned out to be a very naughty boy......police are still after him.....frank died in a really stupid car crash going home across the a47...and at the same time i stopped game shooting....but i still miss him as i had known hyim for 40years....