A collection of vintage and modern airguns.
Some time ago I decided to try to make some new leather seals for a 1925 Anson Firefly and a 1925 Frank Clarke Briton. The seals in the Briton were almost non-existent. They hadn’t been cared for and were crumbling to pieces. The seals on the Firefly had worn out around the barrel and so it had little to no power.
Continue reading “Leather seals…”
I’ve been meaning to write this guide for quite some time now. A few years perhaps. Following the recent completion of the Record Champion restoration project, I thought it was time to get this guide written.
Continue reading “Service Guide for the FB Record Champion”
About 18 months ago I started work on a rough and broken Record Champion air pistol. These air pistols are quite rare and very unique and so are very worthy of restoration and repair. Not only do they have a concentric oval piston and seal, but they are also side-lever cocking with a twelve-shot stick magazine that slides into the grip. Additionally, it has an adjustable two-stage trigger and a dovetail rail on which you could fit a pistol scope! How’s that for a feature-packed spring powered air pistol?
Continue reading “Restoration Project – FB Record Champion – Part 2”
In this article, for a change from writing historical pieces, I am going to write a guide that details how to disassemble a Record Jumbo. Why the change Jimmie? Well, I bought this pistol rather cheaply at a bring and buy sale some years ago. Bargain it was or so I thought. When I got it home when I soon realised it wasn’t such a good deal. It would not fire a pellet at all….
Continue reading “Service Guide for the FB Record Jumbo”
A few weeks ago, a fellow airgun enthusiast asked me if I could service his friend’s BSA Scorpion air pistol. I thought sure, providing I can get the parts I will have a go. Of course it was also an opportunity to fully strip one down and write a service guide for anyone else that may need to repair or service their vintage BSA Scorpion.
Continue reading “A Service Guide for the BSA Scorpion Air Pistol”
A special case for a special air pistol! Considering the cost of these air pistols, you would expect Weihrauch to supply them with a custom foam-lined case. Instead, they are shipped in a cardboard box. Luckily, the owner of this air pistol stumbled across the custom foam-lined cases on this website and requested one for this air pistol.
Continue reading “Weihrauch HW44 Air Pistol Case”
A new pistol for the collection arrived from Germany last week. It’s a Crosman 38T “Target” model. The “Target” model is .177 calibre as opposed to the early .22 38T that Crosman produced. It is identical in all ways except externally it has a plastic rear sight and a plastic cylinder. Internally it has an alloy valve body as opposed to the brass valve body of the early model.
Continue reading “Restoration Project – Crosman 38T “Target” – Part 1″
Here’s something a bit different for a change. I have had this FB Record Champion for quite some time. It’s what you would call a project pistol as it was non-functional with broken or missing parts.
Continue reading “Restoration Project – FB Record Champion – Part 1”
Quite often you hear shooters ask “What’s the best range to zero my scope at?”. It’s a perfectly valid question and yet the response can be varied from 25 to 35 yards or “the range at which you will shoot at the most”. Whilst there is nothing wrong with any of those answers, they won’t necessarily help the shooter get the most from their rifle and scope combination and there’s certainly never any mention of magnification.
Continue reading “Riflescope Setup – Part 3: Rifle and Scope Calibration”
In part 1 I spoke about riflescope eye relief, how to select a riflescope with respect to eye relief and your rifle and how to mount your riflescope, again within the context of eye relief. In this article, I will discuss scope cant, what it is, its effects on the pellet’s impact point and how to eliminate it.
Continue reading “Riflescope Setup – Part 2: Scope Cant and Why You Don’t Want It”
I thought I would write a series of articles about how to correctly set up your riflescope. This will be the first article and it will show you how to correctly set up your riflescope for the optimum field of view. Future articles will cover scope cant, how to quickly and efficiently zero your riflescope and another will discuss the calibration of your riflescope and rifle combination using Chairgun Pro.
Continue reading “Riflescope Setup – Part 1: Eye Relief”
I’m sure many will have heard the term leading-in a barrel. Or perhaps you’ve heard of it without realising by being told to run in a new air rifle by shooting a tin of pellets through it. I have heard this many times over but never seen any documented evidence of this. So I thought I’d have a go at recording the effect in practice.
Continue reading “Leading-in a barrel. What is it and why you need to do it…”
Last week, I acquired another, yes, a fourth HW45 air pistol. “Four!” you say? Yeah, I must be a magnet for them. I’ll go into my reasons in another post. Anyway, whilst I had all four together I checked them over for variations and chronographed each of them to see how they compared.
Immediately I noticed that each trigger was configured differently. Probably as they were all pre-owned pistols, each owner had fiddled with the trigger adjustments. Well, those tiny grub screws in the trigger blade are very tempting.
Continue reading “Weihrauch HW45 – Trigger Adjustment”
Back in December of 2015, I bought a Crosman 451. It’s a 1969/70 CO2 .22 Colt 45 replica with semi-auto style blow-back action. I had actually been given one by my father some years earlier and had fallen deeply in love with these rare vintage air pistols ever since. However, as with many vintage air pistols, the one my father bought was without its box. I purchased my own 451 from a Canadian dealer and had it shipped to England. This one was complete with its box except, rather oddly, it didn’t have a lid. I was fairly confident that someday I would be able to make a lid to complete the package. Nearly two years later I have finally achieved my goal!
Continue reading “How to Make a Reproduction Box Lid”
Recently, I took my Theoben Rapid MKII out of its case to give it a shakedown test ahead of some fieldwork. It’s been quite a while since I have used this particular rifle. In fact, I have been neglecting my rifle collection in favour of pistols for a good year or so. I know, it really is unforgivable to ignore such a superb air rifle. Nonetheless, out she came. Still full of air as the day I had carefully packed her away. I cocked the bolt back and checked that she was not loaded. Of course it wasn’t but you can never be too cautious. I pushed the bolt forwards and whilst pointing it in a safe direction, I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing. Oh dear, I have a cocked rifle with no means to discharge it!
Continue reading “A Service Guide for the Theoben Rapid MKII”Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.
