Airgun Letter by Tom Gaylord

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Mike660

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Feb 29, 2020
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Inverness, IL USA
As probably many of you "seasoned veterans" know, “The Airgun Letter” was an 8-16 page monthly newsletter filled with airgun-related info, reviews, and detailed photos written by Tom Gaylord. It ran from March 1994 to May 2002. Anything and everything about airguns were reviewed, including a MAC-1/LD Mark I, springers, ten-meter guns, and plinkers. There were reviews of airgun shows, ballistics tests, pellet traps, airgunsmithing, co2, compressed air, pump, antiques, hunting, air shotgun, and a ton more.

I always found these to be a wealth of knowledge and more interesting than some of the old airgun magazines. I happen to have a set of the letters from April 1996 thru April 2002 and quite honestly haven't seen them for sale anywhere on the Airgun forums or eBay for several years

So my question is does anyone feel these have any value anymore or are they just too dated? I was going to post in the classifieds but I wasn't even sure of the value and what a reasonable asking price would be. Unfortunately, there are no airgun shows nearby for me to get additional feedback so just thought I would reach out for any opinions. Thanks
 
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I used to get it, I probably still have some.. I was looking through some of my stuff and found old literature from spot on air, the original brocock's and air rifle specialist, early PCP and CO2 rifles and shotguns.. long gone.. lots of good stuff..
I've always highly regarded Tom Gaylord also known as BB Pelletier..
good memories
Mark
 
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Mike660 said:
As probably many of you "seasoned veterans" know, “The Airgun Letter” was an 8-16 page monthly newsletter filled with airgun-related info, reviews, and detailed photos written by Tom Gaylord. It ran from March 1994 to May 2002. Anything and everything about airguns were reviewed, including a MAC-1/LD Mark I, springers, ten-meter guns, and plinkers. There were reviews of airgun shows, ballistics tests, pellet traps, airgunsmithing, co2, compressed air, pump, antiques, hunting, air shotgun, and a ton more.

I always found these to be a wealth of knowledge and more interesting than some of the old airgun magazines. I happen to have a set of the letters from April 1996 thru April 2002 and quite honestly haven't seen them for sale anywhere on the Airgun forums or eBay for several years

So my question is does anyone feel these have any value anymore or are they just too dated? I was going to post in the classifieds but I wasn't even sure of the value and what a reasonable asking price would be. Unfortunately, there are no airgun shows nearby for me to get additional feedback so just thought I would reach out for any opinions. Thanks
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do you like have a complete set start to finish? I'd imagine that would be pretty rare and special but I don't know how much is revelant now..
I posted another comment before this 🤔 I have only seen this happen a couple times and I wonder if I said anything wrong 🤔 because it says invisible waiting for moderator approval..
so I guess I'll see, hopefully someone will have a clue on why it is needed approval..I don't think it was against forum rules and hopefully they will clarify it for me 🤔
when and if it does come up if any other members see anything questionable on why it happens please let me know.
Mark
 
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PumaCarl said:
Wasn't he doing that letter for Pyramyd Air? Wouldn't they have archived it, digitally in pdf, for reference? They certainly should have. I hope that someone does. Sometimes you do need "dated" information.
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Tom wrote the Airgun Letter well before Pyramyd Air existed. BTW - Pyramyd Air used to be Airgun Express
 
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markhooper said:
I used to get it, I probably still have some.. I was looking through some of my stuff and found old literature from spot on air, the original brocock's and air rifle specialist, early PCP and CO2 rifles and shotguns.. long gone.. lots of good stuff..
I've always highly regarded Tom Gaylord also known as BB Pelletier..
good memories
Mark
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Thanks that may be a possibility
 
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How about scanning and posting them, for posterity? You wouldn't get all that money for them that you would selling at an airgun show, but then the world could read and thank you for sharing them. I'm thinking that whoever holds copyright would have to agree (probably Mr. Gaylord), we'd have to find a hosting site (here? Pyramyd?), and then photo/scan all those pages. It could be a group effort so one person doesn't have to scan (6*12*8~16=?) a thousand or so pages.
 
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Mike660 said:
As probably many of you "seasoned veterans" know, “The Airgun Letter” was an 8-16 page monthly newsletter filled with airgun-related info, reviews, and detailed photos written by Tom Gaylord. It ran from March 1994 to May 2002. Anything and everything about airguns were reviewed, including a MAC-1/LD Mark I, springers, ten-meter guns, and plinkers. There were reviews of airgun shows, ballistics tests, pellet traps, airgunsmithing, co2, compressed air, pump, antiques, hunting, air shotgun, and a ton more.

I always found these to be a wealth of knowledge and more interesting than some of the old airgun magazines. I happen to have a set of the letters from April 1996 thru April 2002 and quite honestly haven't seen them for sale anywhere on the Airgun forums or eBay for several years

So my question is does anyone feel these have any value anymore or are they just too dated? I was going to post in the classifieds but I wasn't even sure of the value and what a reasonable asking price would be. Unfortunately, there are no airgun shows nearby for me to get additional feedback so just thought I would reach out for any opinions. Thanks
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I have recently acquired some airguns, and am a newbie to the field. The rifle included a letter on Airgun Letter stationery, from Tom Gaylord, referring to an R1 book. I would be interested in old issues of the Airgun Letter, and the R1 book, if they are out there.
 
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Jim8733 said:
I have recently acquired some airguns, and am a newbie to the field. The rifle included a letter on Airgun Letter stationery, from Tom Gaylord, referring to an R1 book. I would be interested in old issues of the Airgun Letter, and the R1 book, if they are out there.
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FYI. There is an autographed copy of the R1 book available on Ebay. It was autographed by Robrt Beeman. I believe the auction ends in 2 days. If I decide to let the airgun letters go in the future I will keep you in mind,
 
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Some call Mr. Nostalgia ,I keep old Hot,Car Craft ,etc,and old air gun stuff around to reminisce.I know time goes forward,seems like I am stuck in reverse.I do go back and dust the old magazines and papers off and read them,it hard for me to get rid of those things I enjoyed,like I said .I do go make and read them every-now-and-then.I do not buy the old stuff though,like I have enough.
 
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Perhaps Mike660 could do a donation request and then use that money to have them scanned and uploaded to a place where all could enjoy them. AGN could generate a lot of interest and good will (and preserve some important history) by doing exactly that.

Back when when I raced, I learned of a guy that had a whole storage unit stuffed with the rather rare type of motorcycles that we used in that club. They sat there and rotted, never to be used by so many that could have enjoyed them so much. I never could wrap my head around why someone would do that.

Cheers,

J~
 
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Treefrog said:
Perhaps Mike660 could do a donation request and then use that money to have them scanned and uploaded to a place where all could enjoy them. AGN could generate a lot of interest and good will (and preserve some important history) by doing exactly that.

Back when when I raced, I learned of a guy that had a whole storage unit stuffed with the rather rare type of motorcycles that we used in that club. They sat there and rotted, never to be used by so many that could have enjoyed them so much. I never could wrap my head around why someone would do that.

Cheers,

J~
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maybe the guy with the motorcycle in storage thought he would get around to fixing them up and doing something with them 🤔 just a thought because I assume that it cost him to store them, not like some of us who put things away in a shed hoping they will be useful..I find myself doing that with a lot of things that break,I save old food parts and occasionally it's come in handy.. but I've been trying to think it down..
I do like the idea of somehow having a collection of the Tom Gaylord available on the Internet..I have found some more recent ones apparently he is doing them for pyramid air now, they are on the website somewhere, and occasionally I'll find one and follow the links as far as they go.
Mark
 
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Mike660 said:
As probably many of you "seasoned veterans" know, “The Airgun Letter” was an 8-16 page monthly newsletter filled with airgun-related info, reviews, and detailed photos written by Tom Gaylord. It ran from March 1994 to May 2002. Anything and everything about airguns were reviewed, including a MAC-1/LD Mark I, springers, ten-meter guns, and plinkers. There were reviews of airgun shows, ballistics tests, pellet traps, airgunsmithing, co2, compressed air, pump, antiques, hunting, air shotgun, and a ton more.

I always found these to be a wealth of knowledge and more interesting than some of the old airgun magazines. I happen to have a set of the letters from April 1996 thru April 2002 and quite honestly haven't seen them for sale anywhere on the Airgun forums or eBay for several years

So my question is does anyone feel these have any value anymore or are they just too dated? I was going to post in the classifieds but I wasn't even sure of the value and what a reasonable asking price would be. Unfortunately, there are no airgun shows nearby for me to get additional feedback so just thought I would reach out for any opinions. Thanks
Click to expand...

View attachment Tom_Gaylord_Letter.pdf
 
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The research I've done so far on the rifle indicates that it's probably a Czech training rifle based on the Mauser. It has a bayonet with it!
I've attached the letter from Tom Gaylord that came with the rifle. It needs to be disassembled and cleaned, as the cocking lever does not lock back and the port where the 4.4mm round pellet is inserted has a rod at the base that should retract to allow the pellet to drop into the chamber.
The letter is undated, unfortunately, so I don't know which back issues of the Airgun Letter are referred to. The R1 (or RI?) book is supposed to have information on disassembly. Any help would be appreciated!

View attachment Tom_Gaylord_Letter.pdf
 
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