American legend Quackenbush no5

[AirSupply]

Quite an historically important airgun. The No 5 was the first mass produced airgun and Henry Quackenbush sold his patent to many gun makers in Europe.
This design is referred to as a “gem”. The quality varied depending on the maker. They were cheap to make and had many “cast” metal parts. They were pined and riveted rather than screwed together.
But not the no5! It is one solid airgun. Very heavy and well made.
Inside the patch box on the side is an adapter that fits in the place of the breach seal. This way it could shoot .22 shorts. The piston would strike the adapter which in turn fired the short.
So it’s really a form of combination rifle.
This one is serial number 755 and is around 130 years old.
We all get excited about the quality of the German Airguns but in its day the no 5 was the American gun being copied by the Germans!

 

[SoundBarrier]

Very nice.

 

[Buck25]

The Quackenbush Model 5s are definitely a quality piece. For research purposes I track the serial numbers of the Model 5. I would be interested in hearing about any other Model 5s out there in the airgun community. Your serial number has a different sized font that I have not seen on other examples. The serial number is found on three locations, on the bottom of the receiver as in your picture and on the underside of the barrel and the underside of the frame as shown in the attached pictures.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I am at work right now so no pics of mine, but back when I used to own a gunshop in Arizona, a woman came in and said she had some guns to sell. She had been to my competiton first who were rather unscrupulous and had cherry picked her late husbands collection. By the time she got to my shop it was a 10/22 and a weird looking airgun. Being into airguns I offered her a fair bit for both, she told me the other guys had told her the shiny one was junk and should be thrown away!
I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out after I had it for a bit that it is a Quackenbush 1 and 1/2! Very old, still sorta works and is a takedown! all nickel plated. Mostly a wall hanger in my gunroom but very interesting design.
This picture is from vintage airguns gallery, mine is similar