Do you enjoy vintage airguns? Sharing some research...

[dsk]

I still have two airguns from my youth back in the early 1980s... a Daisy 880 pump rifle and Crosman 357 pellet revolver. I've had to rebuild both in recent years but they're still chugging along. I've had the 880 since I was about 12yo and the 357 from when I was around 13.

No picture of the Daisy right now, but here's the Crosman wearing its optional 8" barrel and some wood grips I fashioned for it in later years as a teenager. I also still have the original 6" barrel as well.

 

[Treefrog]

I have an old Crosman 160 that needs a rebuild, anyone know where I can find some instructions? I would like to know something before tearing into it.

There are a number of good videos on pulling down and resealing the QB-78 rifle on youtube. It's pretty much identical to the Crosman 160, so you'll find all that you need to know there.

J~

 

[MDriskill]

Loving the pics! But the OP was actually asking about reference material, and some of the best is in books (sorry whippersnappers...the whole world isn't on the net quite yet...! ).

Here are some of my favorites - the newest is Mr. Griffiths's massive "Spring Air Pistols" 2nd edition, which truly must be seen to be believed:

 

[MDriskill]

I have an old Crosman 160 that needs a rebuild, anyone know where I can find some instructions? I would like to know something before tearing into it.

Crosman shows every owner's manual and parts diagram on their site:

https://support.crosman.com/hc/en-us/articles/203360854-160-Owner-s-Manual-EVP-1962-1971-

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

I have an old Crosman 160 that needs a rebuild, anyone know where I can find some instructions? I would like to know something before tearing into it.

Click around the airgun blog link.
https://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Crosman 160

John

 

[crowski]

My dumpster FWB 300s is vintage to me. And another FWB I just recently scooped. The workmanship and machining are nothing short of spectacular. Crow

 

[cjtamu]

Loving the pics! But the OP was actually asking about reference material, and some of the best is in books (sorry whippersnappers...the whole world isn't on the net quite yet...! ).

Here are some of my favorites - the newest is Mr. Griffiths's massive "Spring Air Pistols" 2nd edition, which truly must be seen to be believed:

View attachment 313811

Are those mostly history and specs type books or do they go through mechanics, tuning, different types of cocking and loading mechanisms, etc? I’d love to have a book that did.

 

[MDriskill]

I may not completely understand your question (tuning in particular is rather a separate subject from collecting). These books focus on descriptions, discussions, photos, history, old factory drawings, catalog info, etc. To be clear, most of these are specialized, limited-run books which are out of print, and will take some hunting around to find.

If I could pick one to start with, it's John Walter's The Airgun Book. There were four editions, all done in the 1980's golden age of springers. They focus on guns that were new then, but also have much info on older models. The blue-cover 1st edition and red-cover 3rd edition are my favorites (green-cover 2nd is basically a reprint of the 1st; the brown-cover 4th deleted much older springer info but covers some early PCP's). They are not too hard to find or too expensive.

Another favorite is "Gas, Air, and Spring Guns of the World," published way back in 1957. A real classic that also is usually easy to find. My photo is a hardback edition, but it was reprinted as a paperback a couple of times.

If you have specific interests or questions, I'm happy to answer questions...and I have enough other references to bore any normal person catatonic...

 

[MDriskill]

Thanks for posting that, ctshooter. Had to do a double take on your second picture--that pistol in the middle is a dead ringer for an S&W Model 41 .22 target pistol. Thanks again.

It's a Smith & Wesson model 78 (or 79?) - CO2 pistols specifically designed to be as much like the model 41 as possible.

 

[stewie]

It's a Smith & Wesson model 78 (or 79?) - CO2 pistols specifically designed to be as much like the model 41 as possible.

Ah, good to know. Thank you.

 

[Ievgen721]

My HaeneL 33 Sporf.

 

[Ievgen721]

My HW 45 OEM Shoulder stock.

 

[allinssd]

Amazing how far we've come. I've owned most of these. I also thank god I never have to shoot them ever again.

 

[AirSupply]

My HaeneL 33 Sporf.

View attachment 325816

View attachment 325817

You have some beauties! Really like the look of the Airsporter Stutzen Mod RB2 also.

 

[AirSupply]

An oldie Jean Marck no2 Demi-Tier
I have some nice pcp’s that I enjoy shooting but these old girls have a story to tell.

 

[SteveP-52]

This came up on another forum and thought I'd share it here. May or may not cover guns you have but if it helps even one shooter, it's well worth the share:

Esplosi Armi Aria Compressa - AirGun-MirrorZeta

Il mondo delle armi dalla Airgun alla Z. Fucili, carabine e pistole a fuoco o ad aria compressa, CO2 a molla, PCP, PCA, Gas Ram e soft-air. L'enciclopedia delle armi, articoli, tecnica, recensioni, prove, ottiche di puntamento e tuning.

mirrorzeta.altervista.org

 

[Treefrog]

This came up on another forum and thought I'd share it here. May or may not cover guns you have but if it helps even one shooter, it's well worth the share:

Esplosi Armi Aria Compressa - AirGun-MirrorZeta

Il mondo delle armi dalla Airgun alla Z. Fucili, carabine e pistole a fuoco o ad aria compressa, CO2 a molla, PCP, PCA, Gas Ram e soft-air. L'enciclopedia delle armi, articoli, tecnica, recensioni, prove, ottiche di puntamento e tuning.

mirrorzeta.altervista.org

Thanks! Those drawings are better than most of the others I've found. I needed one for the Crosman 357.

J~

 

[AirSupply]

Great read.

BELL TARGET SHOOTING

 

[MDriskill]

I recently picked up a BSF model S54 underlever, from the 1960's. I am starting to bond with it...it's sheer weirdness is somehow endearing, LOL.

I recently re-installed its open sights, which was a surprisingly complex little job.

This very example, no. 4707, was once owned by Tom Gaylord himself, and covered in his Pyramyd blog.

BSF S54 Match rifle: Part 5 | Blog | Pyramyd AIR

by Tom Gaylord Writing as B.B. Pelletier BSF S54 target rifle. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 A history of airguns This report covers: Insert The test Sight-in H&N Finale Match Light H&N Match Green Sig Match Ballistic Alloy Why so much better? Finale Match Light again One last time 10-meter rifle...

www.pyramydair.com

 

[KWK]

That's a beautiful Gem up above. I've never handled or owned one but always been intrigued by an 1800's springer. I should have bought one before they started going for silly money around here. Just for a plain Jane