I can not stop looking at these pictures I’m in love with the looks of this rifle you are a very lucky man.
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Finding a needle in the airgun haystack,,,Al Nibecker Quigley V serial #5
- Thread starter Kdog
- Start date
I am now the owner of this fine piece of airgun art and history. If anyone has any further history on this gun design, Al N., etc. please let me know...thanks.
Brewski
Brewski
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If you can get into the old Yellow Forum archives you should find a good deal of discussion surrounding the rifle, its lever mechanics and much conjecture as to its overall utility.
Kind regards, Harry in OZ.
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Gents,
I know this is a rather old thread, but as there is a Nibecker for sale on the classifieds, and as the ad references this thread, I thought I could add a bit to the history of the Nibecker air rifle.
The machine shop, Harmony Machine, that manufactured all of the metal parts for the Nibecker (sans the barrel) was located in Atascadero, CA and was owned by a dear friend of mine named Geoff. Geoff did all of the machining on the prototypes, and when the design was finalized, he was to handle all of the parts manufacturing, whereupon completion, they would be shipped to Hawaii for final assembly and stock work (IIRC, Al Nibecker lived in Atascadero prior to moving to Hawaii, hence the connection between Al and Geoff). Geoff tried to talk Al into a composite stock for the rifle, but Al was set on a wood stock. Also of interest is their choice in Lothar Walther barrels. During the R&D stage, Geoff, knowing I was a shade tree gunsmith, asked me about barrel suppliers. We talked about some of the boutique barrel makers from the PB world (Lilja, Krieger, etc.), but Geoff said they were looking for somebody who could handle higher production numbers. The two manufacturers that popped into my mind that could handle that were Wilson and Lothar Walther, and as I had heard better things about LW than Wilson, I suggested they start with LW, and the rest is history. Now at the time, I hadn't ventured into the airgun world, being a dedicated powder burner, so I knew NOTHING about airguns, airgun barrels, etc., and it is quite serendipitous that I sent Geoff and Al down the path to using what might be considered the premier airgun rifle barrel made, the Lothar Walther.
Per Geoff, Al shopped his patents and air rifle to the big airgun makers but they all turned him down. Shortly thereafter, one of the big boys developed a work-around on Al's patents, or just outright stole it, and put a rifle into production featuring same. This, rightfully so, was a tough nut for Al to swallow. Geoff tried to talk him into pursuing legal action against the company but by this time, Al was completely disgusted and disheartened and threw in the towel on further manufacturing of the Nibecker air rifle. Al was so done with the air rifle business, that he THREW AWAY a large number of finished stocks for the Nibecker air rifle. He was over it.
Unfortunately, my buddy Geoff got a right proper screwing on the deal and was never paid for any of the prototype work he did, nor for the 100 sets of complete metal parts he made for the gun. But Geoff, a God-fearing Christian and one of the finest men I've ever met, held no ill-will towards Al Nibecker. I never heard him say a bad word about Al. It was just a deal that didn't work out. He even offered to send the 100 completed sets of metal parts to Al for a greatly reduced rate, but Al didn't want anything to do with the rifle anymore. Al did give him a completed rifle that is still in the family. Those 100 sets of parts were in Geoff's shop until the day he died, and when we cleaned his shop out for the auction, Geoff's wife said she wanted to hang-on to them.
I spoke with her this morning upon seeing the Nibecker in the classifieds and asked her if she still had the parts. She does, describing them as "the machined parts for 100 rifles". She offered to send them to Al, but he didn't want them. He told her that the patents on them had expired and she could do whatever she wanted with them. She has the parts kits and the original blueprints for them. She even has the original time sheets for when they made them! I don't know if she has barrels, but I could find out. If anybody here has an interest in the Nibecker parts kits and building them up, send me a PM and I can start bird-dogging things for you. She'd like to sell the stuff off.
Justin
I know this is a rather old thread, but as there is a Nibecker for sale on the classifieds, and as the ad references this thread, I thought I could add a bit to the history of the Nibecker air rifle.
The machine shop, Harmony Machine, that manufactured all of the metal parts for the Nibecker (sans the barrel) was located in Atascadero, CA and was owned by a dear friend of mine named Geoff. Geoff did all of the machining on the prototypes, and when the design was finalized, he was to handle all of the parts manufacturing, whereupon completion, they would be shipped to Hawaii for final assembly and stock work (IIRC, Al Nibecker lived in Atascadero prior to moving to Hawaii, hence the connection between Al and Geoff). Geoff tried to talk Al into a composite stock for the rifle, but Al was set on a wood stock. Also of interest is their choice in Lothar Walther barrels. During the R&D stage, Geoff, knowing I was a shade tree gunsmith, asked me about barrel suppliers. We talked about some of the boutique barrel makers from the PB world (Lilja, Krieger, etc.), but Geoff said they were looking for somebody who could handle higher production numbers. The two manufacturers that popped into my mind that could handle that were Wilson and Lothar Walther, and as I had heard better things about LW than Wilson, I suggested they start with LW, and the rest is history. Now at the time, I hadn't ventured into the airgun world, being a dedicated powder burner, so I knew NOTHING about airguns, airgun barrels, etc., and it is quite serendipitous that I sent Geoff and Al down the path to using what might be considered the premier airgun rifle barrel made, the Lothar Walther.
Per Geoff, Al shopped his patents and air rifle to the big airgun makers but they all turned him down. Shortly thereafter, one of the big boys developed a work-around on Al's patents, or just outright stole it, and put a rifle into production featuring same. This, rightfully so, was a tough nut for Al to swallow. Geoff tried to talk him into pursuing legal action against the company but by this time, Al was completely disgusted and disheartened and threw in the towel on further manufacturing of the Nibecker air rifle. Al was so done with the air rifle business, that he THREW AWAY a large number of finished stocks for the Nibecker air rifle. He was over it.
Unfortunately, my buddy Geoff got a right proper screwing on the deal and was never paid for any of the prototype work he did, nor for the 100 sets of complete metal parts he made for the gun. But Geoff, a God-fearing Christian and one of the finest men I've ever met, held no ill-will towards Al Nibecker. I never heard him say a bad word about Al. It was just a deal that didn't work out. He even offered to send the 100 completed sets of metal parts to Al for a greatly reduced rate, but Al didn't want anything to do with the rifle anymore. Al did give him a completed rifle that is still in the family. Those 100 sets of parts were in Geoff's shop until the day he died, and when we cleaned his shop out for the auction, Geoff's wife said she wanted to hang-on to them.
I spoke with her this morning upon seeing the Nibecker in the classifieds and asked her if she still had the parts. She does, describing them as "the machined parts for 100 rifles". She offered to send them to Al, but he didn't want them. He told her that the patents on them had expired and she could do whatever she wanted with them. She has the parts kits and the original blueprints for them. She even has the original time sheets for when they made them! I don't know if she has barrels, but I could find out. If anybody here has an interest in the Nibecker parts kits and building them up, send me a PM and I can start bird-dogging things for you. She'd like to sell the stuff off.
Justin
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Hmm... those are the same pics that I see here posted back in 2018.
https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/nibecker-al/quigley-v/
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