Vintage Air Arms Springers

[jaykb49]

The recent Air Arms vs Weihrauch topic got me wondering about the vintage Air Arms rifles. I know a bit about the vintage Weihrauch airguns but almost nothing about the vintage Air Arms such as the Bora or the Camargue. Others? Any of our collectors or traditional airgun fans have any experience with these? Some pictures would be great.

Jay

 

[MDriskill]

Danny Garvin's super "Vintage Airguns Gallery" site is always a great place to start with old-airgun questions!

Air Arms (including Sussex Armoury, UK)

Images, manuals, catalogues and other ephemera of vintage - Air Arms (including Sussex Armoury) - airguns and ancillary products.

forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com

 

[DualMagMike]

AA Pro Elite .22, beech stock. I carved my own pistol grip cap and added a white line spacer to it and the recoil pad as well as adding a brass trigger guard.

AA Pro Elite .177 with walnut stock.

AA Camargue .177

 

[Zmonster]

Beautiful Collection Mike. I sadly sold my .22 Elite many years ago. I had no idea at the time they would no longer be made. It was a fine rifle.

 

[DualMagMike]

Beautiful Collection Mike. I sadly sold my .22 Elite many years ago. I had no idea at the time they would no longer be made. It was a fine rifle.

I've had 4 PE's over the years, three were .22 and one .177. I sold two of the .22's (one with a custom stock) and kept the 2 above. They are rarer than many are aware of with less than 1500 being produced and made for just 6 years. Reportedly 300 of the PE's were sent to Saudi Arabia and about 1/2 of the others were exported. My .177 with walnut stock is a very scarce item (~1-20)

 

[jaykb49]

Very fine rifles DualMagMike. I’ve heard many good things about the Pro Elite and the Camargue is certainly intrigueing with the Tyrolean stock, tap loader and side lever cocking. I always think of Air Arms rifles having beautiful metalwork and wood and these vintage guns don’t seem to disappoint.

Mike D. thanks for the link to “Vintage Airguns Gallery” certainly the first place one should look for vintage info. I got most of the information I needed to reseal my Diana 6M from there.

Jay

 

[MartyMcFly]

I found the below site last year and thought this is a perfect thread to repost the link for anyone interested in the Pro Elite's history. There is lots of info on other AA rifles on there too. Enjoy!

The Pro Elite | AIR ARMS ANORAK

www.airarmsanorak.co.uk

-Marty

 

[jaykb49]

Thanks for that link, Marty. Great info, I read everything. The current Air Arms springers are a bit bulky and hefty for my tastes but damn they make beautiful rifles and apparently have been doing that for a while. I’d love to add a Camargue or Khamsin to the collection but they seem to be pretty rare.

Jay

 

[dpauld]

Mine were custom ordered from Great Lakes. The Camarogue A.L. was their "hunter package" in .22 cal with autoloader, the works... The Khamsin has one of the fancy, highly figured, walnut wood stocks, with an absolutely flawless finish and hand cut checkering. Air Arms had the stocks on both of these made at a custom shop. The Camarogue is french walnut of a much lighter color and has a custom cut tyro stock. The guns are stunning looking and shoot even nicer. Khamsin is a .177 caliber and shoots right around 800fps, 750-ish with heavies or flatnose wadcutters. The .22 Camarogue shoots right at 600 with a quality roundnose pellet and 550 with a heavy or wadcutter. I'll post a couple photos.

 

[maxtrouble]

Those are gorgeous rifles, wish they still offered them. The workmanship and attention to detail looks amazing.

I consider myself very fortunate to have TX200. It is an impressive machine made by master craftsmen.

 

[MDriskill]

Wow, those AA sidelevers are really gorgeous, thanks for sharing!

There were a couple on display at the recent Hickory NC show, and I remember drooling on my Great Lakes Airguns catalogs back in the day!

 

[dpauld]

Wow, those AA sidelevers are really gorgeous, thanks for sharing!

There were a couple on display at the recent Hickory NC show, and I remember drooling on my Great Lakes Airguns catalogs back in the day!

Wish I had a couple of those catalogs now. I am not the original owner, was quite young when these were made, and knew nothing about them. The gentleman who I bought them from really knew his stuff and knew where to get it. But like many others he has passed away taking all that first hand knowledge with him. I have the paperwork for all the Beeman, Benjamin, Sheridan, and the rare Crosman pieces I got from that collection but these two rifles had everything but the paperwork, and it took some digging to find out where they came from. They each had scopes still in the box, one has an auto-loader, they both had real nice slings, silencers, and I'm pretty sure they have been tuned - but no info - no paper. They are the later issued models with the all metal triggers, longer stocks, and the MKII features (that I still haven't quite all figured out). They have been safe queens for some time now until I set up my little indoor shooting range. Been able to set up the chrono and play around some, it's been awhile since I have been able to do any shooting. The numbers get better every time I pull the trigger. These things are hungry to be used, doubt there has been more than 100 pellets through either of them. I am west coast / Oregon so I never get to any shows... Thanx for your reply, David

 

[MartyMcFly]

Wish I had a couple of those catalogs now. I am not the original owner, was quite young when these were made, and knew nothing about them. The gentleman who I bought them from really knew his stuff and knew where to get it. But like many others he has passed away taking all that first hand knowledge with him. I have the paperwork for all the Beeman, Benjamin, Sheridan, and the rare Crosman pieces I got from that collection but these two rifles had everything but the paperwork, and it took some digging to find out where they came from. They each had scopes still in the box, one has an auto-loader, they both had real nice slings, silencers, and I'm pretty sure they have been tuned - but no info - no paper. They are the later issued models with the all metal triggers, longer stocks, and the MKII features (that I still haven't quite all figured out). They have been safe queens for some time now until I set up my little indoor shooting range. Been able to set up the chrono and play around some, it's been awhile since I have been able to do any shooting. The numbers get better every time I pull the trigger. These things are hungry to be used, doubt there has been more than 100 pellets through either of them. I am west coast / Oregon so I never get to any shows... Thanx for your reply, David

They are great looking pieces! Wish I had the luck to pick-up some of these in the US. That said, please shoot them and don't let them be just safe queens. Although they are works of art in a sense their purpose isn't fulfilled unless they are being shot once in a while.

-Marty