Finding a needle in the airgun haystack,,,Al Nibecker Quigley V serial #5

Once in a blue moon you find a needle in a haystack,,,this time that needle happen to be in my hobby of airguns! I had the opportunity to buy a Al Nibecker Quigley V series,,,,serial #5. I really did not know much about this rifle but it sparked my interest and the more i looked the more i realized this is a very rare piece of airgun history.For those of you that dont know Al Nibeckers Quigley story it goes something like this,,,in a nut shell.

Al was a retired mechanical engineer in Hawaii and decided to build a multi pump airgun capable of putting out 30ft lbs of energy. His intention was to build this rifle and then sell the technology to a manufacture. Well Al succeeded in building a very well built powerful airgun capable of shooting 30 ft lbs but failed in selling the technology to a airgun manufacture. The problem was that the rifle was too expensive to build.This rifle was $2850 plus shipping back in 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20091129014717/http://www.ana-arms.com:80/ This link will give more info on this rifle,,,by clicking the additional links to the left of the page brings you to more info on the Quigley,,,,very helpful info on the Quigley!

This particular rifle that i now own is serial #5 and i don't think too many of them were actually made.I did find one article in Airgun Hunter magazine that Jim Chapman wrote and explains about the rifle. http://www.americanairgunhunter.com/quigley.html I will say this that it is very very well made. I have been into airguns for over 25 years and have never seen a a airgun made so well.It has that unique heirloom feel to it and just oozes quality.I can tell Al Nibecker was a engineer when you look at how robust this rifle is.The stock is made of koa wood and is extremely dense,,,,i don't think you can put a pressure mark in this stock if you tried. It has a very unique loading procedure and is different than any gun i have ever seen before.I shot it a few times and it does shoot obtain 30ft lbs of energy.

I am not a collector and my intentions are to get this rifle into a serious collectors hands or possibly a museum if there is such a thing as a airgun museum anywhere. Yes i think it is that unique and rare and its build quality certainly will prove that. So if anyone knows of a serious collector please forward this info to them and get ahold of me.This rifle is flawless and has no defects as far as i can tell. I was able to take these pics this afternoon and hopefully they do this rifle justice. If anyone knows of anyone else that has one of these Quigleys let me know. I am interested to know exactly how many of these were actually made.My guess is less than 10. Anyway here is Nibecker Arms Quigley V serial #5.

Sincerely

KeithWalters [email protected]






































 
Looks like fine art & innovative engineering had a baby... beautiful, & quite unique. Bet it was fun to take her for a spin. 

Koa is indeed a hard, dense wood. Was thisclose to buying a piece at a primitive archery gathering, envisioning the awesome flatbow it would make, but chickened out because I knew my skills weren't yet worthy of the medium.

Best of luck finding (or providing!) a good home for her.
 
wow my advice would be to get a hold of TOM GAYLORD who is a serious collector of rare vintage AIR RIFLES ,he actually does a video i think with ROSSI where he shows a handful of his rare rifles to ROSSI. and talks how hes been collecting theese pieces of art and history for a long time,,,hope that helps PAT

If anyone has his email forward it to me.