Most of the Amercan men of my generation that didn't grow up in "the big city", spent at least a few afternoons out 'on safari' with their trusty .22s in search of the wily stump, 'tin' can, or occasional rabbit or grouse if we were really lucky. In my case, too many such afternoons to count. It's been a long time since I've done that. At least 40 years, or more. I reset the clock on that activity this afternoon. Kinda, anyway.

I've been working on a little Flobert "Gallery Gun" for a couple of weeks and since the breech of the rifle was at least back to complete, I simply couldn't resist running a round or two through it. Just to check 'function', dontchaknow. When I came back in the house, what should be staring me in the eye but one of those above-mentioned wily 'pop cans'. Since pop cans are a rarity in our house and the weather was perfect, I took it as 'a sign'. I grabbed the pop can, a box of .22 CB shorts, and headed out into the wilds of my back yard to commence the safari.

I tossed the empty aluminum can out as far as I could get it to go against the wind, sat down in a chair on my patio, opened the box of CB Shorts, set them on the table, and chambered a round. Killed that sneaky can hiding in the grass on the first shot. :) I spent the next half an hour or so shooting the can around the yard. This little rifle is absolutely 'minute-of-pop-can' accurate with those CCI CB Shorts.

It was surprisingly fun. Made me wanna be a kid again when I could just grab my gun, a pocket-full of 'shells', and take off into the woods with no greater care than being back home in time for supper. It's good to have the memories.

Paul

I still do that. I grab the old Nylon 11 and go for walk "hunting".  Usually don't fire a round but it's not about that anymore, I just need the exercise



RJ

There is summat to be said about the venerable 22!

As kids in the UK we did the same, but of course we only legally had sub  12 ft lb air rifles. And usually they were SUB, sub 12 ft lb !.  

 My  old .22 BSA Meteor, my second ever air rifle, I bought second hand for  £5, 19 shillings & 6 pence, ( a kings ransom at the time ), when I  was about 12, seemed like an "Express Rifle" compared to the Diana .177 Id been shooting since I was 7.

( I recently chronographed the Meteor at 8.2 ft lb, & that's with a new spring, piston washer & barrel seal ).
 
We  fired off hundreds of pellets at stumps, clods of earth, rocks or tin  cans, or anything that didn't move, & quite a few things that did .

But  that's how we honed our skills, we learned the hold over on a tin  can at 75 yds, or could hit the backside of a farmers Cow at maybe 150 yds,  without really thinking about it.

That same farmer, who for some  reason was our mortal enemy, & we had a running battle with when we  were kids, many years later, became a good friend.

If I'm out  now with a .22lr, & the Rabbits or Squirrels wont come out to play,   I will happily sit & shoot at clods of earth or something, just for  the fun of it.

  Here's a pic of several generations of my air rifle's.

Top is a Webley MK III .177, second is my old BSA Meteor ( that's not rust on the barrel, just patina that shows up under the flash ). Third is my Original Mod 50 in .177, and bottom a new Walther Terrus in .22.

Yeah, I had a Sears .22 cal pump up "pellet gun" when I was pre-teen. That thing generated more than 12 lb of ME! When we moved to less rural environs and the .22 RF was not an option, I used that pellet gun to dispatch many bunnies. (When cleaning out my Dad's house after his passing a few years back, I found that pellet gun. I haven't yet replaced the gaskets. http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15863&highlight=pelletp)

I was quit the 'stealth' rabbit assassin. I stuck a flashlight (torch) with a built-in magnet on the body, on the barrel of the pellet gun and would crawl around the neighbor's lawns after 10 PM shooting the grass-eating bunnies that came out of the cornfields that surrounded the 'housing area' where I lived.

Ah, the halcyon days of our youth.

That's a nice brace of 'pellet guns' you have there, jaeger88. I like the schnabel on the yellow one. I see that at least the upper two are break-barrel. Is that common 'over there'? They are common over here, but not for "serious" air rifle shooters. Air rifles are unregulated over here regardless of power or caliber. () There is a growing community of "big bore" - including up to .50 cal - air rifle hunters. The take big game with them. They are of course pneumatically charged pellet guns, and the most common game taken with them are feral hogs because those can be shot over bait which in turn means 'close'. Powerful weapons, nonetheless.

Paul

The Yellow stocked under lever Air rifle Paul, is a German made Original Model 50.

They  were the gun we all wanted when I was a kid, mainly I think because  that long for-end with the schnabel tip made them look like a "real"  gun, & not a pellet gun.  
They were never all that powerful though, averaging only about 8 ft lb.
They were manufactured in the 1960's & 70's, & cost about 50 quid new.

The majority of spring powered air rifles sold in the UK are still break barrel cocking. With maybe 1 in 10 being under lever's.
Though most "serious" air gunners these days want the multi shot pre-charged pneumatic,s.

In the UK, an air rifle over 12 ft lb is classed as a section 1 firearm, & is licensed.
 
An  air pistol is anything with a barrel less than 12", & an overall  length of less than 24", with the maximum power limit of 6 ft lb.
So  any air pistol over 6 ft lb automatically becomes a firearm, & is  therefore a handgun, & since handguns are effectively banned in the  UK, we cant own them. " :cens:".

I still think I prefer the simplicity of spring power myself, as all you need for a days shooting is a tin of pellets.

DANG!

Paul

I was thinking of words slightly stronger than "Dang".

What are the scopes on the Webley MK III .177 and BSA Meteor?

The scope on the MK III is Jap made Webley, & the one on the Meteor is a Nikko Sterling.

Se attached pics.

Very cool. I have a collection of Mossberg scopes from the 40's and early 50's. They are still clear and functional.....they did not fill them with Nitrogen however, and easily fog up.

That's cool, I had no idea Mossberg had ever made scopes.