(Login HectorMedina) from IP address 216.254.78.235
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Dont' get startled, it's just a song-ditty.
But it also reflects on the attitudes of some of us towards our airguns.
And while it is true that some may be looking for rather undefinable/hard to find characteristics in older guns, the truth is that most of us can feel when a gun has been loved and, personally, I am convinced that the gun gives the love back. Again, as in many things, my Latin penchant for treating guns like ladies (or just women in some cases, LOL!) goes beyond some person's logical universe.
Am I a romantic? Of Course! Glad to be!
Am I a fool? Probably some of the time and have no compunction about it.
Am I crazy? Yes! Unremittingly, unequivocally, irremediably!
But I do know this: Taking into my hands and older gun, it simply speaks to me. The small dents and scratches in a hunting gun, the well worn bluing and stock finish in a Match gun, the slightly crooked/dented piece that says "this gun has travelled", the smooth gliding of polished-by-use metal parts.
It all adds up to that undefinable term that speaks volumes of previous owners and/or your own usage of the gun. It is a connection to the past, whether your own or OP's (Other Person's). Something undefinable, magic.
but YES,
I know all my airguns from new and all the small scratches or fair wear and tear have come from honest-to-goodness use and not from neglect. In return they still serve me faithfully just like the day I used them for the first time, so many years ago.
I have come to like their quirks and occasionally temperamental behaviour, but gentle mechanical persuasion always restored the relationship.
I think that a bond develops over time and it seems to get deeper as time rolls by.... cant see myself selling them on...its like breaking a long friendship needlessly.
So yes I suppose I am sentimentally attached to my airguns.
Oh man.. I feel one of those writing moments coming on...
Being a son of "da Deutch people", you tend to be raised thinking no one could build it like your ancestors did. Not could, did.
That was me. Family owned a wood working business when I was but a sprout. I grew up listening to old immigrants talk about the lathes they were hunting down. Or rasps and stones. Open gear drills and twelve inch (minimum) band saws.
When I would find an old classic European rifle I would look it over from top to bottom. Turn it round and look at the edges where metal met wood. Follow the angles of the carving. Masters. They made those things to their standards not ours. By what they knew which we hadn't yet learned. That's what made them so great.
Because a master makes it to his personal grade. He doesn't give a rip whether the piece sells to the masses, the uninformed. He makes it to be appreciated by a certain kind of person. Another like himself.
Ever notice a master watch you? He patiently waits to see if you catch what's really important in the piece you're holding or using. He'll pay attention to how you pick the thing up (whether you realize he's doing it or not). He'll see where you choose to hold it and how.
A master always seems to decide internally whether a potential owner deserves the master's finished work. He won't say a word to the guy deciding on the purchase but if you were that fly on the wall after the buyer left you might hear his evaluation of the new owner.
The reason is in the wood and metal. I believe that if you hold an air rifle built by masters or to their standards, you can smell their sweat in the grain. It stays there you know. Mixed with the oils and stains. Dripped from above during a long day under many dim lights. Like a signature, the shaping of the stock. One master. The polishing of the steel, another. The foreman picks a random machine and takes it to another room and fires it repeatedly. He holds the rifle to the light and polishes his own sweat into it with a hankerchief pulled from worn work-fabrik style trousers.
Finished air rifles which we might deem perfect was merely acceptable to them. Standards so high. Painstaking work day in and day out. It was their pride that only they knew where the errors existed. The rifles were that good.
When I pick up what's considered an air rifle from that classic era, I can practically smell the sweat. The personal stress it took to produce a product as close to perfection as the airgun factory would allow, lives in the machine with the same tension as its mainspring, waiting to be set and fired. Rifles never made to be wall hangers. Details addressed for as close to perfect operation as human skill could make possible. In other words, rifles to be appreciated in the midst of their duties. Under tension, waiting for the trigger's release. An ironic doppelganger of the airgunner. Attempting to quell tension until after the trigger's release.
I imagine the purest experience even above what I've written, would have been to fire the master's own select grade prototype. I can only hope that such rifles were made and not merely mules and parts to see if one design was better than another.
It's enevatable though even no matter how carefull I am, they get scratched & nicked!In the pick-up cab just resting against the seat they get scratches or only laid carefully atop a soft gun casein the bed while shooting another one, they get nicked. I try sooooo hard to keep em pretty!
It's like I have a Gremlin!
I do my darndest to keep em perfect, but while wipeing them off at the end of the day there's always a new one! I have to convince myself that these "use marks" are OK and actually DO add character to each piece. Yea, right, eh?
I suppose like the craftsmen who concoct these fine airgun machines leave some of their "soul" within them, apparentlly so does the shooter leave a little bit of theirs too with each little mark we add...
I agree completely with you Hector. A new gun is like a new mate, mysterious and seductive, but so many unknowns and no proven track record. An older gun speaks soundly from the moment you pick it up of its uses and abilities. Who among us has never picked up a used rifle that didn't say to them immediately 'I am a target rifle, a casual plinker, or a hunter'? It's so much easier with older guns, they were purpose built, and most often times used for the task they were designed for. My example here will be 3 guns that I own that I feel are of equal accuracy at 10 meters.
(1)FWB 124, IMHO the ultimate all around gun, as accurate at 50M as it is at 10M.
(2)Diana 75, IMHO the apex in 10 Meter springers.
(3)Shin Sung Career II 707, shoots as well at 10M as my 75, but will deliver 50 FPE on demand.
All 3 of these guns told me what the were before I shot them, they just had a 'feel' to them. All 3 came from "that rack of used guns" that was collecting dust, not the front counter where they sell the "good, NEW guns". Got a few great rifles, and lot of really good ones just by accepting the wear and tear of buying used older guns.
Of course, I'd be lying if I told you I don't lust for the new ones. I'd like to try out a ProSport next to my TX200.
I have the Discos in 177 and 22. Fair shooters, but they have a long way to go before they catch up with the Koreans, or AA.
I'm on the bus with Hector, buy an older rifle, it may not be as pretty but it might fit better.
I know (and everyone) what you mean. That is why I did not accept Tim's offer to lend me his 54 .22 way back when I shipped my 350 off to Curtis. I know I freak out when I find a little pressure mark on the wood of one my guns. I did not want to be responsible for someone else's gun that is very dear to him or her.
There is a special love we hold for our guns, that unless you own a gun that's dear to your heart, it 's very hard to explain.
RWS Diana 350 .22 (MIA w/Curtis)
RWS Diana 36 .177
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
Crosman custom 2300XT .22
Various other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
and I know how responsible you are but sometimes you have no option, case in point:
my friends will come to my house and see 10-12 airguns, some of my friends them are ex-military and also see my backyard targets, that only means 1 + 1 = 2, a gun and a target
invariably after showing them off the next question I get is "CAN I SHOOT ONE?" and you say!! OK
now the one they will shoot is the Panther with plastic stock a Baska 4x12x40 scope and the Gamo Hunter Pellets not the JSB's
forget about them shooting my 460, 48, 94, 34, 40 don't even think about my 35 or the 45, just shoot the Panther, maybe they can try the chinese B26 but not the B28
again people buy yourself a Crossman Quest for your friends because even a Panther is to much quality for your friends to shoot LOL
warren
and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"
