I was just wonderin', how everyone got into this sport, either as a hobby or a business. Since a lot of you already know each other, here is a fresh chance to tell old stories to someone who hasn't heard them before and is actually asking to hear them!
are customers from as early as late 1996 on the net and others all the way back to 1980-81 before the net.
Strombeck is the exception. I met him in jail in Florida when he got caught in another Pyramyd scheme....................
Paul Watts many years ago was a customer of mine.
Thats about it.
This message has been edited by F112 on Feb 17, 2006 1:04 PM
JM in 93 0r 94. Was doing the Airgun thang since the mid seventies. I'd have to guess 76-77. I think I bought my first "adult" airgun in 90. Beeman R10. Went through a factory spring about every month. After about three trips to Beeman repair (I got sucked in on the lifetime agreement LOL) I learnt quickly to start working on them. I worked in the family machine shop from age twelve. It was just a matter of time for the rest to happen.
LOL....good one Jim.....I have been airgunning since I was a kid growing up in the 60s. My dad and I were at a barber shop and I spotted an old ARH catalog and have been slinging lead ever since. My grand father is very german and knew all about airguns and we just went nuts buying nice airguns from HW and FWB, and whico.....
My child hood was a hoot, heck back then I took my rimfires and airguns to school...no big deal. Today the airgun scene is dead. You have a lot of folks claiming to be airgun gods but they are nothing of the kind. Here we are blessed to have guys like Paul and J.M who have a passion for what they do...and to this day make my hobby what it is. I owe both of them many thanks.......They are the real deal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be well and God bless
kindly
ron
Yes it is. I'm working on a new drill ship. We are moving it to the Gulf of Mexicao in November.
How's the family?
I really like your site.
With this job I should be able to hunt some this fall.
Will call you and catch up when I return to the states.
a Sharps 45-70 at the local range when a fellow shooter bragged about a Gamo 890S...says I have to have one...turned out to be a POS...that led to the internet and Straight Shooters...a guy was tauting a TX200 built by a Jim Maccari called a Field Target Dominator...didn't know what it was but I've heard of the TX200 so ordered one...That started my love affair with JM built guns...
around Sept 2001, I saw an ad for a Lam R9 tuned by a Paul Watts in Oakland, TN...Heard about Paul but didn't know him so I thought I'd call JM for some 'warm and fuzzies' about Paul's work...If I remember correctly, Jim was not too kind about me inquiring about someone elses work...but did give me Paul's phone number...and insisted I call Paul...I did...and the rest is history...
For that is you were put off earlier when you called Paul because you heard kids screaming in the back ground. Remember?
So it was not about any work or anything like that. Paul remembers it well too as the youngest was born at that time and he had two others as well. Seems like yesterday to me.
by competitively shooting 10M and 3-position smallbore when I was 14. I was shooting all through middle school and high school. We were training three times a week with smallbore and once a week with air. Those were the days! Then I went to college and didn't have enough time to train as much. I was still shooting occasionally but couldn't commit to practicing four times a week. After I finished college I went back to shooting, got into collecting...
I've been doing it for 20 years, so you do the math . I really can't believe it's been that long! It's been a blast!
With every USA made pneumatic rifle and pistol known to man. As a kid I got introduced to spring piston guns with a HS. Gat pistol for $7.95 and a new Winchester 423 from JC Penny Gun section in Wilm DE.
From there it was ARH, KJ. David, DE. Hiller, and Ladd Fanta, all the way. Beeman too in 1972.
Started importing direct from the UK and Germany in the late 70's.
hope it's okay to bump this post up from way back. I've been enjoying reading all the posts, almost all 29 pages of them LOL. This thread got me reminiscin' and this post was actually even longer, but I don't want to bore you with the details ; )
My first "airgun" was a Marksman BB pistol, the one that looks like a big .45 ACP and cocks by pulling on the "slide."
From there I went to a Marksman break barrel BB rifle and some others, and eventually traded my bike for a Daisy 880--the first BB gun in my neighborhood AFAIK and my first shooting experience. Wasn't a huge deal to loose the bike as I was already good at putting these things together from junk parts.
Then things got interesting, I found an ad by ARH in a gun mag and wrote in for a catalog. There was such a thing as a "precision airgun." Was I thrilled with all the guns and information in these catalogs, didn't miss a single issue for years (now wish I didn't throw them out): this was back in the mid 70's. I could only enjoy the guns vicariously though, just didn't have the cash for one. But man how I enjoyed looking at them and reading about them :D Then I found Beeman and started getting their catalogs too. It was a lot of fun looking at these guns even if I couldn't buy one.
Year and a half ago I got interested again, and now have a bolt action AA410. And keeping an eye out for R7 or HW30S. Budget is still tight, but I can actually occasionally buy a decent gun now. I'll probably go to the CT show on June 6 and see what's there. I really appreciate Paul's work and hope to get a PW tuned gun some day. I really appreciate Jim's contribution to the sport/hobby too. What we gonna do when JM stops making springs LOL? I did buy a R9 Tyro stock from Jim the other day, but I do wish I didn't miss the period of time when he still offered a lot bigger range of things.
with a gat push in pistol which i found in my grandads shed alongside his webly service revolver, he only let me keep the gat though. then it was a summer using a friends relum .177 (i cant remember the model but it was small!)then i talked my grandma into buying me a .22 meteor ,upgraded to a .22 airsporter and then discovered german springers!!!!!. i had a hw35 that i shot day in day out for 3 years- went through 2 leather seals (uneducated lubing on my part with wd40 and 3 in 1) 4 springs, and 2 reblues.next was a fwb124, then a 127.when i moved to the usa my first airgun was a sheridan co2 rifle (from a pawn shop), then a R1 as soon as they were released then a diana 48 and from there i have lost count.i have lost my collections in the past through either emmigrating or divorce (2). i now have most guns i covveted as a youngster and then some. to this day i have never owned a pcp and have not got the urge either (thank god! that could bankrupt me). at this juncture i have reverted to shooting older guns with irons at 25 yds as that is as far as my backyard range is.i still love custom tuned guns as it is truly a treat to own,shoot and admire the work that goes into them and i will continue to collect them for when i retire.
I shot my first gun in the summer after 1st grade. It was my father's 16 gauge with buck shot that he warned me for weeks was too big. I slid backwards a while on the gravel road wearing only my swim trunks just to stand up with a grin. I then "needed" a gun that went "BOOM" just like my dad's. For Christmas that year I got handed a Marlin 15y .22lr and a weekly allowance of 550 rounds.
In middle school we moved to an area where the .22 was too powerful and loud to whip out on a daily basis so I bought a Gamo 440 from Cabelas. Soon after that I was dissatisfied with its quality when I went to the Little Rock Airgun show which was right outside my hometown. I came home with an R9 wearing a Simmons Pro-Air 6-18x40 in BKL mounts and was hooked on airguns.
After shooting many airguns I think my heart lies with HW break barrels and I am still fond of the Air Arms Pro-Sport. I have always liked custom guns and so now I am building a small collection of customized guns.
My first complete gun is a Santa Rosa R7 (.177), with a high end walnut stock from Steve Corcoran, custom brass screw cups, custom brass trigger guard, custom brass trigger blade and safety from Paul. The gun itself has got a tune, the compression tube hones, the breech milled and inserts installed to reduce rubbing, and the barrel cut/crowned/choked. Then to dress it up a bit more it has a full length fluted shroud from Tim Wilson and wears a Leupold 3-9x33 EFR with Alumina flip back covers mounted in a BKL cantilever mount.
My next gun is an R9 (.177) with a custom ported aluminum brake with a Simmons Pro-Air 6-18x40 in B-Square mounts. It currently wears a custom stock from Dave Golfarb also with brass screw cups. However, the Dave G stock will be sold once I find a blank that I really like and I will get Steve Corcoran to make me another stock for the R9 and get some custom fitted brass screw cups and brass guard for it as well. I will be sending it off to Paul for a tune, trigger, safety, milled compression tube, and breech inserts as well sometime.
On my list of guns to get is an HW35E with a really nice factory stock. I have a dealer sorting them out as they come in and when there is one that looks really nice it will be added to my collection and probably also sent out for tune work. Then it would be nice to have an R1 in .22 that is customized and maybe an HW50 plus an old match springer.
Garrett, were you at the Windsor CT show? Someone, sorry I forgot the gent's name, had a HW35 for $600. This one was presented by HW to Dr Beeman, had very nice wood, and in mint conditions as far as I can see. It was not sold on Sat, don't know if it went Sun. Seemed like a very good price for this beauty, but I'm not a HW35 collector and not on the market for any 35 right now. This might have been just what you're looking for though. I wouldn't be surprised if it had some factory tuning, given that it was a gift to a big trade partner.
There was also a new .20 R7 with decent looking stock and iron sights at the show. I would've paid the $300 asked for it but really didn't want it in .20. I did walk away with two guns that had special meaning from my childhood--a Daisy 880 and Marksman .45 pistol. Both of these were "firsts" for me in BB guns. A friend of mine bought an 880 when I was a mid-teen. It was the first BB gun I know of in the neighborhood and the first I ever shot.
After a lot of nagging at my mother, she gave me the then-princely sum of $30 to buy my own 880. Well somehow I managed to loose the cash while biking the few miles to the store to buy it (man did I feel bad about that). And ended up buying the much cheaper Marksman .45 pistol. The two mementos set me back only $15.
Clive, I think I know what you mean about PCP's. I picked up a slightly used AA410 last year when I got interested in airgunning again. High, adjustable power, and fast reloads sold me on the design--nice construction and trigger didn't hurt either. But to be honest I appreciate its machinery more than I enjoy shooting it. I've just picked up a new HW30S and intent to shoot it with irons, maybe put a rear diopter on it later. I have 30 yards easy and around 45 yards not so easy in my back yard, but I don't think I'd enjoy scoped shooting until it gets at least over 50 yards. Funny, when I was a kid I wish I had a good scope, but now find out the scope takes away too much of the fun.
My next gun will probably be a R9 or the B26 imitation, or if I'm really fortunate, a nicely priced HW55 or Walther LG springer.
I just can't remember his name. I think he said he was from PA or somewhere up that far from CT. He said he was selling his guns to pay for surgery. Someone on the yellow forum mentioned he was going to the show to sell a lot of his collection--this might be him. That person's name is Mike.
Maybe if you posted on the yellow looking for the seller with some new Beemans including a .20 R7 he would PM you. I had to have some self-control at his tables. Besides the R7 he had some more Beemans, a couple of BSAs, a TX200, HW70, a PCP or two. He had two new HW50S' one .22 with aperture sight for $340 and a .177 with plain iron sights for $300. He had a new .22 R9 Goldfinger new with scope, asking around $459 or 479, but let it go to another seller there for $300 gun-only. Oh yes, a new R1 .177 for $458. He sold about six guns on Saturday. I would think he probably sold the R7 on Sunday--surprised it didn't sell on Saturday for that price.
If only I can remember names even half as good as I remember prices :O
. I really can't believe it's been that long! It's been a blast!
