I've owned north of 200 airguns in my day, and I can only think of 5 that I bought new. I love the older ones, and yes - always wonder about their stories.
These two HW 55's are a couple of favorites. They were both owned by my late friend, Professor Gaines Blackwell, who got them from a gent in Germany. Gaines was the most outgoing, friendly sort you can imagine, and learned that both guns had belonged to the man's father, a WW2 Afrika Korps veteran and enthusiastic match shooter after the war.
Both show signs of much use and careful maintenance, and have some interesting details. The 1956 finger-groove Tyro has a barrel sleeve, a double-threaded front sight for an "eagle eye" len or other accessories, and its original early Rekord trigger was replaced at least once. The slightly older M is most unusual, with a pre-Rekord steel trigger and a 3-digit serial that doesn't fit any known sequence. The original simple front sight was replaced with a Walther tunnel sight (requiring professional cutting of mounting grooves), and has an eagle eye in place.
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