Break barrel safety

In the 80's I had a Beeman R-10 (.20) of "fine German craftsmanship" and quality ; ) I let the barrel go too soon once and it split the stock.
I bought a replacement stock from Beeman that was clearly of lesser German quality. Didn't matter. It never shot well in my hands anyway. : ) Moved it down the road.

The first time tried a break barrel I recognized this concern and how badly you could get hurt. I tend to watch for things like that in anything I do. My fingers and toes and the rest of my body parts don’t work as well as they once did but I still have all of them.

Rick H.

Call me whatever, but if anyone asks to shoot my Crow Magnum, I will break the barrel, load the pellet and hand the rifle like he is a new shooter, pointing to a safe direction. Some folks I know treat air guns as if they are toys.

Page 14 tells you everything you need to know about safety, cocking/loading, shooting technique and screw maintenance. Those damn Germans!

I had a B3 underlever slam on my thumb when I was a teenager. It left a fairly good impression on my behavior. Thumbnail grew back, but I would rather not have that happen again.

A general lack of intuition about simple mechanical objects seems to be a characteristic of our electronic age!

Try explaining to anyone under 35 that a new springer needs to "break in" before it will work at its best, and check out the blank stares you get...

thom said:

Watching videos on the 'net, I'm surprised how many people I see break a gun down then load a pellet without holding the barrel to prevent it from slamming closed, potentially taking off a finger or thumb, or damaging the gun. I've never had it happen but that's because I ALWAYS hold the barrel.

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When shooting a springer I always break the barrel, load a pellet then fully cock the gun. Mark

The many pictures on the web of break barrel air rifles with an upward bend in the STEEL barrel (smiling at you) should be enough warning. But no....we live in a different time.