How times have changed

Probably a BSA or a Webley shooting Eley Wasps very very very good hard to find these days. 

How times have changed. 30 years waiting for permission. now I wait on mine.

My first was a Sheridan Blue Streak that I only got at age 12 by first taking the Hunter Safety Course at my local high school. Still have it, but did rebuild it once after putting countless of those Sheridan .20 cal slugs through it. My neighbor, who was a toolmaker, helped me install a Williams 5D sight on it, and it was in that configuration that I used it to hunt squirrels and pigeons mostly. Those heavy slugs didn't carry much velocity, but they did penetrate exceptionally well. Too bad pumpers don't get more respect, because in many ways they are the perfect hunting airgun. I think it is the difficulty of mounting a scope that keeps them from being more popular.

Daisy 840 for me. It was a one pump gets you 325FPS. 2 pumps got you 325FPS king of gun. I could track the BB with my eyes coming out of the barrel all the way to the target, 10 yards or so away. It made me a good marksman, but after one or two hunts I realized it was not a hunting gun. My favorite trick was to pour BBs down the barrel until it was full, point it straight up and "shotgun" 50 or so really slow BBs into the air. I remember that it would have a "Kick" like a real gun then. probably still one of my favorite guns, air or otherwise.

I was thinking about this last night. I was around 10 when I got my first airrifle, I think it was made in England. Only had the iorn sights, It would hit anything my mates or I would aim at. Ducks, native pidgeons, rabbits and hares.

We lived about 5 miles from the store that sold pellets, they only sold one brand Wasps I think. I never cleaned the barrel ever, sorted, weighed, lubed, sized, oiled or cleaned it. The rifle never let me down, never broke a spring or replaced a piston seal, never pulled it apart. After I left home I lost it in one of my moves.

I probably missed half at what I was aiming at but those long shot that came off stayed in my mind after all the other memories were washed away.

It must have been an exceptional rifle with all that it went through not like today’s.

Gary

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That was a great topic, when I finished reading it, I went back 40 years and could remember riding my bike 6 miles all down hill (so it was miserable coming back) to buy Benjamin domes in the green can at the farm store. After begging my father for $3 and that meant pulling weeds and mowing lawns. So many memories! If I had the Airguns then that I have now? I wonder how many things would be extinct? Thank you for bringing that up!

I can remember being envious of all my friends who had Benjamins with all the cool wood/brass/power and me with my plastic/pot metal Daisy 880, I just couldn't understand why my parents wouldn't get me one. Later of course, I realized the value of money, my parents struggle with it and the fact that a Benjamin cost over $100 vs what a Daisy went for.

I later found a much older model Benjamin at a flea market with bad seals that a kid could afford on a kids allowance, it was cheap, didn't work. and I had grand ideas of restoring it to its former glory so I could be envious no more. So, I wrote the Benjamin company, pre- internet days, looking for parts to rebuild, only to get a response back that they would not be able to help me because the particular model was considered unsafe due to drop tests/accidental firing. They did offer to sell me a new model at a much cheaper price if I sent in the "dangerous model" as an exchange.So a month later and $50 bucks poorer I had a new Benjamin 392.

Went to show off my new gun, only to find out all the cool kids were now getting Beemans...

Sure - I had tons of fun wearing out my BB gun at age 8-9 in the 1960's, wearing out my first Diana springer at age 10-13, and doing the same to my next Diana springer that lasted til my late teens. Then I owned a fair amount of springers, multi pumps, and even PCP's throughout the years. I didn't wear any of those out because I didn't have a pile of young boys helping abuse them, lol.

My point is I was never satisfied with any of them, not until I bought a MAC1 USFT! I could probably be "more" satisfied with a Thomas though, lol. 

Yes times have changed. Minute of squirrel doesn't cut it anymore, well thinking back it never did.

I mentioned my Daisy 840, one friend had a daisy 880, back when they were metal and wood, and our other friend had a crossman, I do not remember the model, but with 10 pumps, it was the beast of the block. The 3 of us would meet every Saturday, most Sundays and hit a nearby patch of woods for Birds, squirrels and Rabbits. It was a tough get after a while, critters were scarce. I think in our last 5 hunts we were skunked. Boys grow up and move on in life. They went to college, I chose to join the military. After being gone for 3 years, I finally returned home. I called my buddies and we all grabbed our Airguns. Off we went, just as we had years before. But, now there were birds, squirrels and rabbits all over this patch of woods. We realized then that WE were the reason for the scarcity of game in those woods. Those were good times, lots of laughs and camaraderie. We were finding our way, we were outdoors. We were American boys, in an Different America. I feel bad about cleaning the game out of those woods, but the memories and lessons that I learned hold true 40 years later are still strong in who I am. My gun was not a hunter, but I was the first one there every week because it meant so much to me. I don't think today's youth will do anything to experience what was so special to me. They have their own memories and experiences, but I am sure that whatever they do, It will come up short of what we had as Kids.

Here are the two that I still have from my adolescence. Had a Crosman break barrel that I loved and several BB guns before them but had them confiscated due to some risky behavior. Good memories.