Bent Ramrod
11-11-2007, 04:46 PM
Airguns have always had a fascination for me, probably a result of reading all those Benjamin ads in the magazines as a kid. As the supply of what I was collecting at the time (single shot rifles) began to dwindle at Gun Shows, I started picking up air pistols and air rifles as souvenirs whenever I could find good ones (almost always used) at reasonable prices. I only have one "Adult" air gun, an RWS target pistol. Here, though, I'm talking more about informal target shooters and plinkers.
The classification of these relics as to quality was easy for me to make, even ignorant as I was about such concepts as six-sigma and the like. Topnotch airguns were built like "real" guns, out of milled forgings, investment castings, and, occasionally, precisely-shaped sheet steel. The resultant air gun almost never looked like a real gun, but the manufacturing practice and quality level was obviously the same. A good Webley Senior or Hy-Score or Walther pistol was always a delight to examine. The second tier down featured careful turnings fitted together with good brazing jobs for barrels and air/gas cylinders and a few castings in nonstressed areas, well finished. This covered the Benjamins and the Sheridans and early Crossmans, for instance. Third on the list (and the beginning of a distinct lack of interest on my part) was typically sheet metal and a few turnings and castings, attached together by screws around that great fount of forgiveness for sloppy tolerances and assembly, the O-ring seal. Later Crossmans were of this type, and since Crossman eventually acquired both Benjamin and Sheridan, this manufacture, and the next step down, obviously were the best for marketplace survival. The worst of the worst, to my mind, was when the manufacturer put all the gasworks into a gun-shaped mould, flowed in a proprietary mixture of quality pot metals, painted the result black and advertised it as "the Spittin' Image of the Real Thing!!" or some such. Except for the Crosman Single-Action I was given as a kid (and sold off toute de suite when I started accumulating better quality stuff) I avoided such stuff like cliches.
Nobody grieves for Pre-64, Pre-War, Pre-Garcia, Pre-CBS or any other "Pre-" any more than I do over the loss of Old World Craftsmanship in this admittedly minor-key area of gun interest. I guess my years of collecting/accumulating these artifacts had set me up for an instinctive avoidance of any air gun that looked too "real." However, that changed this weekend at the Ventura Gun Show, when I stumbled across a Crosman/Walther Model PPK/S BB gas pistol.
This little gem is amazingly "real," and not because it is a pot-metal casting in the shape of a Walther PPK/S. As far as I can see, it is very well finished investment castings (at worst) carefully put together so the gun not only looks but functions like a real one. The weight and heft seems quite close to my admittedly slight acquaintance with the real thing. The O-Ring seals are there, but now they enhance the overall compactness of design rather than making up for slackness in the workmanship. The owner is cautioned not to "brandish or display this airgun in public" in several languages, and for very good reason. You'd get all the unwelcome attention you ever wanted if you did. It even comes with a little plastic trigger-lock, with a little plastic key. The only thing that betrays its airgun status is the thumbscrew at the bottom of the grip for tightening the CO2 cartridge into battery.
The only things that don't work like the real thing are the double-action trigger pull (nonexistent) and the decocker/safety, which is only a decoration (though it looks real) on the slide. The slide cycles, cocking the hammer for each shot, until the 15-shot stack of BBs is gone, and the follower holds it open. The slide comes back with real authority, too; remarkable for a slide that is heavy metal and a gas delivery system that allows about 50 shots (and slide blowbacks) before it's time to change out the cartridge. I can keep most shots in the black of the UIT pistol target at 5 yards or so; not bad for a first time out with a BB gun. It sounds more like a pneumatic gun; it doesn't have the sharp crack a lot of CO2 guns have. The trigger is a little stiff and the BB magazine a fragile little plastic thing, but overall, this looks like an instant classic to me, sure to gain in collector value over the years, certain to go onto some Right-Thinking Politician's Banned list in short order, etc. Some guy on You-Tube has a fairly laudatory video of the thing, although there isn't any commentary and not nearly enough shooting. Other verbal commentary on other sites is similarly enthusiastic.
If anybody else is chasing their long-gone adolescence around by playing with such adult toys, I would recommend this one. I'd also be interested in hearing from someone who has a real PPK/S and one of these BB versions; I'd like to hear a comparison.
The classification of these relics as to quality was easy for me to make, even ignorant as I was about such concepts as six-sigma and the like. Topnotch airguns were built like "real" guns, out of milled forgings, investment castings, and, occasionally, precisely-shaped sheet steel. The resultant air gun almost never looked like a real gun, but the manufacturing practice and quality level was obviously the same. A good Webley Senior or Hy-Score or Walther pistol was always a delight to examine. The second tier down featured careful turnings fitted together with good brazing jobs for barrels and air/gas cylinders and a few castings in nonstressed areas, well finished. This covered the Benjamins and the Sheridans and early Crossmans, for instance. Third on the list (and the beginning of a distinct lack of interest on my part) was typically sheet metal and a few turnings and castings, attached together by screws around that great fount of forgiveness for sloppy tolerances and assembly, the O-ring seal. Later Crossmans were of this type, and since Crossman eventually acquired both Benjamin and Sheridan, this manufacture, and the next step down, obviously were the best for marketplace survival. The worst of the worst, to my mind, was when the manufacturer put all the gasworks into a gun-shaped mould, flowed in a proprietary mixture of quality pot metals, painted the result black and advertised it as "the Spittin' Image of the Real Thing!!" or some such. Except for the Crosman Single-Action I was given as a kid (and sold off toute de suite when I started accumulating better quality stuff) I avoided such stuff like cliches.
Nobody grieves for Pre-64, Pre-War, Pre-Garcia, Pre-CBS or any other "Pre-" any more than I do over the loss of Old World Craftsmanship in this admittedly minor-key area of gun interest. I guess my years of collecting/accumulating these artifacts had set me up for an instinctive avoidance of any air gun that looked too "real." However, that changed this weekend at the Ventura Gun Show, when I stumbled across a Crosman/Walther Model PPK/S BB gas pistol.
This little gem is amazingly "real," and not because it is a pot-metal casting in the shape of a Walther PPK/S. As far as I can see, it is very well finished investment castings (at worst) carefully put together so the gun not only looks but functions like a real one. The weight and heft seems quite close to my admittedly slight acquaintance with the real thing. The O-Ring seals are there, but now they enhance the overall compactness of design rather than making up for slackness in the workmanship. The owner is cautioned not to "brandish or display this airgun in public" in several languages, and for very good reason. You'd get all the unwelcome attention you ever wanted if you did. It even comes with a little plastic trigger-lock, with a little plastic key. The only thing that betrays its airgun status is the thumbscrew at the bottom of the grip for tightening the CO2 cartridge into battery.
The only things that don't work like the real thing are the double-action trigger pull (nonexistent) and the decocker/safety, which is only a decoration (though it looks real) on the slide. The slide cycles, cocking the hammer for each shot, until the 15-shot stack of BBs is gone, and the follower holds it open. The slide comes back with real authority, too; remarkable for a slide that is heavy metal and a gas delivery system that allows about 50 shots (and slide blowbacks) before it's time to change out the cartridge. I can keep most shots in the black of the UIT pistol target at 5 yards or so; not bad for a first time out with a BB gun. It sounds more like a pneumatic gun; it doesn't have the sharp crack a lot of CO2 guns have. The trigger is a little stiff and the BB magazine a fragile little plastic thing, but overall, this looks like an instant classic to me, sure to gain in collector value over the years, certain to go onto some Right-Thinking Politician's Banned list in short order, etc. Some guy on You-Tube has a fairly laudatory video of the thing, although there isn't any commentary and not nearly enough shooting. Other verbal commentary on other sites is similarly enthusiastic.
If anybody else is chasing their long-gone adolescence around by playing with such adult toys, I would recommend this one. I'd also be interested in hearing from someone who has a real PPK/S and one of these BB versions; I'd like to hear a comparison.