Having heard Jeff shoot his high performance tuned air rifles, they're just as loud as a .22 rim fire.

Yeah, that is a big downside to pneumatic rifles as compared to spring piston rifles. The pneumatics are very loud. Even at the same velocity with the same pellet as a springer, the pumpers are much, much louder. Not exactly the thing for stealthy urban or suburban air rifle shooting. Not really quite as loud as a .22 (the pumpers are comfortably fired without ear protection, where .22 rim fires really aren't), your neighbors will definitely hear you. When only pumped up maybe 3-5 strokes, however, they are much quieter. Not springer quiet, but much better for sure.

This is a great thread. My early 1980’s example is getting boxed up today.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1636736237.jpg

i know how big the springer is, so yeah, that pumper looks really light.

We don't have any of those around here in Europe, never seen one up close or for sale..

That's a pretty one! I think you will really like the results. While I almost never take advantage of the additional power on tap, just the overall increase in quality and feel were worth it to me. The billet pump arm, smoother pumping action, better trigger. All of it very worthwhile.

Are you going to have Tim add the Williams peep? I would very highly recommend doing so. The manner in which the open rear sight clamps to the barrel can lead to the barrel separating from the pump tube. Removing it eliminates that possibility, plus it makes it easier to shoot it well.

Do you have power restrictions on air rifles? I know the UK limits them to 12 ft lbs of energy before requiring a license. That pretty much precluded their import into the UK. There was a shop modifying the valve mechanism to reduce power at full charge to less than that, but there were not many imported even with that modification.

Kind of an aside, but the really cool part of that modification was they then had the ability to keep shooting with less pumping. You would essentially pump it up eight times for the first shot, but it would not expend all of the air. Two more pumps would restore it to "full power". You could shoot it all day like that - eight pumps initially, then two pump from then on. There was a guy here in the States who provided a similar modification to the new Benjamin 392, selling them through Airguns of Arizona. I'm not sure if they are still available, but it seemed like a cool idea to me.

Not in Belgium no,not for long guns, there is a 7.5 joule limit for air handguns tho

Spring break rifles are common, but the serious stuff comes from folks with PCP guns that will shoot 30 cal at 100 yd. all legal
but we aren't allowed to shoot in the garden with it (but many do , especially in the country side)

in the old days it was very common to shoot 22lr in the garden, anschutz bolt guns and semi's were very common, but that all changed in the 90ies.. you have to keep in mind belgium as a country is one of the most dense populated countries in the world. Flemish side being the most dense populated of the 2 (french side is the ardennes)... There really isnt much room for mistakes with firearms or even air guns.

I guess I have never understood this quest for extreme airgun power. Guys hunt deer with airguns over here. Why? I can appreciate the technical exercise and all of that, "because we can", and the challenges it represents. But, for me, their chief attraction is their lack of power and range. Even my most powerful "Steroid" pumpers, and my most powerful springer (my RWS 48 in .22 caliber) only get 25 ft lbs of energy. Their extremely low ballistic coefficient pellets drop off very, very quickly. They are, essentially, 30-40 yard "rat rifles". They are not suited for anything bigger, nor anything further away. And that is their beauty to me.

If I need more power, I jump up to the .22 LR, at about 140 ft lbs, and a good deal more effective range. But, well, there is no way in hell I can fire one in my backyard. It just wouldn't be safe to do so. So, for backyard plinking and/or pest control, the traditional air rifle, be it springer or pumper, is ideal for me. Very, very accurate, just enough range for soup cans at 50 yards and enough power for rats and squirrels at 30.

yeah but that's different for you , you don't need licenses and red tape for high powered rifle ownership.. here you do..

so people who can't or won't jump through the hoops, can get a high powered pcp gun instead and still have some kind of shooting ..

But ok, for the most part , they are just stroking their own wiener , it's like all hobbies they want to get the best and the most powerfull thing available to em cause it's there.

For a great many of em, they don't do any kind of shooting to make use of that power.
They don't shoot competitions
they don't shoot past 50 meter
never shoot variable distances
they never go to an out door range to learn to deal with wind

But the same kind of shooter exists with the firearms.
Hell a load of shooters shoot because it's a requirement to own guns, eg 12 shoots a year, done
they won't challenge themselves either.. go to range, shoot 5 rounds
pack up, get stamp, go home..
repeat x12

I was the other way, I owned guns so I could shoot.. In my peak i went 50x a year minimum
shot compeititons, international, drove all over europe to long distance ranges in uk, norway, france, germany etc etc

I sold my firewarms because I No longer shot prone/sling competitons due to herniated disk, didn't like shooting off a table and a general fed up with shooting due to work stress, it took to much of my time driving around all over to get to ranges..
And I simply didn't feel like doing a mandatory 12 shoots and all the red tape anually ,just to keep the rifles around.
At the same time I got fed up with all the complainers.. They are taking away our rights and they are after our guns.. Every time at every shooting range the same complaining and permanent outrage.
But those who do the most complaining typically do the least amount of shooting.
Try to invite somebody over to drive to a longer distance range somewhere, hell, to far, no time, gotta go shopping with the wife, do much paperwork, blablabla, excuses excuses excuses.
I hated it, it was probably easier to find somebody to rob a bank then to find a shooting buddy to go shoot in the UK or Norway..


I do miss my 1903A3 as it was a really nice one, that shot really accurately.. but the memories are there, and that's really what counts.
At any time I could get back in, I know how it all works, but i'm, just not interested anymore to put in all the effort to get licensed, and to drive to all those ranges (closest past 100 emter one is 140 miles, but really to get to a decent range it's 300 miles and national borders (more paperwork especially now that UK left the EU and with covid)

I do envy the US for your lack of red tape and gun registration..
But from some US based friends, I think a lot of those , don't really shoot all that much either. Ammo hoarding and dems be taking our guns mentality is very popular.. But that don't mean they all do a lot of shooting.

I hear you Stijn, I hear you. I will never take for granted my ability to own firearms without licensing, and without some arbitrary "requirements" to keep that license active. Some here wonder why us more involved shooters are so hard core, so adamant over seemingly "trivial" points regarding government oversight of or involvement in our shooting and ownership of firearms. All we have to do is point to countries like yours. It all starts with "reasonable" restrictions and rapidly progresses to your current situation. I hate for you guys to bear the burden, but you do serve as a ready example of where all of that goes. We will fight that to the bitter end.

As for now, I can still step out onto my back deck and shoot air guns. No one cares. I have an entirely safe "range" that I've set up that no pellet can ever escape. The guns are quiet enough to not bother even my closest neighbors. If I want to shoot rimfire or centerfire, my gun club is ten minutes away. Outdoor ranges for rifle, pistol, shotgun, with the rifle range out to 300 yards and the pistol to 50. Covered firing points for rifle and pistol. The only downside is that only paper targets are allowed on the rifle and pistol ranges and, well, punching holes in paper gets pretty boring if I'm not working up a load. If I want to shoot my gongs or other "reactionary" targets, that's an 80 mile drive to the nearest old gravel pit where that is allowed. All in all, I've got it pretty good. I even shoot from my basement into my garage on cold rainy days.

Thanks Jeff. I think I’ll have him throw his entire catalog at it. This rifle is an old friend and was a constant companion in my early-teen afternoons. I bought it with my own money and it was far superior to the neighborhood Daisys and Crosmans in terms of accuracy and knock down power. It has been inoperative for more than 30 years but I hadn’t discarded it, and I am anticipating its return like that same little kid did when he got it.

There you go, Ken - I like to say my 1963 model, the one my buddy found in a ditch underwater and sold to me when I was 12 years old "has been owned by the same 12 year old kid for the last 49 years"...