Here,at the South Pole(or near enough) air-gunners were faced with a quandary in the 1960s. Sports importers discovered US-made air and gas guns. In next to no time,the purveyors of Webley,Milbro,BSA and Gecado(Diana) were stocking Crosman,Benjamin,Healthways and Sheridan. Daisy seemed represented already but as the law suggested you needed to be 21 years old before a Red Ryder could be owned....they didn't sell to well. Crosman made the big impact.CO2 and repetition were the buzz words. They spelt sudden death to nicely blued ,spring-powered Brit guns. In 1966 a Crosman SA6 was eleven pounds NZ while a Webley 'Senior' cost ten pounds NZ-so the American product wasn't cheaper than the Brit one. It was different,very different. The punters loved them.Not to hard to work out why.NZers could not buy firearm hand-guns.The CO2 gun was a sort of 2nd or 3rd best! The Walther LP53 pistol,in a case, cost nineteen pounds.Even then, many were bought then salted away! I'm pretty sure,at the time,the NZ pound bought around four US $S. I've just been looking at 1960s catalogs from four different Sports retailers.The rifles listed are,BSA Cadet Majors,BSA Meteors,Tellys and junior Webleys and Dianas.Seems there was not much demand for those beautiful walnut and blued steel rifles the fancy overseas catalogs featured.I guess the .22 rimfire 'ruled' at the time,in NZ. I used a Cadet Major for years.Very modestly powered but accurate.I did leave out the Model F Sheridan,sorry.I got one around 1979,cost me nearly $400NZ!!!Then I dinged the stock on the first day. It had a Williams peep and was an OK shooter but the Powerlet seal used to stick to the cylinder and come out.I traded it for a Benjamin 3120........to replace a Model 3100 that I got tired of because the BB retaining spring in the bolt used to come loose!!(what a whinger!)
Goose, That is the like the original topic of this thread carried onto today's youth mind set on almost everything."Why buy X for $$$ when I can buy Y for $"My best analogy is, when was the last time you bought shoe-strings... the SHOES wear out first!Heck when I was younger you took your shoes to get Re-soled because the heel and toe of the sole wore out but the leather uppers were still fine. Much cheaper than new shoes then and things were made to last you literally wore them out.Now take that to the current offerings of airguns. Why pay "$" for a set of seals and maybe a spring (if available), and then add the labor to restore one... when you can get a new gun for the same price? HELLO Gamo and Umarex... anyone home?
Sorry for the derail on the thread topic folks...
As you can see,US-made airguns influenced MY life considerably!
Quote from: cinedux on April 24, 2018, 08:51:08 PMAs you can see,US-made airguns influenced MY life considerably! Boy I'll say & thank goodness it did! Kudos to you Sir for applying a great deal of your life in pursuit of cataloging this wealth of information. I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of time & effort it took. Your link is now a major part of my library & I look forward to reading every part, from book cover to book cover.Thank you!
Quote from: Yng@hrt on April 26, 2018, 07:33:51 AMQuote from: cinedux on April 24, 2018, 08:51:08 PMAs you can see,US-made airguns influenced MY life considerably! Boy I'll say & thank goodness it did! Kudos to you Sir for applying a great deal of your life in pursuit of cataloging this wealth of information. I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of time & effort it took. Your link is now a major part of my library & I look forward to reading every part, from book cover to book cover.Thank you! There are two sites that have been instrumental in expanding my appreciation for vintage air guns. I still go to them and learn. Trevor’s site and Vintage Airgun Gallery.https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com