Vintage Air Pistols
I went to an auction in SW Michigan and found a vintage American-made pellet pistol and won the bid. It’s a Hy-Score model 802B in .177 caliber. It shoots pellets the size of BBs. It came with the original box, or what was left of the box, which adds more collector value. I re-glued the box and hinged the lid, so it looks good and holds the pistol. Online these sell for $200 and up, mostly up, so my $40 win was a shock. It was the first time I had bid at a live auction so it was exciting and nerve-racking, not helped by my bad hearing. I kept waving my auction number every time the auctioneer said a new number and he finally said, “I have your bid.” Suddenly it stopped and I won. There were actually three pistols in the bid, with the high bid picking their choice of the three. I took the Hy-Score. The other pistols were not vintage, possibly CO2.
This is my second vintage air pistol. I found a Benjamin Franklin model 137 at an estate sale last year and bought that for 40 dollars also. That’s another story. I stood at a gate on a country road in the winter for an hour with twenty-five or thirty people, waiting for someone to open the gate for the sale. There were all kinds of things for sale, including a vintage 60’s Corvette. As soon as the gate opened I literally ran up the long drive to make sure I got to the tables first. I found the Benjamin and checked out. When I was running up the drive I could hear the other people laughing at me. Generally, I care too much about what people think of me, but in this case, I figured what the heck, I’ll get what I’m after. I could tell from the estate sale photos online the Benjamin was in very good condition.
Here’s a photo of the Benjamin (with the white grips). Also Feral’s Hy-Score model 800 in .22 caliber, and Jake’s pre-WW2 Webly. This photo was taken last fall at trout camp. The wood boxes are part of the “possibles box” challenge. See the earlier post for details.
Natch, my main fishing buddy, was intrigued by the vintage pistols and is on a mission to find one. He’s been searching, and bidding online, but it is hard to find a real bargain. That may take stumbling on one at a garage or estate sale. There are online deals out there – but it may take a good bidding strategy and patience. Natch has both.
So why are these pistols cool? It’s the air. How do you compress enough air to send a tiny projectile out of a muzzle at 300+ foot per second? The engineering is spectacular, and it has been going on for a hundred years. There is so much to learn and so much fun information online, in particular, youtube videos showing the vast array of makers and models, how to repair them, and side-by-side shooting comparisons. Here’s a closeup of the pellets.
Fichigan 