The All-Time Classic

The editor finally lives out a boyhood dream

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More years ago than I care to remember, I worked in a gun shop on Saturdays and handled every new airgun that arrived with deep interest and all too often, desire. At that time I was shooting a Webley Vulcan MK1, which was powerful but not too sophisticated. One day, I arrived for work to find the fabled Weihrauch HW35 Export on the gun rack and immediately ran for the keys so that I could unlock it. There, in my hands, was what I felt was the finest airgun ever made and I was in awe. The weight of all that high-quality steel felt reassuring, and the smartly finished walnut stock was head and shoulders above anything I’d seen before. In my eyes, the Germans had stolen a march on making airguns feel like high-quality firearms. Working in a gun shop, I regularly handled top-quality shotguns and deer-stalking rifles, so I knew all too well what could be done to make a gun feel special, if you could afford it.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

There was just one problem – I couldn’t afford it. My meagre funds were already stretched to the limit running my Enduro motorbike in the off-road competitions I was entering. There was simply no cash for a new airgun.