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Hi,

I just had a quick Air rifle / pistol question regarding two Airguns I inherited a few months back, it's something that had never occurred to me until I read some of the threads on this forum. I understand there is a limit of 12 ft.lb for rifles or 6 ft.lb for pistols. Is there any chance either of these could be over? I had assumed they would be under due to their age, but then equally if there were different limits back then I wasn't sure.

One is a BSA rifle shown in the picture, think it may be a Meteor or similar? The other is a Webley pistol, I would guess they are both from the 70s or 80s? Are these both legal to hold or is it impossible to say without testing them?
I know nothing about gun repairs but I assume the rifle needs a new seal from the picture, is it OK to try and fire like this? I assume it would just potentially lose power?

Thanks

Not much help but if you're worried I would just get them tested.

having said that I have found some rfd really rubbish at testing gun power. try and do d a place that tunes them or sells a lot of air guns.

a lot of pistols really struggle to get to 6 ft lbs so I would be less worried about that.

do you know anyone with a certified legal air rifle ? you could compare penetration (assuming the calibre was the same) as a crude guide ?

twice I have had an unfortunate experience with rfd and chrono. both unknown chrono types.

95k in 177. was told it was 13.5 ft lbs and I needed to detune it asap. it was loud. But it's trajectory and penetration felt legal to me. I took it to an air rifle club with a quality chrono- 11.2 ft lbs!

second was a very hold sensitive hw80k. ft lbs was supposedly 8-12 between shots. trajectory told me this really couldn't have been the case.

I think you can sleep easy. If it's an old Webley spring pistol even the best would struggle to get to about 4ftlb. The Meteor in top condition with a new spring might make 10ftlb. It's bigger brother, the Mercury can go over 12 ft-lb, likewise the underlevers Airsporter can go over if worked on.

If you fire a pellet from each of these airguns at a solid flat steel plate and take a photo of the pellets, or whats left of them, is a fairly good guide to the power if you know what you are looking for.

This says about 10ftlb for a good example of a Meteor (The new MK7 is not really a Meteor, it's been redesigned and now made by Gamo).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSA_Meteor_Air_Rifle

I doubt you'll even be approaching 1066's 10ft/lbs with a breech seal like that! You need a new one.
https://www.airrifleshop.co.uk/products ... supersport
Triffid

If it is a .177 you can come and shoot Bell Target (Virtual league) with us!

Thanks gents, sounds like they are probably OK. I may ask around and see if I know anyone that can test them for me but doesn't sound like an issue. Just didn't want to have anything I shouldn't whilst I have applied for the Sec 7.3, not that I expect to get it..

Thanks for the link for the seal, I hadn't even got round to looking yet. I wasn't sure if I was going to bother but for that price I might as well. Are the lead free pellets any good? Maybe i'm being over cautious but didn't particularly want to fire lead all over the garden.

While I'd almost guarantee your air-pistol isn't even close to the legal limit (it's hard to find even a modern one that is), remember that any air pistol in the UK over 6ftlb is a mandatory 5 years in jail, so worth getting tested by a proper air gun specialist....as others have said, 'regular' RFDs can be a bit hit and miss.

Where do you think the lead came from? The UK is practically made of the stuff, in the form of lead sulphide which is a lot more poisonous than your little pellets.
Fred