The very first ever rifle that I bought in New Zealand was a STIRLING M20 s/a .22" rimfire Serial Number A2737**.
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With my very new shiny "Lifetime" Firearms Licence in my wallet and forty dollars cash to pay for my winning bid - I'd had a successful outing to the Christchurch 'Police and Customs Auction' . I was a happy chappy on the drive home and couldn't wait to buy some ammo and take the wee rifle out to the local Waimakariri river bed and sight it in. ( Apparantly the NZ Police have decreed that one is no longer allowed to shoot in river-beds "for safety reasons".)
That original Lifetime Licence is dated 28 May 1986 and notes that a licence fee of NZ$27.00 was paid.
Times have Surely Changed! - The Police no longer feel able to auction legal firearms to legally licenced "fit and proper" persons - and my shiny red passport-book styled Lifetime Firearms Licence was cancelled (at a stroke of a Parliamentary Pen) and replaced with a plastic credit card styled Photo ID card that needs to be renewed (currently) every ten years. Hmmm.
The earlier Stirlings were marketed in New Zealand as 'Squires Binghams' and currently they are sold as 'ARMSCOR' products. - I understand that the name 'Squibman' was used at one time.
Historically the first Squires Bingham was a retail Gun Shop in Manila, Philippines started in 1911.- They went on to greater things and the business owned by Squires Bingham & Co was changed to The Arms Corporation Of The Philippines - "ARMSCOR" in 1952.
Currently, ARMSCOR makes a range of small bore rifles including "look alike" models for the AR and the AK, - shotguns, and several good looking low cost semi-auto Pistols. - Here in New Zealand 'Cameron Sports Imports' is the wholesaler - importer.
Armscor have a manufacturing agreement with Fratelli TANGFOLIO Snc of Italy. - This may come as suprising news to some who rate Tangfolio highly for their quality target pistol "race-guns" - while classing the Stirling / Armscor product as cheap'n'nasty.
Well - personally I wasn't all that impressed by "race guns" that seem to need much modification and "tuning" ( like 1911 models) before they can race - but I've had a soft-spot for the 'cheap'n'cheerful' Stirlings ever since that first used auction purchase !! - Just goes to confirm that I am a bloody minded "pom" eh.
The M20 range is in my experience accurate and trouble free - and cheap. The action is not fussy about brand of ammunition and all the working bits readily come to hand and operate fine. - I put 10 shots of Winchester sub-sonic into a 1.25 inch group at 25 yards rapid fire no worries (-sighted through a cheap 'scope).
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The bolt can be locked open simply by pushing-in the handle sleeve, - and the magazine release is also easy to use (unlike my otherwise excellent Ruger 10/22 !).
-As a rough-use knock-about gun that may be rattled around in the back of a farm truck and generally neglected, they are fine. - Indeed the only problems that I have had with a Stirling was after I decided that it was time to clean and oil it - probably because it needed a pack of .22"s put through it to clear out all the gun-oil that was drowning the action.
The shorter model above is a very useful size and would suite a younger and smaller new shooter - but I prefer it to the longer version anyway as it's "handier" and there's no need for a full-length barrel in .22" Rimfire - anything much over 16" doesn't count for much (ballistics!).
Mind you, the internal components of the action seem to be die-cast alloy which is likely not as strong as steel forgings or stampings, - still "mustn't grumble eh".
Marty K
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870
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