Air Guns are USEFUL TOOLS:

'kay then .. as part of a recent deal with a mate - I bought an older Gamo CFX 22 under-lever air rifle and a classic BSA Scorpion .177 air pistol.

Both non-firearms are well engineered and surprisingly weighty while employing plastics for the stocks .. I'd guess nylon.

- I'd reasonably expect both guns to be pushing-out around 500 + ft.per.sec velocities with lead pellets - but naturally the bigger heavier .22 projectile would be more impactful from the rifle. There are so many different pellets available as VARIABLES, that if you disagree, I have no hesitation in accepting that you are correct. The CFX22 reminds me of my Webley Mk3 that I owned as a teenager nearly 70 years ago.

There are rabbits around within walking distance and there certainly are plenty of cute California Quail who call 'where are you'  to each other in my location.

A decent airgun makes a most useful survival tool being fun, quiet and cheap to shoot.

I did some "ballistic testing" into plasticine a few months back - comparing a toy Wang Peng slingshot rifle to a .22 L.R

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2025/11/chinese-slingshot-rifle-300-fps-toy.html

Lead versus Steel 8mm Ball from Slingshot "rifle":

* If one was to compare the airguns' pellets with the heavier slingshot balls - I'd suggest both are capable tools..

- Well here's a go with these two airguns ..

.177" pistol  versus  .22" rifle

It's very obvious that the bigger, heavier rifle pellet penetrated further .. around twice as deep into the dense plasticine .. but I don't say this proves anything ..

Note: All this plasticine clay shooting is at close range and ambient temperature. Larger, heavier pills will retain more energy down range.

Both rabbits and small game birds are easy to dispatch - all you've got to do is HIT THEM.

Hunting is useful healthy exercise and good fun while the harvested wild meats are very tasty & nourishing - no question about that.

Back in the '80's I kept 'New Zealand White' rabbits for meat - and I assure you that my caged system produced lot's of delicious protein for a family of four, plus guests, who chose to believe they were eating chicken with flaky pastry rather than bright-eyes-bunnie.

IF you are carniverous .. don't lie to yourself eh .. Meat is dead animal.

Now I came across this NZ Medical Journal anti-gun Article .. where the writers are testing a Gamo nitro-piston air rifle on pig cadavors. Worth reading to learn exactly what inaccurate prejudice is ..

https://nzmj.org.nz/media/pages/journal/vol-137-no-1591/children-s-toys-no-longer-a-porcine-model-study-of-the-lethality-of-modern-air-rifles/dcf42157e3-1709520345/6378.pdf

These scientific authors are promoting their PC anti-gun sentiments via costly medical research. - They call the test air rifle a "spring loaded weapon" and a lethal "firearm" - but it is an IGT pneumatic nitro gas piston tool ..

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to. - How can police claim to be well trained without achieving a Firearms Licence?

Marty K.

A Stuffed Trigger:

Movie Cowboy Roy Rogers' very smart horse was called TRIGGER - and indeed he was stuffed and mounted when he died (The horse - not the yodeler). Sadly this palomino stallion NEVER served at stud ..

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_(horse)#:~:text=Trigger%2C%20originally%20named%20Golden%20Cloud,a%20grandson%20of%20Trigger%20Jr.

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

Roy Rogers (real name SLYE ), was "The King Of The Cowboys" and the original "White Hat" good guy while the 'Baddies' always had black Stetson hats in Hollywood movies.. He was an interesting joker and enduring performer in real life .. worth a read.

TRIGGERS:

This is the typical curved trigger in it's guard..

But around 44 years ago Glock Ges upset that image by putting a "safety" in theirs ..

BUT things were not always done that way ..

There used to be something called a SPUR TRIGGER on some single-action revolvers

Pocket Pistols are sometimes built with HIDDEN (drop down) TRIGGERS to smoothly reduce the gun's profiles .. They spring down when the hammer is cocked.

Never overestimate the IQ and knowledge of strangers, - as I once passed around that lovely two barreled gun at my Pistol Club AGM only to hear one new member comment "That's rubbish - it hasn't even got a trigger"

Among other mysteries in life are .. Why do I always say "Bloody Hell" every time I can't open the lid on a jar? - or, why do I always need to have a pee whenever there is something I must listen to on the news??

- There are similar FOLDING TRIGGERS that work as a sort of 'safety' because they have to be levered down into position for use ..

Everything on my Unwin & Rodgers Knife-Pistol has to be pulled into position for use - including the nicely weighted folding trigger ..

but at least my trigger won't corkscrew your hand like this French BERTHOD example might ..

Tranter patented his special "double trigger" system in 1856 - whereby his revolver was cocked by the bottom external trigger but fired by the smaller one inside the guard ..

I love the elegant and simple percussion trigger system on this  J Rock Cooper pistol with a RING TRIGGER ..

Some pistols claimed to be "hammerless" .. how about 'Triggerless'?
Such as a CHICAGO SQUEEZE COCKER PALM PISTOL?

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2018/06/squeezer-palm-pistols-antique-modern.html

or this wee beaudy?

The recent ALTOR low-cost single shot 9mm pistol uses a ramp that sweeps the trigger finger from the simple striker-trigger as it is pulled rearwards to fire ..

There are SET TRIGGERS and electronic triggers and allsorts out there - even some old s/a revolvers that are fired by fanning and have had their triggers extracted

Former Texas Ranger-turned-Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Outlaw modified his Colt Single Action with a shortened barrel and had the trigger removed. The rear portion of the trigger guard was left intact to allow for a firm grip, since the gun could only be fired by thumb cocking or by “fanning” it. Unfortunately for Outlaw, this proved to be his undoing in a gunfight with El Paso Constable John Selman on April 5, 1894, when, in a drunken stupor and after killing a Texas Ranger, Outlaw rapidly fired this six-gun several times at Selman, but only succeeded in wounding the lawman in the leg. Selman got off an accurate shot that proved fatal to the gunman. (Spangenberger, “Hideout Hijinks,”

USE THE SIGHTS - USE THE TRIGGER ..

Going wayback into ancient times .. some early matchlock or tinderlock 'arquebuses' used a simple pivoting iron SERPENT to lower the smoldering igniter to the touch hole (vent) ..

Flash Eh

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

How can police claim to be well trained without achieving a Firearms Licence?

Under the New Zealand Firearms Act (specifically the Arms Regulations 1992 and updated 2025 amendments), a holder of a B Endorsement (pistol target shooting) must actively participate in scheduled pistol shooting activities at a certified club range at least 12 times each year. 

Marty K.

Dodgey Old DOGE .. Liked his Gun Bibles.

 All of life can be found in the pages of books ..

A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morosini, Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could shoot the gun by pulling the silk bookmark cord while the book was still closed. Now on display at the Museo Correr in Venice

If you feel that you are at risk - always seek the advantage ..

- Here comes another one .. Just like the other-one ..

There are videos that present such cleverness to Youtubers .. ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEKIh5_drqM

This linked video is how "John" made one for his bookshelf ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq5_s_ARmYw

BUT, But but .. There is even a business that sells custom prepared secret storage online ..

https://freehollowbooks.com/books/control.php

This one, -  for a Ruger LC9 can be YOURS for only $55.00

I started down this rabbit hole when I bought an old 19th century, leather bound antique book of plays intending to hack-out it's internals as a novelty boxed set - intended to be a little like this one .. which sold at auction a few years back for just 300. pounds

This one went for 500 euro ..

But maybe the concept is a little hackneyed .. .. worked-to-death already?

__________________

Smuggled pistol, Dublin, 1920-21

This book, a French Dictionary, was left at the Gresham Hotel wrapped in brown paper with the instruction "Miss K. Mullen c/o Mr. P. Kingsbury (To be held"). Inside the book is an automatic pistol concealed in a hollow cut out of the pages. The package was never collected from the Gresham, and came into the possession of an employee of the hotel whose son donated it to the National Museum.

Miss K. Mullen, very probably a false name, was likely to have been a member of Cumann na mBan smuggling weapons and ammunition for use during the War of Independence. Women undertook these dangerous jobs of moving weapons and communications around the city as they were less likely to be searched by the police. However, if ‘Miss Mullen’ had been caught with this package containing a hidden firearm, she would have been subjected to the same violence suffered by many Irish women during this time.

So - how about an interesting antique pistol housed inside a correct period antique book?

Maybe I will - Maybe I won't

FIREARMS LICENSES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR NZ POLICE TO ENSURE THAT THEY DONT ENDANGER THE PUBLIC.

Marty K.

Jelly Bryce - FBI Agent & Point Shooter:

On March 13 1962 President John F Kennedy said:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible

 will make violent revolution inevitable."

Introducing JELLY BRYCE 1906-74:   

Sometimes there are folk with extraordinary abilities.

Not me .. I was always a 'mid field' runner. - In all my years competing at IPSC pistol matches and '3-Gun' Competitions I fluked one stage in one match, by winning it. As I recall, I was using a Glock G20 10mm Auto - but it may have been my G17 9mm.

That special stage win doesn't mean that the 10mm Glock loaded to 'major power factor' is faster than the smaller 9mm - it was just a fluke.

Jelly Bryce was a fantastic revolver shooter who is recorded as outshooting and killing some 20 gangsters in confrontations. He used the "combat crouch" hip shooting position, that was common in police training from the 1930s to the 1980s - He was both deadly and very fast on the draw. 

I read that he had fantastic HAND-EYE co-ordination and his eyesight was extraordinary in that - he could SEE every bullet he fired as it flew downrange to it's target.

I have been able to see the occasional bullet in flight glinting in sunlight from my pistol, on range.

It seems that the fantastic ability and combat record Jelly had, - led to the teaching of the combat crouch in law enforcement for around FIFTY YEARS .. Even though most police officers were not so gifted with his extraordinary point shooting abilities.

Here is a great story, well written, - about Jelly Bryce ..

https://gunmagwarehouse.com/blog/the-legend-of-jelly-bryce/

Read, enjoy, and learn,

Some say he was the fastest gunfighter ever,

"Practice Baby - practice"

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

Marty K.