Yes, as I said, much of Tappan's book is quite dated now. I wonder if it could even be done today- models and availability change so quickly now. <br><br>I don't think the BM-59 was ever plentiful, though I saw one only 6 months or so ago... and truthfully, as much as I respect the Garand action, there are 7.62 Nato pieces I like better.<br><br>Of the two books, "Survival Guns" is much the better. "Tappan on Survival" is basically reprinted Q&A from the newsletter that he ran for awhile. Not much new for anyone familiar with his thinking.<br><br>I agree with your assessment of the thread- I responded to Barb & husband without naming my preferences. Too much input is worse than too little.<br><br>I just started to get into air rifles some months ago.. maybe 9. I was looking for some way to stay in practice without driving to the range, which time constraints often prohibit. At the time that my business started to go south and I killed all discretionary spending, I had only acquired one Baikal IZH-61 for target practice across the basement. Very low power, not suited for hunting anything, but it's well suited for indoor practice- at short range, at least, it's much more accurate than I can hold (ragged single holes and the occasional cloverleaf with iron sights IF I do my part) - and it was very cheap. Still, if I had known I'd only have one for awhile, I might have gone with the CZ-631 in the same ( cheap) price range. <br><br>Now that things are easing up financially, I'm beginning to think of others again. I had my eye on a couple of models of RWS side-cockers for awhile, but it seems difficult to load them while keeping a hand on the cocking lever for safety, so I'll probably retreat to break-barrels. I wish they made the Beeman R9 in .22. <br><br>The 5-round magazine in the Baikal spoils you very quickly.<br><br>For survival- of course, it all depends on the scenario.. but I can't help but think that if things got to subsistance level, there are probably a hundred "Nimrod Wildfires" who fancy themselves hunters for every deer in the woods... but we're still vastly outnumberd by squirrels in the suburbs. Air rifles are quiet enough not to attract much attention- I wish springers were more compact and lighter- but you can't have everything.<br><br>Another alternative I explored for practice was a Beamhit (laser) system, which still seems to have a lot of promise.. but money was already a concern, and, as you say, air rifles go a long way on a budget.<br><br>Niven and Pournelle were friends and sometimes guests of Robert (Bob, to them) and Virginia (Ginny, to them) Heinlein. Steve Barnes studied martial arts under Dan Inosanto, who was the leading student of Bruce Lee and carried on Jeet Kune Do after Bruce's death. It changed... but it was bound to.

Sadly deceased for many years.

<< Steve Barnes studied martial arts under Dan Inosanto, who was the leading student of Bruce Lee and carried on Jeet Kune Do after Bruce's death >><br><br>Ah! That was the connection I didn't follow - thanks.<br><br>Have not looked at those air rifles "in the flesh". I, too, keep eyeing the RWS side-cockers (I remember when RWS was not the manf. of those models...). Actually, it seems to me that they may offer an advantage if one were shooting prone, but that's pure speculation on my part.<br><br>Roger the small game in town... it's been discussed at my house. When I was a kid, I took my limit of squirrels in my yard many times with that Sheridan - never dented the population. Sheridan is fairly noisy, though. My RWS is quiet, although I am skeptical of using it on a racoon. The Sheridan was deadly on racoons - plenty of those rascals here.<br><br>Onward and upward for now.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom

87 british infantry and 17 natal Boer militia held off 4000 Zulus at Rourke's Drift with single shot Martini rifles. Mel Tappan launched an industry that gave rise to the delightfully paranoid couple in the B movie TREMORS ( subterannean giant worms in the desert) with everything from assault rifles to a best grade british double in .577 I never should have sold my Webley &Scott MKVl with .455 colonial loads :O(

Two words: Lanchester Pistol!

I suppose the side-cockers do have an advangage for firing prone- but, unlike the barrel-cockers, there is a huge temptation to just use the right hand to load the pellet and not worry about holding the lever back while your fingers are in there. The geometry makes it awkward to do anything else, though some reportedly use elbows on the lever, and some use dowels or such to prop the chamber open. The thought doesn't bother everyone.... but there's an awful lot of force on the catch that's keeping the mechanism from lopping off your fingers at that point.<br><br>From an engineering standpoint, though, the thought of having the receiver attached to the barrel by no more than a hinge, as it is in the break-barrels, seems sort of silly. Not too bad when the sights are on the barrel, but scopes mount to the receiver. The problem seems to be mostly theoretical, though, and that big open breech-end being nicely presented certainly would seem to make loading easier and faster.<br><br>In practice, you probably just get used to whatever.<br><br>I haven't even fired one of the Benjamin-Sheridan PP rifles, the ones that take 14 pumps to get up to full pressure.. but, on another forum, they (or rather the semi-custom "steroid" version) were the overwhelming recommendation for a survival scenario that involved travel on foot, apparently largely because of their light weight. Fourteen pumps is probably fine for hunting, but I can only imagine that it gets very tiresome for practice.

Pumping an air rifle does get old. That's the real pleasure of CO2 cartridges. Just advance your shot and fire. Makes target practice more fun.<br><br>I grew up in Racine, Wisconsinwhen Sheridan was still there. The various guns were as omnipresent as Johnson's Wax and Danish Kringle (Two of our most well known products.) You would have thought that my Dad would have bought me one. Not that I'm resentful or anything. Idid have an authentic Wrist Rocket!

Actually, I think that was Rourke's Drift- probably just a typo.<br><br>I LIKE the old Webley .455. Nice the way it dumps only the empties when you break it, so you can top off whenever you have a second. You can almost see the bullet going downrange, but if it hits anything, it's going down. :-)<br><br>The other day, sitting and talking to someone at work, my Windmill lighter slipped out of my pocket onto the floor. As I replaced it, my co-worker said "I didn't think you smoked". I said "I don't". So, naturally, he asked why I carried a lighter. I couldn't resist- I said "because I'm Burt!".<br><br>Needless to say, he didn't get it. Almost nobody seems to have seen Tremors 3.

i'm not answering any question, but in this forum people talk so freely of firearms, but in england it is a big deal. hangums are illegal, and it is hard to get your hands of a rifle

This is going to come out horrible I know, but I mean no insult by it. <br>England is the reason the US Constitution has the second ammendment which states "...the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."<br>The idea is that lawmakers are more prone to follow the publics wishes if they are afraid they will have thier heads blown off. Its sorta a last resort protection for freedom wether the threat is foreign or domestic. We get the reputation of being "cowboys" but I have never heard of anyone wanting to invade the USA.<br>Once again, that is not meant as an insult; just an insight into the thought process that keeps us armed.