johnbaz

Wow!! That's a beauty Roger, I love how the inner bezel is still gold!, I think mine was supposed to be black but has faded to gery!! John

Hi all Dragging up an older thread, I got right in to binocular collecting and have recently acquired a few more, Not the big heavy ones with hi mag, More, Normal every day ones! The most recent I bought were these Simmons mod1800, 7x42, I think they're porro's but am not sure as I can't find anything out about them!, It's like they never existed- The only one thing I could find with google was these actually on fleabay!! That said, They're rather nice to look through, Much better than I expeceted!! The last ones before the Simmons were these Opticron 8x40, Again, I dropped lucky and they're absolutely perfect! I won these Jessops 16x30 Porro's off the bay too, No obvious flaws with them but 16x mag is a little hard to keep still without resting elbows on a wall or using a tripod, Still- Quite happy with them!! This binocular is an old Zeiss Dekarem Q1 10x50, They look a little ropey but the optics are superb, They were only a tenner off facebook marketplace only a five min walk (Went in the car though!!) from me!! I've bought a few more but don't want to put too many pics up! EDIT- Forgot to say, The Zeiss were the only ones that didn't come in a case and had years of crud stuck to the lenses, They cleaned up perfectly though!! Cheers, John

Some years ago on another forum (Not a watch or shooting forum), A fella that lived on an island in a very remote part of Scotland wanted an air rifle for his lad to bring meat (Rabbits etc) for the table (Nearest supermarket was around 50 miles away and across expanses of water!), he bought an Original mod50 in .177" cal but it was way too big for the lad so I asked if he wanted to swap for something more manageable for him! Poor lad had a helluva job cocking the big ol rifle! I sent a Crossman King Ratcatcher with a couple of full 88g Co2 carts, It turned out fab for him and he did indeed bring much food home with it!! I reckon he was more than happy with the lightweight rifle and no cocking apart from drawing back a small bolt!! Here's another that would have suited him, An SMK QB78, This one has been tarted up with brass and a HW sound moderator, These are quite cheap new too, They take two 12g carts, This one was tuned to 11.4ft lbs with JSB Exacts, It was professionally carbined (Luckily the bore was concentric- I've heard horror stories of these barrels being badly eccentric and being ruined when shortened!!).. By the way, The chap that posted the Original 50 to me put it inside a large cardboard tube really well padded out but I think he threw it in the Atlantic and let it float south to me as it was dripping wet, There was a thin layer of surface rust which disappeared as soon as I wiped it over and oiled it all!! It's the golden stocked left handed one of these I refinished the stock on the middle one whilst furloughed from work last year! (Got paid to do it!!) john

Those are lovely!! I have two Cyma Navistars in the same way- One has a sub seconds and t'uther has a centre seconds!, Not as pristeen as your Kereds though! I also have a Kered, But again, Condition isn't the best!! John

Fabulous job Roger I have a couple of small ones somewhere, They had small pieces of jade that is drilled incorporated too, Both were arttached to half geodes but came loose, I think they were put in the garage so will probably never be seen again in my lifetime!! John

Hi I have the same watch, When I bought it years ago, The crystal was fine, I got it out last year and it had cracked badly even though not used The movement is a handwound Jaljoux 7734, It still keeps time but I noticed the start button had stopped working, Turned out the shaft has broken! The case back is very Siccura-ish with the Seahorses and crown! Guess what I found when I looked inside!! Sicura S.A. EDIT, Found a bit clearer pic, Also found one of the lever screws missing too, Never noticed and prbably lost it when I opened the case to take this pic! John

The wife picked a load of Bowie and Beatles prints up some years ago at the bootsale for next to nothing, Been going to get them framed and on the wall but they got put away and forgotten about!! The Bowie pics.. I was told who actually took the original pics but have forgotten!! John The Beatles prints.. John Years ago I bought a box full of Horology mags from the bootsale, Among them was a folder with some slightly surreal prints in, I love this type of art! Gustav Adolf Mosser, The first pic is him on the front of the folder John

That was made down the Forge Bond, I worked in the foundry all the time I was there so am not guilty m'lud!! John

Hi @jsud2002 Sorry i'm late to the chat, been so busy with my trees and other things that i've not been on the pc much recently, It seems there's been a few replies already!! Personally i'd go second hand as generally it's more bang for the buck! (I've only ever bought two guns brand new!!) Alas, I don't think £130 will get an absolutely fabulous gun but a nice HW95 or 99 will turn up occasionally cheapish!, HW's are fab guns that recently seem to have taken a bit of a nosedive with QC, There's been some horror stories over on Facey in the rifle groups Maybe if Bowie joins one of the Airgun forums like the Airgun BBS ot The Airgun forum a bargain may turn up in the sales forums Second hand HW's are usually a safe bet but care still has to be taken, I bought an old HW35, When I got it home it had been bodged half to death by some 'Gunsmith'!! Still, I only paid £70 for it!! As said, Calibre is subjective, I love number one bore for accuracy but with arthritic fingers, Sometimes struggle to get the little pellet in to the breech, The meatier number two bore needs less dexterity- I had to get rid of my Air Arms TX200 as the port was small and I kept dropping the little pellets in to the sliding breech area, I eventually bought a 4.5mm HW97 and the port aperture was larger than the TX, I can load it with ease!! You may be better buying face to face so that you can try the gun out and see if it fits you, If it's uncomfortable to shoot then the pleasure won't be there! Also, You can see if the power is up or down and listen/feel for bad noises and vibrations- If the piston slams in to the cylinder end that there's usually a loss of power somewhere that stops the piston from buffering, Maybe a damaged or worn piston/breech seal or a worn loading tap, If excessive smoke comes out after each shot then there's lubricant in the compression area, This is bad as it may make the gun illegal by going over the max legal muzzle energy, Also It could get you in to trouble and at the very least it will eventually damage it as the detonation will over heat and eventually burn the piston seal, It can also bulge the cylinder due to the larger pressure than the gun is designed to take, Most like the gun will be very inaccurate too! If you get a break barrel- Try the barrel sideways for movement, If it has a threaded pivot then any slack can be taken up but if it's a pin then this isn't usually the case, The jaws can be squeezed to slightly but it's a bad design having to do this! Unerlevers may have worn loading taps, This is much harder to put right and these guns should be rejected. Not sure where you are @bowie but there may be an Airguns fayre on this autumn at Melbourne in Derby, There's usually loads of bargains there (Along with some really rare stuff too!), The spring bash was cancelled due to Covid, I'm hoping that the autumn one will go ahead though! Hope you find something that suits you John

I have a couple of Helvetia watches.. John

I read that citric acid dip is excellent for removing rust although i've not tried it, I think the cirtic acid comes as crystals that is dissolved in water, Some use white vinegar but i've also heard others trash it!! Nice little scouts Bowie, I have one somewhere!! I don't seem to have a pic of the knife on it's own, It's the sheathed one at bottom centre, It's quite small as is the stacked handle one straight aboved iy that's unsheathed John John

WOW!! That is a beauty!! I only have older ones, Most likely all pin pallet! John

Hi all Unsure if I should add this as it's not actually a watch! It is however a timekeeper so here goes! It actually fell off the shelf on my PC desk, All the hands came off, I think there was a second hand that fell through in to another dimension as it was never found, I reintated the other hands ok, Could be that it had one of those blanking caps, I really can't recall! Anyhow, It does still work although i've removed the battery as it's not used and don't want a leak happening and destroying the movement!! John

A few more.. There's a few more that I don't seem to have pics of! Cheers, John

Some of mine.. There's a few more so i'll put them in another post.. John A few more..