by Tom Gaylord
In 1954 the Egyptian army acquired a pellet rifle, made to resemble the 8mm Hakim semiautomatic rifle then issued to their soldiers. They contracted with Anschutz of Germany to design and build the gun, so the quality is excellent. The pellet rifle is about the same general size as the firearm, but not quite as heavy, and there is no provision for a bayonet that some other military trainers have. This pellet rifle is also called the Hakim, though it is known in collectors' circles as the model 1954.
This Hakim pellet rifle has seen a lot of service, but it still has its unit markings painted on the stock.We presume the rifle was to promote rifle marksmanship, and at least one report has said that the basis of issue was one rifle per company. Some of the rifles, like the one shown here, still have their arms-room military markings in the form of painted Arabic numbers and characters on the stock.
The gun had very high interest in the army and the Egyptian Inspector General made a trip to the Anschutz factory while production was underway. The number of guns procured has been reported as 2,800, which makes the model rather scarce because there is no civilian counterpart. It was produced as a .22, although in his book,
Small Arms of the World, W.H.B. Smith erroneously reports it as a .177. If an example exists in that caliber, it has not come to my attention. There is also a semiautomatic 10-shot .22 rimfire trainer that must have filled a similar purpose.
In the early 1990s, Navy Arms brought many hundreds of Hakim air rifles to this country where they were sold as curiosities. I bought one from a newspaper ad and, upon seeing how well-made and accurate it was, I purchased four more direct from Navy Arms for $65 each. In my opinion, a majority of the surviving rifles came to the U.S. through Navy Arms, because they sold them in bulk for low prices for many, many years.
A gun from Navy Arms was packaged in a rough cardboard box with no padding and looked as though it had come directly from Egyptian military surplus. All of my four guns were packed with sand and old grease. None could be operated until receiving a thorough stripping and cleaning. Fortunately the Hakim is very straightforward and disassembles easily.
In the mid-1990s they began appearing at airgun shows for $75 to $100. Other people had bought them, cleaned them up and restored them to some semblance of working order. Many airgunners avoided them because of the rough condition of their stocks and metal, but most rifles were functional and still very good shooters. The few that weren't either got rebuilt with replacement parts from other airguns, or they became parts guns. I bought and sold about 15 more over the years and ended up keeping a few that I'm now holding on to.
The underlever is short, but the mainspring doesn't require a long lever. Cocking automatically opens the loading tap.The rifle is an underlever and loads through a rotating tap. I have found RWS Superpoints to be the most accurate pellets, but the Hakim is a low-powered target-shooter at best. Most will shoot in the high 400s to the low 500s, but I've owned a few that would break 600. The rifle pictured is also the most powerful one I've ever owned and will shoot a Superpoint at about 640 f.p.s. It was tuned by its former owner, but the outside was left as found, and it's in pretty remarkable condition.
The loading tap flips up to receive a pellet, nose-first. Notice the death's head in flames engraved above the tap.From now on, I wouldn't expect any more bargains, save for the occasional mistake that can always happen. Blue Book of Airguns values them in a range from $200 to $500, but I expect that's conservative. Now that the word is out, the Hakim is on its way to becoming the next Sheridan Supergrade - a rifle with which it shares equal quality, low production numbers and fascinating history.
