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Airguns that copy the look & feel of
popular firearms fascinate collectors & shooters
by Tom Gaylord
The airgun market is loaded with guns resembling classic firearms. These airguns took the same care to design and manufacture as the firearms they copied, plus an airgun powerplant had to be stuffed into an established firearm envelope.
If this is your bag, there is an entire world of airguns to
collect beyond what I've shown here. Let's look at a few standouts.
The Schimel is a .22-caliber single-shot version of the well-known Luger P08. Created by Orville Schimel, it had the following design features:
° Very close to the Luger pistol in size
° Powered by an 8-gram sparklet (CO2 cartridge)
° Produced velocities in the low 400 f.p.s. region
° Made of diecast potmetal parts
° O-ring gas seals
° Rifled barrel
It was made in Southern California and also existed at different
times as the American Luger (copyright problems with Stoeger)
and the Carbo-Jett.
The Schimel had problems!
The Schimel was a product of its time, having problems that reflected
technology of the 1950s:
° Potmetal was brittle and parts broke
° O-rings absorbed gas and swelled up
° Barrel rifling was often too shallow to be effective
° An overly complex gas mechanism was subject to owner mistakes
° Painted finish was not durable
° Plastic grips shrank and distorted over time
° Gas system used too much gas, getting just 20 shots per cartridge
Schimels are still available today and the price has not yet skyrocketed. Sometimes, they can be restored to working condition, though it is VERY unlikely that an unrestored gun will still work. Look for the original box with the gun.
Airgunners weren't the
only ones to recognize the model 1894 lever-action!
Daisy launched their Spittin' Image-series of guns in 1961 with
the debut of the 1894 Winchester lever-action lookalike. This
BB gun is so well recognized that even firearms collectors are
familiar with it. It was such a landmark airgun for Daisy that
they brought it back in 2002 as a wood-and-metal gun that now
bears the Winchester brand name for the first time.
The gun now features:
°15-shot forced-feed BB magazine
° Two-way cocking to ease the effort
° Heft and balance of the firearm
The model 26/572 BB
gun looks just like the Remington 572 Fieldmaster
Practically nobody knows about the second Spittin' Image gun
from Daisy. In 1964, they brought out a copy of Remington's 572
Fieldmaster pump .22. Daisy did themselves proud with what they
first called the model 26 pump BB gun and, after a four-year
reflection, the model 572. Both designations had a four-year
run.
Daisy styled the gun after the standard model Remington 572, which has thin crosscuts around the beavertail pump handle. They also designed a fascinating two-way pump mechanism that requires effort on the pump handle in both directions. It accomplishes the following:
° Greater ease of cocking
° More powerful mainspring
° Realistic looks!
How the gun works
Push the pump handle forward, then bring it back to complete
the cocking procedure. It doesn't exactly cut the effort in half
, but it makes this gun somewhat easier to cock than Daisy's
famous model 25 pump BB gun.
The BBs are poured into the same tube that would hold rimfire cartridges in the Remington. It features a clever captive spring that keeps the BBs from rattling around and prevents them from getting lost.
I'm amazed that Daisy engineers put so much thought and effort into an inexpensive BB gun (it sold for $21.95 in 1970). It certainly stands as a monument to those who were involved in bringing it to market.
It's strange that such an unknown BB gun is also one of the most powerful ever made, but that's the case! The way the gun cocked in both directions made it easier to install a stronger mainspring, and Daisy designers took full advantage of the opportunity.
The M1 Carbine looked
good enough to fool
Moving forward to 1966, the Crosman Corporation fielded the M1
Carbine. Every bit as realistic as Daisy's Spittin' Image line,
Crosman poured a lot of thought into this model.
The Crosman M1 Carbine is their model 350 BB gun action installed in a redesigned stock, plus sights and other diecast metalwork applied to the outside. It features the following:
° "Magazine" is really a detachable BB reservoir
° 23-shot gravity-fed magazine
° Realistic adjustable sights
° Wooden stock for first two years of production
This separate "magazine" is often misplaced, so it commands a high price. They complete the gun's appearance so well that collectors have remolded them in solid plastic just to complete those guns now missing their originals.
The rear sight adjusts exactly the same as the sight on the later model M1 Carbine. It gives a feeling of extra precision that really isn't there.
No bayonet lug was ever installed, which was a good decision.
Daisy learned about bayonets on BB guns during World War I, when
their model 40 military rifle was supplied with a toy bayonet.
Kids couldn't resist the temptation to use them, causing moms
to dispose of most of them.
The Crosman carbine has a powerplant mechanism that seems to be unique in all the BB gun world. Instead of the more common Daisy-style catapult/spring piston hybrid, this gun uses a regular piston with a poppet valve that allows air pressure to build up to the point that it blows the poppet open with an explosive burst. It works very well.
For the first two years, the gun had a hardwood stock and upper handguard. After that they used a plastic they called "Croswood." It has a grained surface and a uniform brown color. Crosman claimed it looked real, but most collectors can spot one 20 feet away. The wood guns are valued more highly by both airgun and M1 Carbine collectors.
A nice wood-stocked M1 Carbine may bring 50 percent more than a similar gun in Croswood. Both must have an original magazine and be in working condition with lots of original finish to command good prices.
Crosman Mark I &
II target pistols are great shooters, too!
The same year the M1 Carbine came out, Crosman also launched
a single-shot target pistol that is still setting the airgun
world on fire. The Mark I is the .22-caliber version, and the
Mark II is the .177 pellet gun that also shoots steel BBs. Both
guns have rifled steel barrels, but the .22 is optimized for
lead pellets, while the .177 is a compromise for both .177-caliber
lead pellets and smaller steel BBs.
The Mark I is more popular today because it is very accurate.
Often, Mark IIs are bought to rebarrel with premium .22 airgun
target barrels. This is once instance where shooters will pay
more for a gun than collectors. The reason is accuracy, handling
and one of the finest sporting triggers ever made.
These fine lookalikes have the following features:
° Adjustable power (early models, only)
° Adjustable trigger
° Two power settings (different than the power adjustment feature)
° Adjustable sights
° Fine target-grade accuracy (the .22 is better)
They were made to resemble the very popular Ruger Mark I semiautomatic pistol. The most noticeable difference between the airguns and firearm is the cutout in the frame where the pellet is loaded.
This is a single-shot air pistol with an adjustable trigger beyond anything Ruger ever dreamed of. My own is set to break at one pound and is as crisp as the proverbial breaking glass rod.
A factory-trim gun will propel a 14.3-grain lead pellet at around 425 f.p.s. on high power, and you will get about 50 to 55 good shots from a powerlet.
At 50 feet outdoors, a good pistol shooter can hold better than a two-inch group with this gun; and I suppose a champion can do even better. Indoors, a one-inch group of five is very possible at the same distance. The Crosman will usually shoot as well as the Ruger, if not better, at this close range.
Crosman's 1077 copies
Ruger's famous 10/22
Crosman's copy of Ruger's highly successful 10/22 is also one
of their most popular air rifles. This time, though, it's because
of the functions of the airgun, not because of what it looks
like. It's a 12-shot .177 repeater that uses the trigger pull
to both fire the gun and to advance the hidden magazine to the
next pellet.
The 1077 is loaded with desirable features like:
° Light weight
° Good accuracy
° 12-shot magazine
° Shoots with each pull of the trigger
° TrueGlo open sights
° Scope rail accepts optical sights
° High reliability
Crosman now offers
the 1077 with an adaptor that accepts their new 88-gram AirSource
CO2 cartridge. Instead of 50 shots from a 12-gram powerlet, you
get over 300 shots with this much larger disposable tank.
The German company Umarex was founded in 1978 to make replica guns. When co-owner Wulf-Heinz Pflaumer told me the history of his company, he said, "I don't sell guns. Nobody knows what Umarex is. They know Walther and, of course, we own Walther, but nobody knows Umarex. No, I don't sell guns. What I sell are DREAMS!" I could tell by the stars in his eyes that he meant it. They make a large line of CO2-powered pellet and BB guns.
Walther's PPK/S BB gun
is REAL!
Because Umarex makes Walther, the Walther PPK/S is now made in
.380, .32 ACP and BB calibers! This one is not just a lookalike;
it's the real deal!
An inexpensive, yet fun BB gun, the PPK/S offers:
° Blowback action producing realistic recoil
° All-metal construction
° Same weight as the firearm
° 15-shot magazine
° Realistic disassembly like the firearm
° Working safety and magazine release
S&W 586/686 .177
revolvers are awesome!
S&W 586/686-series .177 revolvers have features like:
° Exact weight of the firearm they copy
° Three barrel lengths that are user-changeable
° 10-shot revolver magazines
° True revolver cranes allowing the magazine/cylinder to rotate to the left
° Adjustable target sights
° Target trigger
Walther Lever Action rifle
Like the Daisy Spittin' Image, this Walther copies a Winchester
model 94. The butt is slightly over-sized to accommodate a removable
gas mechanism, but you don't usually notice it until someone
draws your attention to it.
The Lever Action rifle houses the same eight-shot pellet cylinder
as many of the Umarex pistols, but it is cleverly disguised inside
the receiver and you have to know the secret to access it.
Other popular features include:
° Accuracy capable of hitting a penny at 20 yards
° Provisions for mounting a scope
° Adjustable open sights
° All wood and metal construction
° Realistic weight
The list of highly realistic airguns made by Umarex continues through the following models in several versions, each:
° M1911A1 Colt pistol
° SIG C225
° Walther CP99
° Walther CP88
° Beretta model 92
As you can see, Umarex is a big player in the lookalike airgun game. But the story doesn't stop with them. There are dozens more realistic airguns that closely resemble firearms.
I dislike the phrase real guns because airguns are as real as firearms. But I know what people mean by it. What you may not know is that several real firearms have been converted to airguns,. These probably constitute the most realistic lookalikes of all, because they are, in fact, genuine firearms to begin with.
The Makrov came from
Russia with love
It wasn't love for us, but they definitely needed our hard cash!
After the breakup of the former Soviet Union, Russians needed
to generate sales of anything they had on hand, and Makarovs
were just sitting around. Of course they sold a boatload of the
9mm firearms (they still are, in fact) over here, but some clever
guy figured out how to convert one into a BB gun, too. Since
airguns don't have the same import restrictions as firearms,
they were hoping to speed up the sales.
EAA brought them in, packed in the same cardboard boxes as the firearms. They had the following:
° Same weight as the firearm
° Same trigger
° Same disassembly
° The ability to be converted back to a firearm
That was the deal-breaker. U.S. Customs closed the doors on the Makarov BB gun.
The Russkies also exported a VERY few Kalashnikov BB guns. That's an AKM (AK-47, to the less astute). If the Makarov could be converted back, do you suppose...? Customs did! They SLAMMED the door and said, "No more!"
The Brits made an airgun
from a firearm that copied another firearm!
Through the convoluted guns laws of Great Britain came the strangest
airgun/firearm lookalike of all time. The Brocock company was
famous for their development of the air cartridge. Alas, the
stringent gun laws in Great Britain caused them to cease production,
so these innovative airguns are now available only on the used
market.
Brocock based their airgun conversions on firearms. Many of the firearms they are based on were themselves replicas of other firearms made a century earlier. Because of their design, Brocock airguns are not easily reconverted, though the Home Office may have feared they were.
This discussion is
academic, because Brocock no longer produces air cartridge airguns.
When the deluxe Winchester 1873 model (shown at left) was new,
it cost more than $1,100. It took another $1,000 worth of work
to get it to cycle reliably. At the time, everyone thought that
was too much to pay. In light of the current situation, the owner
could double his hefty investment if he decided to sell. There
probably aren't 10 rifles like this in existence.
There are hundreds more models just as exciting as the few seen here. We won't cover them, but you need to know that a collector could spend a lifetime just collecting military lookalikes and still not have them all!
Lookalike airguns are a genuine and rich facet of the airgunning hobby and well worth the time to research and collect.