Theoben Sirocco .22

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   Through chatting to an older gent about his airguns - a collection of some gems and beautiful restoration jobs, I was offered a Theoben Sirocco that was low on power, at a good price, that he simply couldnt get the time to look at fixing. Its in beautiful condition, a few bruises on the walnut stock but not too bad. The bluing and finish is rich, on par with my Air Arms, and its built like an Air Arms or Weihrauch. The stock is a rich red walnut, and they were made by Custom Stocks in UK so they are comfortable and hold very well. 
Its got an Anschutz choked barrel, and I believe a trigger based on the Webley Omega - a little heavy but crisp and consistent. 

This example is an early model, serial number dating it from 1984, so a year younger than me but in far better physical condition.. 
The Sirocco was the first gas ram air rifle!

(Also pictured is the HW35E I got from an auction, that happened to be from the same collection.)

It came with a few copies of NZ Airgun magazine from the late 80s (He was the author), including a couple with a great article on theoben, and some interesting articles on the products of the time. Also each magazine has a price list from Youngs Airguns which is interesting! 

Anyway, the Sirocco had little resistance when cocked and pellets wouldn't come out of the barrel, occasionally it had enough power to make a shot but not often. I had done some research and the seals etc are like hens teeth, so it could have been a cheap, quality rifle, or an expensive wall hanger.. 
The first thing I did was drop it in to Youngs to give it a test pump; but he had Ian strip it down to check all the seals etc and they changes a few old o-rings. Pumping it up it has held its pressure, for now (I will periodically check velocity to see if it is stable or has a slow leak somewhere) with Ron claiming it was 730fps with H&N FTT, around a healthy 17.5FPE in .22.

I took it to do some quick pellet testing, and it favours JSB Exact Express so far, but I have a few more pellets to try. This was 10 shots or so, rested, 25 yards. Its more accurate than me any day.

Last night I had a few minutes spare so put it over the chronograph. Surprisingly the velocity was in the low 800's, and the consistency is pretty good - 16fps spread, but if I exclude the 2 low numbers away it is around 10fps spread. With the average at 816FPS, it shows its punching out just over 21 foot pound, about the same as the mighty HW80, but in a lighter weight package. 

One funny story is that it was 99% complete, just missing its front sight. 
The owner got this at an auction a year or so ago, the same time i got a bag of air gun spares from the same auction. 
In that bag of spares was a front sight, brand new, with its screws that must have been removed from an air rifle at some stage. I had no use for it so I sold it on to someone else that may have needed it. 
A year later I acquired this rifle missing its front sight! I can only assume it was the sight from this rifle. 
After some chatting the buyer agreed to sell me the sight back! I sourced some spares he was looking for, a deal was done and the sight arrived a couple of days later, brand new looking, and a perfect fit. 

Now its shooting strong, and complete as it would have come from the factory. 
The previous owner is pleased to hear its shooting as it should, and I'm pleased to have this in my small collection - its definitely a keeper.