Stalker Rifles/ Adrian Hartley - What Do You Know?

[WoodsmanJim 160]

Hi all,

 

I picked up this gun over the weekend and set about doing some research on it. It has a brass plate on the side saying Stalker Rifles made in England by Adrian Hartley.

 

Not the greatest pic I know, I'll get some better ones up if needed.

 

Info is sparse but essentially here's what I've found out so far....

 

Adrian started out trying to produce the finest air rifles he could, and used John Bowkett to do some of his engineering work for a time. Stalkers are considered to be among the finest air rifles ever made it seems, which was kind of the point of them!

Some where based on existing rifles then tuned up, some were scratch built.

 

Obviously this one is based on the BSA Super 10, which I think makes it a Stalker Tiger Ten, but a few things don't add up.

 

The stock is standard and the certainly not the bespoke wood and finish that Stalkers were famed for, the inletting around the buddy bottle for example is very rough.

Power wise it's in the right ball park at 35 ft/lb, but it doesn't have the right moderator. This has a SAK on it, Stalkers had custom jobs.

 

I get the impression there were many many options on Adrians order form, so it's hard to know what's genuine and what's not.

 

Does anyone know how I can verify it's provenance? Adrian no longer trades, Stalker Rifles website is long gone, specifications for the rifles is extremely hard to find.

 

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Jim

 

 

[Rez 4,961]

Dont know much about it all sorry, but its something new Ive not seen before. Good post.

 

Must be just under 2 metres in length that!

[treecreeper 1,136]

Does look long, looks like s10 action and trigger but not something im familiar with though. Can you not ask the man himself?

[WoodsmanJim 160]

Does look long, looks like s10 action and trigger but not something im familiar with though. Can you not ask the man himself?

I'd love to, if only I could find some contact details for him. Mr Bowkett might be a better place to start I suppose.

[treecreeper 1,136]

Should be able to tell you if he built it or not?

[Pink or stink 162]

I sold one on behalf of a friend very recently. I dont know a great deal about it but on the BBS there is a bloke called badgerginger who I believe does have some info on these things. If you are a member (or join) he might be helpful. Here are some pics of the one I sold on.

 

[WoodsmanJim 160]

PoS: lovely looking gun that, much more like what I've found in my research. Thanks for the tip about badgerginger, I may seek him out.

 

I have just had a lovely conversation with Mr Bowkett himself, what a lovely man!

He seems to think that what I have is a genuine Stalker, the stock is probably walnut (although it doesn't look it), it's more than likely had a barrel change at some point as although JB did make some that long for customers, this one doesn't have a serial number stamped into it. So it's not the original barrel, probably changed for a longer one for more power.

At some point someone has butchered the front of the stock slightly, probably to put a larger buddy bottle on (presumably for more shots at higher power), then it's been changed back to a standard sized one later leaving a scruffy edge to the bottle port area.

 

As each Stalker gun was made to order and to options list was almost endless each was more or less a one-off! Meaning John would have no idea what's inside it tuning wise without opening it up himself.

 

I may drop it in to him sometime to see what he thinks of it in person.

 

Now for some range testing once I have a scope for it!

[David.evans 5,323]

If it comes up for sale can I have first dibs

Thanks wj

Atb

[Jonjon79 13,358]

WoodsmanJim, Badgerginger is a good bloke - His name's Tim. He's on Bullpup mad forum as well as BBS.

 

He's owned a lot of different rifles and, seems to have a taste for the more exotic end of the market.

 

If he knows about these, I imagine he'll be more than happy to share his knowledge.

 

Atb

[bigmac 97kt 13,787]

If it comes up for sale can I have first dibs

Thanks wj

Atb

Dose that mean i can have my wolf back

 

:thumbs:

[bigmac 97kt 13,787]

here you go Jim a bit better

 

atvbmac :thumbs:

[WoodsmanJim 160]

If it comes up for sale can I have first dibs

Thanks wj

Atb

That's a big 'if'!

 

but in the unlikely event I need to move it on, you'll get the call.

 

 

 

Cheers Mac, shows the wood a bit better like that.

 

For those interested, the barrel is 23&1/4" long. overall length is 46"

 

Jim

[Rez 4,961]

I sold one on behalf of a friend very recently. I dont know a great deal about it but on the BBS there is a bloke called badgerginger who I believe does have some info on these things. If you are a member (or join) he might be helpful. Here are some pics of the one I sold on.

 

So filtherly good that. Proper.

 

I was about to say name your price but re read the last sentence.