Steve MacGregor

Collecting and shooting classic and vintage air pistols is an increasingly popular hobby around the world, but there are few books which provide enthusiasts with information about these wonderful old air pistols. This book looks at ten air pistols produced what is now sometimes called the 'Golden Age' of American air guns, the forties fifties and sixties. All ten represent innovation in technology, commercial approach, construction or all three. It provides information for collectors and shooters on the background to the development of these pistols, their production history and what they are like to shoot and collect as well as providing a reference for anyone interested in the evolution of the modern air pistol. The air pistols covered are;-Hy-Score Air Pistol - 1946-Schimel - 1948-Crosman Wild West revolvers - 1958-Marksman Repeater - 1958-Crosman 600 - 1960-Crosman 38 Revolvers - 1964-Crosman Mark 1 and 2 - 1966-Crosman 451 - 1969-Healthways Plainsman/Plainsmaster - 1969-Smith & Wesson 78G and 79G - 1970

Shooting and collecting replica air pistols is an increasingly popular hobby around the world. Whether these are 6mm Airsoft pistols or airguns firing steel BBs or pellets, these replicas mimic the appearance and in some cases the function of firearms and are used both as a supplement to training with firearms and as an alternative for target shooting. Replicas are cheap, fun and safe to shoot which makes them a good way to conduct low-cost firearm safety training and many are sufficiently accurate and powerful to be satisfying target shooting pistols in themselves. But replica air pistols aren't just less powerful firearms; they are complex pieces of equipment in their own right which function in a completely different way and are designed and manufactured to high standards. Replica air pistols incorporate rubber and nitrile seals and other components not found in firearms. To keep them working properly, you need to perform specific and very different maintenance. If you use the wrong lubricants or cleaning techniques on your replica air pistols or even if you store them incorrectly you can damage them. This book provides step-by-step guidance on;-Which greases and oils to use and those you must avoid-Simple cleaning and lubrication for all replicas-Advanced lubrication of trigger assemblies-Safe storage-Shooting tips

In the late 1960s, dance halls were still popular in Glasgow. At the Barrowland Ballroom in the Bridgeton area of the city, queues were long on Friday and Saturday nights and anything up to two thousand people would spend the evening dancing to music provided by the resident band. Then, in February 1968, a woman who had spent the evening at the Barrowland Ballroom was found murdered. It seemed that she had met her killer while dancing but police were unable to find any clue as to his identity. In August 1969, another woman went dancing at the same ballroom and was seen leaving with a tall, slim, handsome young man. Her body was discovered the following day. The circumstances of the two murders were very similar and police began looking for a single killer. They even commissioned a local artist to produce a painting of the murderer based on witness descriptions. In October 1969, it happened again. Another woman was murdered after meeting her killer at the Barrowland Ballroom. But this time, the killer was seen by a number of witnesses and one even shared a taxi with him and his victim. Surely, it was only a matter of time before this murderer, who newspapers had started calling Bible John, was caught? Fifty years later, we still don't know the identity of this serial killer. There have been many theories and a number of potential suspects. Police cold-case reviews have used new technologies in the search for Bible John and several promising new leads have been identified. None have led to an arrest. How can this be? How can a murderer select and spend time with his victims in a crowded public place where he was seen by large numbers of people and yet escape detection? The artist's depiction of the killer was also said to be a very good likeness, so we even know what he looked like. This book is a fresh look at this fascinating case and an attempt to understand how Bible John managed to escape detection and has continued to elude investigators for fifty years.

In a period of around three weeks in March and April 1966, large numbers of people in Michigan and Ohio reported encounters with UFOs in several separate incidents. Some of these witnesses were Law Enforcement personnel and their accounts are compelling, even for someone who, like the author, began by being doubtful about the whole subject of UFOs. Why then did the US Air Force not only fail to investigate these sightings adequately, but also attempted to discredit the reputations of witnesses to the extent that some were forced to quit their jobs? The author began the research for this book as a UFO skeptic who assumed that the idea of people having their lives changed by UFO encounters and of Government agencies attempting to suppress reports of such sightings belonged wholly to the fictional world of the X-Files. However, at least one witness to the 1966 sightings lost his career, his marriage, his children and almost his sanity as a direct result. Research using declassified documents confirms that Government agencies did deliberately attempt to add pressure to UFO witnesses by inducing mockery and ridicule of what they claimed to have seen. Worse still, it has become clear that many of the more outrageous fallacies about UFOs originate not from people wearing tin-foil hats but from Intelligence Agencies of the US Government. This book is an attempt to dispassionately examine one particular group of UFO sightings and, through this, the wider phenomenon of UFO encounters and the attitude of the US Government. This is a meticulously researched account of a disturbing series of events backed-up by reference to source material which reaches explosive and controversial conclusions. This is one of the Real Story of... series of books which attempt to take a rational, common-sense, evidence-based approach to looking at some of the most fascinating mysteries of the last one hundred years.