Falke Modell-80
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.76.
This near-mint model 80 has silver paint of some sort in the Falke logo stamped into the forend. In his research Vic Turner concluded from seeing mint examples of the models 80 and 90 that the sporter stocks may have had silver pigment in the logo and match stocks gold pigment.
Falke Modell-80 - Strange Markings.
This is an odd one. Forum visitor Rob in NZ has a Falke 80 that has the serial markings in the usual places, one on the underside of the loading tap and the other beneath the cylinder near the forward end of the cocking lever. But, inexplicably, one of the two numbers, either a "6" or a "9", is in line with the tap and at right angles to the other number, a "1".
If the first digit was a simple number stamping error then you might expect it to be corrected at the other location. But the same marking appears in both places.
A possibility is that having made an error with the first number, the gunsmith replicated his mistake, either in an attempt to cover it up or maybe just to make the two markings consistent with one other.
Anyway, if it is supposed to be serial no. 61 it will be a duplicate ID because another Falke 80 no. 61 exists. If it's serial no. 91, no other model 80 of that number is yet known.
Or it could be neither and the explanation has something to do with a long lunch at the local bierkeller.....!
(Rob had terrible trouble getting a sharp image of the serial nos. with the camera kit he has. But you can make them out well enough from these pics.)
The real Falke 80 serial no. 61:
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.58 From South Africa.
Here's a .177 cal Falke 80 with added bling seen on sale in South Africa. The stock looks like a laminated hardwood custom number and there's a nicely made brass trigger guard and a fancy pistol grip cap too. The loading tap serial no. seems to have been filled in with some kind of metallic paint, gilt or solder.
The current owner bought this rifle to satisfy nostalgia for the family Falke 80 that he grew up with. But it didn't do the trick so it's up for sale and now he'll attempt to wrestle the original childhood one from other family members!
With thanks to Tom for the pics.
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.71 From South Africa.
This one is an 80 in a lovely match stock. The owner "2much" on the South African airgun site www.airrifle.co.za, has two model 80s.
He says: "I enjoyed my mod 80 to bits as a kid. Me and Egmont, my brother used to hunt pigeons with that heavy thing all over Kwa-Zulu -Natal.
My Father got the gun when he was a young man from his brother and I got it from him.
I remember we we were still boys of 10 or so when we first stripped it to fix the piston seal, still leather as I recall. I had to put all my weight on the trigger mechanism to get the spring back.
That thing used to shoot quite hard. On a few occasions I got 2 pigeons for one shot. We used to go out on our motorcyles crosscountry and stay a day or two away, only eating pigeons and bread."
Serial no. confirmation to follow.
Falke Modell-80 - NZ auction bargain.
This Falke 80 was purchased for a mere NZ$170 (UK£60 approx) by forum regular Barry in New Zealand. A bargain if there ever was one! The stock has been covered over with brown paint but the rifle is complete and has its original rearsight. The new owner has kindly promised to post pics of the results of a restoration when he has time to do it.
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.76 From Sweden.
With thanks to kjelle66 from Sweden for these excellent pics. It's a Falke 80, .22 cal, in a nice walnut match stock and diopter rear sight.
If you look closely you can see some of the original gold paint in the Falke logo on the forend. This is usually associated only with a Falke 90 but it may have been a feature of the match stock rather than the model number.
Another interesting feature of this Falke 80 is that it is a confirmed duplicate of another model 80 sharing serial no. 76.
The other no. 76 is in .177 cal and has a sporter stock (with silver paint in forend logo). <a href="https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/falke-airguns/falke-modell-80/#post-2590">[Pics of duplicate here]</a>
Falke Modell-80 - restoration - before and after pics.
Some people think about restoring a much loved old air rifle but never get around to it. Other (wealthy!) people send their battered rifle to a professional and have them do the restoration. Very occasionally, someone decides to do the job themselves and pulls off a miracle.
In this case the owner didn't merely turn a very tired looking Falke 80 back into a rifle that looks almost new. Amazingly, he also hand built a replacement rear sight from scratch (see the Repro rear sight thread in General Discussion for pics).
With many thanks for the "after" pics to Pat.
<u><b>BEFORE:</b></u>
<u><b>AFTER</b></u>
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.36 From South Africa.
With many thanks to Ben, the South African owner of this rifle, for the pics.
Note that it has a South African "WB" firearms licensing stamp on the barrel. WB is an abbreviation for "windbuks", Afrikaans for airgun.
The rifle is in .177 cal. Ben was given it brand new for his birthday [what an amazingly generous gift, eh?!!] in 1955, and said this:
<b>"Being only six years old, I had to hold the stock under my arm, and not to the shoulder, to aim! I still have it, it’s in fair condition, and still use it. At some stage ( approx.1960 ) my father lent it to a friend and it came back with a broken stock and sight. He had it repaired – the stock was replaced and the rear sight repaired. The sight repair was not done very neatly, but it’s useable. At the odd 25 metres, I don’t miss a shot. The stock now doesn’t have the Falke imprint on the side, so I assume the replacement is not original."</b>
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.4 From South Africa.
These excellent pics were supplied by Ben in South Africa, the owner of Falke 80 serial no. 36.
Mod 80 serial no. 4, in .177 cal, belongs to his brother-in-law and has been restored from a very poor condition.
This is what Ben says about the rifle:
<b>"He bought the gun approximately two years ago in total disrepair, so he had it restored - new barrel front (machined), it looks longer than the original - repaired stock - new front sight - new spring - re blued. It shoots quite accurately, as good as mine. Just goes to show, when something is well made, it can take a lot of abuse!"</b>
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.38 From Namibia.
With many thanks to Keanu (aged 11) in Namibia whose very generous parents gave him this Falke 80 a couple of years ago.
It was bought from a German farmer in the area. (For information, Namibia is north west of South Africa. Germany was the colonial power in Namibia between the 1880s and 1915 and has close economic ties to this day).
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.117.
This rifle sold on the Airgunbbs for UK£145 recently. With thanks to Dale for these pics.
The ad read: <b>"Falke Model 80. It is missing the entire rearsight and the foresight blade, otherwise it appears to be all there. It cocks and fires OK, bit twangy, not sure of velocity though. Tap is nice andf air-tight, if you cock the rifle (self opening tap) and then de-cock with tap open it holds air very well. Condition wise it is a restoration project, it has finish on it but this has very much dulled but no major rust on the exposed metal that I have found so far, the Falke logo located behind the 'scope' rail is still pretty clear. I haven't yet taken the stock off it to check the underside. The stock appears to be a beech like wood and will benefit from some work to tidy it and re-finish it, although this will need to be carefully undertaken to retain the impressed Falke logo on the LHS of the fore-end."</b>
Falke Modell-80 - Serial No.102.
With thanks to Craig in South Africa for these pics. It has a replacement stock and someone has tried to grind off the rear dovetails from the trigger block. It also has a strange number stamped on the underlever - not like the usual South African police 'WBxxxx' import stamps near the loading tap.
Falke 80 collection
With thanks to Craig.