Shakesphere Akro 1

[fat tony]

Does anyone have one of these beasts? Very heavily built, single shot bolt action C02 pistols, circa 1975 or so. Reportedly they came in .177 (bb?) and .22. I don't know if they were smoothbore or rifled. What kind of power do they deliver, that is, when the seals are replaced of course. . . I have heard they are pretty rugged, they look like they have a striker very similar to the Tau 7 and Crosman MkI.

 

[jjohnwm]

Back in the '70's I worked one summer at a sporting goods store owned by a true gun nut. We sold a lot of airguns and the Akro was a popular one. It seemed to hold up well to a lot of shooting...we had one or two in the stock room which were always in use, as we shot tons of pigeons up on the roof during lunch hours and breaks. Imagine...a business in the heart of the downtown section of a major city (pop 200,000) with pigeons being baited and shot on the roof! Those were the days...

I don't know what the power level was in fps...the guns were in .177cal and were plenty accurate enough for head shots out to about 20 yards, and powerful enough to kill a pigeon with a solid body hit. I'm pretty sure they were rifled...wouldn't swear to it, though. They were much more popular than the Crosman single shot, but took a definite back seat in quality, accuracy and power to the (ultra-cool IMHO) Smith&Wesson 78G...that one was reserved for shooting rats and GIJoe action figures.