This is where I have to stop, raise my hand and admit that I am addicted to the Legends airguns.  It’s almost like I belong to a 12-step group. The Legends air guns are, in my humble opinion, the coolest of the cool airguns. Maybe they aren’t for everyone.  I get it. Old stuff isn’t always that appealing in the brave new world we live in.  And I’ll be the first to admit that I do have a few modern conveniences that I like to indulge in from time to time, but my heart will always be with those things that were designed in another place and another time. 

Those other times and places aren’t always the rosiest according to the historians. Maybe that is why they deserve much more than a passing infatuation. Most of the firearms our Legends airguns were designed in the run up to the peak of the world’s industrial age. Back then, you knew good and well that an article had a robust design. It was pleasing to the eye and pleasing to the hand.  And it worked. Okay, there was usually a side-effect to all of this; the item had a tendency to be over-engineered. 

129 Years Young: The C96/M712

Making things beautiful and functional in this era was often a challenge that compromised, well, nothing.  If a part needed many hours of machining to fit, then it was machined. Case in point is the first airgun on our list.  This would be the Legends M712.  Historically, the C96 was much more common, but since we like the really fun stuff, we made the M712 variant which means we went with the select fire version of the old “bloomhandle Mauser”. Why? Because it is ridiculously fun. 

Of note with our M712, you will find full blowback action.  Since this heavyweight was designed in the late 1800’s, the maker did not get to sit at the feet of John Moses Browning in gunsmithing school. The barrel on the M712 is fixed and the blowback operation on the firearm and the airgun are what you would call short recoil or straight blowback. The original C96 used an internal box magazine whereas the M712 variant used a detachable box magazine. Our CO2 powered .177 BB version houses both the CO2 and BBs in the detachable box magazine. Honestly the M712 deserves much more ink than what I have time for in this blog.  Unfortunately, we need to move on. 

Flip the Switch on this Toggle Action: The P08

The P08 Luger was developed a scant decade after the C96, but had started off with a bit of an advantage from the get-go. That was its box magazine.  The P08 was not intended to be a street sweeper, but rather a service man’s sidearm. That said, the barrel is still fixed on this model as well.  Since the barrel doesn’t tilt during extraction and the pistol is, well, a pistol, something has to give in order for the spent casing to be ejected.  This is where things get wonky.  The rear sight assembly is employed as part of a linkage system that includes the extractor.  

What this means is that this toggle system folds up in front of your eyes each time you shoot the P08. This happens faster than you can say, “Bob’s your uncle.” Seriously, this occurs in about 1/60th of a second. The good news for us airgun fans is that we do have a version of the P08 that works in the exact same way. 

From Russian, With Love!

Rounding out the list is our Makarov replica. The Makarov is loosely based on Walther’s PP and PPK handguns.  At this time and not much different than these times, good ideas are often copied pretty closely.  If the PPK was a good idea, the Makarov, if not as good looking, was also a good idea.  To borrow from popular culture, there is a meme format where a kid is asking for something at a store and the mom tells the kid that they have the same thing at home– only it’s not really what the kid asked for. That is sort of like the German PPK and the Russian Makarov. 

With this in mind, the Soviets used the Makarov for years, along with a couple of Tokarevs. The firearm is commonly chambered in 9X18mm. This is not the same as 9mm used in modern firearms. 

Our airgun replica features all metal slide and frame and uses an 18 BB stick magazine.  This version does not feature blowback action, but it does utilize a moveable slide. 

Three different replicas and no right decisions.  All three of these airguns are extremely fun and worthy of geeking out with your friends.  Whichever you choose, or in what combination you get them, the Legends line of airgun replicas is where it’s at!