Im looking for info and first hand experience with a Al Nibecker Quigley V air rifle. Anyone ever see or own one? I did run across one article from Airgun Hunter written by Jim Chapman that gave some insight into this piece of airgun history. Specifically I'm looking for how many were actually made? Everything i have read is that they were extremely well made but expensive.The buzz on this rifle was about 10 years ago and the innovator Al Nibecker has since passed away.Seems like a very very rare well made airgun.
Congratulations on your purchase!
You have indeed a rare rifle.
Many years ago(14-15 perhaps) I corresponded with Mr. Nibecker; my impression of him was that he was a nice person, but no airgunner. Back then I was then trying to help a local airgun maker (Mexico) to re-establish itself after a fire and a catastrophic move.
He was living in Califormia (Atascadero, IIRC) and was planning to retire soon.
We discussed the possibility to use his technology on a royalty basis, but he refused. In reality he wanted a lump sum (quite high) for the patents (he had, IIRC, one patent for the rifle and a different one for the pump), and so, that went nowhere fast.
According to my recollections, he then moved to Hawaii to start some sort of agribusiness.
What is notable from Mr.Nibecker's design is that the pump and the reservoir of air pressure are in the forearm. There is a long conduit/tube that connects the reservoir to the breech and so supplies the barrel with HPA.
He believed, genuinely, I think, that the differential piston he had engineered was unique and had never been used before. This differential piston maintained the pressure in the breech for a short while after the initial pressure blast was released, extending the power curve (barrel pressure vs. pellet's bore travel), thereby increasing power and efficiency. But it did need time and space to act, and therefore the need for a very long barrel that gave the rifle its name, as it sort of reminisced of the Sharps depicted in the namesake film.
Truth is, GAMO had used a similar arrangement many years before in a SSP rifle. Had the "Quigley" ever made it to production, it would have been a matter of time before problems ensued.
At present, the patents (both GAMO and Nibecker) are expired. So making the guns now would not cost more than making any other gun. But the gun is VERY complicated and sensitive to environmental conditions, even with some aspects of the design built in to "regulate" the uniformity of the shot string.
The other aspect is that for its time, the shape and form of the gun were completely anathema to both: airgunners and powderburners.
So, it is a design that has its merits and it does provide a platform from where to develop further some ideas. But it is rather "green wood" and it will not catch fire easily.
At present there are other designs capable of making the 30 ft-lbs in 0.22" cal AND REPEATING them at least 2 or 3 shots before any more pumping is needed.
The Nova and the Indy are just two examples.
I am sure Mr. Nibecker would be pleased to see the 0.30" cal Indy in operation, his mechanical skills and mind would be greatly amused by the whole thing.
PERHAPS you can ask the Airgun museum in Rogers, AK, or the NRA Museum in Alexandria, VA if there would be any interest.
HTH, Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
..What is notable from Mr.Nibecker's design is that the pump and the reservoir of air pressure are in the forearm. There is a long conduit/tube that connects the reservoir to the breech and so supplies the barrel with HPA.
He believed, genuinely, I think, that the differential piston he had engineered was unique and had never been used before. This differential piston maintained the pressure in the breech for a short while after the initial pressure blast was released, extending the power curve (barrel pressure vs. pellet's bore travel), thereby increasing power and efficiency...
Not only were the Quigley "air-spring" reservoir and articulated-linkage pump located in the forearm, but likewise Nibecker's peculiar double free-piston, poppet firing valve, and pellet loading port.
Al took great pride in his patented piston design because the middle section was vented to the outside air (requiring complicated double seals for both front and rear sections), and the front piston's area made larger than the rear piston's. Therefore, as the gun was pumped up, a net differential force would "paradoxically" push the assembly back into the reservoir, thus opening and filling a "firing chamber" located between front piston and valve.
The arrangement worked but was, as you say, Hector, very complex, and unnecessarily so as later developments revealed when far simpler geometries achieved equal or better efficiencies.
Pics etc of the Quigley here:
