SHARK MANUFACTURING CO.

The authors and publisher wish to thank Mr. Eduardo Poloni for much of the following information in this section of the Blue Book of Airguns.
Shark began in 1975, producing underwater spear guns, using elastic bands or a gas spring mechanism. The great power and ease of power regulation in the underwater gas spring guns led to the development of air rifles for use on land. Two years of research resulted in the Shark Model CD 455 (Caño Deslizable de 455mm or "455mm Sliding Barrel") in .22/5.5mm caliber. The barrel of this rifle slides through a bushing when an underlever is activated to move the piston back and compress the gas spring. As with the Theoben gas spring airguns (sometimes inappropriately referred to as gas ram airguns), independently developed later in England, the mainspring consists of a trapped body of gas. The gas, in this case air, which does not exit with the shots, is supplied from a separate manual air pump. This system was granted Argentina patent number 213,908 (application 22 June 1978, granted 30 March 1979) and USA patent number 4,282,852 (granted 11 August 1981).
To take advantage of the great power, special Shark ogival projectiles of 1.6 grams were developed. With these projectiles, muzzle velocity could be adjusted to more than 300 MPS at various levels suitable for the smallest game at close range or larger game to more than 50 meters.
In 1979, a unique application of this gas spring mechanism was used in the development of the Shark CQ air rifles which use a conventional barrel cocking system but have a very interesting, special multiple cocking capability. A single barrel-cocking stroke compresses the gas spring to ordinary power potential; two strokes triples the power.
In 1985, Shark introduced an unusual CO₂ powered rifle/shotgun combination. These were charged from separate CO₂ storage bottles. It features instantly interchangeable .22 cal. (5.5mm) rifle and 13mm shotgun barrels. In the shotgun mode it uses shot charges in plastic or metal cases and is claimed to be effective to 25 meters for hunting of birds and small mammals. In 2003, this model was produced with a horizontally attached buddy-style CO₂ bottle. Caliber .25 (6.35mm) and a rifled 13mm barrel were also made available. This gun has been used with arrow projectiles, to take water buffalo in Argentina!
In the early 1990s, Shark switched most of its production to a light, handy CO₂ carbine with a Mauser-type bolt in either .22 (5.5mm) or .25 (6.35mm) caliber. Sturdy, handy SP pistols of the same arrangement were also produced in much smaller numbers.
In 1997, Shark began production of a semi-automatic carbine powered by a horizontally attached buddy-style CO₂ bottle. A 17.5mm paintball version was produced for the newly arrived paintball games.
The Shark airguns have been virtually handmade in a small plant which has grown to only ten employees. Because of this extremely limited production and the fact that these guns normally are produced only for Argentina and Chile, they are rarely seen in most countries. Their scarcity and unusually interesting, very well built mechanisms make them highly desirable to collectors. The early, independently developed, complex gas spring mechanism is especially interesting. Shark guns with the gas spring system now are of special interest to collectors because the factory has decided that they are too expensive to make more of them.
Only a very few of the total production runs of Shark airguns have ever left Argentina. Local specimens may show extremely hard usage.