Airsporter 's' Accuracy?

[Hsing-ee]

I thought I had bought all the rifles I was partial to, but recently I have been having 'thoughts' about an Airsporter 'S' in .177 - the taploader not the RB2. I have had a couple of Airsporters, a Mk II that was powerful but agricultural and a Stutzen RB2 that was in too nice condition to use and wouldn't hold a group with my limited selection of .22 pellets.

How accurate is this the Airsporter 'S' in .177? What sort of a group will it shoot at 30 yards? Maybe I NEED one....

[Paddy_SP]

Of course you NEED one - silly question...:rolleyes:

[Punchsteve]

Of course you NEED a dozen or so - silly question...:rolleyes:

Amended. No thanks necessary. :D :D

[baz]

I have a 1956 .22 Airsporter that shoots sweetly and puts pellet on pellet at 20 yds, I am sure it would do even better but as no way of fixing scope 20 yds is as far as I have tried with iron sights:D

Baz

[pennineway.fswo]

I own a RB" in .22 and its accuracy is disappointing
We hold 50 yard bench rest and 20 yard free standing informal target shoots at my local club with airsporters on Wednesday afternoons
The .22 RB2 is best with air arms pellets and although good at 20 yards, the 10 shot groups at 50 yards are of the order of 2"-2.1/2"
I own a .177 BSA Superstar that will group 10 shots into 1.1/2" bench rested at 50 yards which is up there with HW77's etc.Maybe I should try a few more types of pellets in the RB2.
I have a number of older airsporters.They are all .22 with the exception of a Mk 1. This .177 is the best of the lot. It is only about 8.1/2 ft lbs but does group well for a gun with open sights.
I was loaned a .177 airsporter 'S' once by BSA to use in an FT final back in the very early 80's, but its accuracy did not match my Original 45 or the FWB 124's
If you can get consistent 10 shot groups of 1" at 30 yards with one then you are doing alright.The later 'S' models have the more attractive stock but a .177 version may not be too easy to come by. Just buy one but avoid getting addicted - it happens

[RustyBuzz]

Anything with a loading tap, unless it's a hammerli, is always going to suffer from the fact that the pellet has to make that leap from tap to rifling.
In my experience don't expect to much, although now and again you did get a good one. After all if you make enough you're bound to get lucky sometimes.

Richard

[Muskett]

My neighbour had an early Airsporter S and MKI Webley Vulcan. I had a FWB Sport. The Sport outshot they easily. I have a late S but its a mint no shooter, sorry. Out to 25 meters, which was the normal vermin range of the day, Webleys and BSA's are fine. A FWB would reach out more consistently to 30 and the thumpingly heavy WH 35E out to 35m. Sure longer shots were taken but if you wanted to take your game home then you kept your range short.

Tuned spring guns improved the consistency to reach those longer shots which factory guns just didn't do. What is considered an accurate gun then wouldn't be now. If you shoot pcp's and collect older springers you are going to be gobsmacked at how diferent animals they are :eek: Relax and go with the flow and then you won't be disappointed.

An old spinger will hit square and kill your game at 25m nearly every time. Push the boundaries further and the group size is getting big with fliers in another county. Accuracy did not improve hugely for 50 years. Ammunition, silky smooth actions as found on for example a factory Air Arms Prosport have improved things to such an extent that the range has increased by 15m or so. Pcps probably 20m. This is huge. However, a 25m shot has little wind to contend with. Above this its The problem after correct range estimation. If you can keep your range down to 25m then who cares what you shoot.

Bench rest different types and you will see the limitations. For all their size and weight airguns accuracy is only good at short range.

[sarf]

Anything with a loading tap, unless it's a hammerli, is always going to suffer

Is there something fundamentally different about the Hammerli tap design? Or was it just more accurately machined?

[redvan]

Had an airsporter stutzen .177 a few years ago, terrible accuracy just could not work out why, sold it to a mate who convinced himself it was just me being a crap shot.

Anyway he had the same trouble( best group 3 inches @ 30 yards H&N silhouette) We tried almost everything, until we found the problem, the barrel, we had the gun stripped and pushed a pellet through the barrel from the breech end with a cleaning rod, ok for 3-4 inches fairly snug but after that the pellet just fell straight through the barrel and landed on the floor!

I have also seen an airsporter carbine with the same problem so there could be a few more out there.

[I. J.]

One of our club members (Jeff) was having trouble with the accuracy of his newly acquired s/h Airsporter (RB type). It was while sat at home pondering he bothered to check the barrel and then he discovered the problem. It was a smooth bore! :eek: :D

ATB
Ian :D

[Hsing-ee]

Anything with a loading tap, unless it's a hammerli, is always going to suffer from the fact that the pellet has to make that leap from tap to rifling.
Richard

I have got a Hammerli Mod 3 in the cupboard awaiting fettling. I remember shooting in the same FT comps as you way back when! I used a Hammerli 401 but its long gone now. Think you used the Welham FWB Sport (of course).

[Hsing-ee]

Bench rest different types and you will see the limitations. For all their size and weight airguns accuracy is only good at short range.


Not sure about that. My AA200SR will do 15mm groups at 50 yards off a bench, and my 20 year old HW77K will do about 20mm at the same distance, if I really concentrate. That's in still air of course. Outside the groups are much larger. The .22 1978 HW35E I just overhauled will shoot into 40mm at 50 yards, I think the PELLETS have got much much better, so older guns can be very accurate. If there is any wind about, then you are right, they don't have the power to deal with it.

[Sam Vimes]

The RB2 Airsporter that I've recently sold to Gareth WB grouped very well within the limitations of open sights only. I actually took it round a full blown FT course at Emley Moor a couple of months back for fun after I'd done the course with my FT rig. Top score on the day was 23 ex 30 I managed 20 ex 30 with my FT rig and 8 ex 30 with the open sighted RB2 using Webley Mosquito Express. I didn't think that was half bad all things considered.

One thing that I do tend to do with all of my acquisitions with an unknown pedigree and background is run a VFG cleaning kit through the barrel before I even bother to fire them. It can be quite an eye opener as to the amount of crud that comes out of the bores of otherwise immaculate guns.

[RustyBuzz]

I have got a Hammerli Mod 3 in the cupboard awaiting fettling. I remember shooting in the same FT comps as you way back when! I used a Hammerli 401 but its long gone now. Think you used the Welham FWB Sport (of course).

Yes I remember you also, as there was only one 401 on the circuit. In fact you shot it so well I got Rod Lynton to lend me one for a bit. Nearly as accurate as my 124 but due to the low velocity the trajectory was very pronounced. Happy Days

Richard