BSA PREWARS....BEST PELLET IN YOUR OPINIONS?

[edbear2]

Thanks to all who have contributed to this.....had a interesting 2 or 3 hours in the garden today......as many have said, the hobbys were great at 10 - 15 yards in my light model, also h and n target trophys

The REAL suprise was I gave my new model "d" a go....it shoots smoothly, at 580 fps in .22, so is pretty healthy (inside anyway) but compared to the other prewar BSA underlever I have, it was all over the place!....so I took out the loading tap, taped the transfer port and gave the barrel a good going over....I did this because I got a 1930's BSA "break action" a while back...I thought it was a smoothbore until I cleaned it!.....a lot of the old guns I have seen have been stood for years, or in the case of underlevers, have possibly not had the bores cleaned for decades...the amount of crud that came out of the D's barrel was gob smacking!...cleaned and lubed the loading tap, put it all back and I was gobsmacked at the next string I shot...I also adjusted the rearsight for the second go....have posted pics here.......

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3122848...7611408872417/

No tricks....same gun, same pellets, just goes to show what these can do given a chance!.......made my day because no matter how rare or collectable an old air rifle is, IMHO if it does not shoot well, it is a nettle basher

[sprucetop1]

Eddie.....what's your method for cleaning the barrel....I need to clean my two old Bsa's....thanks....John

[edbear2]

Hi, unscrew the two screws that secure the loading tap, take every thing out (I normally dump the lot in a jar of plusgas while I do the barrel)...clean out the area inside with soft cloth wrapped around a bit of wood...I use brake cleaner on the cloth...tape over the transfer port hole to stop anything getting in the cylinder, and I personally just use a standard airgun cleaning kit on the barrel ie. bronze bristle brush on a rod, followed by a mop on a rod, then thread string from the breech end of the barrel with a small piece of clean cloth on, pull though and repeat until they come out spotless. some people think that the brass/bronze brushes harm the barrel, I personally think its not a problem!....if your guns have a later side plate, there will be a spring and plunger which provides a more positive stop when loading pellets, I always take out the plunger and lightly polish it, and grease the spring, and the plate with the detents...gives a smoother action when together.....cleaning kits can be got at any gunshop or online, and normally are for both 177 and 22 rifles...get a reasonable quality one like a parker hale or similar though, as the cheap kits have flimsey rods!.pricewise around £15 -20 I suppose.....ed (other people will have other ideas for sure, one guy I know swears by using sovol autosol on the rod mop to polish the bore!)

[silva]

Hi,
Great shooting and very interesting thread, but I wouldn't use solvol autosol or any fierce abrasive polishes on the bore of your rifle. Most rifles will shoot perfectly well with a dark bore.

Cheers

[edbear2]

P.M. regarding why there is a night light on my table in the picture......its for blacking the sights with soot!.....the old mince pies are struggling with the bsa vee/bead set up, I have also tried using white paint on the foresight bead, and taking a coarse sight.ie. centering the bead on the bull, Have also a spare set of sights with the rear element filed to a square U and the front to a blade...these work well for me.....BUT.....I tried an apature fitted gun recently,This was better for me, so am intending to use a old number 8 tang sight on a straight stock on one gun, and am still determined to scope (if it ever turns up from the USA) another old dog I have and refinish it in someway different!.....Does anyone else past the half century in age have this problem with focusing their eyes using fine open sights?....I wear specs anyway with a 1.50 perscription in each eye....dont need them for indoors, just driving, shooting etc.

[cinstone]

Just been doing some research for larger diameter .22" pellets & have come across the above posts.

Yesterday I completed putting my .22" B.S.A Stutzen back together after changing the spring, piston seal & buffer washer. I was getting what I can only describe as KABLAMO effect with several different makes of pellets, especially accupells, but there wasn't much sign of dieselling. After I had replaced the parts there was the obvious dieselling to start with, but then the rifle settled down, however, I did have a couple of KABLAMO effects during the 50 Hobbies that I put through it. Although I only tested it at about 8.5m it is very accurate & pellet on pellet with the Hobbies, until it goes KABLAMO, then it's irratic for a few shots.

This has only come about after I had cleaned the bore of the rifle a few months ago, so now it looks like I need to get the bore all nice & dirty again!

Chris.