Pellets for a .177 BSA Mercury ?

[airgunner.177]

Ive got an early 80s .177 BSA Mercury and can anybody tell me what are the best make of pellets to use in it as most of the latest type of pellets ive put in it seem a bit slack in the barrel, any advise is gratefuly received,
ATB Andy

[weebster]

any 4.6 will do,try eley wasp

[junglie]

i wouldn't worry about the fit too much, the accuracy & power are more important , but try air arms 4.52 size or daystate or jsbs in same head size ( same pellets) or bsa interceptors that i've just tried in a fwb124 were tightest fit of all ( but not as accurate) as jsbs.

[harvey_s]

any 4.6 will do,try eley wasp

I don't think this is right - even in 'old money' .177 is less than 4.5mm...and the old Eley wasp are 4.5mm (got a box full of 'em in my shed)

[junglie]

Did'nt you notice the wink ;-) after the last post.

[edbear2]

As others have said...... .177 older guns are well catered for these days, there has never been a better selection of stuff out there. I use Air Arms field 4.52 in my old BSA's.......Wasps and Webley specials do work well, but are getting hard to find in good condition, and their value to collectors means you will be paying pretty much the same as you would for new stuff anyway!

4.5mm is 0.1771", so all will be fine, just find one that suits your barrel.

5.5 mm however, is 0.2165 inches, so older guns with a "true" .22 bore of 0.220" can show 5.5mm pellets to be a loose fit.


if you have a .22...then the choice is more limited, as older guns had a 5.6 mm bore (.22), not the 5.5 that is the norm these days...Best for these older .22's IMHO.....H+N FTT in 5.54 die size

[weebster]

I don't think this is right - even in 'old money' .177 is less than 4.5mm...and the old Eley wasp are 4.5mm (got a box full of 'em in my shed)

old british .177 is bored out to 4.6 and .22 is 5.6,german etc is 4.5 and 5.5,get a few old eley wasp(which is why eley wasp do 2 types now,the ld eley and the new eley wasp for german barrels etc)and try them in a german barrel you will find them a very tight fit( in fact i have found the old pellets to tight a fit for a german barrel) try the same pellets in an old bsa/webley and they'll be fine
have a look here(scroll down to eley)
http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress...llet-database/
head and skirt size etc

[steveyb]

My .177 Mercury S loves Hobbies and superdomes

[airgunner.177]

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful i did try rws super domes but the pellet just drops into the barrel for the first couple of millimeters i just needed to know which were the tightest fitting pellets for the bsa barrels so should find something suitable now, cheers everybody atb Andy

[harvey_s]

old british .177 is bored out to 4.6 and .22 is 5.6,german etc is 4.5 and 5.5,get a few old eley wasp(which is why eley wasp do 2 types now,the ld eley and the new eley wasp for german barrels etc)and try them in a german barrel you will find them a very tight fit( in fact i have found the old pellets to tight a fit for a german barrel) try the same pellets in an old bsa/webley and they'll be fine
have a look here(scroll down to eley)
http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress...llet-database/
head and skirt size etc

Again have to disagree...
- 'old Britsh' would be bored to 0.177 not 4.6mm (a metric size and 4 thou over-size)...
- Eley Wasps (or indeed the later Wasps) have only ever come in one size for .177 bore AFAIK (the differing sizes being to suit 5.5mm or 0.22)...
- The 4.6mm size you see referred to is the skirt size and not as relevant as the head size (the head skims the bore and the skirt is pushed into the rifling in principle) hence the head size of 4.45mm

[Hsing-ee]

BSA barrels were 'throated' to a small degree, which differs from German barrels like Feinwerkbau and Weihrauch where the rifling starts at the breech-face. This means some pellets will go in a bit more than others. I would try Air Arms Field which has a nice thin skirt or H&N FTT to start with. Mercury's can be very consistent performers and it is worth polishing the sears to get a better trigger let-off. They also become much nicer to shoot if you fit a piston liner.

[weebster]

what i meant was the equivalent of the english .177 & .22 in metric was 4.6 & 5.6,(although not entirely certain on the .177)yes eley wasp only came i think in 4.5 but the .22 are now available in both 5.6 and 5.5

[springboy]

I would stick Super domes through it.A good no nonsense pellet that suits most barrels as they are very soft.

[airgunner.177]

BSA barrels were 'throated' to a small degree, which differs from German barrels like Feinwerkbau and Weihrauch where the rifling starts at the breech-face. This means some pellets will go in a bit more than others. I would try Air Arms Field which has a nice thin skirt or H&N FTT to start with. Mercury's can be very consistent performers and it is worth polishing the sears to get a better trigger let-off. They also become much nicer to shoot if you fit a piston liner.

That sounds spot on Alistair i now know why the pellets ive tried drop into the bore for the first couple of millimeters now, i took the mercury down the farm this afternoon with a handfull of eley wasps and out to 30 yards i was very impressed with its accuracy, ive just polished the sear and piston with a fine grade wet n dry and fitted a new mainspring and a TR Robb PTFE piston seal and on the chrono with wasps its doing 850fps=11.8ftlbs its nice to shoot now it just gives a very light thud with hardly any felt recoil, i`ll try some of the suggested pellets to see if i can find a slightly tighter fitting one,
cheers all atb Andy

[Hsing-ee]

Hi Andy, there is an extensive 'pellet seating' trial in the green edition of Walther's book 'The Airgun Book' and one of the rifles he selected for study was the BSA Mercury. Apparently because of the throating, there is no need or advantage in 'seating' the pellets, which is not the case in the German rifles, all of which have a seating depth which gives the best performance.

BSA barrels have alot going for them! Your rifle sounds like a very good example, I am sure you will get good results with one or more of the modern types, they are so much better than the old ones. My .22 BSA Meteor, which is well over 30 years old, would do 2" groups @ 25 yards with the pellets of the 1970s, whereas now it will do 5/8" or less with Air Arms Field.