Old BSA Air Rifle - any ideas?

[Lewis]

I have just been given a very old looking BSA air rifle. It has BSA on the stock and the patent no.607.045.
Does anybody have any more info on this like how old it is etc.

[martini1215]

Hiya Lewis
theres going to be a gang of people on here who can help you with your query but they are going to ask for more information
Ideally they will want to see pictures which is by far the most helpful to get your info, other than that they will want to know the serial number of your gun which will help age it and identify the type,also whether it is all there or some bits missing, condition of Woodwork and bluing, condition of screw heads etc
Also welcome and standby for some great information and great friendly people especially in Collectors corner
ATB Martini

[edbear2]

Hi Lewis, sounds like an MK 1 Airsporter to me, but does the rear sight fold down, or is it solid, and is the Barrel tapered or straight please?...The will be other smaller, often hard to see numbers in front of the trigger guard near the patent numbers, a letter followed by a few numbers, this will help date it as it could be as early as 1948.

[Lewis]

Hi there thank you for your response. The barrel is tapered and the rear sight is fixed. The other no. Are I think either a G or a C 10267. Any more info would be greatly appreciated.

[edbear2]

Hi there thank you for your response. The barrel is tapered and the rear sight is fixed. The other no. Are I think either a G or a C 10267. Any more info would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Lewis,

My main interest is earlier BSA stuff, but obviously I like ALL BSA's...There are some real Airsporter specialists on here, but I will try and help out a bit more with this new information.

It sounds like a Mk1, THe "G" prefix was made between 1948 and 1954, and this gun is rightly regarded as one of the "classic" post WW2 guns. It was a fresh design at the time by BSA and had some innovative features, plus the high quality and sturdy build the pre war guns had, with a hand fitted, automatic opening loading tap and one piece barrel / breech forging.

I am not sure when your serial relates to the above dates, and also there were a couple of variations in the stock woodwork, if yours has the BSA stamp, I am assuming it is made from 3 pieces of wood? (they also sold them with one piece stocks supplied by an Italian company).

These are good, powerful guns when in good order, and accurate out to a fair distance, they are a "true" .22, ie 5.6mm, so pellets are quite important as modern ".22's" are 5.5mm these days, RWS superdomes seem to work well in these, as do H+N FTT in 5.54 size, but if you can find an old tin of Eley Wasp .22 pellets (must be Eley, but these are no longer made), then these work very well!

Underneath the gun, you may have two types of rear bolt fixing I believe, either a large slotted screw, or a Bakelite slotted plug (often missing) which screws directly into the wood, and when removed reveals a slotted nut which goes over a stud. If yours still has the plug you are very lucky!

At the front, originally there was a sight hood like this;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3122848...3867/lightbox/

Again, if this is present, then you are lucky...these can cost £20 + if you can find one!

Condition means everything regarding value, originally the guns would have looked like this;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2894440...2619/lightbox/

If yours has this writing still legible (which is rare), and is in VGC, then you have a gun which many collectors would love, and would pay over £200 for. Normally they are not this good, and vary from a rusty brown to some blue left with a complete working but brownish patinated gun still being worth around the £80-120 mark if no damage.

A couple of good, clear photos would be of interest to help more, you cannot put photos directly on here, but have to link to a photo hosting website as I have done, If you want, you can email them to me, and I will create a folder for you on my flikr account so people can help more (contact details if you click on my username).

Anyway, hope this helps a bit more, and looking forward to seeing it if you decide to send pics.

ATB, Ed

[jonballs]

sounds like it could be a cadet ,
is it a break barrel or underlever
cheers
jon