The Airsporter-S supposedly had a greater swept volume than the regular Airsporter, both stroke and bore beong increased. Is this also the case with the Mercury?
All the Mercury-S stocks were made from walnut. If its not walnut its not an 'S'.
BSA Super Meteors were beech, but they were never called Meteor-S
The Airsporter-S supposedly had a greater swept volume than the regular Airsporter, both stroke and bore beong increased. Is this also the case with the Mercury?
I don't think that was true. The Airsporter-S had a steel piston head so I think it made more power because of the reduced piston-bounce as it is effectively a piston weight. The Mercury-S is far better than the ordinary one, with its heavy barrel, breech bolt, crisp metal trigger and nice light walnut stock.
The RB2 Airsporter DOES have a wider bore and possibly longer stroke ... and can make alot more than 12 ft/lbs.
If my memory is correct the original magazine ads. for the Merc. and Airsporter 'S' models suggested that the rifles' 'one-piece extruded air cylinder' contributed to their high performance. I don't know if this meant greater internal volume.
(Am I right in thinking therefore that standard Mercs. and Airsporters - along with many other spring-powered guns - have the breech jaws/transfer port section brazed onto the open end of the compression tube? Quite often I have seen an actual 'seam' or faint suggestion of one in the blacking in this area.)
Last edited by styggron; 07-06-2012 at 12:25 AM.