What sort of power did these bsa standards give out in .177?

[Dan944]

The worst thing is, I have no experience working on iether of these guns, so I havnt a clue how long the springs are?

[edbear2]

Think you might be wrong on this one, Ed. (But I haven't got both springs to hand so can't be definitive about this. The stock FWB spring is loooooong though.)

I will bow to your knowledge of the Germanic stuff mate, I have never owned one, and presumed (always dangerous) that is was about the size of a merc from ones I have seen.

Still think the O.P. is best with an Airsporter spring as Chamber's part number is the same for the Airsporter and Standard spring


ATB, Ed

[keith66]

Just a thought i wonder if an Fwb old school maccari spring kit would fit?

[Garvin]

I will bow to your knowledge of the Germanic stuff mate, I have never owned one, and presumed (always dangerous) that is was about the size of a merc from ones I have seen.

Still think the O.P. is best with an Airsporter spring as Chamber's part number is the same for the Airsporter and Standard spring


ATB, Ed

Well if I'm right that the FWB spring is longer than the Airsporter's it would be the only airgun in existence where I would second guess you concerning the internal parts.

I have taken apart quite a few Sports in my time although my acquaintance with the factory springs is usually confined to the time it takes to sling them and replace them with shorter Maccari ones, which seem to generate the same power while not being noticeably stiffer. From memory (dodgy at best) the Maccari spring is similar to the Airsporter's although it would never have occurred to me to put one in a vintage BSA!

[Dan944]

A quick update on what's happening with rifle.

After a conversation with ED bear I realised I needed a few trigger screws as I had some missing, and thanks to ED he very kindly sent me some along with a better sear than the one I had. ( thanks ED!)

I cleaned sears and trigger and screws ect on the trigger block and polished all sears and contact areas, and re enstalled.

I also fitted the rear sight which I've had for years and bought from John knibs.

All I can say is WOW! I love this thing even more than I did before. Even though its only chronoing at just under 6ftlb with 8.4 air arms, it's just such a pleasure to shoot.

It was getting dark as I finished fitting all the parts mensioned above but I did manage to roughly zero it on paper but (very quickly as I had a knock down target at 20 yards which I couldn't wait to try and get down) .

I took aim on the 40mm knockdown target at 20yards and this is exactly what happened: 1,2,3shot plate and with a different aim point just to the right of the kill, to my amazement the 4 th shot 5,6,7,8 ,10,12,15,17 and 20th shot all knocked it down! 9 shots out of 20 shots I was totally amazed and am still smiling even my wife was shocked as she saw the state of the inside of the barrel before I started to rebuild the gun.

So far I am really really happy! I was telling Edbear that I just won a vintage Hft open sight competition where targets were all 40mm knockdowns out to 35yards and I used my first gun from when I was 6 and it is shooting at 5ftlb and I was shooting against airsporters meteors 77 ect which had double my power and I even got the 35 yarder down which even my friens which were shooting a fwb 300s didn't manage. This opened my eyes and filled me with confidence in that its not always about the power and I proved it on sat and have the trophy to prove it.




This riffle has given me hope that it could be quite accurate if shot well.

I have a airsporter spring on the way, which I hope to improve the power without stressing it out too much, but we will see.

I am however going to start doing a pellet test this week on paper, in which I will be testing out quite a few different brand pellets and Edbear has kindly sent me a few original wasps which I don't want to waste so I will use these in this pellet test this week and post pictures on how I get on.

(Thanks again to Ed, top man, thanks for helping me out mate with these bits, and to everyone's advise so far )
Daniel

[brucegill]

Well done Dan, looking forward to trying it out one day at lee valley!

[Dan944]

Cheers Bruce, shame you couldn't make it, it was lovely looking at everyone's old guns, and was really good fun!

[Dan944]

I did some pellet testing today, and for some reason instead of resting on a beanbag I found myself in the kneeling position like the one they use for Hft, so I just carried on this way to see what sort of pellet groups I could get.

I set the paper out at exactly 15 yards in the garden and didn't clean the barrel between pellet types nor did I pay much attension to the skirts or weight, it was just old school straight from the tin.

Here are the results:




I was really impressed with the air arms especially, and as you can see it was about 7-10 shots on each and I could just cover the air arms group over with a 2 p and measuring it it was just under 1 inch but I had a serious wobble and one pellet went to the bottom right, otherwise it would be half inch in the kneeling position. So this has given me hope that the group will titen if I shoot some more rested on a bag or probe which I will do soon and post my groups.

I tried again to shoot the 40 mm knockdown I have at 20 yards in the garden and I can honestly say that I can near enough get it down every time now which had really made this project worth wile as I can use this gun for fun plinking which is what i always wanted to do with it, not just to hang it on the wall

[Lakey]

Degunking these rifles is half the battle as old lubes dry out and turn to sticky sludge, then the rest (once you have rebuilt the rifle) is down to practice, practice, practice.

Great Story, Great Effort, Great thread !!

Well done


Lakey

[Dan944]

Quick update:

Recieved the new airsporter spring and it fits the piston nice but the rear guide has allot of space around it.

Having said this about the rear guide, it actually shoots quite nice with no twang, and cocks smooth.

It's only chronoing 6.6 -7.5 at the moment but it is dieselling a little every couple of shots.

It's only gone up a little from the original 5.6 but I'm going to live with this and just enjoy it! I'm not gonna chase the power anymore unless there's something I'm missing.

As had been said here before that this rifle is sweeter at 8ftlb so maybe I'm on to a winner when it settles, and to be honest as long as its accurate enough to have a good plink out to 35 ish yards then I'll get loads of use and fun out of it for years to come and I'd like to pass it down eventually as I feel it deserves it.

I really love this gun even though it does look very very worn and unloved but I have high hopes for it and think that it's gonna look really different to most when I've finished.

I am going to carry on with this thread however as I'd really like to put in some good groups out at different ranges once it settles down, and also I'm going to renovate the action and go down a different route instead of the normal cold blueing ect. ( I'm going for something a little different ). I think that maybe people may be interested in seeing what it looks like before and after.

So I will be posting some before and after photos soon as I get a chance.

Thanks
Daniel