Bsa magnum 240

[Minuteman]

Personally I would take a compact, well designed gun over a more powerful oversized gun any day of the week.
If the Webley's or the Magnum were fatter or 2" longer they would become monstrosities in my eyes.
400 or so fps in .177 is plenty for the purposes of almost all air pistols - more power seldom makes a better gun.

Look to the Webley Senior for inspiration - remarkably compact (much smaller than a Tempest) and beautifully made and plenty of poke for the size typically running at about 410-420fps - in fact with a better trigger and sights it would be bloody perfect IMO.

Ahhh... but the point of high powered air pistols is seen when your .22 BSA Scorpion explodes that soft fruit, knocks that old soup can flying, smashes to pieces the last remnants of the plant pot and cracks the garden gnomes nose clean off, disfiguring the enemy for eternity!

Yeah for paper punching accuracy, .177 is the way - but for destructive fun a .22 at 5.5ftlb brings the smiles

[flatrajectory]

Yes, but you can't put a BSA Scorpion in your pocket....!!!

Pete.

[Minuteman]

Yes, but you can't put a BSA Scorpion in your pocket....!!!

Pete.

A HW45 isn't exactly pocket sized either

Anyway with a Scorpion it's almost big enough to warrant a sling

[harvey_s]

Ahhh... but the point of high powered air pistols is seen when your .22 BSA Scorpion explodes that soft fruit, knocks that old soup can flying, smashes to pieces the last remnants of the plant pot and cracks the garden gnomes nose clean off, disfiguring the enemy for eternity!

Yeah for paper punching accuracy, .177 is the way - but for destructive fun a .22 at 5.5ftlb brings the smiles

Why stop at a measly 5.5ft/lbs if thats your bag....use a rifle and take out the Gnome, his mate the plastic ladybird and the garden fence

[Minuteman]

Why stop at a measly 5.5ft/lbs if thats your bag....use a rifle and take out the Gnome, his mate the plastic ladybird and the garden fence

Because that would be cheating?

I'm looking forward to the long barrelled pistols with hand grip extensions taking the size up to 60cm running at 11.5 ftlb if the HO continue down the line of this thread.

Think of the look on that plastic lady birds face then

[gb68]

I've got one or two pistols including a 240. I find the 240 very erratic to say the least! It was in original condition when I bought it and woefully under powered. I put a new mainspring, piston and breach seal in. The power went up to just under 4fpe.

I have teribble trouble getting it to group using hobbies at 6 yards. I'm no expert with springers and would love it if I could send it to someone who knew what they were doing. Any volunteers?

Or could I just be a crap shot?

[flatrajectory]

I've got one or two pistols including a 240. I find the 240 very erratic to say the least! It was in original condition when I bought it and woefully under powered. I put a new mainspring, piston and breach seal in. The power went up to just under 4fpe.

I have teribble trouble getting it to group using hobbies at 6 yards. I'm no expert with springers and would love it if I could send it to someone who knew what they were doing. Any volunteers?

Or could I just be a crap shot?

To be honest it is probably you. Pistol shooting is harder to master than rifle, especially a recoiling springer. The best advice I can give you is this.......relax your grip on the pistol , you must allow it to recoil, if you grip it tightly it will group its shots badly. Pick up the,pistol and hold it with no more pressure than if you were holding your mobile phone.
Now 'gently' cup your other hand around the pistol grip. Do not grip it just cup it gently. Control your breathing, bring the pistol on target and ' squeeze' the trigger gently back ward. Use the exact same grip and trigger pull for every shot and you should start to see improvements.
Good luck.

Pete.

[Minuteman]

I've got one or two pistols including a 240. I find the 240 very erratic to say the least! It was in original condition when I bought it and woefully under powered. I put a new mainspring, piston and breach seal in. The power went up to just under 4fpe.

I have teribble trouble getting it to group using hobbies at 6 yards. I'm no expert with springers and would love it if I could send it to someone who knew what they were doing. Any volunteers?

Or could I just be a crap shot?

Have a check of your plastic end cap - http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....29#post4484029

[clarky]

To be honest it is probably you. Pistol shooting is harder to master than rifle, especially a recoiling springer. The best advice I can give you is this.......relax your grip on the pistol , you must allow it to recoil, if you grip it tightly it will group its shots badly. Pick up the,pistol and hold it with no more pressure than if you were holding your mobile phone.
Now 'gently' cup your other hand around the pistol grip. Do not grip it just cup it gently. Control your breathing, bring the pistol on target and ' squeeze' the trigger gently back ward. Use the exact same grip and trigger pull for every shot and you should start to see improvements.
Good luck.

Pete.

I might disagree its him alone. I know what you are saying about pistol shooting in regard of exact same hold etc but these Magnums proved very erratic when we had them. Overly tight, or even slightly bent moulded guide rod the worst ive ever seen fitted into an airgun.....rifle, pistol or even BB.
Dodgy end cap lock up and unreliable gasket seal. I found all were somewhat fixable but constantly chasing your tail to stay on top of the issues with little tweaks. The thing is nice looking but just a nuisance really.
It does not matter how many shooters want to harp on about its its looks, simple fact remains, the gasket is not as simple or well designed as a 45.
Niether is the guide rod or lock up.

[gingernut]

I have had a .22 Scorpion since new in 1973.
New spring and bits 2010.
Good power and accurate.

Had .177 too but too much power to shoot well.

I had a 240 in .177 for two years and it was just annoying!
One shot in six bang on the rest a puzzle.
Vile trigger and a real could have been good pistol feeling when I sold it.

My Original 5 better than both.

Various HW 45s always accurate in both calibres.
But I understand why people dont like them.

My best spring pistol is the Original 10M but then We are moving a bit away from your standard air pistol and mine has had the silly turning bit removed.

[gb68]

It's certainly puzzling thats for sure. I also shoot two 45's. One in .177 and one in .22, I have no problems grouping with these springers and I can tell when inaccuracies are pilot error.
My grip is repetitive but I might well be guilty of an overly tight grip at times, so I'll keep that in mind.

I'll also check the end cap. thanks for that.

Some times the 240 will group yet other times the shots are just randomly all over the place some even missing the 14cm target. You would swear blind it's deffo the pistol. It's really bugging me. I even thought about buying another just to compare and rule pilot error or duff pistol out.

Thanks for the tips gents.

[clarky]

A lot of posters love the look of the gun. Its something different to what's around at the moment, has an air of mystique as with most things discontinued, or scarce but we tested 2 of these exhaustively and I spent many hours machining guide rods etc....

My appraisal is the real deal.
Intermittent sealing of gasket and similar with lock up but barrel too short IMO.
Guide rod a disaster area if badly moulded..
Found a nicely tuned Tempest more reliable and of enduring quality......HW45 superior in every way bar awful looks.

[gb68]

Well.....end cap seems fine, had a few shots through it today.....still hitty missy. Sorely tempted to buy the other one but I'd hate to get it only to find out it shoots the same and it's down to pilot error

[GRAZY]

As far as I know, a longer version of the 240 was in the plans and the later boxes were made to suit this. For some reason it never came to be, and production stopped all together. Shame! I love that they did colour variants although these are quite rare.

[Rob M]

HW45 superior in every way bar awful looks.

Everything's subjective and we will all have differing opinions on some subjects. We should expect the HW45 to be better in various ways, as I said above, it cost about 150% to 180% what a 240 Magnum did, if I remember right (can't lay hands on my old mags right now to check unfortunately). Bearing in mind the cost, it should be better. Even though I admit that the HW45 is a great pistol in many respects I will always prefer my BSA Magnums, Scorpions, Webleys and Hy-Scores, even the Cometa Indian with its heavy trigger, to HW pistols. These pistols have something hard to define about them that the Weihrauch products lack. Character? Soul? Hard to say.