Originally Posted by
andrewM
This is an interesting discussion, 45flint, as was your other post about the excellence of the pre-war BSA Standard.
I hope the following is helpful. Earlier this year, I bought a 1922 BSA Standard. The gunsmith tested a number of pellets on his chrono and here are the velocities:
Defiant Vintage: 589 fps 11.17 ft/lb (I gather these pellets are no longer in production)
BSA Elite: 575fps 11.32ft/lb
Milbro: 573fps 9.34ft/lbs (which either suggests this is a very light pellet - not sure which variety of Milbro but perhaps Caledonian - or I mistakenly recorded the velocity as 573fps instead of 473fps)
Superdome: 592fps 11.31ft/lbs
I have tested the above pellets (except Milbro) at different ranges out to approx. 30 yds in the field, on targets during a still day. The Elites were the least accurate but Defiants and Superdomes produced good groupings of approx. 1inch and less at 30yds.
I also had velocity tests carried out on a Standard BSA 1939. I have not tested the accuracy of the pellets but can report on the chrono results:
Defiant Vintage: 566fps 10.40 ft/lbs
Superdomes: 568fps 10.43ft/lbs
Eley Wasps: 538fps 9.38ft/lbs
BSA Elites: 557fps 10.61ft/lbs
Superfield Bisley 499fps -
Note the poor velocity for the Eley Wasps (original Eley Wasps - not the new substandard variety). It would be interesting to see what Wasps record on the 1922 Standard but this would entail another visit to the gunsmith.
In both instances, note the performance of the Superdomes. These are modern, 5.5mm pellets. There is little difference between them and the Defiant Vintage .22. I am not certain if the BSA Elites are .22 or 5.5mm. In any event, these tests appear to demonstrate that the .22 Standard is acceptable to 5.5mm pellets without any noticeable decrease in power or accuracy. This assumes that there is consistency between the rifles over the years and various models of production, which might not be the case.
Kind regards
Andrew.
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