BSA Superstar, is it underrated or not?

[Roundshot]

Cheers 'look no hands', your choice of subject matter wins a thumbs up from me!

My first Superstar (.22 carbine) bought new in '92 at Rayleigh AGC + NS Gold Crown 4x40. I used it happily for 5yrs, including rabbits, though it took a back seat for a .22"LR bolt action rimmy on my then N.Yorks shoot.

In '96 I fell for marketing hype and bought an early prod .22" Prosport from Uttings but had lots of bother...faulty trigger, snapped cocking lever pivot.

I gifted the Superstar to a good mate, still has it 20yrs on. I shot it recently at his place in Lincs. Never serviced, in good nick at 11.3ft lbs with 'domes. He's mislaid open sights though.

I've got a tidy MkI .177" + Bushmaster 4-12x40AO. After strip & relube, wasn't nice to shoot. J.Knibbs Titan XL spring guide + top hat, last week got it shooting really lovely, 11.5ft lbs 'domes <1/2" @ 40yds groups.

Agreed, quirky design compared to AA & HW, but scope rail came off / on ok with wooden mallett, moly on rubber strips helped.

If you don't need piston / breech block out, then rail can stay on, such as fitting Titan guides.

Easily improvised a tool to push spring guide forward for cross pin removal.

Lack of piston rod (sear engages on piston) + lack of sliding compression chamber (AA & HW) makes a lighter, faster handling underlever gun.

Rotating breech block an excellent design, and being ally, also lightweight. No finger crusher open breech.

Trigger smooth & light (mock 2-stage). Agreed, not Rekord or CD but not far behind.

Stock wood to metal fit flawless, no gaps anywhere, metalwork finish very good. No play in underlever pivot joint. Everything tight, precise and well made.

I don't usually go on here at length but I'm truly smitten with the Superstar.

[look no hands]

Cheers 'look no hands', your choice of subject matter wins a thumbs up from me!

My first Superstar (.22 carbine) bought new in '92 at Rayleigh AGC + NS Gold Crown 4x40. I used it happily for 5yrs, including rabbits, though it took a back seat for a .22"LR bolt action rimmy on my then N.Yorks shoot.

In '96 I fell for marketing hype and bought an early prod .22" Prosport from Uttings but had lots of bother...faulty trigger, snapped cocking lever pivot.

I gifted the Superstar to a good mate, still has it 20yrs on. I shot it recently at his place in Lincs. Never serviced, in good nick at 11.3ft lbs with 'domes. He's mislaid open sights though.

I've got a tidy MkI .177" + Bushmaster 4-12x40AO. After strip & relube, wasn't nice to shoot. J.Knibbs Titan XL spring guide + top hat, last week got it shooting really lovely, 11.5ft lbs 'domes <1/2" @ 40yds groups.

Agreed, quirky design compared to AA & HW, but scope rail came off / on ok with wooden mallett, moly on rubber strips helped.

If you don't need piston / breech block out, then rail can stay on, such as fitting Titan guides.

Easily improvised a tool to push spring guide forward for cross pin removal.

Lack of piston rod (sear engages on piston) + lack of sliding compression chamber (AA & HW) makes a lighter, faster handling underlever gun.

Rotating breech block an excellent design, and being ally, also lightweight. No finger crusher open breech.

Trigger smooth & light (mock 2-stage). Agreed, not Rekord or CD but not far behind.

Stock wood to metal fit flawless, no gaps anywhere, metalwork finish very good. No play in underlever pivot joint. Everything tight, precise and well made.

I don't usually go on here at length but I'm truly smitten with the Superstar.

I see I've hit a good nerve with you on this one

Pete

[El Garro]

Yes ! A nicely set up superstar is a very nice gun.
The trigger never bothered me , neither did the rotary breech . I'd have another any time, may even climb over a goldstar to get to one.

[Geezer]

I agree with all the positive comments on this thread. The Superstar is impressive.

For me, though, there's something I'm not keen on to do with the stock. In part that the fore-end feels too bulky to me. I would love to try one in a bit of contemporary CS walnut.

[look no hands]

I agree with all the positive comments on this thread. The Superstar is impressive.

For me, though, there's something I'm not keen on to do with the stock. In part that the fore-end feels too bulky to me. I would love to try one in a bit of contemporary CS walnut.

I bought a .177 custom one a few years ago that had been tuned by Theoben, it had a CS thumbhole stock on it and a gasram fitted with a nice silencer and underlever catch combined but the damn thing was so inaccurate with every pellet I tried that I sold it in frustration.

ete

[Roundshot]

I agree with all the positive comments on this thread. The Superstar is impressive.

For me, though, there's something I'm not keen on to do with the stock. In part that the fore-end feels too bulky to me. I would love to try one in a bit of contemporary CS walnut.

One of our keen 'Boinger Bash' adherents has just that baby. I hope 'flyingfish' will be along soon to crow about it. Pete, where are yoooooooooou???

[Gamocfx]

I am sold on this, it does in fact look very nice....how much does a .177 version dell for? Does it have the dreaded scope problems of the Airsporter and Mercury?

[Geezer]

I am sold on this, it does in fact look very nice....how much does a .177 version dell for? Does it have the dreaded scope problems of the Airsporter and Mercury?

I would guess they are in the £150-250 bracket, depending on condition, model, and the market. One of those guns that you may find cheap, or you may find an enthusiast seller who asks more.

I think the rarest is the .177" Mk2 carbine. The best is the .22" Mk2 carbine.

Deduct £20-30 if it doesn't have the iron sights.

It does not have the scope mount issues from earlier BSAs. But it has a weird 14mm rail that requires a special BSA mount. I have one of those on mine, but it was a bit pricey and fiddly to set up. Best bet is get one with irons and a period mount.

[look no hands]

I am sold on this, it does in fact look very nice....how much does a .177 version dell for? Does it have the dreaded scope problems of the Airsporter and Mercury?

Like I told you on the Mercury thread, older BSA's always seem harder to get in .177 as not many were sold, the Superstar along with the Challenger are very hard to come buy in .177.

What do you mean by the dreaded scope problems?

Pete

[Gamocfx]

Just the scope popping off Pete...as I get older .177 seems more of an attractive calibre

[JB101]

Mmmm...As per PJ earlier posts, I bought two really nice 0.22 Superstars off him - absolutely love them, thank you PJ! I have six now, including a carbine version, all 0.22 except for one of the standard versions being 0.177. They are quality, lovely to shoot and safe to load. The maxi-scope rail can be a bit of a pain, but, I made a tool to assist. By the way, the foam(?) rubber cushions under the maxi-scope rail seem fairly expensive from T.C.C. for what they are, anyone sourced a sheet of similar material that will do the job? Need to have a look around.......

Hope this helps 1.5mm rubber sheet cut to width foes the trick with some double sided sticky tape,I initially tried 2mm but that was too thick.
ATB
James

[look no hands]

Just the scope popping off Pete...as I get older .177 seems more of an attractive calibre

I know what you mean, I've always hunted with .177 and always wanted my hunting rifles in .177, now I collect them I'm not worried what calibre they are really.

The scope problem was because of the shallow scope grooves and in the past a lack of decent mounts, although the Maxigrip is an odd size at least you get a decent purchase on them, why BSA didn't use a 11mm rail is beyond me.

Pete

[Muskett]

BSA Superstar was "Rifle of the Year" when it first came out.

I've never owned one.

BA must have upgraded its machining and put some real thought into this rifle. Its was great from the outset. Considering Webley hadn't quite achieved huge sales with their Omega and Eclipse then for BSA to make such a jump and investment was a real leap of faith. I wonder who had bought into BSA at the time to give it the funds?
Anyhow the Superstar sold well and let BSA get going again. A very important rifle in BSA's history.

Some day I had better get one.

[WILBA]

I bought and sold a .177 Goldstar a few years ago, the only thing that let it down where those damn BSA mags, even after being sent back to BSA for a service they still kept indexing wrong

Pete

I have .177cal&.22cal goldstars

[tinbum]

One of our keen 'Boinger Bash' adherents has just that baby. I hope 'flyingfish' will be along soon to crow about it. Pete, where are yoooooooooou???

Yep, he got it from me, it was an absolute corker in a CS800 stock, I fitted an HW spring and guide set and it was shooting brilliantly at an enthusiastic level. Some spring trimming later it was just over 11 and as good as anything from the same era, better when you consider the brilliant rolling breech!
I would have kept it, but I now have an embarrassing number of rifles and the clearout started at the end of October.