BSA Mercury Mk1 - a worthy fixer upper?

[charliemow13]

Good evening folks, I would appreciate the opinions of the learned folks here as to whether this rifle might be worth investing a bit of TLC in. I was back visiting family this weekend and along with my dad and brother, my two young lads and my nephew (showing off the HW30 he now has use of thanks to Santa) we'd set up a bit of plinking around 10m to let my nephew show his dad up (a shotgun, .22 rimfire and centrefire chap) and give my lads their first taste of air gunning. A knock down, a few empty cans, a paper target and gamo 5 target rocker. My dad produced a couple of guns to add to the mix, one was the Sheridan he'd bought for me and my brother to use as teenagers and a rather tatty looking springer. It was pretty accurate though, hitting the 15mm rocker regularly despite a trigger that seemed to be weighted for a strongman and lots of vibration on firing. Closer inspection revealed it to be a BSA Mercury and I had a bit of a browse round to see what I could find out about this model.

From the ZA prefix on the serial number it seems to be Mk1. Exterior finish of the barrel has obviously seen better days but looks pretty good down the bore. Breech seal looks cracked through in three places and not sure whether the marks just in the breech are typical of the model or signs of heavy use. Wood is plain but deviod of any major marking or cracks. Missing the rearsight and also the hood from the foresight. Trigger is extremely heavy but no creep, just needs loads of pressure to release.

Dad was saying both it and the Sheridan get pretty much no use these days apart from odd outings like we had this weekend. If I had the chance of the BSA what do people reckon, would this a be decent rifle to invest a bit of time and a little moeny in as a fixer upper and a starter to get me going? My aspirations of getting a new / nearly new gun have been put on hold due to changes to work situation. I've always been a bit of a tinkerer and as an engineer I've got a reasonable set of skill and tools when it comes to things mechanical. A few pics attached.

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