Disappointed with New BSA Ultra XL

[phil384]

What have I done

Sold my Single shot Ultra and bought a brand spanking new Ultra XL.

The single shot went as I wanted a multi shot rifle. That thing was accurate as hell and so well made.

The XL is very NOT.

Plastic trigger blade that you have to keep pulling....and pulling.....and pulling. Miles of creep but I might be able to sort that?

Plastic (although silent) safety catch.

Glue reside on butt pad which has stained it and I had to scrape the dried excess off with my nail. It might be lacquer rather than glue? Not sure.

The brass ring at the filler cap join is corroded/discoloured with black marks

The magazine itself seems OK and loading is easy but I've seen you tube clips where they just slip in and are pulled home by the magnet. Not mine, have to push it home firmly and tricky to line up.

The thread on the filler probe was poor.

Took a fair amount of cleaning the barrel to get it to group with JSBs which, in fairness, it did in the end but the single poorly photocopied sheet of paper that is supposed to be the manual said they are accuracy tested at the factory! I guess so if you are aiming at bin lids at 5 yards.

Worst of all though, It came with 110 bar fill. I topped it up with my Hills pump to 230 bar. Fired off a few magazines and down to 120 bar (according to the wonkily tilted filler gauge - come on guys, at least make it level) and it wont fill. Air leaks out of the probe whilst it's pushed home.

I've tried cocking the gun, wiggling the probe, my old probe, pushing the probe in and out etc etc. Not filling.

I've e-mailed the company I bought it off and awaiting a reply tomorrow hopefully.

Not impressed. BSA, in my opinion, on this rifle (Which don't forget retails around 450-500) have gone cheap and it shows.

[Mason]

Reject it and send it back for a refund.

[peddy]

It's a shame when you've sold a good gun to get it. I'd send it back. I've had a ultra Mmc and old scorpion both single shot for years and been trouble free.

[Jesim1]

Sorry about this, price is one thing, but sadly this kind of thing happens on guns at twice the price and it's never a good excuse.

I'd definitely reject it as not fit for purpose, you don't have to accept a faulty gun, which this one clearly is. Perhaps then look for a second hand one a little older which may be in better nick or get something further up the range second hand at the same price?

Either way, it's soul destroying when you are looking forward to something like this and it goes nipples skywards.

James

[airgun]

Send it back you did not agree to buy a faulty product your only asking for what you should of received in first place

[phil384]

The shop rang me. Apologised and agreed to do a swap for another which they will check over before sending out. Fingers crossed the first was just a Friday afternoon gun?

[rancidtom]

Sadly these guns are now more Gamo than BSA. Barcelona Small Arms Co make the parts, ship them to Birmingham Small Arms for assembly. I believe they use Birmingham made barrels but that's about it.
Regards QC you have some very valid points, your gun should have been a "FAIL" on many issues.
Birmingham have had to take instruction from Barcelona for many years now, they're building this gun to a price but needless to say QC should still be applied thoroughly, at worst a QC failure could cause somebody an injury.
I believe "accuracy testing" is done in a 10m tube range, rifle placed in or on a rest and a few shots through the chrono into a target. I for one don't regard this as a valid test of a rifle's accuracy, just about any barrel will group at 10m with no wind, even a smoothbore shooting BB's would probably manage a 1/2" group, I would love BSA to confirm what the actual range is and what they regard as a QC pass or fail.
To call these guns a BSA Ultra is shameful in my opinion,. it is in reality a Gamo Phox or very similar to one.
BSA still make real BSA Ultra SE's that are a decent rifle with a half decent trigger. Obviously they are more expensive than the Gamo derivatives but they still may have QC issues.

[piggy589]

If nothing else, definitely a strong argument for buying a used BSA.

[WILBA]

one of the reason i never sold my AA s300. newer models are not as solid. and the multi shots are a joke with the spring to index the magazine. i got fed up of changing them so put it back to single shot. all the new stuff are putting plastic triggers in ect. most are made by 3D printing which is cheap to make. thats why i only buy older stuff these days, only modern kit i bought is my pax phoenix and the ff10. all the others are older and more solid.

[WILBA]

ok i do own a sumatra carbine also

[sandyman1963]

I’m amazed the RFD sent it out like that very bad practice not to check a rifle before selling it on.

My RFD is a five and a half hour round trip when I order a rifle and it come in he keeps it for a week cleans the barrel charges the bottle and or cylinder and watches it like a hawk. Only when he is happy will he phone and say it’s ready.

It’s a shame that BSA in brum are haveing to use the crap Gamo stuff they have some good rifles that are being let down by the Gamo parts.

QC plays a big part of it like all companies now it’s make it box it and sell it with just a glance over the completed item.

[robs5230]

Unfortunately the Ultra XL's connection to the Ultra SE is in name only.

The Ultra SE shares the same action as the scorpion, R10, Goldstar.

The xl doesn't

[phil384]

It was obvious it hadn't been checked over by the shop, it was factory wrapped in brown paper etc. The replacement they are sending out has been checked over by them,fills up OK and is in good condition.

The guy in the shop checked another and is sending it back to bsa as its too poor to go out.

[smudger1234]

Ultra XL is Gamo Phox internally.

[SHAWN]

Unfortunately this QC problem isn’t just BSA, had Weihrauch tested lot of 100/110 for accuracy then they wouldn’t have been sent out with inaccurate barrels. Had Daystate tested my friends new Pulsar it wouldn’t have been returned with a leaking cylinder. These guns aren’t cheap and gun manufacturers need to do more QC on their products!