Good morning all,

I am sure this has been done many times before, but also after some extensive internet research and having spoken to some knowledgeable people at my shooting club, I still cannot pinpoint the differences between the Birmingham and Spanish made BSA XLs.

I have just bought a beautiful example which seems to be a Birmingham made version. First of all it is well engineered (compared to some examples I have seen in the past), there are no rattles when you shake the gun and the bluing is OK.

The trigger is fairly stiff but breaks cleanly without creep (the blade is made of steel and shows no side to side movement), the stock is made of black plastic and seems to be ambidextrous with a flat base behind the trigger block for a thumbs up position. The ones I have seen in the past where clearly biased right hand stocks with a roll-over cheek piece and a thumb groove on the right hand side of the pistol grip extending into the trigger end block cap.

The breech seal is transparent and the barrel seems to be slightly chamfered, seating a pellet (i.e. Hobby) is not a problem.

The top of the barrel is stamped "BSA GUNS UK LTD [BSA logo] .22 CAL" and on the right hand side of the scope rail it reads in white letters "[union jack] Serial - XLT 22 11 21-14 Made In Birmingham, England". Next to the serial number (towards the muzzle) there is a small "s" or "9" stamped into the scope rail. Under the scope rail there are two strips of rubber.

On the right hand side there is a manual safety mechanism and the gun is fitted with a anti bear trap. The cocking lever is laminated steel. There are two swivel studs fitted to the silencer and the butt of the stock.

Would be great if someone could help me shed some light on this.

Many thanks and a good day to all of you.


Best,
Jonas