BSA Mercury S

[Airsporterman]

Just lovely!

ASM.

[landymick]

The one I had in the 80’s was the same shade as that.

[Dan944]

That’s a real peach mate 👍 I love my mercury, wouldn’t mind a .177 though

Atb
Daniel

[SRV1]

I have two Mercury S in 0.22 that are in excellent/immaculate original hardly used condition. They are nice to shoot and most pleasing to the eye! Both walnut stocks are of the lighter walnut, but fairly plain. The stock on one of them is about one inch longer at the breech end and slightly more rounded, other than that they are identical in chequering and grain. The stock on my Airsporter S is very much the same in character too.

All the best to all.....

[Muskett]

The first S's were blond, both Mercury and Airsporter, circa 1982?? Very blond. Mid to late 80's a much darker colour done similar to the Century. And later still some even darker S's came out, though few had much stripe to the colour. Some only have chequering on the grip and then the Challenger came out as the flagship break barrel.
I suspect yours is either a lucky late one or a refurbished which has had some staining put in. I'm hoping its the former and then you have a very tasty example well worth cherishing. Collectors of BSA's would love it.

Mint in box then well worth a hefty premium, though unlikely to break that £300 barrier (the blonds $250). Excellent then still a good premium but under £200. Well used but nice then as a shooter and not that much, £140. A good amount were made, but then most were heavily used and abused so good examples are not so common.
The S's were expensive compared to the competition. Getting to the price range of a FWB Sport or HW35, both of which were better mousetraps.

[Muskett]

While we are on 80's BSA's then these all shoot really well with their iron sights.

If you must scope them then they really demand nothing bigger than a 3-9x40. A 3-9x32 AO would be very nice. Frankly a 4x40 would hit anything in the farmyard. Annoyingly BSA branded scopes weren't often found and those that were weren't very good. Most the nasty 4x20's that have stamped metal mounts. For the blonds there were some 2-7x20/24/32??? with gold front ring and better glass. Sorry I haven't seen on example for a while, but they were 2-7x???.

Mounts then there is a set back Apel mount. Sportsmatch did them too but are bulkier. BSA scope groves aren't deep and scope creep was rife. Arrester blocks of various forms were about including one that needed drilling into the rear block.

BSA really didn't make life easy for us. Only sorted when the Challenger and Silverstar/Goldstar came out.

A well sorted Mercury is fast to load and hits with a punch. They can be tuned a tad to be smooth and well able to hit anything within the farmyard with a bit of practice and trigger time. Young eyes help with iron sights.

[kash2001]

Luv a blond of the .22 variety of course.

I remember an article in airgun world or similar I think written by John Darling back in the day using a blond .22 mercury s. Helped get me into shooting that did

Lovely guns.

Atb

[Brickhill]

The first S's were blond, both Mercury and Airsporter, circa 1982?? Very blond. Mid to late 80's a much darker colour done similar to the Century. And later still some even darker S's came out, though few had much stripe to the colour. Some only have chequering on the grip and then the Challenger came out as the flagship break barrel.
I suspect yours is either a lucky late one or a refurbished which has had some staining put in. I'm hoping its the former and then you have a very tasty example well worth cherishing. Collectors of BSA's would love it.

Mint in box then well worth a hefty premium, though unlikely to break that £300 barrier (the blonds $250). Excellent then still a good premium but under £200. Well used but nice then as a shooter and not that much, £140. A good amount were made, but then most were heavily used and abused so good examples are not so common.
The S's were expensive compared to the competition. Getting to the price range of a FWB Sport or HW35, both of which were better mousetraps.

Thanks for your reply, i'm sorry to say my gun has been refurbished. This one shoots as it should. Shame on BSA not embracing competitors of the time and finishing BSA guns properly, i say.