Calling Airsporter owners.

[bulldog_drummon]

Interestingly your stock appears to be one piece I thought three pieces was more usual on that model (as mine is ! )

Oh and welcome to the BBS

Hi and thanks for the welcome mally.
I've read that the stocks were often in three pieces but I noticed that mine was constructed from a single piece or at least to my eyes it's a one-piece stock.

Makes me wonder if it's actually the original stock and even from a MK1 though I can't see that somehow see that.

I can remember after buying the gun, attempting to tart it up by rubbing the stock down and putting on a thin coat of shellac/French polish as the finish was in a very rough old state. At one point I even tried rubbing down the barrel and body cylinder to get rid of some of the corrosion/pitting and attempting to re-blue it but it didn't seem to take properly so I was left with it as it is now.

I think this time around I'll just wire wool the cylinder/barrel and put a fine coating of the likes of 3-in 1 oil on it just to protect it. It's a gun getting on for 60 years old which had a very rough early life and whether or not it still looks rough these days, it still shoots great at up to 50m/60 yards which is all that matters. The patina tells it's own story.

Interestingly, in the early 60s I owned a genuine MK1 Airsporter which was my introduction to Airsporters. It was an early/mid 50s model and it didn't even have the usual rear sight but instead had a Parker Hale '0' ring target sight mounted on top of the curved trigger housing and that gun would shoot accurately and consistently all day long up to 80 yards with the right pellets and if held firmly on a proper rest.
I never really got on with the 'O' sights for everyday plinking but I bought it for a pittance and looking back now, sadly sold it for one. If only I knew then what I knew now.

I don't somehow think this gun would achieve that accuracy figure as I've never fired an air gun more accurate than the MK1 I owned but the accuracy at 60 yards with this one is consistent so I'm quite happy.

[DEAN C.]

Thats how the stock bolt should be, but I wonder if the threads are a bit grunged up and the bolt needs to pull in a bit. Its possible it has had the stock replaced I suppose as well.
It is a SILE one piece stock, a lot had them on . You could possibly cut out the stock at the back so it sits lower.

The accuracy on any airsporter is a bit hit and miss depending how good the tap to bore alignment is.
I love them to bits and started off in the 70's with my Dads Mk1 as a teenager shooting at anything that would feed my ferrets, but if I compete with a springer in HFT I use my Pro sport, which is the gun BSA Airsporter should have evolved into.

if I want to shoot something really accurate ie hunting or open HFT, I shoot a PCP.

[bulldog_drummon]

Thats how the stock bolt should be, but I wonder if the threads are a bit grunged up and the bolt needs to pull in a bit. Its possible it has had the stock replaced I suppose as well.
It is a SILE one piece stock, a lot had them on . You could possibly cut out the stock at the back so it sits lower.

The accuracy on any airsporter is a bit hit and miss depending how good the tap to bore alignment is.
I love them to bits and started off in the 70's with my Dads Mk1 as a teenager shooting at anything that would feed my ferrets, but if I compete with a springer in HFT I use my Pro sport, which is the gun BSA Airsporter should have evolved into.

if I want to shoot something really accurate ie hunting or open HFT, I shoot a PCP.

I think on reflection it's probably the correct stock for the gun but there might be some kind of spacer missing from the large bolt which doesn't allow the gun body to tighten up and seat fully into the stock. I'll check that out when I strip it next week.

I've always had a penchant for shooting with iron sights. For me there's always been something pleasing about accurately hitting the target with iron sights that I never got from scope shooting which is why shooting the Airsporter appeals to me. It's a bit primitive when compared to today's air weapons but arguably much more fun.
Unfortunately a failing shooting eye precludes the continued use of accurate shooting with iron sights these days so scope it is if I want to continue. I suppose I could learn to shoot left handed but hmmmmm?

I've been shooting rimfire for many years, latterly with a scope and it was so accurate, it's quite frankly boring and predictable but with the Airsporter hopefully it will be a little more demanding, a bit like when shooting my Winchester .357 underlever model 94AE.

[Byronic]

Airsporters really respond to some skilled attention - and some Delrin etc.
Hopefully yours has not been butchered by bodgers given its history.

My (somewhat later) S Mk2 was given the above by Steve Williams of Yeldham Gun Repairs in Essex and is now the smoothest of my 5 BSA springers, by a large margin.
Top hat, spring guide, cylinder liner and washers.
No doubt there are other options from other sources too but the transformation is very impressive.
My original model Airsporter Mk2 (as opposed to S version) is a one piece stock and has the 4 small grooves for a scope.
GD prefix serial number.
Don't know how much that might help?
Good luck with it.l

[Airsporter1st]

The harsh recoil you speak of is possibly indicative of a dried-out piston seal and/or using ‘metric’ pellets and/or dieseling. All of the Mk1 and Mk2 Airsporters I've owned have shot relatively smoothly when the innards were right, properly lubricated and using the right pellets. If any one of those three were ‘wrong’ then the result was a harsh firing cycle.

[TonyL]

A belated welcome to the forum from me; enjoy the wonderful BBS.

Did you manage to get some range time in at the weekend? How did the rifle and mounts behave?

Some very good points in the posts above re checking a few of the variables and, possibly, a little fettle to help calm the firing manners a little?