BSA Mercury

[trajectory]

Looking at some information on BSA serial numbers recently & it seems that 177 mk1 Mercury's have a W prefix (1973-1979) & mk2 Mercury's in 177 have WB prefixes going from 1974-1978. My question is how reliable is this? I know that barrels can be swapped around but I've come across 2 of them (mk 2's) with NG prefixes that seem to be allocated to Meteors. Guess both could have been swapped out but seemed a bit of a coincidence to come across two of them which made me wonder if there were more, possibly a short production run with barrels to hand that had been destined for Meteors but got used to fulfill a Mercury run. Any thought?

[johnbaz]

Looking at some information on BSA serial numbers recently & it seems that 177 mk1 Mercury's have a W prefix (1973-1979) & mk2 Mercury's in 177 have WB prefixes going from 1974-1978. My question is how reliable is this? I know that barrels can be swapped around but I've come across 2 of them (mk 2's) with NG prefixes that seem to be allocated to Meteors. Guess both could have been swapped out but seemed a bit of a coincidence to come across two of them which made me wonder if there were more, possibly a short production run with barrels to hand that had been destined for Meteors but got used to fulfill a Mercury run. Any thought?

Hi t

I have two barrels, One is a .22" Meteor barrel, The other is a .177" Mercury barrel, I can't recall what prefix they have but both seem identical and interchangeable to me!

They're up in the loft, I'll get them down tomorrow and see (Only saw them a couple of days ago when I was hunting for something else!!)

Something from JK

N Meteor MK I .177 1959 - 1962
NA Meteor MK II .177 1962 - 1966
NB Meteor MK II .177 1962 - 1968
ND Meteor MK II + Super Mark I .177 1967 - 1969
NE Meteor MK III + Super Mark II .177 1969 - 1973
NG Meteor MK IV + Super Mark III .177 1973 - 1979
NH Meteor MK V + Super Mark IV .177 1979 - 1994

W Mercury Air Rifle MK I .177 1971 - 1973
WA Mercury Air Rifle MK I .177 1973 - 1974
WB Mercury Air Rifle MK II .177 1974 - 1978
WC Mercury Air Rifle MK III .177 1978 - 1985
WE Meteor MK6 .22
WH Mercury 'S' Air Rifle 1980 - 1985


John

[trajectory]

Thanks for putting the numbers up. I hadn't spotted I put the wrong dates for the mk 1 Mercury....should have proof read it better!
Yes, I think all the break barrels from that era were pretty much interchangeable, so swapping them about might be quite common. Don't think BSA barrels have changed much since then just 2 piece cocking links & shorter slots in stocks for more recent ones & of course sight attachment methods evolved but I think the basic dimensions are similar aren't they?
Anyhow just struck me as a bit of a coincidence to see two 177 Mercury's with 'Meteor' prefixes.

[look no hands]

I've been swapping barrels around for years, normally I put the shorter Lightning barrels on Mercs and Challengers as I love a carbine, I have had a couple of problems in the past with the mounting holes being slightly out of place which caused one Merc to not push the piston back far enough (that's what I think anyway) as it would just catch the sears sometimes and fire itself, the only real difference is the slot that is on the underside can differ in width so you may need to pack the cocking links out or narrow them, depending on the size, the only other BSA barrel design that I've found that causes problem is the ones fitted to the Brocock Independant, which although they are the same fitment are actually about half inch longer (the breech bloke that is) and causes problems with the cocking lever being too far forward if fitting to a BSA (or too short if a BSA barrel is fitted to the Brocock).

Pete