I bought a new BSA XL Tactical in .22 last weekend to use for pest control in the woods where my syndicate shoot, and have spent 3 days this week trying to get it to zero and group. I've tried 3 scopes on it (not crap ones - all work fine on other rifles, both non-FAC air and .22lr), 3 new one-piece scope mounts and pellets from 5 different manufacturers - AA, Bisley, H&N, etc. No joy with any of them. All the scopes needed to be cranked (to the point of damaging them) to maximum 'left' and maximum 'up' to even get onto the card at 20 yards, then the groups were more like buckshot even when the gun was rested. Rubber mounted scope rail issue I thought ... Bench rested it yesterday at 10 yards and he group was open to over 5 inches ... and that's with the same fixed point of aim and the gun held solidly. I'm not new to rifles, air shooting or hitting the middle of a target. Not impressed considering the gun cost £240
In addition, the general quality of finish and workmanship on the XL were akin to a £50 chinese B2. I had one of those years ago as a lad and at least it zeroed and stayed zeroed. The fact that the B2 wouldn't knock the skin off a rice pud didn't matter too much, it sure had the tin cans worried.
Needless to say I took the XL back from where it came and exchanged for something else (not BSA) - who could trust a gun like that to kill anything cleanly? Maybe I got one that had been thrown together at quarter to five on a Friday, but I'll never consider buying a new BSA again.
Took it back to the dealer (they were brillinat about it) and exchanged it (plus a few quid) for a Webley Longbow SE in .22 as pretty much everything remotely suitable in the shop was also BSA. Bit more money for the Webley, but took it straight up to the range, put a scope on it and it dropped it into zero at 30 yards (measured) within 10 mins and it consistently hit exactly where it was pointed with just about everything put through it. Complete pleasure to shoot it after this week's disappointments with the BSA. Build quality is significantly better throughout, walnut thumbhole stock is a bit fancy for me but it's a delight to use - comes to the shoulder very well indeed. I already trust this gun to shoot better than me. Seems Turkish build quality & QC can actually allow a gun to leave the factory after making sure it's fit for purpose. Hello? .. Birmingham? .. Anybody there??
I know any number of you guys have XL Tacticals. Hope yours are better than the total lemon I brought home last Saturday and took back today. Felt like I'd been mugged. I also expect a few of you will think I'm a tit for buying a Longbow. Shoots as well as my AA TX200HC, and it's lighter to drag around the woods.
I do have an old BSA Scorpion pistol in .22, and I like it a lot. The tin cans are still a bit nervous as I now have half a dozen tins of pellets to get rid of ...