BSA Goldstar Underlever Springer

[Vic Thompson]

I remember (just) these rifle when they were available new but I haven't seen or heard of one for years until a few days ago when talking to a friend. He has two, one in 0.177 cal and the other in 0.22 cal. He says both are in good cosmetic condition and fully functional. Are they really scarce ? Does anyone know how many were made in either calibre, and how well did they function in terms of their competitors of the day, and how good are they by today standards ? Loads of questions, but it just intrigued me as to why I don't come across them very often (It might be that they were so good that they've all ended up in collectors hands and stayed there).

Lastly, what could I expect to pay for one if I could prise it away from the current owner ?

Thanks in advance for any responses,

Vic Thompson.

[countryboy]

The goldstar went out of production around 1985, around the time of the Gamo takeover. Bsa were already fighting to stay solvent and the high production costs against wholesale prices spelled its doom. The rifle also was plagued by magazine issues, which although we're mainly down to user error it gave it a bit of a bad rep. As a rifle, it is excellent. Beautifully designed, accurate and 10 shot mag same as Pcp.I was shooting my. 22 variant today, easy 1 inch group at 30 yds, 7 pigeons,1 rabbit. Learn how to cock it properly and it soon becomes second nature. For hunting its a fine gun. Believe the 177 is much rarer.( 1985 after all)

[laverdabru]

I think they may be a bit of a Marmite gun. Some folk love them, others don't.
Being an early mag fed repeater, many have ended up in the hands of 'collectors' who have no intention of using them. Thus pushing up the price. as there are less on the market.
I bought one in .22 3-4 years ago. For the princely sum of £160, hardly used, with all the original BSA stuff (apart from the box), spare mag & a decent scope. It was heavy, but powerful, accurate & seemed very well made.
We'd moved out to the country, & I'd wanted something to keep the vermin down.
I had a few issues with the original magazines, switched to the newer BSA ones, & all was well. For a while.
Then, when someone else was using it, it appeared the trigger had seized up. On removing the stock, found the spring between the safety & trigger had broken. I put it away in the garage, & have since bought a Mk3 & a couple of AirSporters. Not as powerful, but simpler to maintain.
A newish HW35 now looks after the crops.

[countryboy]

I should have added, the goldstar is also tremendous fun, ahead of its time and a lot of gun for the money. Mint condition worth maybe 300. Spare mags around 20, New style 40.Definately collectable.

[Gunman61]

Goldstar is as early posts have said .A few problems are due to owners now conversant with the gun .The use of short pellets are a no go .Cocking the gun with barrel pointing up ,with small pellets in the magazine will let the pellets fall back in to cylinder.But in saying that its an easy fix ,just find the best pellet for you Goldstar JSB or Daystate LI and if i stick to them i have no problems. The other nice gun with a rotary breach is the Superstar .I have pictures of my three guns , but can not see how to upload them .

[Happy-Harry]

[QUOTE=countryboy;6567703]The goldstar went out of production around 1985, around the time of the Gamo takeover. Bsa were already fighting to stay solvent and the high production costs against wholesale prices spelled its doom.QUOTE]

Yours dates out, Goldstar was derived from the Superstar, which its self was an underlever development from the Supersport. Production ended in the 90s, and development happened AFTER Gamo took control of the company and saved BSA from closure.
Goldstar was launched around 1989, after the Superstar. Great idea only the SLR88 which was 2 to 3 times the price when new offered the a similar concept. However the 80s were the decade of the quality underlever springer, when the HW77 was the must have air rifle, the 90's saw the growth of PCP's where multishot really took off and Goldstars never moved in numbers. Goldstars trigger never matched the Rekord, and BSA found more sales with the Super 10 that followed later.


VS2000 was the multishot springer that never made production from the time window your referring to, manually indexing and long, understand only 5 were produced.

Value - Rarity keeps them above their peers (HW77 and Eclipse) in value for comparable examples. £150 rough to £300 V Good / Excellent.

As regards ability, I recall the tuning gurus on here detailing the loading system means the probe/transfer port is too long to make them shoot as sweet as their competitors if your after the ultimate quick locktime, nominal recoil springer firing cycle but far from a bad gun.

[gingernut]

I have a nice one in .22 Vic.
I think I paid £200 2 years ago.

It is easy to operate once you become familiar with it.
Easier to cock than a 77.
Good trigger and accurate.

I use the new BSA mags which self index.
As above don't point it up as you load the magazine or cock it as pellets may fall back.
I think it will become more collectable and most problems seem to occur when people try and work it like a Winchester!

[countryboy]

I stand corrected. Yes the goldstar came out in 91. It's an easy mistake when the first thing you think of when someone mentions bsa, is an airsporter stutzen.now if you should come across one of these, then ,although they are not very collectable, and are of very low value and are a bit ugly, give me a ring. I could do with one for spare parts. P.s Don'ttell anyone....its our secret!!!

[bluesman]

I was lucky enough to buy a BSA Goldstar new,in Dec.2001.
Price was £344.It didn't come in a BSA box but had the instruction manual,allan keys and range cert.
atb Glyn

[Original27]

I have a Goldstar but it has no instruction manual. Does anyone know where I might obtain one?