BSA Standard .177 (short cylinder)... power levels and accuracy.

[Shed tuner]

Just gotten hold of one of these (thanks Jamie)...

Twanged like a Gamo, so I resprung it with a cut down TX Mk3 spring (thin wire, weak) which is a nice fit in the piston, and sleeved up the guide with some ally tube so now it's a nice fit. Shoots well, no twang at all, quick but not harsh, and just under 6FP.
It's running a leather seal, which seems to be in OK condition, and the fit is good. I could graft a new parachute seal on to give me a few mm more stroke, but I'd rather keep it original (unless I find a spare piston to play with first).

Bearing in mind it's .177 and that short cylinder, is 6FP about right ? Cocking is fairly easy, so I could probably increase the preload, but don't want to stress it (although it looks very solidly made). The stroke is very short though.

Also what kind of accuracy should I be acheiving ?

Need to find some rear trigger guard screws, as mine are somewhat beyond hope £7 from Protek though..!

PS it's a "L"

[Lakey]

Just gotten hold of one of these (thanks Jamie)...

Twanged like a Gamo, so I resprung it with a cut down TX Mk3 spring (thin wire, weak) which is a nice fit in the piston, and sleeved up the guide with some ally tube so now it's a nice fit. Shoots well, no twang at all, quick but not harsh, and just under 6FP.
It's running a leather seal, which seems to be in OK condition, and the fit is good. I could graft a new parachute seal on to give me a few mm more stroke, but I'd rather keep it original (unless I find a spare piston to play with first).

Bearing in mind it's .177 and that short cylinder, is 6FP about right ? Cocking is fairly easy, so I could probably increase the preload, but don't want to stress it (although it looks very solidly made). The stroke is very short though.

Also what kind of accuracy should I be acheiving ?

Need to find some rear trigger guard screws, as mine are somewhat beyond hope £7 from Protek though..!

PS it's a "L"

Lovely guns. I think 6-7 ft/lbs is about right, but dont worry too much about stressing the guns out, as most parts were made from billet steel, so I dont think you will bend cocking levers etc. Too strong a spring can make them harsh on firing.
for best accuracy, treat the barrel to a deep clean, as it probably hasn't been done for 80 odd years or so. Good bore cleaner, and thorough scrub out with a phosphor bronze brush will tighten up your groups a fair bit. then you should be able to shoot 1/2-1inch groups at 10 metres with the right pellets.

Regards

Lakey

[Shed tuner]

Thanks Lakey.

funnily enough I was looking at yours on the network54 site... mine is not quite as clean as those pictures there , but it has the two-hole trigger, which makes it a little older. I'll leave the powerplant as it, and just clean our that barrel. You are right on the quality of construction, very impressive actually.

Cheers - JB

[edbear2]

Hi John, Funnily enough I have just been playing with a tidy example of one of these. I think 600 fps is the highest I have seen from a VGC and well run in example, most seem to go 550-575.

The one I was testing liked old BSA pylarm (Wasp) pellets best giving 575 fps @ 5.93 FPE. Worst was RWS R10 match @ 4.71 FPE....So you will see pellet choice is important. A lot of folk (myself included) have found that Hobby pellets are the low weight these guns seem to like, and shoot well at the ranges this borderline Junior (L = Light or Ladies model) sized gun was intended for.

Accuracy...Well you have to bear in mind the age and life experience of the thing, many have been abused for decades and have had ball bearings / nails / all sorts shot though them, a look though posts on here or on the vinatge forum will have you amazed at what has been pulled out of these, so it all depends on it's history, the ''newest'' of these will be 77 years old now, the oldest will be 111 year old

If you are lucky enough to find one with a mint bore, it will match practically anything made since, the limiting factor being the fact that the trigger pull is half the weight of the gun which means most shooters raised on Rekords and Cd's will ''pull'' shots all over the place, for a person used to modern guns these oldies respond well to a lot of practise and experiment, they can shoot very well with a hold (supporting hand) just in front of the trigger guard too I have found, so play with that too.

In most cases, if you rest one and gently squeeze the trigger whilst keeping aim (on a well sorted gun), you will be very suprised at the accuracy, I have a .22 which will match my HW80 out to 40 yards with open sights, and a couple of .177's which also shoot very well.

I think I recall these were rested 10 yard groups;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57616669873978

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57616255835729

Same gun vs my TX bell gun;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57625297485090

Lakey's advice about the clean is well worth doing, as is pulling the tap and cleaning the pocket to check for anything that should not be present, at this time check the number stamped on the tap base and compare to under the barrel as they were hand lapped matched when built, so if you have a ''shotgun'' this may be the cause.

Build quality...Nothing has been made material wise to campare with these since the 1950's, full stop!...But they do have a weak spot which is the breech block / cylinder area, the trigger guard screws must be kept snug, as must the stock or else accuracy will suffer but more importantly damage will occur over time.

ATB, Ed

[Shed tuner]

Thanks Ed, great info, and excellent groups too

I had already pulled the tap, cleaned and lubed up. I did indeed notice a number on there, but without knowing it's significance I don't recall what it was. tap is a very nice fit though.

Going to clean the bore and put some lead through it

[grantb]

Mine does 550 feet/second with Crosman wadcutters. An accurate little rifle and joy to shoot.

[edbear2]

P.S. I forgot to add, IHHO and from what I have done in the past, these seem to like leather seals best, I have done a buttoned / Maccari conversion in the past and it was slammy and harsh although the fps went up marginally. A well run in leather washer is remarkably consistent to with many of these prewar guns I have had / still have being single figures of FPS in variation over a string of shots when well settled in.

ATB, Ed