BSA R10 - what's the story?

[Hsing-ee]

What are the various marks of this rifle like? You don't hear much about them, certainly not as much as the usual suspects. Are they Second Division PCPs?
What are they actually like? How do they compare to a HW100 or whatever the darling of the PCP buffs is at the moment?

Which one is the 'best' of the Marks or do they just keep getting better and better and better .... ?

[ashf9999]

I’ve got a Mk2 in .22. Bought it new, used it for about a year. It then went for about 6 months unused, during which the BSA reg turned green with verdigris. Ditched the reg in favour of a Huma, changed all the seals, got a larger Best Fitting carbon buddy bottle and it’s been doing sterling work ever since. I’ve bought various pcps since (AA, FX) but this one is certainly a keeper. I’ve not tried serious distant target work with it, but as a hunter it’s fantastic. Handles beautifully. Certainly not second division.

[32:1]

Ive had a few now and my favourite is still the very early RH mk2 carbine, spent a few quid sorting it but that was a good gun in the end, others have come and gone mainly due to lack of accuracy

BSA still push these out with the same issues unaddressed, regulators aren’t the best, barrels are pot luck and the internal setup is poor with hammers and springs still delivering about the worst hammer bouncing pcp made, plus bolt probes flake easily.

If you find a good barreled gun, swap the reg out for a Huma, lighten hammer and fit a new Hspring to suit, Tom Nelson aka Rancid Tom can turn these into very efficient pcps and also makes a lovely stainless bolt.

Get a handed stocked version and not the ambi version as your head is pushed off centre whereas a handed stock has cast which helps keep everything in line, barrels can be pot luck and not the quality of the older S10, never believe bsa’s advertised shotcount as they lie, solve the wasteful hammer bounce and you can get 50% plus or more. The older metal mags can be problematic depending on what pellets you use. Bsa dresses the same old gun with fancy dresses now but remember, you can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig ��
Why Bsa have never tried to sort these out baffles me as those early stocks are lovely to shoulder, preferring to pump out the same old stuff put me off the brand but would I have an older sorted gun, yes indeed (as long as accuracy was good)

[rapidresponse1]

the one i had i had no problems with

[joffy]

I had an r10 .....enough said prefer my superten (or will do when I've fitted a decent reg)

[Arvey]

I've got both R10 and HW100. The R10 has a Huma reg fitted and the HW has had the full ratworks treatment. They are both great guns and although the Weihrauch is better I enjoy shooting the BSA more, it just feels nicer. Try them both if you can.

[Hsing-ee]

I had an r10 .....enough said prefer my superten (or will do when I've fitted a decent reg)

I forgot about the SuperTen. Are they the same rifle basically?

Seems to be a very expensive rifle to have such poor QC…

[where's it gone]

I had a MK1 from new, After a low power issue that was sorted by BSA, it was a sheep in wolf clothing.
A quiet, almost dull rifle to shoot. Stock shouldered perfectly. Never had the so much read about magazine problems with the original metal one. A go to rifle.

[ashf9999]

I had a MK1 from new, After a low power issue that was sorted by BSA, it was a sheep in wolf clothing.
A quiet, almost dull rifle to shoot. Stock shouldered perfectly. Never had the so much read about magazine problems with the original metal one. A go to rifle.

Likewise - I have 5 metal magazines - all behave perfectly (a couple I’ve changed the o-ring on).

[where's it gone]

Likewise - I have 5 metal magazines - all behave perfectly (a couple I’ve changed the o-ring on).

I did have the o ring go on one of mine, but the nice people at BSA sent me a new type self indexing one free of charge. Customer service at its best !

[Racing]

They are, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pcp´s ever designed.

As i as a foreigner don´t play to the same rules you do i´ve modified mine basically to kingdom come. The design of them is today a bit old, and it shows.
That doesn´t detract one yota from what they both can and will perform though and i use mine extensively to bat against the scaly tails to this day.

As has been noted above a more or less mandatory "mod" to them is to replace the stock regulator with a Huma one. That being said let´s not forget about Carls increased diameter ones either.

The build is "modular" to a large degree, which carries both pros n cons i´d say. Trigger on them can be set to nothing short of fantastic, which is always a great plus i guess. Buuuuut... per todays standards there´s no other way to describe the build than.. cumbersome. Elaborate if you will, to just be dead honest. That brings that someone working on a R-10 should be familiar with it before hand IMO.

Both of mine runs on replaced barrels, longer ones, mainly to cater to performance and they shoot very very well.

I´m a fairly big guy right (6,3 n 220) and spite that the ergonomics of the R-10 is nothing short of perfect. That being said it´s still "small enough" to fit even the youngsters.

Nah.
On a whole.. might be the R-10 has become of age. Might be. It´s still an absolutely wonderful pcp once you get to know it.

To this day though...it is one beautiful looking piece of kit. Asking me i´d state that the R-10 and the walnut shod Pretensis can fight it out as to which is the better looking.

[alanl]

I bought a Mk. 1 soon after they came out, and I’ve still got it. Lovely, and suits me perfectly. It had to have its seals replaced last year, which was a bit nerve racking, as I’ve never taken a PCP apart before, but it was all pretty simple. I suppose it was due new seals, as its got to be 15 years old now.

[PCPShooter]

I think the R10 time was when BSA tried to re contract with John Bowkett and they parted company after falling out

Which meant he stopped being able to intervene on the production …(which I think meant if it’s to work properly it needs to be done with skill / care / QC / some engineering skills, not hammered together)

Apparently my Gamo GX40 like many rifles uses his valve design/s which I’ve had zero issues with from new for 300 quid

I like my old no gauge pre this gen BSA rifles better - older Scorpian, Ultra, Hornet …