In sort i agree with you in everything.....well said
I bought mine from a shop for a negotiated £520. I managed to get a £30-35 gunbag for £25 and a set of £4 sling studs in the deal, but to be honest, I paid too much. I could have got the same deal from Ramsbottom's for £50 less.
Since buying it, I've only had the one opportunity so far to try it out so initial impressions are:
I shot it as a side-by-side comparison with my AA S400 (reviewed elsewhere on this site).
To be honest, I find it hard to justify the extra expense of a PCP multishot over a single-shot PCP. In target FT a multishot is generally seen as undesirable. For hunting, you should cleanly despatch with 1 shot - since the rest of the rabbits then usually leg it, it doesn't matter how many shots you have left. No, the only shooting 'discipline' I can see where multishot is an advantage is in fungunning and. clearly, you don't spend £500 on a gun for this. In fact, for £140 you can get a 'semi-auto' plinker for this purpose.
The fact is, I just wanted to try a multi-shot PCP, so why not one that has a regulator, match-quality trigger, and match-quality barrel?
First impressions are mixed. I attached a Hawke 3-9X40 scope which almost fell on a 30 yd zero. Groups from a bench rest (to eliminate shooter incompetence) were about 1/3 inch with a moderate to chewy crosswind. This was as good or better than I achieved with my (better-scoped) AA S400 on the same day. At 35 yds the pellet drop amounted to about 1/2 inch and still grouped about 1/3 inch. At this stage, comparison with a .22 becomes irrelevant (which is essentially why I bought a .177).
So much for accuracy. What about general use? Well the Superten is noticeably heavier than my S400 and would certainly make its extra mass felt when carried around the fields and woods I hunt in.
The bolt action is effectively 6-stage in that it requires a 'turn up' followed by a 'pull back' then a 'turn down' then a reversal of this procedure. The more usual bolt action of 'turn up', 'pull back', 'push forward', 'turn down' is obviously quicker, while the 2-stage 'straight-bolt' action is quicker again. The result is that, for all practical purposes, the BSA is not really much quicker to shoot - shot to shot - than my S400.
Although the BSA does have a 'quality' feel about it, I must admit I am a little concerned about how rough the bolt action feels (and I have quite a lot of experience in 'mechanics and engineering'). The bolt action does load a pellet from the magazine, but it falls a long way short of 'slick'. Certainly I'm glad I have a guarrantee and I will be watching this closely.
I was told that the cylinder, charged to 232 bar (as supplied) will provide around 150 shots in .177. So far I have shot around 60 with no loss of velocity on my chrono. Unfortunately, my charging bottle only goes up to 205 bar so this may result in a lot less shots. I may have to fork out for a 300bar bottle and sell mine on.
So far, and bear in mind I've only had one session with it, I'm happy with the Superten, but I do have reservations about the cycling action which still feels rather crude and 'graunchy'. Hopefully, this will bed in and feel as smooth as a £500+ air rifle should do.
In sort i agree with you in everything.....well said
good review, and as i have just bought one, agree with all said although my cocking system seems smooth enough to me,
Hi Jamie
I got my S10 ten years ago and it is still going strong. The stock is very nice until the woodwork approaches the action, after which it is just plain ugly
With regards to multi shots, I much prefer them to single shots. Why? Well for me, it's just pure convenience and ease of effort especially at night if you are using NV or a lamp.
Good luck with it
Hi Jamie, good write up.
The bolt on mine isnt especially slick but its not as agricultural as you make yours out to be either. If you think somethink is wrong, get in touch with BSA, their after-sales is excellent.
You mentioned weight, the carbine is considerably lighter and far better balanced IMHO a bit weighty, yes but that adds to the whole chunky feel of it and makes it more stable. Its certainly not too heavy to mooch about with, which is my favourite sort of shooting
Thanks for the responses, chaps (or chapettes?)
Given your comments about the bolt action, I've had a rethink. It's difficult to know if one persons 'graunchy' is another's 'bit stiff' as this is rather subjective. So the nearest I could get was to hand it over to my girlfriend (who hates guns) and make her operate the bolt. This seems to prove that I was being too fussy as she had no trouble with it.
If I try to push it all the way down in the rear slot it doesn't want to go past half-way, but half-way is enough to fully cock it so the answer seems obvious. The fact is, if I just use it without the concerns that come with having just parted with £500 it's ok really. Still nothing like as slick as an 80 year old SMLE though.
Saturday tomorrow so a chance to chuck some more lead through it.
Safe and happy shooting to all
The bolt on the super ten is stiff . I owned the full bull barrel version one reg. FAC. I did end up selling it. But if I still had it today. I think I would of had my machinist custom make me a longer bolt with a bigger knob at the end. Which IMO would take care of the "stiffness"..
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1..._2006/BSAl.jpg
I got my S10 ten years ago and it is still going strong. The stock is very nice until the woodwork approaches the action, after which it is just plain ugly
Mine is a Mark 3 so will have slightly different woodwork to yours. From an aesthetic point of view, anything with a ruddy great black bottle sticking out of it isn't likely to be pretty, but it does feel well designed in use - I particularly like the adjustable but pad which I think should feature on all rifles.
I take the point about multishots being more useful when shooting in the dark. I hadn't thought of this as I haven't done any lamping or the like.
Hello Jamie
When i got my Superten from Sandwell, the guy there likes to re lube the bolt which made it much smoother. After Mr Bowkett had fettled it then it was even smoother.
You dont have to turn the bolt down after pulling it back but its a useful check to make sure it came back far enough. I never bother too any more.
(Edit - I checked this with BSA. The back slot is more to aid magazine removal and to make sure you pulled the bolt back far enough.
Thats because of the deadlock gismo which is incase the bolt slips out of your hand when cocking it preventing the gun from going off half cocked so to speak)
As the others said the multishot is a advantageous when hunting at night.
Its also useful in the daylight when so little movement is required to reload that you can sometimes get a second rabbit feeding near the first.
Out of curiousity what pellets does it prefer ?
Last edited by Ric O'shay; 08-02-2007 at 07:21 AM.
BSA Superten BBK (Blueprinted), BSA Ultra SS Regged, Tanfoglio Witness, Umarex 1911
and many, many bows and slingshots
can you tell me what Mr bowkett did and how much and what kind of diff it made, i tried logun penotrators, accupells but the H&N field target trophy were the most consistant at the weekend
Unfortunately, the latest version does require that the bolt is turned down when pulled back. I was told this was to satisfy an American market requirement. It's not a huge problem really and remains pretty easy to operate. It's just that, at this price, I think I have a right to expect 'slick and perfect'!
So far only shot Bisley pellets (as recommended by the seller), but I will be testing a range of different brands for power consistency and accuracy in near future so will post findings then.
I love my MkII S10 BB Carbine. The bolt on mine was quite stiff and graunchy, but John Bowkett sorted that out when he did the blue-printing.
Mine groups well with Daystate 4.52mm pellets, although some BSA barrels seem to like Bisley Magnums.
I'm saving up at the moment to get a MkIII stock, which to my eye is much nicer than the one on my MkII.
Guess I must be old fashioned. I could accept a graunchy bolt on a £60 XS78, but for £500+ the gun should be perfect and already blueprinted IMO.
Around £200 or less, you may need to make allowances. Over that, you shouldn't need to.
Walther CP-2 Match, FAS 604 & Tau 7 target pistols, Smith & Wesson 6" & 4" co2 pistol, Crosman 1377,
Baikal IZH 53 pistol, Gamo CFX Royal,177, Umarex SA-10 CO2 pistol.
iv'e just got a mk3 bull barrel for my son to shoot i had a mk2 a few years ago and it was a pile of poo but the mk3 is so much better just hope my boy will like it
i have a mk2 s10 and its not a pile of poo in fact bsa assured me the only difference is the stok on the mk3.i do agree though the mk2 stock is ugly but that can be changed.and about the deadlock is there any way of removing it?id like to go up back forward with the bolt?AND thanx for the review