Quote Originally Posted by Garvin View Post
Can't really agree with Dave about the quality being inferior to other German guns, although I've only seen older BSFs, so maybe there was a dip in quality in the '70s or '80s? What he says about values sounds right. I have a 1950s S54 and it's super accurate and beautifully made, if a tad agricultural in design.
Agree with that, mostly. BSFs I have owned and examined are well-made in traditional fashion. There are some oddities, like the laminated trigger, but they were still using steel triggers and sights and trigger guards when others had moved to alloys or plastic.

I’d put them in the same rough quality category as Dianas. My 70s BSFs have similar metal finish to my 70s Dianas, and slightly better wood finish.

Contemporary HWs, Webleys, and Walthers are a bit better finished (esp blueing). HWs and Walthers always had better triggers. FWB Sports are made to tighter tolerances, of great metal, despite their design flaws. But, excepting maybe finish (not sure), 70s and 80s BSFs do not show the cost-cutting of, say, contemporary BSAs and many Webleys compared to what came before.

As I said above, I’m not a huge fan of the 54. I am more inclined to the 55, 60 and 70. And I.J.’s unicorn 65.