Indeed it did. Until the production of the Feinwerkbau Sport, which I think was in the very late 1960s or early 1970s, the BSF break-barrels were the only spring-powered rifles that would do 12 fpe in .177. The others - BSA Airsporter, Weihrauch HW35, Diana 50 and 35, Falke 80/90, Webley Mk III etc etc would generally be around the 9 fpe mark in .177. Maybe a few HW35s would do 10-ish, but nothing but the BSF B55/S60/S70 would break the 800 fps mark with a normal pellet.
It's a very light rifle, and the powerful spring and large amount of pre-load the BSF has makes it difficult to shoot accurately for a lot of people, but hold it gently and allow it to jump around and it groups well. Sometimes wish I hadn't sold mine.