New lightning clx any good?

[Dave.w]

Thinking of trying one of these in 177 any views on them at all please,and is it worth buying the walnut over beech??

[bootneckbob]

Can't say mine was. Shame as I had high hopes; maybe that was the problem. Got my money back but my 1985 BSA Challenger is still going strong.

[Trumpetier]

As usual with a lot of modern BSA,s, they look good, but are a bit shxt.

[Craig-P]

I tried one - gave it back after a few shots and went back to shooting a HW77 from the 80's

[Shed tuner]

see here:

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...ing-CLX-Walnut
and here:

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...-Lightning-CLX

My experience from shooting one a chap at the club had. Looks really nice, nice smooth shot cycle, terribly heavy trigger... but then it basically fell apart after two weeks. New gun so got his money back and got a TX instead !

[Dave.w]

Not sounding too good then

[Neil54]

Yes the walnut is worth the extra. Mine was anyway.
Is the CLX all I dreamed it was, no.
In your nightmares.
Shooting much better with a TBT kit and a new trigger.
At £450 it should be much better than it is.

They look great, that's about it.

[ashf9999]

Yeah the Walnut stocks are lovely (once properly oiled) and the gun handles great. I went for one of each calibre. Verdict…they’re ok. Yes, the trigger is the let down, as we’ve all been spoiled by Rekord and CD units. If you pretend you’ve never shot an HW or AA, then they’re alrightish. Fettling can help, but there is a limit. Machining standard is very good, though the transfer port is either a threaded hole on its own, or with a small brass insert set back, depending on calibre. Looks a little untidy, but guess it’s supposed to be flexible for potential export/fac market variations. The alloy sight rail is shyte and needs to come off (which they did repeatedly with mine of their own accord, until I gave up on them). Though the cylinder dovetails are supposed to be standard, I found I needed Sportsmatch 13mm BSA-specific to get a good fit (the rail is also supposed to be 13mm, but it’s very soft alloy and the stop screw is too big to thread into the cylinder stop holes). Others reckon standard 9-11 are fine onto the tube, but that didn’t sit quite right on mine.

Other than that, they are a vast improvement recent Gamo-BSA springers. But it could have been that bit nicer.

They’ve been out long enough to be hitting the second hand market, so a decent walnut one for say £250-325 or so is worthwhile. Not sure I’d necessarily pay full whack again.

[muddyboots]

I own a walnut stocked gun in .22 calibre. Whilst itÂ’s an improvement on the .22 Lightning GRT that I traded in after only a couple of weeks, I donÂ’t think it justifies the initial hype that surrounded it, in any way. In my opinion, itÂ’s just an average gun sat in an above average stock. As a result, I havenÂ’t really used mine since zeroing in the scope. Based on ownership, the HW95K is a much better gun, out of the box, with much greater tuning potential. ThatÂ’s where IÂ’d be spending my money, if I were you.

[TonyL]

From my limited experience of them (I've handled and shot one briefly) and owners' comments, I'd say it's a big, fat "no" and BSA have missed the mark yet again.

The rifle handles superbly. Feels lovely in the hands and points beautifully. The walnut stock is lovely. But the action isn't deserving of its stylish, posh frock. Indifferent finish to the steel. Big question marks over the trigger and scope rail.

The HW95 is a vastly superior rifle and costs about the same.

The HW99 is also a much, much better rifle. Needs one (well documented) fix doing and costs about £130 (?) less.

I feel the CLX should cost around £175-£200 in beech.

Such a massive shame with the heritage and tradition linked to BSA. Get it right and I'd be one of the many willing buyers.

[Dave.w]

If only 185 -200 would give one a go just for the hell of it,i bought a cometa because they were supposed to be good but it looks and feels cheap Chinese, and shoots like a cannon