BSA Pre-War .177 Caliber Rifle
Hello to all;
Back in the late seventies I was at a Gun Show in Fredericksburg Texas and came across what looked to me like a Pre-War BSA barrel cocking Rifle in .177 caliber, it was not in real good shape rust on barrel and receiver etc; and of course, would not shoot. I offered the guy 20.00 bucks he said it’s yours!!
He said he knew nothing about the rifle; got it from a buddy. I just put it in my safe and didn’t take another look at it until about the late 1980s as I recall. There was a fellow locally (Kerrville) that specialized in shotguns; he was actually from England and a trained specialist in the area of shotguns, Kirk Merrington, anyhow I let him take a look at it and he said it “was” a “Pre- War copy of the BSA Standard Rifle, sometimes referred to as “Millita Rifles”, made possibly in Japan or Germany although there were several other countries that also made copies and would be next to impossible to make certain an actual provenance! It had “Trademark Champion” engraved on the top of the receiver in a circle, weighed 6lbs 4 oz. and 43.5 inches OAL. I was later able to corroborate the info that it was indeed a copy, after looking at a photo on pp. 30 in “The Collector’s Guide to Air Rifles” by Dennis Hiller 3rd edition; that I obtained, that had a photo of the Pre- War BSA Break Action Air Rifle!!
So, I had myself a copy of an early Pre- War BSA Air Rifle 177 cal. In poor condition; thought about just leaving as is, as there was no real value in the copy anyway. About 5 years ago after further consideration I decided what the hell I will give it a go; all parts were there why not! This led to a complete disassembly polish and reblue of all steel parts and a stock refinish. The mainspring was not broken, the leather seal had completely disintegrated and other than a clean and polish of all internal components and replacement of the leather piston seal; that was all that was necessary. Interestingly a number of the components, barrel, linkage tube etc; had a number stamped on them #268?? It also had an adjustable trigger; there was a screw in the trigger guard that contacted the trigger directly to adjust sear contact.
One particularly interesting aspect of the barrel on this rifle was that it has an actual free bore in the breech end; .300” deep and .189” inch in diameter before it engaged the rifling which was standard .177 caliber. This meant when a .245” OAL.177 pellet was inserted it fell in leaving it .O55”below the surface of the rear of the barrel and not engaged in the rifling!! It also meant that the barrel after cocking and inserting a pellet must be held down when closing or the pellet would simply fall out!!(*The only reason I can fathom as to why a pellet rifle barrel would be made in this manner would be possibly to facilitate using Darts “and” pellets which is possible!!) I made a quickie adjustable pellet seater, so I could check velocity/ accuracy both ways, 1st , dropping in the pellet and then 2nd seating the rear of the pellet skirt flush with the start of the rifling in the barrel with the pellet seater; as would normally be done in barrels that have full rifling, no free bore!! Should be interesting! One other aspect was the breech seal was mounted in the breech itself not in the barrel; I replaced it with a seal machined from Delrin; the original was leather. The rear sight was adjustable for elevation by a hand wheel on the sight and windage by drifting of the rear sight in its dovetail.
After the refurbish; I set up for chronograph testing using Crosman 7.9 gr. PMHP pellets, the first 5 shots I simply dropped the pellet in leaving the barrel down while closing, LOW of 329 fps and HIGH of 344fps av-336 fps 3.5ft. lbs. The second 5 shots I used the pellet seater and set the rear pellet skirt flush with the beginning of rifling, LOW 369 fps and HIGH 378 fps av- 375 fps.@ 4.4 ft.lbs. Obviously seating the pellet offered better performance. (I have no idea the original velocities of this rifle??) I will now check the accuracy; I will set up at 10 yds. I will not bother to check accuracy by just dropping in the pellets! I will only test using the pellet seater.
I had to set the rear sight to its lowest position and shoot at the bottom of the bull to be on target at 10 yards!!! I tested first with Crosman PMHP; 5 shot group measured 2.300” c-c low right. Next, I tried the Polymag Predators: 5 shots measured .800” c-c and were concentric and centered, this was the pellet for this Rifle!! I did try a couple of others but not worth mentioning. I have found on several occasions that the Polymag Predators have come to the forefront in accuracy with many .177 cal. Air Rifles I have, other folks may have different outcomes.
To conclude this was an interesting experience, I believe the rifle is probably a little anemic velocity wise, I have read that some say the original Pre- War BSA rifles were around 400- 500 fps, I don’t know?? It is a neat little rifle, and I am glad I finally got around to getting it up and running!! Yep, it is a copy; but it’s ok by me!! And no, I will not try any Darts LOL!!!!!!!
Garey
