Wischo BSF S20 .177 CAL Pistol
Hello to all;
Back in 1973 I ordered my first spring powered break barrel air gun; it was ordered from “Air Rifle Headquarters” a small import Company located in Grantsville W.VA. Formed in 1969 & Owned by Robert Law, he was one of the first people to introduce the European Air Guns to the US, well at least to me! Beeman came later, in fact Beeman eventually bought out Robert Law’s inventory when they closed in 1979 as I understand it? I had seen a small ad in the back of a Firearm Publication as I recall about 1969. For ARH; contacted them for one of their catalogs and that’s when I came to realize the potential of these spring powered break barrel air rifles/pistols.I received the 1973 ARH full line catalog in that year; and one unit caught my eye, the “Wischo Custom Match Pistol” in .177 caliber with hooded front sight adjustable rear sight and a really attractive Walnut pistol grip with thumb rest (for righties) trigger shoe and adjustable trigger, cocking effort was reasonable in my view, never bothered checking it; still have not! The pistol was stated to deliver 450+fps /3- 4 ft. lbs. inch.177 caliber! $ 59.95 a bit pricey but I ordered one!! It wasn’t until 1990 when our shop purchased an Oehler model 35 Chronograph that I could verify velocities, more on that later. In 1976 I also purchased a Bavaria M-55 N.22 Caliber Rifle from the same folks, one cock equaled 8-10 pumps on a Benjamin rifle, power wise; real eye opener pretty impressive back then!! (Note these early imports had no manual safety’s due diligence is required.)
Actually the pistol was imported in several iterations namely; BSF, Wischo and Hy Score M-817,, as I later found out, all manufactured by Bayerische Sportwaffenfabrik (BSF) in West Germany and distributed in the US, under various names. Mine was an import by Wischo. I also have one a standard unit (photo included) with the BSF designation ( logos in the grip panel) but what you will find stamped on all the pistols most often is “Mod S20” usually on the breech block, not that it really matters.
I shot the pistol many, many times throughout the years I found it accurate and a real pleasure to shoot. Never had any trouble with it just kept silicone oil on the leather breech seal and put some in the chamber now and then which also had a leather piston seal .As a matter of note I always leave all of my spring break units with the barrel slightly broken (*not cocked) to prevent premature setting of the breech seal; other folks may not! In 2002 after 29 years( yep it lasted that long) I decided it was time for a rebuild along with some changes I had thought about, I replaced the leather seals, breech and piston, used the original mainspring, and drilled and tapped for a 3/8” scope mount base BSF S20 ,added a Stainless Barrel sleeve! I still shoot this pistol on a regular basis!!
As previously mentioned after the purchase of the Chronograph in 1990 I ran a series of test using Crosman 7.9 grain Beeman Silverbear 7.4 grain 177 caliber but could not find the info so; redid test as follows:
Crosman 380 fps. avg. 2.5 ft lbs
Beeman Silverbear 428 fps avg. 3.0 ft. lbs.
Close to the advertised velocities! Good enough for me. Accuracy checked at 30 ft. This pistol is approaching its 52 year mark and still going strong, I know the leather seals (breach & piston) are scoffed at sometimes, but if they are properly lubed with silicone oil they will last a very long time, probably not suitable for Magnum Springer’s of today’s time frame, but for others would probably give the synthetic seals a run for their money if properly lubed!! Just my opinion of course others may disagree.
Accuracy at 30 ft. as follows:
Crosman- 4 in .735”center to center, with a fifth flyer enlarging the group to 1.00” center to center
Beeman Silverbear- 5 shots in .595” center to center.
Not a FWB M65 Match pistol for sure, but pretty dang good for a now 52 year old leather seal unit if I do say so myself!! Early seventies; fascinating time frame for air guns; & for me!!
Garey
