I haven't watched the video yet but I have owned 2 BSA supersports of this vintage and loved them! Ok the trigger is a single stage but they are simple, lightweight and beautiful looking and I've never had a problem with one.
Not gonna lie that was a bloody interesting and informative video Nick, especially the short range capabilities of the flying bin lid calibre. Had a chuckle at the mag review, aren't they all the best thing ever made 🙄
Thank you for excellent video, very informative. 'I was considering the purchase of a used Lightning - checked serial number - starts with an S, so I'll give it a miss. Thank you 👍
The Original BSA Supersport Lightning has been my favorite springer for about 25 years. I have owned the HW 80, HW 50 and HW 95 but I just prefer the BSA Supersport line. My Lightning was from the first batch imported into the States and only that first shipment included baffled moderators. After that first shipment they had to install a straight tube through the Moderator. My Lightning was from has been tuned with a custom springer and machined guides and shoots at about 14 foot pounds. My front stock screws sheared off and I had to remove the broken screws, drill and tap and install larger screws. My pivot is still tight after thousands of rounds but I have had to slightly tap it to recenter it a couple of times over the years.
I had an old supersport well used that shot beutifully, I could match my FWB 124 on accuracy though it was a .22 & dare I say it had a better trigger. None of the awful lightnings I bought after were fit for use with bad barrels, all in .22.
Great video, real nostalgia trip, first gun I ever bought brand new, still one of my favourites, just something about the size and handling, when you fired it sounded like an elephant trying to hold a sneeze in.
I have actually known about the 1986 purchase date for a while. I used to smile when people said their Supersport was pre-Gamo. I looked up my serial number a while back and the information was a little off. I bought my .177 Supersport Custom Carbine E/E in 1995. I know it was 1995 as my "old style" Canadian FAC expired that year and this was the last gun I bought with it. My serial number starts with AR which according to the info is 1997- but obviously not as my gun is older. :)
I had a hardly used BSA spitfire ten in my hands owned by a friend. It's a Gamo with the crap plastic 10 shot mag and a nice stock. I could move the barrel from left to right. As you said just a pin that is not adjustable. What a rubbish and it was not a cheap air rifle. I'll never sell my full power HW80K in .25 cal. Cheers!
I have a Super10 MK2 .22 and it's incredibly accurate up to 40 yards with H&N Hornets and a grouping of 1/2" over 10 shots.. bought a Lightning XL last year and the pellets fly with a mind of their own 🤔
When the Supersport was launched it was available as a standard model or as the Supersport Custom , which from memory had a better stock , maxigrip scoperail and 2 stage trigger.
I have 2 T10”s and I really like the synthetic stock, it’s so natural to hold and the pistol grip in particular is great! The last spring powered BSA I owned was a .22 Superstar which I later fitted a Theoben gas strut in and still regret selling it 🙄
I had one of these around the time you are talking about and my only thought was that it was quite a harsh firing cycle which I always put down to the hard piston seal connecting with the end of the cylinder face.
The BSA Supersport cal 25 is the best allround springer ever made. It’s powerful, perfect size “to go” and shoot 1 inch group up to 30m. Forget the Rhino pellets…try the old Diana magnum rastatt. If the opportunity come, I will buy at least one more…
I had an early supersport. It was basically a larger version of the meteor and was a great gun. My brother had the new version of the lightning with the horrible gamo plastic trigger. It broke whilst he was out hunting and jammed up he couldn't fire the gun and we had to take it out of the stock to get it to fire. He bought a new trigger unit for it and the same part broke again. He was so happy with it he took the angle grinder to it
The answer is NO.🤣 Alhtough I have Welsh Willied a couple of 1987 Supersports and yes they're basic but had no plastic parts and respond well to a fettle.
I had an old 22 lightning synthetic stock carbine version with a slight de tune it shot at 10.5 it was a really good gun hardly any recoil and was very accurate when i eventually found a pellet match
I chuckled a lil bit at the AAR serial number prefix ;). You mentioned it's shouldering feel, I've handled a Supersport II,, it was ok, but the best in the shoulder feel of any airgun has to be the BSA Superten Carbine, only held one briefly in a gunshop 20 odd years ago, and can still remember how good it felt, should of bought that gun then and there.
I have a Lightning SE XL and honestly for a springer it shoots really well, nice enough trigger, smooth action, no twanging, enough accuracy, it’s never going to be a PCP but good enough as a cheap sporter.
Hi nick , looks identical to mine and I bought it around the same era think was around 97 / 98 and has the maxi rail, serial number starts with DS , it really could do with a service as it only putting out 7 ft lbs , don think it’s going to get much of a look in though as I recently bought a hw 98 but will be very interested in what you do with this, great video 👍
A major issue I had with these guns was the pathetically puny front stock screws. Worth drilling and tapping to take something more robust if you have an otherwise good gun
I had the same problem it's like they made the screws out of soft cheese or something . the Allen bolt head rounded off when you turned it. I had to drill the heads off to get the stock off
I had a supersport SS carbine for 20 years. It was plenty powerful but it didn't have the maxi rail and it suffered badly with scope creep no matter what mounts and scope I put on it. It was in .177 and quite a bit twangy. I took it to my local gunsmiths and he gave it a tune with new parts but it was still giving the scope a hard time so after 20 years of putting up with it I sold it and bought a Diana 280 compact in .177 and it was and still is an absolute delight to shoot and hunt with. I also have used both BSA mercury and airsporter models for 40 years with no problems apart from the not very great scope rails which could have and should have been cut deeper and longer. Other than that they still perform well to this day with the odd internal makeover. Not bad for guns made in 1981
Yep I had the same problem with a BSA mercury until I put the cylinder on a drill press and drilled a shallow hole at the back of the scope rails and then bought some scope mounts with the pin at the back
Fair review, yet some bits aren't true. 1) Lightnings, XL Lightning, XL Tactical, Supersport Deluxe have the Maxigrip scoperrail 2) Supersport has 11mm dovetail integrated in the cylinder 3) The trigger blade is metal (steel, deluxe models anodised aluminium). 4) The barrel hinge/claw wearing is nonsense, never encountered a sloppy one and I've handled and tuned quite a few. Actually the claw and lock up is verry robust comparing to Diana/Weihrauch which have the tendency to come loose. And in case the claw becomes loose on the lightning (again never seen this) dissasemble the barrel and squeeze the claw in a vice. The trigger can be upgraded to be pretty decent, but will never be anything near a Record. In case anyone is interested I have developed some mods which can be DIYed. Send me a PM. Forget about the SE (Gamo design) versions, those are garbage.
@@BW-rf7ks got a BSA meteor from 1985 . There's no barrel play and locks up perfectly. I've also had two mercurys and an old supersport and never had any problems with barrel lock up
@@MrYippagethe SE series are not just garbage but damn right dangerous. The trigger unit itself is made of plastic and there's a grey plastic slide on them that breaks and jams the trigger unit up so you can't fire it. This happened on my brother's gun and we had to take it out of the stock.decock the barrel to get the pellet outand then push the grey plastic part forward to release the trigger and fire it.
The original tactical stock was one of the best synthetic stocks I've ever tried, believe it was designed by a guy from hydrographics or something like that, the later design was ambidextrous and not quite as good. I bought a used Lightning which had a misaligned maxigrip rail, the barrel ended up on a Meteor as BSA used standard sizes on nearly everything, so the serial number (which is on the barrel) can be misleading as to where the rifle was made, or what parts were used.
Very interesting, I bought an older lightning (made in Birmingham stamped on it), I remember it to be great rifle. I sold it to help fund a Pcp then after time regretted it, so bought another. But it was a lightning se, made in EU I think it said, completely different gun, heavy trigger, harsh firing cycle, very mediocre accuracy, traded it back in quite promptly. All I have of bsa now is an ultra clx which is a cracking little pest control gun.
I know people slate them but I have a lightning xl se in .22 has a lovely walnut stock .....light weight good power and accuracy and well made there is some plastic parts but not a deal breaker foot shorter than my hw35e and half the weight of my hw97
Greetings from Buenos Aires, Nick. BSA springer: nice stuff. Now, a doubt I have: I´m seeing lots of brake barrels with suppressor. Does it worth; meaning most of the noise comes from the compressor chamber, so don´t see the advantage. Please your comments. Cheers ... !
Not long bought a 177 grt lightning and its not too bad, i put a longer adjustment screw in the trigger. I dont like the trigger guard on it i much prefer a squared off design, makes the gun feel uncomfortable. If gamo just put a little more effort into it the gun would be much better
Ok so as you know I bought a BSA XL SE GRT new, it took some fettling and now shoots pretty good but nothing like a HW or AA. Can now do 20p size groups at 40m, but shouldnt have needed the following.... Problems: Barrel pins slide left to right, shimmed with plastic to stop that. Barrel seal swapped to HW red seal made a much better lock up and removed the barrel movement. literally every stock screw loose after 20 shots from the box, fixed with loctite. Blacking already coming off around the barrel lock up after less than 1 tin of pellets. close look at the stock and you see the QC wasnt brilliant.... My plastic cheap as fuck "BSA" (Gamo) Hornet not a single problem and that things been abused, accurate to 30m but feels disgusting
@@BW-rf7ks yeah old SE is the new ones and the new XL SE are also practically full gamo the same internals, just with the BSA style bodies and barrels...but assembled in a Gamo factory. not BSA hence stamped made in the EU.. if you look back at them on airgun spares handy diagrams, all gamo has done is just swap the trigger and piston about Gamo branded rifles also somehow tend to be better quality? I put it down to the temperature in which the parts are machined in spain fitted to the bits made in birmingham. cause the whole spanish guns are pretty decently built for cheap rifles
An interesting video as always,however you mentioned"When we were in Cornwall,"but your addess is still in Cornwall,was that a slip of the tongue,or did you want to see if we were paying attention ....
Not all if them gad plastic trigger blades I think they used 4 diferant types over the years also the prefix S version wasent made in Spain only the se type where for many years now I believe it's back in the UK the se versions are very avoidable over sprung the tp is to small and the triggers are poor
I bought a few bsa guns since the 1970s but the biggest disappointment was the Firebird. The first one was running at 16fb and I had the devil of a job to return it, the second replacement worked great for 2 years then it started to leak and nobody wants to repair it including BSA who didn't seem interested and suggested I talk to the designer ! Such appalling attitude puts me off from buying anything from them again unless it's a old model that is going to be sold on.
It's good you are updating your vids abd doing new BUT the new jokey sytle is not great. The hw80 was awful, do a reshoot in serious mode and see the views rise, I can't watch any more like this
I get what you’re saying, but I shot and reshot that for two days. It wasn’t a joke, if the gun or any part of it was in shot, it was restricted! This video and the two before the 80 are what they should be. I will keep on trying with the 80, but may have to modify it somehow.
Never again, I bought a .177 BSA Lightning XE, yes it's a beautiful looking, well finished, and handles supremely well, BUT it is so pellet fussy, groups like a sawn off shotgun, and noisy, recently the silencer came off as the threads had stripped over the years. my BSA Comet is far better, in fact my 30 year old Meteor is more accurate.
I had a Lightning SE .177 couldn't get all shots on the same 6x6 card at 25 yards with any pellet. Then I tried JSB 4.53 and champagne Charlie was pellet on pellet,zeroed it and a magpie was witness as to its accuracy! I have a parker hale striker in .22 less muzzle flip because of the steel moderator.
Errr news flash i have a very old BSA Meteor MKII the barrel Pivot point was a rivited in pin this is one of the first MKII it now has a 7mm Hardened pivot it also now has a Pitatiny weaver rail on it that 15.5 mm rail was bloody disgusting
Yo guys ,the barrel boss is total shite,,had several from 13:57 the early 60s and got one which the barrel came off in my hands ,brazed,,got a barrel back and it was a smooth bore 22 ,eh, never even heard of one,,but the boss is not substantial and it will move side to side when cocked,,so BSA change the fuckin barrel mount ,just look at HW ,,or Walther,,,do it or shut down,,,
I told them what to do to improve the Meteor,,,as the barrel boss was shite,,,but ,,,fuck all ,,,it's still the same,,,that's why I have Weirauch guns ,,,
I haven't watched the video yet but I have owned 2 BSA supersports of this vintage and loved them!
Ok the trigger is a single stage but they are simple, lightweight and beautiful looking and I've never had a problem with one.
Not gonna lie that was a bloody interesting and informative video Nick, especially the short range capabilities of the flying bin lid calibre.
Had a chuckle at the mag review, aren't they all the best thing ever made 🙄
Looking forward to seeing your progress with this rifle
Hats off to the guy who was hitting a coke can at 100 yards with open sights , i wouldn’t even be able to see the coke can with open sights lol .
The only BSA i want has to be made in England 🏴
Some very useful information there pal , keep up the good work, 😁👍
I believe from mkii onwards guns were fitted with what BSA called "lubricant tube" basically a nylon piston liner.
Thank you for excellent video, very informative. 'I was considering the purchase of a used Lightning - checked serial number - starts with an S, so I'll give it a miss. Thank you 👍
Very interesting video Nick!
Glad you’re going to start making a few more, I shall watch with interest 👍
An excellent post, very helpful 👍
The Original BSA Supersport Lightning has been my favorite springer for about 25 years. I have owned the HW 80, HW 50 and HW 95 but I just prefer the BSA Supersport line. My Lightning was from the first batch imported into the States and only that first shipment included baffled moderators. After that first shipment they had to install a straight tube through the Moderator. My Lightning was from has been tuned with a custom springer and machined guides and shoots at about 14 foot pounds. My front stock screws sheared off and I had to remove the broken screws, drill and tap and install larger screws. My pivot is still tight after thousands of rounds but I have had to slightly tap it to recenter it a couple of times over the years.
I had an old supersport well used that shot beutifully, I could match my FWB 124 on accuracy though it was a .22 & dare I say it had a better trigger. None of the awful lightnings I bought after were fit for use with bad barrels, all in .22.
I bought a BSA Super sport custom model,back in 87 .It was a good little rifle.
Big holes matter!
Great video, real nostalgia trip, first gun I ever bought brand new, still one of my favourites, just something about the size and handling, when you fired it sounded like an elephant trying to hold a sneeze in.
I have actually known about the 1986 purchase date for a while. I used to smile when people said their Supersport was pre-Gamo. I looked up my serial number a while back and the information was a little off. I bought my .177 Supersport Custom Carbine E/E in 1995. I know it was 1995 as my "old style" Canadian FAC expired that year and this was the last gun I bought with it. My serial number starts with AR which according to the info is 1997- but obviously not as my gun is older. :)
I had a hardly used BSA spitfire ten in my hands owned by a friend. It's a Gamo with the crap plastic 10 shot mag and a nice stock. I could move the barrel from left to right. As you said just a pin that is not adjustable. What a rubbish and it was not a cheap air rifle.
I'll never sell my full power HW80K in .25 cal. Cheers!
I have a Super10 MK2 .22 and it's incredibly accurate up to 40 yards with H&N Hornets and a grouping of 1/2" over 10 shots.. bought a Lightning XL last year and the pellets fly with a mind of their own 🤔
When the Supersport was launched it was available as a standard model or as the Supersport Custom , which from memory had a better stock , maxigrip scoperail and 2 stage trigger.
I have 2 T10”s and I really like the synthetic stock, it’s so natural to hold and the pistol grip in particular is great!
The last spring powered BSA I owned was a .22 Superstar which I later fitted a Theoben gas strut in and still regret selling it 🙄
I think the issue with BSA is the distinction between being owned by Gamo and being made by Gamo……… ;-)
Intersting stuff. I had given up on the idea of getting a Lightning, but this has got me interested again.
I had one of these around the time you are talking about and my only thought was that it was quite a harsh firing cycle which I always put down to the hard piston seal connecting with the end of the cylinder face.
The BSA Supersport cal 25 is the best allround springer ever made.
It’s powerful, perfect size “to go” and shoot 1 inch group up to 30m.
Forget the Rhino pellets…try the old Diana magnum rastatt.
If the opportunity come, I will buy at least one more…
I had an early supersport. It was basically a larger version of the meteor and was a great gun. My brother had the new version of the lightning with the horrible gamo plastic trigger. It broke whilst he was out hunting and jammed up he couldn't fire the gun and we had to take it out of the stock to get it to fire. He bought a new trigger unit for it and the same part broke again. He was so happy with it he took the angle grinder to it
Best thing for most gamo built lightnings.....lol.
The answer is NO.🤣 Alhtough I have Welsh Willied a couple of 1987 Supersports and yes they're basic but had no plastic parts and respond well to a fettle.
I had an old 22 lightning synthetic stock carbine version with a slight de tune it shot at 10.5 it was a really good gun hardly any recoil and was very accurate when i eventually found a pellet match
I chuckled a lil bit at the AAR serial number prefix ;). You mentioned it's shouldering feel, I've handled a Supersport II,, it was ok, but the best in the shoulder feel of any airgun has to be the BSA Superten Carbine, only held one briefly in a gunshop 20 odd years ago, and can still remember how good it felt, should of bought that gun then and there.
I have a Lightning SE XL and honestly for a springer it shoots really well, nice enough trigger, smooth action, no twanging, enough accuracy, it’s never going to be a PCP but good enough as a cheap sporter.
Hi nick , looks identical to mine and I bought it around the same era think was around 97 / 98 and has the maxi rail, serial number starts with DS , it really could do with a service as it only putting out 7 ft lbs , don think it’s going to get much of a look in though as I recently bought a hw 98 but will be very interested in what you do with this, great video 👍
I always though the old tactical lightning was made in the uk?
I had a supersport carbine and loved it.
A major issue I had with these guns was the pathetically puny front stock screws. Worth drilling and tapping to take something more robust if you have an otherwise good gun
I had the same problem it's like they made the screws out of soft cheese or something . the Allen bolt head rounded off when you turned it. I had to drill the heads off to get the stock off
My bsa lighting was absolutely shite , i sold it and got myself a Hw97k
I had a supersport SS carbine for 20 years. It was plenty powerful but it didn't have the maxi rail and it suffered badly with scope creep no matter what mounts and scope I put on it. It was in .177 and quite a bit twangy. I took it to my local gunsmiths and he gave it a tune with new parts but it was still giving the scope a hard time so after 20 years of putting up with it I sold it and bought a Diana 280 compact in .177 and it was and still is an absolute delight to shoot and hunt with. I also have used both BSA mercury and airsporter models for 40 years with no problems apart from the not very great scope rails which could have and should have been cut deeper and longer. Other than that they still perform well to this day with the odd internal makeover. Not bad for guns made in 1981
Yep I had the same problem with a BSA mercury until I put the cylinder on a drill press and drilled a shallow hole at the back of the scope rails and then bought some scope mounts with the pin at the back
Fair review, yet some bits aren't true.
1) Lightnings, XL Lightning, XL Tactical, Supersport Deluxe have the Maxigrip scoperrail
2) Supersport has 11mm dovetail integrated in the cylinder
3) The trigger blade is metal (steel, deluxe models anodised aluminium).
4) The barrel hinge/claw wearing is nonsense, never encountered a sloppy one and I've handled and tuned quite a few. Actually the claw and lock up is verry robust comparing to Diana/Weihrauch which have the tendency to come loose. And in case the claw becomes loose on the lightning (again never seen this) dissasemble the barrel and squeeze the claw in a vice.
The trigger can be upgraded to be pretty decent, but will never be anything near a Record. In case anyone is interested I have developed some mods which can be DIYed. Send me a PM.
Forget about the SE (Gamo design) versions, those are garbage.
some mods🤔
@@BW-rf7ks got a BSA meteor from 1985 . There's no barrel play and locks up perfectly. I've also had two mercurys and an old supersport and never had any problems with barrel lock up
Some early guns definitely had plastic trigger blades. My 1990 carbine did.
@@MrYippagethe SE series are not just garbage but damn right dangerous. The trigger unit itself is made of plastic and there's a grey plastic slide on them that breaks and jams the trigger unit up so you can't fire it. This happened on my brother's gun and we had to take it out of the stock.decock the barrel to get the pellet outand then push the grey plastic part forward to release the trigger and fire it.
Had an SE GRT briefly and I have to admit I was disappointed.
The original tactical stock was one of the best synthetic stocks I've ever tried, believe it was designed by a guy from hydrographics or something like that, the later design was ambidextrous and not quite as good. I bought a used Lightning which had a misaligned maxigrip rail, the barrel ended up on a Meteor as BSA used standard sizes on nearly everything, so the serial number (which is on the barrel) can be misleading as to where the rifle was made, or what parts were used.
Hahaha Funnily enough i have just picked up a Beautiful Airsporter mod 6 in 22 ..They just don't make them like this Nowadays!😆
Very interesting, I bought an older lightning (made in Birmingham stamped on it), I remember it to be great rifle. I sold it to help fund a Pcp then after time regretted it, so bought another. But it was a lightning se, made in EU I think it said, completely different gun, heavy trigger, harsh firing cycle, very mediocre accuracy, traded it back in quite promptly. All I have of bsa now is an ultra clx which is a cracking little pest control gun.
I know people slate them but I have a lightning xl se in .22 has a lovely walnut stock .....light weight good power and accuracy and well made there is some plastic parts but not a deal breaker foot shorter than my hw35e and half the weight of my hw97
Very interesting 👍🏻
Greetings from Buenos Aires, Nick. BSA springer: nice stuff. Now, a doubt I have: I´m seeing lots of brake barrels with suppressor. Does it worth; meaning most of the noise comes from the compressor chamber, so don´t see the advantage. Please your comments. Cheers ... !
Not long bought a 177 grt lightning and its not too bad, i put a longer adjustment screw in the trigger.
I dont like the trigger guard on it i much prefer a squared off design, makes the gun feel uncomfortable.
If gamo just put a little more effort into it the gun would be much better
Having just repaired a Supersport, I'd be interested to se if your opinion changes at all once you've stripped it?
Very interesting 👍
You touched the gun this time? Is it going to get pulled or demonetized? Or did you sort things out?
It is only the 80?🤨
@@tbtairrifletuning1520 that’s F’n weird
Ok so as you know I bought a BSA XL SE GRT new,
it took some fettling and now shoots pretty good but nothing like a HW or AA.
Can now do 20p size groups at 40m, but shouldnt have needed the following....
Problems:
Barrel pins slide left to right, shimmed with plastic to stop that.
Barrel seal swapped to HW red seal made a much better lock up and removed the barrel movement.
literally every stock screw loose after 20 shots from the box, fixed with loctite.
Blacking already coming off around the barrel lock up after less than 1 tin of pellets.
close look at the stock and you see the QC wasnt brilliant....
My plastic cheap as fuck "BSA" (Gamo) Hornet not a single problem and that things been abused, accurate to 30m but feels disgusting
The SE is a totally different rifle, Gamo design.
@@BW-rf7ks yeah old SE is
the new ones and the new XL SE are also practically full gamo the same internals, just with the BSA style bodies and barrels...but assembled in a Gamo factory. not BSA
hence stamped made in the EU..
if you look back at them on airgun spares handy diagrams, all gamo has done is just swap the trigger and piston about
Gamo branded rifles also somehow tend to be better quality?
I put it down to the temperature in which the parts are machined in spain fitted to the bits made in birmingham.
cause the whole spanish guns are pretty decently built for cheap rifles
What's wrong with Gamo?
An interesting video as always,however you mentioned"When we were in Cornwall,"but your addess is still in Cornwall,was that a slip of the tongue,or did you want to see if we were paying attention ....
The returns address is still Cornwall, the UK office is on Teesside, but I’m in France😳
Brittany? @@tbtairrifletuning1520
Not all if them gad plastic trigger blades I think they used 4 diferant types over the years also the prefix S version wasent made in Spain only the se type where for many years now I believe it's back in the UK the se versions are very avoidable over sprung the tp is to small and the triggers are poor
Typo should be XL
how about a hw in .25
Yes please. I’ll send you my address😁
500 fps will be about one mill dot on your scope, every 7 yards.
I bought a few bsa guns since the 1970s but the biggest disappointment was the Firebird. The first one was running at 16fb and I had the devil of a job to return it, the second replacement worked great for 2 years then it started to leak and nobody wants to repair it including BSA who didn't seem interested and suggested I talk to the designer ! Such appalling attitude puts me off from buying anything from them again unless it's a old model that is going to be sold on.
I had a Webley Vulcan now that was an excellent rat air rifle...
A proper Lightning, British built, is fairly capable. The new Gamo interpretation is bloody terrible. It's a shame as the new rifles are gorgeous.
BSA supersport custom stunning and rare and made by British craftsman.
One up from cometa but it's a no
It's good you are updating your vids abd doing new BUT the new jokey sytle is not great. The hw80 was awful, do a reshoot in serious mode and see the views rise, I can't watch any more like this
I get what you’re saying, but I shot and reshot that for two days. It wasn’t a joke, if the gun or any part of it was in shot, it was restricted! This video and the two before the 80 are what they should be. I will keep on trying with the 80, but may have to modify it somehow.
Never again, I bought a .177 BSA Lightning XE, yes it's a beautiful looking, well finished, and handles supremely well, BUT it is so pellet fussy, groups like a sawn off shotgun, and noisy, recently the silencer came off as the threads had stripped over the years. my BSA Comet is far better, in fact my 30 year old Meteor is more accurate.
I had a Lightning SE .177 couldn't get all shots on the same 6x6 card at 25 yards with any pellet.
Then I tried JSB 4.53 and champagne Charlie was pellet on pellet,zeroed it and a magpie was witness as to its accuracy!
I have a parker hale striker in .22 less muzzle flip because of the steel moderator.
Bought one... total pile of shite got rid and bought a 99s....talk about different class....
NO!
Its a no nearly as bad as a comet a😂
Errr news flash i have a very old BSA Meteor MKII the barrel Pivot point was a rivited in pin this is one of the first MKII it now has a 7mm Hardened pivot it also now has a Pitatiny weaver rail on it that 15.5 mm rail was bloody disgusting
Yo guys ,the barrel boss is total shite,,had several from 13:57 the early 60s and got one which the barrel came off in my hands ,brazed,,got a barrel back and it was a smooth bore
22 ,eh, never even heard of one,,but the boss is not substantial and it will move side to side when cocked,,so BSA change the fuckin barrel mount ,just look at HW ,,or Walther,,,do it or shut down,,,
HW 30. Brilliant gun. I have two, scoped and irons. What BSA never achieved, a great pity.
I told them what to do to improve the Meteor,,,as the barrel boss was shite,,,but ,,,fuck all ,,,it's still the same,,,that's why I have Weirauch guns ,,,