On Test - BSA Superstar

Triple Jack said:
I have been following this thread with interest as I recently became aware of the Superstar. As luck would have it I found one in a second hand shop and picked it up this morning. I am pretty sure it has a gas ram but will need to investigate. First impressions are it is really easy to cock and very smooth to shoot.

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What a cracking find. I think it looks like a Theoben one with that long series mod/weight. Does it have a valve bit on the end block or sumin?

I had mine out this morning for a little plink. Decided to remove the irons and swivels for now as not using them.

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I have not found anything that I can adjust. I will take the action out from the stock and have a look later. I did oil the stock and it is looking better.
 
Had it out today at 25 meters front rested. I've decided against the hobby pellets after I said I would stick with them. They do well untill the wind picks up and then they don't do so well. This time of year the garden tends to get hit by the elements.

Giving the JSB Jumbo Express 14.35 another go. Shot some groups and a re zero as i went. One nice group in there I'm very happy with.

Since I removed the iron sights and riser blocks (I will keep these as may go back to opens only one day) it really changed the barrel harmonics I think so was definately worth while putting some shots on paper and adjusting the scope. Feels lighter and more pointable for offhand, suprised what a difference it's made to balance and weight.

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Triple Jack said:
I have been following this thread with interest as I recently became aware of the Superstar. As luck would have it I found one in a second hand shop and picked it up this morning. I am pretty sure it has a gas ram but will need to investigate. First impressions are it is really easy to cock and very smooth to shoot.

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That's been to Theoben almost no question. Very rare if true. Brilliant find whatever it turns out to be. (y) (y)
 
I've had the superstar out today for a little bit of paper punching. It has done a fair few card cuts for the deck thread recently but not much in way of target accuracy.

25 meters distance, no wind really. Front bag rested as usual.

3 x 5 shot groups and minus 1 shot 🙄 they would have all been under the 5 pence piece size. Pretty happy with that. It seems to like the JSBs on the whole.

Lovely to use, sometimes I regret having a fair few rifles as I'd happily have the star out more 😁

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I have just purchased a Superstar from a friend, it's in .25 Calibre, looking forward to testing it out and finding the right pellet, also finding a suitable period glossy scope, certainly solid engineering and nicely stained stock, I'm thinking it was a good choice 🤔
 
Great thread, kudos to the original poster and those making some excellent comments.

I've had my .22 Superstar for quite a while as a project gun. It's been in working condition for a few months, with the exception of the cocking leaver catch, which was frozen. This thread spurred me on to fixed it, and the gun is shooting like a dream at just over 11FPE. It is short stroked and had a trigger polish and I'm just as accurate with it as I am with my HW77. Being slightly lighter than the HW77, I'm really enjoying using the gun and I'll sort out the cosmetics over the next few weeks. One of the best spring rifles BSA has ever made.
 
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Is there a way to disable the bear trap? For hunting I don't want to leave the rifle cocked for long periods. I want to be able to decock the rifle without shooting it.
thanks
 
Thumbs said:
Is there a way to disable the bear trap? For hunting I don't want to leave the rifle cocked for long periods. I want to be able to decock the rifle without shooting it.
thanks
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Hold the underlever firmly in the open position. Pull the trigger and release the spring tension by slowly bringing the underlever up to its closed position. Then re-cock and fire as required.
 
Thumbs said:
Is there a way to disable the bear trap? For hunting I don't want to leave the rifle cocked for long periods. I want to be able to decock the rifle without shooting it.
thanks
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brouwpa said:
Hold the underlever firmly in the open position. Pull the trigger and release the spring tension by slowly bringing the underlever up to its closed position. Then re-cock and fire as required.
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Hi @Thumbs

Ive not stripped and looked properly at the Superstar action. I dont recall seeing a bear trap when stock was off though 🤔

Ill have to see if i can de-cock it as @brouwpa posted. Ive not felt the need to ever do this but only punching paper etc, just discharge shot safely if need be 👍
 
Backgardenplinker said:
Hi @Thumbs

Ive not stripped and looked properly at the Superstar action. I dont recall seeing a bear trap when stock was off though 🤔

Ill have to see if i can de-cock it as @brouwpa posted. Ive not felt the need to ever do this but only punching paper etc, just discharge shot safely if need be 👍
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Thanks
I have tried holding the lever all the way down in the cocking position and the trigger seems to be locked. The trigger will not move. This is the same whether with the safety on or off. I removed the long “U” shaped wire runs that is attached to the trigger housing with a pin and rests on the cocking linkage. All that did was was make it so the lever was just loose and didn’t do anything.
The reason for deco king is to take the pressure off the spring while hunting. With my break barrels I can do this by breaking the barrel and while holding the barrel pull the trigger and allowing the barrel to go back to its normal position. If I discharge the rifle I will scare all the game away.
 
Thumbs said:
Thanks
I have tried holding the lever all the way down in the cocking position and the trigger seems to be locked. The trigger will not move. This is the same whether with the safety on or off. I removed the long “U” shaped wire runs that is attached to the trigger housing with a pin and rests on the cocking linkage. All that did was was make it so the lever was just loose and didn’t do anything.
The reason for deco king is to take the pressure off the spring while hunting. With my break barrels I can do this by breaking the barrel and while holding the barrel pull the trigger and allowing the barrel to go back to its normal position. If I discharge the rifle I will scare all the game away.
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I can see your rifle safety issue👍, but leaving rifle cocked & on safe won't affect your spring one iota.
 
chouchin66 said:
I can see your rifle safety issue👍, but leaving rifle cocked & on safe won't affect your spring one iota.
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Thanks
I was afraid,over time, leaving the spring in the cocked position would eventually weaken the spring. It is possible I may leave the rifle cocked for eight hours at a time. I do know that leaving loaded magazines for years doesn’t really affect them. I always thought springers would be weakened if left under tension.
 
Thumbs said:
Thanks
I was afraid,over time, leaving the spring in the cocked position would eventually weaken the spring. It is possible I may leave the rifle cocked for eight hours at a time. I do know that leaving loaded magazines for years doesn’t really affect them. I always thought springers would be weakened if left under tension.
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The spring , after use, has taken a set, to it's operating length. It'll lose a bit more length over it's working lifespan, true. Working cycles wear out springs - just like shock absorbers on your car.
Look in the Technical section... @Backgardenplinker has re posted some of Jim Tyler's fine articles on springs/ springer workings.👍👍 For 8 hrs. , I'd be inclined to just " put one in the dirt" though.
 
chouchin66 said:
The spring , after use, has taken a set, to it's operating length. It'll lose a bit more length over it's working lifespan, true. Working cycles wear out springs - just like shock absorbers on your car.
Look in the Technical section... @Backgardenplinker has re posted some of Jim Tyler's fine articles on springs/ springer workings.👍👍 For 8 hrs. , I'd be inclined to just " put one in the dirt" though.
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I have written BSA several times with no response at all.
Ha I was just thinking. No idea why I hadn’t thought of this before. Since my thinking about decocking is to take the pressure off the spring if cocked for long periods why not do this?

Put the safety on
Pull the cocking lever down enough to open the loading port and load a pellet but not enough to cock the rifle.
Load the pellet and close the port
Return the lever

The rifle is now decocked and ready to be cocked and shot with minimal spring tension time.

That would in effect be decocked with a pellet at the ready by only cocking the lever. Same effect on the spring as decocking. Only disadvantage is if I cocked and I decided not to take the shot i would have to shoot it out at some point to decock and the rifle. I think that would work for me. At least it would limit the time the rifle was cocked to a minimum while hunting.
Anyone see any disadvantages to this method?
 
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