BSA brummie Supersport tinkering.

[Backgardenplinker]

Ive had this Supersport for must be a year or two now. @Danthepainter sent it to me, very kindly!

22 caliber, 1986 serial off top of my head. Its been used allot since ive owned it and its been great to be honest. Simple, honest break barrel. Last chrono check was below 8 though and its been gradually declining.

My thoughts are.. Strip and rebuild, try and get power back to around 10 where it originally was.

Its got tired metalwork. I 'might' try and re blue it with a kit ive got or possibly another way. I like the stock, refinished nicely by Dan and i dont see the need to change that right now.

What else do i know about it... Theres a WW spring kit inside. Possibly aftermarket piston seal. Ive never worked on one so will be a new experience.

Strip down and rambling post to come

 

[John79]

just might need a new breach seal to bring it back up

 

[timeontarget]

I have the same rifle, age etc. I found that the modern breech seals. The opaque type with the small slit in them popped out like a used shotgun cartridge when you broke the barrel. It needed a couple of wraps from an old C60 cassette tape to seat it firmly. Fine ever since and power at 10.5.

 

[Backgardenplinker]

Strip down part 1.



3 stock fixing bolts secure the action. The trigger guard is a bit unusual as it only has 1 bolt and kind of clips in at the front.

End block cap (and weight) slips off



Look in the end of cylinder...



The white disc is the guide base. Held by the chunky cross pin.

To remove the bolt it needs a tool. I made one out of plastic. Idea being it can push on the guide base and take tension off the pin.



A bit rough and not the strongest. I will make something better. Anyhow will come back to this later.

Removing barrel/cocking link.

One thing i really like about this supersport is the cocking link.



Its articulated but comes with a sort of skid plate to stop the link wearing away at the cylinder.

Im going to try and shim the barrel pivot on the link as it does have tons of lateral play.



Knocking this pin out was pretty straight forward.



Same with barrel. Its a plain pin holding it.



The detent latch is highly sprung! I didnt realise this and had the parts boing out as barrel came away from jaws. Luckily didnt get lost!



I removed the skid plate. Can see its bolted below transfer port.



A few pics of the action and rust.



Breach seal. There is a nick on it i noticed today but havent before. Will replace for sure.



Rifling is fine, bad pic . Cant see the crown, its set back from barrel end but no reason to question accuracy of the barrel anyway.



Next step is to place the cylinder in the compressor, use the tool over the pin and apply tension. The retaining pin tapped out once guide is pushed off slightly. My tool worked but it wasnt great and started to buckle. Making a wood or metal version tommorow



Part 2 shortly

 

[Backgardenplinker]

just might need a new breach seal to bring it back up

I have the same rifle, age etc. I found that the modern breech seals. The opaque type with the small slit in them popped out like a used shotgun cartridge when you broke the barrel. It needed a couple of wraps from an old C60 cassette tape to seat it firmly. Fine ever since and power at 10.5.

I do think you both could be right about the breach seal not being optimal.

I wanted to strip it down, have a proper look over everything anyway and decide over cosmetics/tinker

 

[John79]

I do think you both could be right about the breach seal not being optimal.

I wanted to strip it down, have a proper look over everything anyway and decide over cosmetics/tinker

Take some pics mate and let us know your findings

 

[Backgardenplinker]

Part 2 of strip down.

Pull out spring and guide..



Piston removal.

The piston is actually held in place by the main trigger sear. It can be slid back so far.



I thought that sear had to come out but it doesnt.

Pull the trigger.
Use a small screwdriver to lever behind the sear and you can hold it down to allow piston to pass over it.

Couldn't get pic of it properly.



Piston out. A brit seal?



The steel piston sleeve fitted had been almost cut in two at the slot. I would never have suspected an issue but no worries, can make another and look at the lever interface. Rifle has fired thousands and thousands of shots on these internals.



Ive rummaged in the spare springs and found a possible alternative. It fits the WW guide even better. Screws on lovely and snug. Something to play around with for a different shot cycle and cocking feel. Nothing wrong with the spring from the kit i just like to tinker.

Laid out on guide with parts here

 

[John79]

Very nice write up and pics , i have one of these in .22 DS prefix ive had afew years and never shot it Would like to get a welsh willy kit and a new seal for it and actually use it lol.

 

[jsud2002]

@Backgardenplinker enjoying this write up and photos. Keep up the good work

 

[Backgardenplinker]

Very nice write up and pics , i have one of these in .22 DS prefix ive had afew years and never shot it Would like to get a welsh willy kit and a new seal for it and actually use it lol.

Cheers boss. I dont think you'll be disappointed with your supersport if you do fit the kit and get out shooting. Nice rifles. Trigger quite basic, but useable. Ive been shooting mine with the open sights for a while.

@Backgardenplinker enjoying this write up and photos. Keep up the good work

Thanks mate. I will be tinkering and rebuilding it for a bit I reckon. Once happy with that.. Strip and maybe look at the metalwork. Update as and when

 

[Huggybear]

Watching this with interest as I have a bsa superstar and the internals look very similar, just waiting for my ww spring to arrive before I start to strip it down.

 

[Danthepainter]

I put an Aussie seal in it mate. Didn't expect that to happen to the sleeve! Then again I did reassemble it and post it straight to you after a qhick chrono. I think it was doing just under 10 but the seal was a bit tight. I never changed to breech though as it didn't seem to warrant it. The cocking link is (was) brand new because the original was bent. The kit is WW. Glad you're still using it.

 

[Steve636]

I'll be following this.

 

[Backgardenplinker]

I put an Aussie seal in it mate. Didn't expect that to happen to the sleeve! Then again I did reassemble it and post it straight to you after a qhick chrono. I think it was doing just under 10 but the seal was a bit tight. I never changed to breech though as it didn't seem to warrant it. The cocking link is (was) brand new because the original was bent. The kit is WW. Glad you're still using it.

Hi Dan. Ahh a red aussie. Seal seemed a good fit to me on removal. Only thing i noticed shooting it in the really hot weather a few months ago was the seal was squeaking on cocking. I think cylinder heat expansion! The supersport has been a bit of a garden plinking workhorse

The sleeve is quite impressive. One of those things, hard to know how they will last long time and i should have checked it earlier. Didnt give it any thought to be honest.

Re a few posts on here and that little notch the breach seal will get replaced. Again i didnt notice an issue but may as well change it now.

 

[Danthepainter]

Hi Dan. Ahh a red aussie. Seal seemed a good fit to me on removal. Only thing i noticed shooting it in the really hot weather a few months ago was the seal was squeaking on cocking. I think cylinder heat expansion! The supersport has been a bit of a garden plinking workhorse

The sleeve is quite impressive. One of those things, hard to know how they will last long time and i should have checked it earlier. Didnt give it any thought to be honest.

Re a few posts on here and that little notch the breach seal will get replaced. Again i didnt notice an issue but may as well change it now.

Thinking about it, maybe the new cocking arm is at fault for the sleeve? I got it from Knibbs and in my naivety simply didn't check properly. Sorry. It was one of the first rifles I ever tried to put a kit in so those little details didn't occur to me.
The rifle cost less than £100 so a re-blue wasn't really on the cards.
You've got me thinking about getting another now!

 

[Backgardenplinker]

Thinking about it, maybe the new cocking arm is at fault for the sleeve? I got it from Knibbs and in my naivety simply didn't check properly. Sorry. It was one of the first rifles I ever tried to put a kit in so those little details didn't occur to me.
The rifle cost less than £100 so a re-blue wasn't really on the cards.
You've got me thinking about getting another now!

Hmmm maybe the 'foot' of the lever is a bit burred or something. Ill have a proper look. Its always cocked fine by feel at least.

To be fair mate i dont think i had fitted kits or stripped down many rifles when you sent it either! You did a fine job on this one.

I am unsure on the DIY reblue. I know its far from perfect but i could make it allot worse. Im reluctant to strip the trigger down also

So still deciding on that. It would be nice to try and get a decent result from cold blueing and im also interested to experiment with more hot oil blacking. If i could use some kind of large high heat oven then id really like to see how that turned out.

Pick up another supersport then Dan what did i see the other day that was a really nice almost copy of the action. Parker hale striker?

 

[junglie2022]

They originally came with a black synthetic rubber lube sleeve on the front of the mainspring, work very well & last forever, stops any spring twang too, the one I had shot very well & was more accurate than my mk 2 fwb 124 with a more predictable trigger. think the lube sleeves may be still available, they were last time I looked, from knibbs I think? A bit of cut off broom shank makes a good tool to use to take it apart btw.

 

[bluestu]

Great write up and incredibly useful thanks as i have exactly the same to do on a lovely but very ttwaaaanngggy and very old supersport albeit with great stock and metal work. Couple thoughts for that rust just rub it hard and a lot with a rough oiled cloth, get rid of the brown and the bits on the cloth act as an abrasive for the rest. iI did that on a water damaged supersport i picked up for £20 quid and it worked fine - you end up with a blackened and bumpy finish which was fine for me as long as you wipe over with a rag after sweaty fingered use. Also for the cylinder end plug removal tool apparently a bit of broom handle works with a slot cut into it. Keep the progress reports coming please!

 

[jsud2002]

As a few members have mentioned a brush handle removal tool works well , here is the rough one I made for my BSA Meteor

 

[zx6fighter]

Good write up.
Interesting read, keep them coming