BSA lightning clx first impressions

jonnymac said:
I wasn't contesting anything you say. A nicely tuned 95 is one of the best guns out there in my eyes. I have never found anything to touch it.
My Longbow with a drop in is more in the ballpark of the CLX, but is slightly better and definitely a better trigger, agreed.
My comments were more at the older Gamo gun. If the internals are pretty much the same, how come I can count the people that got them to shoot well, on one hand?
It cannot just be fit or finish, as the tweakers would have addressed that, surely?
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Sorry bud I didn’t think you were I was on about sorting the gamo one not the new one and I agree with everything you say and to be fair I think the longbow is the nicest break barrel springer ever made in walnut when you take into consideration looks, handling, shot cycle and accuracy and I was thinking of getting one before I saw this and to be honest I probably should but I like a challenge and this is still a work in progress.

I don’t think people like to go to extreme measures and feel things like drilling out the transfer port extreme but in standard trim the xl se lightning will never shoot well as a 1.8mm port is never going to work and I swear down they only did that so they could use the same internals for sub12 and fac and just reduce output y restricting the port.

This new ones a strange one as my transfer port looks to be a m4 threaded hole and I think I will fit a 3.2mm sleeve as 4mm seems to big especially considering the weight of the piston with the massive factory weight.

Seems they carried on with what they had been doing before instead of optimising for sub12.
 
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bootneckbob said:
I know this doesn't really belong here and in some ways Matt will have helped sales of the CLX and others thwarted them. Ultimately BSA knew what was needed so whatever the result that's on them. I was in the want one camp, but after this thread and the few videos of the shooting groups with them, I spent a little time shooting some of my rifles at 25yds yesterday. The main one to 'test' was the HW80. Nothing wrong there, 10 shots in a big hole (blister targets like on the videos). Then I did my 97 just to see if it was better. 5 shots in a very small hole; moving on as it was getting dark. Pro Elite, the old AA offering (.22 this one). I was back to shooting kneeling now still at 25. First thing of note is the trigger, the HWs are worked on, the CD is sublime. 4 shots in the bull and I slightly dropped the last one.
What I'd love to be able to do is have shot the BSA too and given a comparison but I can't. Based on what I've seen I am going to pass on it. I think if I didn't have what I do have already I would have 100% bought one. I just can't see how I can justify one and I don't just want another gun. I like to shoot all of mine, but it can be weeks between having a go as is.

Having said all that I still want one. Just not going to buy one.
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You've summed up my thoughts perfectly here. Especially your last sentence.
 
Varminter said:
Lefty loosey…. Nah 😂
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🤣 it may be but when I tried to get it out I did try to go both ways and it didn’t budge and snapped a fairly hefty screwdriver bit.

They definitely used some permanent loctite so I think soldering iron on the nut is the way to go.
 
Thanks for all your work on this Matty. It was good to see someone teardown the CLX in such a short space of time.
My thoughts are this: Having looked at the trigger block, the way in which it sits in the cylinder and its operation, it seems to me they slightly upgraded the Gamo trigger unit.
I was hugely disappointed not to see a latch rod but instead the groove cut into the piston as in the previous Lightening models. 28.6mm piston I think you said. Would be interesting to know if any Gamo models use the same piston such as the Jungle, Viper or Tiger etc because like I said in another post, Gamo have a habit of swapping parts around rifles.
All in all, I've very disappointed. I was hoping in the back of my mind that they'd produced a winner worth the money but in reality you don't get any more for your money than a Hatsan S60/55 or a Comet.
Its so disappointing.
 
nav2022 said:
Thanks for all your work on this Matty. It was good to see someone teardown the CLX in such a short space of time.
My thoughts are this: Having looked at the trigger block, the way in which it sits in the cylinder and its operation, it seems to me they slightly upgraded the Gamo trigger unit.
I was hugely disappointed not to see a latch rod but instead the groove cut into the piston as in the previous Lightening models. 28.6mm piston I think you said. Would be interesting to know if any Gamo models use the same piston such as the Jungle, Viper or Tiger etc because like I said in another post, Gamo have a habit of swapping parts around rifles.
All in all, I've very disappointed. I was hoping in the back of my mind that they'd produced a winner worth the money but in reality you don't get any more for your money than a Hatsan S60/55 or a Comet.
Its so disappointing.
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Yes I have the same feeling as you really but one thing to note is the parts and machining are as good as you will get and miles better than a hatsan or Chinese rifle and I do like those but this had not one burr anywhere and I can’t say I can think of that happening to me before although maybe this one was just lucky.


The trigger is also crazy as they went above and beyond to make a really nice what looks to be billet trigger block/cage but then used the same old 2 sear setup and I fully agree that’s a massive letdown.
 
nav2022 said:
Thanks for all your work on this Matty. It was good to see someone teardown the CLX in such a short space of time.
My thoughts are this: Having looked at the trigger block, the way in which it sits in the cylinder and its operation, it seems to me they slightly upgraded the Gamo trigger unit.
I was hugely disappointed not to see a latch rod but instead the groove cut into the piston as in the previous Lightening models. 28.6mm piston I think you said. Would be interesting to know if any Gamo models use the same piston such as the Jungle, Viper or Tiger etc because like I said in another post, Gamo have a habit of swapping parts around rifles.
All in all, I've very disappointed. I was hoping in the back of my mind that they'd produced a winner worth the money but in reality you don't get any more for your money than a Hatsan S60/55 or a Comet.
Its so disappointing.
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I’m not defending them, there are far more experienced people than me on here; but, does any of that stuff really matter if it shoots well? And what do we think the intended purpose of a lightweight, carbine break barrel is?

I think it’s intended to be a hunting rifle first and foremost, and if it can hit the required target size repeatedly within reasonable sub 12 airgun range, is that not good enough? I don’t think it’s intended to compete with TX’s and 77/97’s on the bench rest or FT/HFT circuit.

Not aimed at any one poster in particular, but people seem to be criticising this gun having never shot one, or having experienced any issues with one if they have, which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Surely we ought to judge the thing on how it performs, not how we think it might?
 

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Varminter said:
I’m not defending them, there are far more experienced people than me on here; but, does any of that stuff really matter if it shoots well? And what do we think the intended purpose of a lightweight, carbine break barrel is?

I think it’s intended to be a hunting rifle first and foremost, and if it can hit the required target size repeatedly within reasonable sub 12 airgun range, is that not good enough? I don’t think it’s intended to compete with TX’s and 77/97’s on the bench rest or FT/HFT circuit.

Not aimed at any one poster in particular, but people seem to be criticising this gun having never shot one, or having experienced any issues with one if they have, which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Surely we ought to judge the thing on how it performs, not how we think it might?
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To be honest? No it's not good enough for its price point. If HW can afford to put a latch rod in their 99 and a Rekord trigger for £299 I would expect at least that in the CLX. £425 is quite a sum for old technology and a nice stock.
My feelings are the 28.6mm piston may be in other Gamo rifles, they have many spring rifles this could have come from.
The shape of the trigger housing and its operation isn't new to us. It may be slightly different but its not in the Rekord, CD or even Quattro league by any stretch.
So the question begs did Gamo go out of their way to produce a rifle that is competitive in the market or have they done the same as they did with my GX40 where they took the old BSA Buccaneer and re-marketed it as something else?
Are Gamo up to their old tricks? I think so.
 
nav2022 said:
To be honest? No it's not good enough for its price point. If HW can afford to put a latch rod in their 99 and a Rekord trigger for £299 I would expect at least that in the CLX. £425 is quite a sum for old technology and a nice stock.
My feelings are the 28.6mm piston may be in other Gamo rifles, they have many spring rifles this could have come from.
The shape of the trigger housing and its operation isn't new to us. It may be slightly different but its not in the Rekord, CD or even Quattro league by any stretch.
So the question begs did Gamo go out of their way to produce a rifle that is competitive in the market or have they done the same as they did with my GX40 where they took the old BSA Buccaneer and re-marketed it as something else?
Are Gamo up to their old tricks? I think so.
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I think you’ve missed my point.

Which was, if it shot as well as a HW95, then why does any of that matter?

My HW95 bought last year was £20 more than I can get a Lightning CLX for and I couldn’t hit a barn door with it. It’s ended up with a (cheap off here) custom stock, new seals, new spring and custom guides and a lightened piston to get it to group anything like as well as a standard HW99 or 20 year old standard Longbow. Why aren’t Weihrauch fitting decent stocks at this price point?

If a Lightning CLX will shoot as well as a HW95 (which remains to be seen) without a custom stock and a load of ‘fettling’ then why shouldn’t BSA sell them at similar price???

We all know that at £299 the HW99 will gall at some point, the stocks are terrible (looking and ergonomically) and it’s a lottery on whether the piston seal is damaged upon assembly and you get a horrible twangy one with an unfinished spring.

HW are hardly a shining example of quality and value, they’ve just been re-hashing the same stuff for the last 40+ years. People seem happy to pay their prices knowing there are likely to be issues to remedy.

At the price it’s in shops, the new Lightning isn’t actually much more expensive than the old one it seems, and no reviews I’ve seen so far describe it as behaving anything like the old one.

If when I get chance to shoot a Lightning CLX I think it’s a bag of shite I’ll say so, but I’ll reserve judgement until then, I just don’t understand knocking the design of something without first trying it and finding it wanting.
 
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I wasn’t super fussed about a central latch rod but I was hoping for a 3 sear trigger but ohh well as it’s honestly the only thing they didn’t give.

I’m happy with this after a fettle and it feels very much like a hw99s/diana 280 in the shot cycle but feels so much nicer to shoulder and eye alignment with a scope is better than nearly any factory spotter air rifle.

You win some you loose some but I feel 90% of people are going to really enjoy this rifle and the only people who won’t are them who like a target trigger on every rifle which I kind of fall into but I can live with it because of the other benefits.
 
Hmm wonder if a cdt trigger will fit this new rifle , was a good upgrade on the older supersports .
 
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