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My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

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My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby gavinfdavies » Sun May 05, 2013 5:54 pm

... it's like a Lightning XL, only not as healthy!

I got my XL about 2 years ago to go ratting, but I never really gelled with it. On the only two ratting trips I took it on I seemed unable to drop a rat cleanly, some taking several shots to put down. That is not nice, humane, or good, and so I stopped ratting. What with other things I put the rifle away for later, and she's been cased up for a while now.

But finally I go her out and got some pellets down her. And she is not healthy!

Due to space limitations, I set the zero at 12.5 meters. Once roughly zero'd, I started grouping at 2.5m, 5.0m, 7.5m and so on, back to 22.5m. That's as far as I can go without standing on next door's drive to shoot! As it is I'm shooting diagonally down the car port, through the back door into the sun room, out through the sun room, across the lawn, and into a target on a back stop on the back fence! Note: I was the only one at home, and all connecting doors were shut, so no risk of some one randomly walking in on me.

In the mean time, the group sizes seemed to be around 10mm or so centre-to-centre. But as I got past 12.5m the groups began scattering until at 22.5m I was looking at over 55mm! :shock: "yee haw, it be a shotgun"!
For comparison with my old Logun-Axsor .22 carbine I could do 15mm at 50m.

So I've got a chrony and some jewelry scales on order, and next week I will run her through the chrony to check power levels. After this she will be being stripped down to parts and checked out.
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Re: My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby Triffid » Mon May 06, 2013 3:36 am

First step for me would be to check that the scope's not moving and to try a different brand of pellets.
Don't suppose you're using super-heavy weight pellets are you, like Barracuda's or something ? ? ? they give shotgun groups in my airguns and I've always found pellets in the 7-8 grain range work best for me. AirArms Field would be my starting point.

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Re: My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby gavinfdavies » Mon May 06, 2013 10:29 am

I'm using AA Diablo Field. The scope is solid, being on a 4-bolt long mount, which is clamped to the BSA's own anti-shock mount.

On comparison against the BSA parts diagrams, I think the barrel has been butchered, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow. The full barrely silencer is supposed to start up against the breach block. It's also supposed to have a sling swivel mount underneath, and actually quieten the rifle. Mine starts about an inch away from the breach block (with smears of epoxy around it), has no swivel, and doesn't seem to silence it in any way shape of form.

There's a serial number on the breach block starting 'A R ...' which initially suggests a part from a bsa supersport. The breach end is identical, but the barrel is a plain straight taper. I suspect some one has damaged the barrel and replaced it with a supersport item and cut it down with a hacksaw.

A knackered crown is the usual culprit of scattered groups.

Also the tip of the silencer has been worn down to shiny metal. The only way I can think of this happening is that the previous owner has been putting in muzzle-first into the ground rather than having the muzzle pointing skywards. :shock: if they did that, I wouldn't be surprised if they took a hacksaw to it!
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Re: My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby leadpig » Mon May 06, 2013 10:57 am

the lightnings seem to be very hit or miss,i know of three over here that have been sent back twice due to inconsistancy problems,which is a shame because i rate bsa highly
Sidebyside wrote:Leadpig is probably right,( though I hate to admit that :mad: ;) ) .


Fenrir wrote:It is often better to let people think you are a bit simple rather than removing all doubt.
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Re: My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby Triffid » Mon May 06, 2013 6:36 pm

gavinfdavies wrote:I'm using AA Diablo Field. The scope is solid, being on a 4-bolt long mount, which is clamped to the BSA's own anti-shock mount.

On comparison against the BSA parts diagrams, I think the barrel has been butchered, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow. The full barrely silencer is supposed to start up against the breach block. It's also supposed to have a sling swivel mount underneath, and actually quieten the rifle. Mine starts about an inch away from the breach block (with smears of epoxy around it), has no swivel, and doesn't seem to silence it in any way shape of form.

There's a serial number on the breach block starting 'A R ...' which initially suggests a part from a bsa supersport. The breach end is identical, but the barrel is a plain straight taper. I suspect some one has damaged the barrel and replaced it with a supersport item and cut it down with a hacksaw.

A knackered crown is the usual culprit of scattered groups.

Also the tip of the silencer has been worn down to shiny metal. The only way I can think of this happening is that the previous owner has been putting in muzzle-first into the ground rather than having the muzzle pointing skywards. :shock: if they did that, I wouldn't be surprised if they took a hacksaw to it!


Is the barrel bent . . . I had similar groups on a Theoben break-barrel once and discobvered it was bent I looked down the bore. Usual culprit is releasing the barrel before the trigger sear is engaged.
But it sound like your has been manked!
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Re: My BSA 'Cloudy Day' in .177

Postby gavinfdavies » Mon May 06, 2013 8:38 pm

I shall have a look down the barrel next time I have it out. My chrony F1 and some pellet scales should arrived this week, so I'll hopefully have it out before I got away on holiday on Saturday.

The only rifle I've heard of this bad was a review of an old service rifle converted to fire brocock-style air cartridges in .303 calibre. Even with new seals in each cartridge and modern pumps the review was unable to get any real power out of it. I don't suppose firing 150 grain 'pellets' helped much. Groups were something like an A4 sheet of paper at 10m - one pellet even wide through the target sideways!

I might also fire some pellets into a bucket of water with a bundle of rags at the bottom. Should stop the pellets without too much deformation. I can then check for any unusual markings, eg from a big-ass burr on the crown from the hypothetical hacksaw!

Still, give's me a good excuse to order a new barrel. .25 is cheaper than .177....!
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