Thread: All things BSA

Originally Posted by Dicko

Good to see you didn’t deface our logo!
Showing promise. Enough to go hunting I reckon.

I don't know why he didn't use that for his aiming point, it's very precise and neat.

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

I don't know why he didn't use that for his aiming point, it's very precise and neat.

Ah bugger, didn't go past the post and someone else had a dig at skippy

How much difference is there between a monarch and majestic? It looks mostly cosmetic to me.

Depends which era Monarch, the later ones had diffferent safety and round top with no integral scope dovetails. But in general, the major difference I think was stock style. If you could fit a Monarch into a Majestic featherweight stock and could find one, I would get a Monarch and just dress it differently.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Picked it up today. My little collection has started

Attachment 215033

That fibreglass BSA Stock is something unique Ryan. Very interesting. What is the Calibre? How does it feel to shoot?

The bottom BSA Rifle is very nice - I'm guessing a (Royal) Viscount in .308 from about 1957-58? Does it have a hollowed out bolt handle?

Originally Posted by Copelli

That fibreglass BSA Stock is something unique Ryan. Very interesting. What is the Calibre? How does it feel to shoot?

The bottom BSA Rifle is very nice - I'm guessing a (Royal) Viscount in .308 from about 1957-58? Does it have a hollowed out bolt handle?

Yes I'm not real sure exactly the story behind the rifle, I bought it off the rack at Frontier Supplies in Te Anau so it may have been a fiordland rifle all its life, there was also a very nice zkk beside it that had me tempted, I assume they may have been from a deceased estate as are a lot of older rifles that turn up in stores. I actually walked away but then ended up getting a buddy from Te Anau to go back in and purchase the BSA for me (thanks @Rock river arms hunter ) as we live a couple hours from Te Anau. We have a boat at the marina in Te Anau so next time I'm over there I'll pop in and ask the guys if they have any backstory to it. The stock is well made and has been well looked after but doesn't seem "modern" if that makes any sense. In John Knibbs book there is mention of 5 only Viscounts that were released with a factory built fibreglass stock, it may be wishful thinking and I may just never know but I think it would be very neat to discover this was one of them, they would have been very radical for their time!
You are right on the bottom rifle although it's does not have a hollowed bolt knob, again using John Knibbs list the serial puts it as a very early manufactured Royal Viscount so possibly 1956-57 manufactured. It's had a repair to the stock which is why it now has crossbolts but they are tastefully done and somebody has put a lot of love into it, the stock is awesome condition and has had the chequering re-cut and been refinished in an oil finish. Such nice rifles that just feel quality when you use them, I'm quite smitten.
7x57 now has a Kahles S2 2.3-7 scope on it and Parker hale 26mm rings. I'll have the anodizing on the trigger guard re-done and will find a front sight hood from somewhere and it will be complete.

hi i have just picket up a bsa 22 hornet here in oamaru im looking for a set of nice steel rings for it fortunatly the bore is mint

I've just wandered through this thread over several nights & much enjoyed it, learnt some stuff too. I've long been a BSA fan, at one stage I had 4 of them, all "hunters" as I always knew them, I'm going to have to bone up on the corrects names. The long action one was a .270 Win, barrel was pretty good & it came with the "all range adapter" as I was told it was called, still got that I think. The only time I ever shot it was with this on & I'm guessing the not insignificant lump of steel at the end helped with muzzle flip but OMG, what a bloody awful thing to shoot it was, skinny little tooth pick stock, someone had slimmed it even further because it was almost impossible to get onto the scope, let alone use the open sights. It was marked for reselling pretty quick. I think I picked it up in Gore, there was a good gunshop off the main drag that I visited on most of my coach tours, morning & afternoon tea stops & lunches were invariably adjacent to a gunshop if I could work it, there were more of them back in the 80s. On the other end was a short action 22 Hornet, a nice little rifle, but even though the barel was pretty good, it shot like shit, the chamber was way oversized & not concentric to the bore afaics, fired cases were bulged & lopsided, no wonder it was quite cheap for its day, bought that one in Ashburton, a hardware/sports shop across the railway line from the main drag from memory. These two went into the local buy sell swap at the same time, both listed for about twice what I paid for them & as soon as the phone jumped off the cradle I knew I'd under priced them, the first guy had cash, there were two more chasing him down the drive. What I've got left now are two medium actioned jobs, a .308 that I had the barrel shortened to 22" & turned down slightly, original diameter at muzzle & straight taper to beginning of chamber reinforce so lost the rear sight mount. Not shot it much, same stock as the one on page 10 & not that comfortable imho, a bit scruffy where it had been bedded, the barrel turning left gaps. The last of the four has become my go to rifle, originally a 7x57 with a very tired barrel. Din Collings put a ,257 Roberts barrel on it, throated so I could seat 115-120 grain pills out to maximum mag length, 3", on a pretty skinny 22" Douglas barrel with the chamber reinforce styled after the original BSA profile. Possibly too skinny as it is adequately accurate rather than a tack driver. I'd like to get it shortened an inch or four & screw a can on the end. I really like this job. Other BSAs I have had/have include a open sighted .22 LR, unfortunately with an evil 15 shot tube mag & even though it was pretty average looking, shot OK, a grateful Govt gave me 2 1/2 times what I'd paid for it, for me doing my civic duty. My other one I still have is a P-14 Enfield actioned .303 Brit, it is the better quality one with the shortened mag, streamlined bolt & decent walnut stock. The rear bridge has had the great big hole filled with a soldered in bit of steel which is stamped with the BSA markings, in a Remington 700 contour. Before I got it, someone had taken a bloody great scallop out of the comb, so I finished the job off & gave it a nice straight classic style comb, it still needs the wrist grip checkering restored but in every other sense is a handsome beast, it has a pretty good barrel about 25" from memory & shoots OK. A bit of Info I haven't seen mentioned that I saw, is that the medium & long actions at least had surplus Enfield M-17 Mauser type non rotating extractors. I've long wondered if it was the supply of these drying up which forced the change to the next model, Majestic/Monarch?

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Yes I'm not real sure exactly the story behind the rifle, I bought it off the rack at Frontier Supplies in Te Anau so it may have been a fiordland rifle all its life, there was also a very nice zkk beside it that had me tempted, I assume they may have been from a deceased estate as are a lot of older rifles that turn up in stores. I actually walked away but then ended up getting a buddy from Te Anau to go back in and purchase the BSA for me (thanks @Rock river arms hunter ) as we live a couple hours from Te Anau. We have a boat at the marina in Te Anau so next time I'm over there I'll pop in and ask the guys if they have any backstory to it. The stock is well made and has been well looked after but doesn't seem "modern" if that makes any sense. In John Knibbs book there is mention of 5 only Viscounts that were released with a factory built fibreglass stock, it may be wishful thinking and I may just never know but I think it would be very neat to discover this was one of them, they would have been very radical for their time!
You are right on the bottom rifle although it's does not have a hollowed bolt knob, again using John Knibbs list the serial puts it as a very early manufactured Royal Viscount so possibly 1956-57 manufactured. It's had a repair to the stock which is why it now has crossbolts but they are tastefully done and somebody has put a lot of love into it, the stock is awesome condition and has had the chequering re-cut and been refinished in an oil finish. Such nice rifles that just feel quality when you use them, I'm quite smitten.
7x57 now has a Kahles S2 2.3-7 scope on it and Parker hale 26mm rings. I'll have the anodizing on the trigger guard re-done and will find a front sight hood from somewhere and it will be complete.
Attachment 215778
Attachment 215779

Yes, those cross bolts on the .308 look very nicely done. I have a '57-58 BSA Viscount in 7x57, which made its way to NZ via South Africa, which also has x2 cross bolts added, and the workmanship on them is superb. Some clever gunsmiths / stock specialists out there eh!

I must post photos of my various 1950s BSAs here some time - they are lovely rifles, not all mint but all (excepting the 7x57) in original condition.

The only other rifles of the 1950-1957/8 era which I think IMHO compare in look, feel, quality and all-around 'appeal' factor with these BSAs are the BRNO Model 21 and ZG47, and the Sako L46.

And the Mannlicher-Schoenauers (but they're pricks of things to mount a scope on)

hi all im after a bsa hunter rear sight if anyone has a spare to sell on cheers

Originally Posted by bluecod1967

hi all im after a bsa hunter rear sight if anyone has a spare to sell on cheers

Probably, if I can find them, I've several but they'll be different heights, depending on which barrel they came off. What caliber do you want it for, if I can find these I'll measure them & then someone with a similar caliber might be able to measure theirs? Mine will have come off 7mm, .308 & .30-06

all sorted thanks guys

Interesting 7mm 08 bsa

https://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/hun...4029734333.htm