Thread: BSA 7x57 advice

Your shotgun is a bit of a mystery. It was made after 1925, and from the 2-1/2" chambers I would think well before WW2. The Target brand on the action flat is nothing more than a marketing name chosen by some retail customer who would have ordered a few of them. I believe the gun was made by the Midland Gun company of Birmingham who were very active in the trade before WW2, and manufactured guns for retailers with their individual brands on them. Examples are fairly commonly found in NZ and Australia with names like NZ Farmers Co-Op, W H Tisdall, Colonial Ammunition Company, etc. These guns were offered in a wide variety of grades from plain hammer guns to high quality sidelock ejectors, and retailers often offered two or three grades. I suspect the Target brand was for an English retailer and I have never seen it before. Do not use 2-3/4" cartridges in this gun as that will produce higher pressures in the sort chamber and shorten the life of the gun. I believe Falcon offer 2-1/2" ammo on a limited basis. As I stated earlier, the gun is not designed nor safe to used with steel shot.

Your 7x57 BSA is popularly known as a Hunter model in NZ but the action was made in different lengths for different cartridges and can also be known as the Royal, Imperial, and Viscount, depending on the action length. It is a well-made and collectable rifle, and as such I would advise you to leave it in its original condition. Stock refinishing, bedding, or rebarrelling will all adversely affect its collector value.