A Bit of diy on an old BSA Airsporter!!

[johnbaz]

Hi all

I had an old BSA Airsporter given to me by a nice chap at the bottom of the country wasn't going to use any more...

Two days later Parcelforce knocked on the door with a package for me!!

The poor gun looked as though it had been left propped up against a barn twenty years ago and forgotten about

Out with the wire wool, oil and sandpaper!!!

The action was very rusty so I used wire wool soaked in light machine oil, I couldn't believe how five minutes rubbing brought up the steel!!


The sun bleached stock..

The rusty action..

After five mins with oily wire wool..

The stock after some elbow grease!!

I stripped the stock, gave it two rubs of Alkanet root oil then two coats of a Shellac based grain sealer then five or six rubs of boiled Linseed oil..

It could do with a couple more coats of Linseed oil rubbing in and the action could really do with another five minutes with the wire wool!!



Cheers, john

 

[Shewie]

Wow, that's come up a treat John



I used to have an Airsporter when I was younger, I lent it to somebody one day and when I got it back the loading lever had been snapped clean off. I never managed to find a replacement so it just got left for years, I ended up giving it away as a project on here a few years ago. Look after that lever as they're a little bit vulnerable if you take a tumble

 

[ozzy1977]

Cracking job, well done.

 

[resnikov]

That stock looks great. Well done.

 

[Goatboy]

Lovely job you made bring that old girl back to life John, like Rich I had one too (in fact it was the first rifle I bought) Good power too, once got a double bunny headshot with one shot with her. Still have a BSA to this day although it's a Super10 carbine.

Hope you enjoy shooting her, will be a real potfiller that one.

 

[rik_uk3]

Wonderful stuff, well done

 

[dwardo]

New lease of life for an old girl. Nice one.

 

[Dannytsg]

Nice work and some good inspiration as I have just picked up a BSA meteor that needs stock refurbishment and metal work attention.

 

[titanius anglesmith]

Hi all,
very nice referb job you have done there.I have a mark 1 meteor to have a go at sometime. I like the old bsa airguns.
Regards Chris.

 

[johnnytheboy]

Fantastic! I used to love my old airsporter!

 

[Mesquite]

You've done a grand job bringing it back to that condition

 

[Angst]

lovely job m8!!

a

 

[Clouston98]

Great job!

 

[johnbaz]

Thanks everyone!!

I love my old Airsporters too, I think I have around a dozen or so..

Here's a Mk1 that I bought cheaply (poor thing had been abused badly!, The last owner had split the stock in two and tried gluing it with...... Polyfiller
This made repairing the stock more difficult as the Polyfiller was stuck like s**t to a blanket! had to pick all the lot off with a watchmakers screwdriver so that the two parts matched...


As I received the gun..

The action was rusty and to make things worse, was painted over with black paint!!

I set to removing everything on the action with the slack part of a small (30"x1") linisher..

Almost done!!

Yep, near enough!!

I reglued the stock with a sized piece of wood to make holding the joint easier then lashed it together with Paracord (or something similar!)..

Once the joint was fully dry, I made two Walnut 7mm dowels and drilled two 7mm holes through where the joint overlapped the glued the dowels in place and later trimmed flush, I should have used Beech for the dowels as the Walnut went very dark and stood out like a sore thumb!!

I saved the dust from rubbing down the stock and mixed it with PVA glue to a thick paste and used this to fill the joints (after I opened them a little with a Dremel and slitting blade) as can be seen above..

The stock finished with a Tung oil blended mix after Alkanet oil and grain filler..

I reblued the action using Ballistol Klever bluing liquid, it did quite a good job but really needed another coat (apparently the more times it's treated the darker it becomes.

It's the top action of the three..

The finish is quite dull but after a rub with 0000 grade wire wool, the shine comes up but some of the depth of colour is lost..

I haven't got a pic of this one rebuilt yet as the leather piston seal was shot!!, I have bought some leather to make a new one when I get the time to do it!!, I still have the cocking lever and sights to reblue too (forgot to do them when I did the action )


Hope someone found this a little bit of interest



Cheers, john

 

[johnbaz]

The other Airsporters i've collected over the years..


Mk1 in .177 calibre..

Stutzen Airsporter (stripped and being refurbed at the mo!)..

First three are Mk1 Airsporters
Next three are Mk2 Airsporters..

First one is Airsporter 'S'
Third one is RB2 Carbine..

Cheers, John

 

[MartiniDave]

My word John, how do you keep track of them all!

I'm reminded of the time my older brother bought himself an airsporter, proud as punch of it, showing me how for it could shoot along the ditch (that's what passed for chronographing back then!), on about the 5th shot, the entire thing fell in half, just in front of the loading tap. What did he do? He took it to the local blacksmith, who brazed the barrel back on! He still thought it was the dog's danglies, until I went out and bought one of the very first Webley Vulcans, which outclassed that particular airsporter in every respect!

Thanks for the memories!

Dave

 

[Biker]

Lovely selection of BSA's there mate and fantastic restoration of those two you'd worked on. Well done! I have an Airsporter I bought off Dave Bromley here, just a lovely bit of kit, though I only use it for the odd plink at a target reading pot filler and having seen the John Darling hunting DVD I am seriously considering hunting with it for bunnies and such. Might work.

Anyway well done on that amazing piece of work bringing back that old lady from the brink.

 

[Big Si]

Nice job there John. Well done mate. I've been given a 70's Airsporter by one of my old school teachers, he had it from new it is in really good nic. I've put it away atm until I get the time and money to take it to a mate who tunes spring guns. It is a bit harsh at the moment, but after it's done I'll be taking it hunting.
Si