.177 BSA Cadet, A Review and Other Bits and Bobs

For an old air rifle that i always thought a bit of a smallish youth rifle, i was pleasently surprised to find it both considerably larger and heftier when i first laid my hands on one. 

109 cm from tip too tail

The very first thing i did though was to put her over the chronoghraph to get 4.56 ft/lbs with JSB Exacts, she was old, complete and in fairly good nick and i reckoned things could only improve from here on in.

This has the look of a sporting rifle in the 50's

 BSA was responsible for the production of over 50% of all British small arms produced during WWII, so roll on 1945 and they decide to go back to an increase in thier Air rifle production and the introduction of thier new Cadet air rifle. Capable of putting out 8 ft/lb and advertised as being able to take rabbits out to 50 yards this rifle was popular amongst young adults and adults alike, trade description was not an issue in those days. Maybe if you could throw the thing 50 yards you could possibly concuss a rabbit, with a full wooden stock and heavily engineered steel construction the rifle had some interesting early BSA design features and had to be one of the prettier looking break barrel air rifles for it's time.

The prefix of CC tells me the rifle is made in the later half of the 1950's

The Cadet has a leather piston seal which in this case needed no oil to improve velocity, from what i remember from the chrony test there was no more the 25 FPS spread with any of the pellets i tested. From what i could see through the cocking slot both spring and piston appeared to be lightly lubricated, or at least it wasn't all dry and dusty. 

The Cadet has a one peice trigger and sear that hooks on to a central piston rod in the piston, how much of the sear that holds the piston rod can be adjusted by a screw in the slope at the rear of the action.

Without dimantling the rifle i had to looke at the plans on Chambers web site too find out this adjusted sear engagement.

 The stock is a one piece beechwood affair with a very long cocking slot, because it has a single piece cocking rod that is, like the rest of the rifle, very well made and solid.

Considering the length of the cocking slot, there was no movement in the stock, not one bit, non at all, zero, zilch.

The stock fits well to the action and is fixed with two screws at a 60 degree angle at the front of the action,

Screws made the old fashioned way, roled on the thighs of dusky Brummies.

and like the later Airsporter and Mercury the rear is a bolt that runs through the pistol grip and screws into the rear section of the action. 

The reat bolt. Like it say's on the tin, bolts the rear on.

The Cadet has some weight to it for its size as i said before and although it is pretty old there is no movement between the forks, or anywhere at all come to think of it, from wear over the years.

I have no idea if a pin or a bolt holds the forks around the breech, it's still a solid fit though.

There are only open sights on this rifle and has no scope rail, because scopes just weren't commonly used in the 50's. The front sight is a bead on top of a concave ramp that sits in a dovetail on the tip of the barrel, left to right adjustment could be achieved by tapping the sight along the dovetail.

The front sight had already been adjusted and was fine, notice it hangs over too the right.

From this angle the dove tail is more noticable.

The rear sights that sit on top of the breech block are real old school and tend to be found on most early 1900's air rifles, they adjust up and down only by spinning a firm horizontal thumb wheel. This allows a plate with a V notch on top to move vertically in its frame, score marks on the side of the frame and plate help keep track of adjustments

These sights were perfectly fine in the 50's and still perform well today.

The trigger and guard are very slim but also pretty solid due to the fine quality of the metal used to build it. The trigger appears to have a light too mediun release and along with the angle of the pistol grip and the low combe on the buttstock, found it very comfortable too shoot with satisfying results.

The trigger guard design is a tried and tested BSA design and can be found on later Meteors

Low recoil, trigger release, weight, and pretty nifty old school sights all added up to some good off hand accuracy. 7 out of 9 Geco wadcutters made one impressive one cm ragged hole and JSB Exacts appeared to spred vertically, however they were the only two pellets i tried at the time.

I reckon Superdomes would do well in this air rifle, should get some really.

When all is said and done, the BSA Cadet is an awesome back yard plinker that reeks of nostalgia from a time we can only imagine and most likely never happened.

This rifle came to me in good condition internally and out, and as a plinker did not need any attention apart from a little oil and wire wool for the matal work. It's fun and definately gets a thumbs up.

All the best,

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe 

Adjusting Down the Power on the .177 Air Arms Shamal

They don't build them like this any more, or if they do it costs a mint.

Now i have a chronoscope i have been checking all my air rifles for power output, i also found it useful for diagnosing and confirming problems i thought i might of had. When it came to putting the Air Arms Shamal through it's paces i was very pleased with it's shot to shot velocity with very little FPS variation, and filling up to 185 bar started me at the best place in the power curve. The only thing that had me concerned was H&N field trophies would produce 11.9 ft/lb, therefor a heavier pellet could put me over the UK legal limit of 12 ft/lb.

Air Arms Shamal, the most accurate rifle i have come across to date.

When the Shamal was first introduced in 1989 it came with ability to adjust the tension on the hammer spring slightly, allowing your pellet of choice to perform just below the legal limit. However that wouldn't wash nowadays as the police will test your rifle with a variety of pellets, so i thought better play it safe and tune the Shamal down a tad. What follows is what i did to achieve this, if you own a Shamal use this information wisely.

The stock comes away from the gun by removing three screws with different heads, this has to be removed to get access to the adjustment port at the rear of the hammer spring. At the front is a hex head screw that connects to the support band, this also is used to attach slings and bipods. 

Front stud for sling and bipod.

 Further up is a flat head screw, this one connects to in front of the trigger below the action. It's best to use the widest head you can that fills the whole channel, ill fitting screwdrivers can damage the screwhead. You can get proper gunsmith screwdrivers but they cost a bomb, any decent multi head screwdriver set should have one wide enough. They have the advantage of having the blade head the same length as the diameter of the shaft, full contact with the head is a bonus in any situation.

Main bearing center flat head screw.

Next is a hex head screw which is accessed through a hole at the front of the trigger guard, this screw also connects the stock to the gun itself.

Tricky little hex screw through trigger guard and stock

Finally in order to remove the stock the whole trigger guard needs to be removed, there is a smaller star head screw at the rear of the trigger guard that secures it to the stock. 

Final star screw to remove trigger guard.

Unfortunately i did not have a star head of the right size but was able to use a hex head instead, though i wouldn't suggest using this method repeatedly and i don't intend to.

Trigger guard removed.

And gently lift the action out.

Now the gun will simply lift out of the stock giving full access to the plastic dust cover in the adjustment port at the rear of the spring and hammer housing, which i was able to prize out with my thumb nail instead of something thin like feeler gauges.

Not easily noticable but there is the dust cover.

First i had to remove a locking grub screw that has a hex head before i could get to the adjustment screw, which is also adjusted with a hex head but a tad smaller.

 

locking grub screw between action and dust cover.

Looking face on to the rear of the gun, turning the screw anti-clockwise releases tension on the hammer spring and only needs small adjustments to make a difference. 

Best picture i could get of the adjustment screw deep inside.

 I first turned it a 180 degrees and put a H&N over the chronoscope, this was too much as the muzzle velocity was reading 10.9 ft/lb. 

Make sure you turn it anti clockwise to reduce the power.

Turning the screw clockwise 90 degrees gave me the reading i wanted of 11.4 ft/lb which is pretty much the at top of the power curve, i would imagine this would now perform under 12 ft/lb with heavier pellets. 

11.51 ft/lb, nice and legal.

But as i don't use them apart from Crosman Premier heavies in the SMK multi pump i couldn't really test them, besides the Premier Heavies are a hard pellet and give less muzzle energy than the H&N's when used in the Shamal. The SMK multi pump can chew pellets with thin skirts, so likes the more solidly constructed pellet.

Now the Shamal was performing with a more pleasant muzzle velocity i fitted and tightened the locking grub screw then popped in the dust cover, fitting the stock was a matter of reversing the instructions for removal.

The Air Arms Shamal is an incredibly accurate single shot PCP air rifle which i use for excellent results when hunting, it would be really good if used in FT or HFT as i can hit the Knockdown target at 45 yards when using the correct breathing technique. This is i have to admit , my favorite air rifle in my collection and you wouldn't be able to pry it from my cold dead fingers. It's quite heavy at over 10 lbs with scope and lamp fitted, but it's built to an excellent standard and i find it easy to shoot as i can lug it around using the sling the rest of the time. I can sleep easy now , knowing my favorite air rifle is safe and legal.

TTFN

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington- Smythe.