I know a guy that has a bsa .270 for sale. What is the action on the bsa rifles? Does it have controled feed? Did they make them or did they have someone else make them which is more likely. I only have seen internet pics and cannot tell what the action is. Thanks!
Aaron Rust

The BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) was an excellent action made in England. It was both marketed as BSA (Monarch?) and used by Herter's for their U9 rifle. As I recall, it is push-feed and has an integral scope mounting dovetail similar to (but not interchangeable with) Sako. I think it came in two action lengths.

I had a friend with a U9 in 7mm Rem which was a good performer.

BTW, the BSA action has nothing to do with the cheap Chinese scopes being marketed as BSA (other than perhaps the rights to the copyrighted name).

[ 05-05-2003, 19:40: Message edited by: Stonecreek ]

BSA made actions which were both controlled and push feed depending on the vintage. They also built rifles based on p14 and p17 actions which they manufactured. The later BSA commercial actions featured the same angled locking lug seats as the Enfields. They are a pretty good action with the only drawback being the incorporation of the boltstop into the trigger mechanism. This always compromises the trigger in my opinion. Regards, Bill.

I had a 243Win BSA Royal that had a controlled-round Mauser extractor, integral muzzle brake (yes, and boy was that 243 loud!), steel hinged floorplate & trigger guard. They came in medium and long action lengths, had integral dovetail scope mounts, some had plunger extractors (the Monarch), with and without the muzzle brake, some had potmetal bottom metal, some schnabble forends, others regular forends, mine was a very nice piece, sorta wish I had it back, you don't see them real often.

I have a BSA too. An excellent description of the varieties of these actions can be found in Frank DeHaas's book "Bolt Action Rifles". The key to remember is that in the late 1950s, the BSA action featured full controlled-round feeding. BSA made a special version of this rifle in .270, with the receiver slightly thinned out to create a lightweight rifle. This is the action I have. It's a really, really nice action, and believe it or not, it's what I use in my .308 target rifle.

In the 1960s BSA changed their design somewhat to make the action push-feed. By all accounts, this is an excellent action, too.

They also made short-action .22 Hornet bolt guns. One of the few really accurate as-from-the-factory Hornets I ever owned was a BSA. Their rifles in hunting chamberings were available both with & without the BESA muzzle-brake. There is a brief article on them in one of the Gun Digest issues around 1960-62, if I recall correctly.

AC

[ 05-06-2003, 01:08: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

I also have a BSA Royal short action, in .222 Remington. It's like a small rifle package that has everything, a very prized little rifle of mine, especially after I found out that it can shoot half-inch at 100 meters.

BSA Royal, also known as BSA Hunter in north America, are the earliest line of commercial rifles by BSA. Royal or Hunter are made in control-feed, the later ones like Majestic, Monarch, CF1, CF2, etc. are push feed.

The BSA Royal short action is very short but with very substantial receiver/bolt diameter. The have a lot of bedding area, come with adjustable trigger, hinged floorplate, integral receiver dovetail(uses Parker-Hale rings). Safety is two-position. Taking the bolt out of the receiver is tricky.

The extractor claw on mine captures the cartridge rim 100% of the time no matter how fast or slow I cycle it. Also as stated above, it can shoot 0.5" at 100 meters with bulk bullet and some Win748.

Pyrotek

I have had a BSA Monarch (I think) since 1996. Push feed, 2 pos. safety, hinged floor., takes M700 bases, long action. 7mm Rem Mag was the original caliber. It never shot well until it was re-barreled with a Shilen. It shoots alright I guess, but the extractor somehow came off and was lost in 2000, and has never been the same since.

I had the same BSA that Pyrotek has. I sold mine about three years ago to a local guy.I ran into him at the gunshow here on Sunday. I only had it a few months.This has to be the slickest little controlled feed action ever built.Makes a CZ 527 look real bad.They also have a real "4 lever trigger". Pyrotek, ever try to adjust your trigger? It'll go down under a pound without a problem.The action is truly scaled to the cartridge.They were only made in 22 Hornet and 222.It's on my very long list of "Guns I've Owned and Wish I'd Kept"!

rembo,

I tried to adjust the trigger on my gun, but after the adjustment is spent the trigger is at about 3.5 pounds, my gunsmith can't make it adjust more as is. I guess the other way is to replace the spring itself. The rifle shoots nonetheless.

Pyrotek

rembo, how did you get your trigger down to a pound? I have 2 BSAs (222/243)and neither will go below 5 pounds. 3.5 pounds with the trigger spring removed. I managed to get the 222 down to 2.5 pounds by replacing the sear and trigger springs - and yes it does pass the 'mallet' test

Gazza

gazzajh, do you have the CF-2 action rifles? I don't know about that trigger.My 222 had a trigger that was very adjustable.Ptrotek, Frank DeHaas says they have a 4 lever trigger and mine would go down a bit lower than my Shilen trigger on a 700 that was gauged at 1.5#. I estimated 1#.

rembo,

Thanks, I too have the Frank DeHaaz book, I'll look into it more deeply, honestly I skipped the trigger section when I was finding out about the BSA Royal cuz I thought it was complicated and I wouldn't need it.

Pyrotek

Hi Rembo, not sure of the model, i've had 'experts' tell me royal/monarch/majestic?? both rifles- mauser type claw extractor, controlled feed, muzzle brake(ouch!!) and thick recoil pad.
Only the poms would put a muzzle brake and a 1" recoil pad on a 222
The new springs on the 222 seem to be working o.k. so I might do the same to the 243

Gazza