Air Arms or BSA

[chady]

Good evening all. 

I don’t want to open a can of worms!!! 

I'm after a second hand PCP. 

Was looking at the AAs400 AA510  

But I got shown a BSA R10 and liked the look of it. What are the pros and cons of them please? 

 

 

[The Burpster]

Have owned an R10 & a Scorpion SE, also the proud and happy owner of S510US. BSAs are cheaper and my scorpion was probably THE most accurate air-rifle I have owned. That said I currently have 2 HW100s and the 510. All are side lever as opposed to bolt and easy magazine feeds. 

The S400 is single shot so not really a fair comparison with the other 2 but a very good rifle none the less, I am a huge fan on the S410 (the magazine version of the 400) and the 510 is a natural progression of the 410. 

The R10 is a good rifle with a large shot capacity but I am not a fan of the BSA mags?. 

Other than that handle them as the stocks are quite a bit different and they ma6 or may not feel nice. Any of the 3 you mention could have  an average barrel but all 3  are capable of being very accurate rifles after findin* the right pellets for the barrel. 

[chady]

Thanks 

 

what don’t you like about the BSA mags? 

[The Burpster]

They are all metal, heavy and clunky in design. I had to spend time stripping them and polishing off the machining burrs from the pellet carriers as they sliced bits of pellets off as they were inserted into the breech by the probe. They may well now be better QC and finished but that was my experience of them. 

AA mags are much lighter and slicker, not in the minimalistic way the HW100 ones mind but slick never the less. 

Apparently the newer ones are better (coloured rotors, mine were both the earlier silver ones). 

[Walker570]

Have two AA rifles ... a TX200 and a Mk1 S200...both are excellent and do the job. One in 177(TX200) and the other .22.  I cannot fault either. The mags on the S200 are now much slicker since I put a very small coat of moly lubricant on the rubber rings.   Have also looked at the BSA models and sure they would do the same job.  Like the look of the BullPup model.

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, BSA R 10, a good high shot count air rifle, the new mags should be no problem, i had one for 5 years and no problem but only for the rats !!!!!!!!  shot 100s, used AA fields, AND THIS LT 1 PELLET LUBE

Edited July 28, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[vampire]

owned 5 different Air Arms,the pcp rifles 410/510 fac/s200 were all and each my favourite rifle.

[villaman]

The mags let down any of the AA guns  and the BSA are not the best but never had a problem with either . 

R10 is regulated unlike air arms , all though air arms have started to reg some guns just like daystate and once again they both said no need to reg guns so why do it 

We all know a reg gun is far better than a stupid power curve gun don't we !!

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, chady said:

Good evening all. 

I don’t want to open a can of worms!!! 

I'm after a second hand PCP. 

Was looking at the AAs400 AA510  

But I got shown a BSA R10 and liked the look of it. What are the pros and cons of them please? 

 

 

Its like wearing a united shirt to a Liverpool game " i don't want any trouble!" Can is open, should be a fun read for a few days.

few guns in the sales at the moment though ? 

[chady]

Thanks I’ll pay special attention to the mags! 

I know it’s based on a lot of people’s opinions  

I have only ever **** air arms and that was what I was going in for  then I picked the r10 up  

and got me thinking and unsure 

Thanks 

[Ultrastu]

Ok .the bsa uses a bsa barrel and the air arms a lotha walther barrel .both are or can be amazingly accurate  (the best u can get in fact. (Imo) 

Bsa regs can be a bit iffy .and personally i dont by bsa guns with regs in them .air arms are usually un regged .but can suffer from quite a pronounced power curve (more so than an unregged bsa ) 

 

My choice would be an unregged bsa scorpion. But im sure the air arms will serve you very well .

[bruno22rf]

No good.....I cannot resist defending my beloved AA's - the mag is regarded as one of the best and simplest on the market villaman so how are they letting the gun down - the tiny cycling spring in the gun is known to fail occasionally but if you end up spending more than £15 every 20 years then I will surprised. The S410, charged to 170bar will print about 50 shots before any discernible variation in MV occurs - wont stop you shooting vermin but might affect your ability to castrate a Gnat without spilling blood. Never going to agree with Ultrstu but if AA stopped making guns then I would most likely also go for the Scorpion - picked one up cheap and the accuracy was almost () on par with my AA's.

[oldypigeonpopper]

10 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, BSA R 10, a good high shot count air rifle, the new mags should be no problem, i had one for 5 years and no problem but only for the rats !!!!!!!!  shot 100s, used AA fields, AND THIS LT 1 PELLET LUBE

all 3 are good air rifles only difference is the R10  shot count, its just a matter of your choice, if i were to be in the market for another PCP ,  a  R10 top choice, just to add with both AAs you can hand pump, the R10 a bottle would be more suitable

Edited July 29, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[Walker570]

My AA S200 will go through three magazines before I notice that I am missing magpies or squizzers heads out at 25-30yrds and that is a pile of dead bodies I like to see ....in my dreams.

If you enjoy shooting paper still not a peoblem as you can refill/pump back up as you run out of steam.  30 seconds on the S200 and back at 180. 

[bruno22rf]

Just to add to Walker570's post - the S410 carbine's cylinder is 50% bigger then the S200 whilst the S410 classic is 200% larger.

[villaman]

9 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

No good.....I cannot resist defending my beloved AA's - the mag is regarded as one of the best and simplest on the market villaman so how are they letting the gun down - the tiny cycling spring in the gun is known to fail occasionally but if you end up spending more than £15 every 20 years then I will surprised. The S410, charged to 170bar will print about 50 shots before any discernible variation in MV occurs - wont stop you shooting vermin but might affect your ability to castrate a Gnat without spilling blood. Never going to agree with Ultrstu but if AA stopped making guns then I would most likely also go for the Scorpion - picked one up cheap and the accuracy was almost () on par with my AA's.

The best mag is HW100 and the simplest 

The indexing  spring has given me loads of problems on all three mags when I had a s410

[bruno22rf]

Why? £10 for a new genuine replacement and if you can bolt 2 pieces of Meccano together you are more than skilled enough to fit it. You state that you had a problem with the indexing spring so why blame mags on ALL AA's??

Edited July 29, 2018 by bruno22rf

[snipper]

Out the 2 I'd say AA  .... I've owed all the AA at some stage and the r10's 

The best way to look at it is ....... most who buy BSA send it away to JB and have it blueprinted to make it how it should be ..... you don't do that with AA 

[villaman]

35 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

Why? £10 for a new genuine replacement and if you can bolt 2 pieces of Meccano together you are more than skilled enough to fit it. You state that you had a problem with the indexing spring so why blame mags on ALL AA's??

obviously you are AA fan boy which is ok , but I have had most makes of guns over the last 40 + years and just putting my view forward on what I have found and many others have too

If you asked me which is the best sub 12 then I would say HW100 in any for matt and IMO better than the two mentioned 

[chady]

Looks like the AA are more reliable and the preferred options. 

 

Im new to this. What does regulate mean and how does it effect the guns I have seen before some negative comments about them 

[bruno22rf]

"Fan Boy" - what does that even mean? something to do with comic books isn't it? You still have not answered the question of the fault with AA magazines - I have also been shooting Airguns for over 40 years, instructed in their use, stripped and rebuilt many as a qualified precision engineer and rebuild English Hammer Guns (pre 1900) as a hobby so I'm not phased by your experience. So what EXACTLY is the fault that lets down all AA's?

[villaman]

29 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

"Fan Boy" - what does that even mean? something to do with comic books isn't it? You still have not answered the question of the fault with AA magazines - I have also been shooting Airguns for over 40 years, instructed in their use, stripped and rebuilt many as a qualified precision engineer and rebuild English Hammer Guns (pre 1900) as a hobby so I'm not phased by your experience. So what EXACTLY is the fault that lets down all AA's?

Look at my earlier post 

 

[bruno22rf]

Yep - done that and still confused? If you are referring to your comment on the indexing spring then that is not part of the magazine it's part of the indexing post?

[Ttfjlc]

I own an S400 PCP and a ProSport Springer, both quality guns, never owned a BSA so can't comment on them but one thing I noticed after doing a lot of research was there weren't many AA guns requiring any form of tuning, PCP or Springer. 

[Mice!]

4 hours ago, chady said:

Looks like the AA are more reliable and the preferred options. 

 

Im new to this. What does regulate mean and how does it effect the guns I have seen before some negative comments about them 

 
s

You see "can of worms" ???

if you fit a regulator its supposed to avoid the power curve by giving the same amount of air for each shot.

I doubt you will see much difference between the rifles your looking at, it will probably come down to how they fit you, what you can find and which you like the look of, I've seen pro Sports saying they've been tunned (venom) and bsa saying John Bowket (possibly?) and rat works tunned, probably loads that are standard as they were bought.