BSA Ultra Multi Shot PCP .22 an old favorite!

 



Hi friends!



I wanted to show you my custom BSA Multi Shot pcp .22 that I have had for well over 8 yrs. This gun is very unique in its operation and is very accurate. This gun still competes today even after 10+ years of the original design. The BSA Ultra came in many variations and this version came with a slightly longer pressure tube than what you see pictured. Also this gun did not come regulated from the factory and a HUMA regulator was installed. Now I had this gun prior to HUMA offering a reg for it. With such a small pressure tube, the regulator made a big difference. The gun came with a 10 shot metal magazine, fill probe, small package of moly lube, 2 replacement o-rings for the probe, instruction manual and a media dvd. The newest model BSA magazines have a plastic rotor versus the older metal rotor magazine. The newer magazine rotors work great and I like the plastic rotor because they reduce the wear on the pellet probe o-ring as it cycles in the magazine and also reduces the chance of damaging the pellet. The new magazines have not failed me yet! The gun I chose came with a beech wood stock with nice checkering and laser etched BSA logo. I quickly replaced it with a synthetic tactical stock that is very solid and durable as soon as I got my hands on one (nearly a year later). The finish is not shiny and has a texture that does not feel slippery. Anyone familiar with these stocks know the detail BSA went into to make it a winner. The stock has a swell in the palm grip to fill in the space and make the gun more comfortable and stable to shoot. The newer tactical stocks are all ambidextrous, but the earlier stocks were either left hand or right hand. The older ones also had a nice thumb scoop, which I prefer. The new stocks do not have thumb scoops, but feel good nonetheless. The wood stock has a metal trigger guard while the tactical stocks have a molded in plastic guard. The trigger blade is made of metal and is two stage adjustable. These triggers can be set very light and have a crisp clean break. Rowan Engineering makes a replacement trigger that has even more adjustability to fit every shooter’s needs.

The action

The action on this gun is called the BSA Micro Movement Cocking system aka MMC cocking system. The gun is cocked by pushing a plunger in the front of the stock towards the buttstock. But that’s not all! In order for the gun to shoot a pellet, you must also flick a small finger lever to release the spring operated-plunger style pellet probe. Once the lever is released the probe pops backwards allowing the magazine to cycle under spring tension to the next pellet. Once the magazine has presented a new pellet for loading, the user must push the plunger forward to move the pellet into the very famously accurate hammer forged barrel. BSA makes their barrels in house using a hammer forging from machines that are used for their military and sporting rifles. They claim 35,000 hammer blows to form this barrel. The hammer forging process also forms a natural choke in the barrel. This is what I think provides a consistently accurate barrel making process. Anyway, the action has a manual safety catch, which should be set to the fire position when the owner is prepared to shoot the target. The action has an 11mm dovetail scope mount. No other sights or mounting options are included. For the purpose of this write up I decided to slap on a cheap scope and mounts made by Barska. The pressure tube can be filled to 232 bar. This model gun did not come with a factory pressure gauge, I added this gauge which was made by TENCH in the UK. Since I added the regulator I have no problem bumping that up to 250 bar. That’s less than 20 bar difference from the manufacturer’s recommendations. As a rule of thumb, it is ALWAYS safer to use a fill pressure according to the factory manual. As I mention before this pressure cylinder is slightly smaller than the one that came with this gun, but the original wasn’t long either. The BSA sportsman, Hornet, and Gamo Dynamax shared the same action, but with longer pressure tubes, barrels, and stocks. In the following pictures you will see three of the different actions I have acquired over the years which basically use the same principle operation of the MMC system. One of the cool features of this MMC system is the fact that you have a two-step process to cock and load the gun. It’s a very good training system for new/young shooters - because you can cock the rifle without loading a pellet. You can load the pellet for firing when you are ready versus the norm, where the gun is cocked and loaded at the same time. With the MMC system, you do not have a loaded pellet that could accidentally shoot out until the final moment before intentional shooting. And the system can be very quiet as well- especially when hunting in the field. The gun shown here is set to 16ftlb. It can shoot up to 22ftlb, but I prefer the lower power because it increases my shot count, has plenty powerful for shooting squirrel size game out to 60 yards, and is noticeably quieter than 22 ftlb. I have even been happy with 12ftlb setting. But 16ftlb is best for me and is middle ground for the power range of this gun. This gun is no longer being produced in the MMC style system. Newer BSA pcp platforms use a bolt action style system now. You can find these guns for around $450-$700 depending on condition and options on the classifieds if you desire one and willing to be patient. Does anyone know of any other model BSA or GAMO that uses the MMC cocking system??

Thanks for looking!



BSA Ultra Multi shot PCP rifle in .22



Cocking plunger in the front of the stock.



I added this pressure gauge and fill probe cover



pellet probe plunger is visible here as well as the safety thumb lever



Another view of the pellet loading system in the open position, ready to be pushed forward



trigger guard and metal trigger blade



side of the action shown



different model BSA/GAMO using the MMC cocking system (Gamo Dynamax, BSA Hornet, BSA Sportsman)



HUMA reg can be seen here