BSA Airguns The 'Tens'

A Different Calibre talk about their experiences with the BSA 'Tens'


The BSA Superten was their first pre-charge pneumatic that offered a bolt action multi-shot action. It won several awards and was one of the first PCP airguns that I ever used back when it came out in 1996.

The Mark 1 was a solid piece of kit and I spent many hours out in the field doing pest control wrapped up in my camo thinking I was some sort of special forces operative. At the time I had only ever used a 'break barrel' so for me this was new territory and very exciting to be using what I considered to be a 'proper gun'.


These are still available second hand (from around £300 for a good one) and I would still reccomend them as an all round airgun for anyone on a budget. Second hand models seem to be as accurate as ever provided you get one that has been looked after (watch out for rust!) They do tend to need their seals replacing every now and then, but this isn't a difficult or expensive job to do, the gun is fairly simple in it's operation.

The Mark 2 and 3 versions were essentially the same gun but with a more lightweight and slightly differen shaped stock, The stocks are actually interchangable on most Supertens regardless of version. Many people didnt like the air bottle system, finding a fixed cylinder to be easier to handle, however I liked the fact I could unscrew the bottle and get it refilled without having to carry my gun around on my bike (or get asked for ID in the gun shop). The bottle provides around 150 shots per fill as minimum.
 
It wasn't until 2003 that the 'bull barrel' version came out, the Mark 3

stock being very popular. This much shorter rifle whilst a bit on the heavy side was not as unwieldly as the full length rifle with the lengthy silencer. However I personally never found the shrouded barrel to be all that effective, although others have commented that I am wrong......

In 2005 BSA brought out the special edition of these to celebrate 100 years of them making air guns.

In 2007 the Scorpion T-10 was launched. This gave BSA much more variety in their range having a cylinder air system rather than a bottle. The T-10 to my mind was never as good as the Supertens, they just didn't have a solid feel to them and with the introduction of the R-10 in 2008 it was soon surpassed.

The R-10 had a sleeker look and was very popular, we had huge demand for these and friends who had them found they could take their shots out just a little bit more than I could with my old Superten. This too was soon to be replaced in 2011 by the Mark 2 version.

Everyone seems to really like the look and feel of the R-10, but BSA seem to keep on bringing out new versions.



 
This year the limited edition Tactical Carbine version came out. These sold out very quickly and all reports I have had suggest that is the best version yet being very accurate and amazingly lightweight.  A small number of these were made with walnut stocks as well, they are extremly good looking guns. (See below)



'Is it worth the £780 price tag?'  Possibly not if you already have a good PCP that does the job you want it to do, however for those looking for a first PCP air rifle, you really can't go wrong with these, especially if you are looing for a 'traditional' rifle. BSA have certainly spent a lot of time and research into devloping this gun and the build quality and grade of wood used are excellent.

Out of all the air rifles I get to play with, I still really like my old heavy weight Superten mark 1, it just has a more positive feel to it, but perhaps this is me thinking back to my teenage years sniping at the rabbits on the farms. (that and i tend to be the 'chuck it in the back of the landrover' type of shooter so perhaps I shouldn't have an expensive gun to use!)

Reccomended set up for the gun above is with a harris extendable bipod and BSA Essential Mildot 6-24x50 scope and using BSA storm or elite pellets. (We are currently trying out the Red and Blue star pellets.. will let you know how I get on with them)

BSA have now released the woodland and black versions of the R-10 with a .25cal version coming out towards the end of 2014. Not sure how popular that will be, but many airgunners do seem to slowly be using the .25 pellet at shorter ranges. Time will tell.

Info on these air guns can be found at www.bsaguns.co.uk and don't forget to check out our latest stock in both new and second hand guns at www.diffcal.co.uk