BSF S54 Underlever

[Swissairgun]

There is a.177 S54 Bayern being auctioned in Germany right now on eGun.de.
It has the same "earlier" and certainly less common sights and cocking lever catch as the one you owned.
The serial number is stated in the item description as 443! My rifle is #356 and doesn't have those sights or cocking lever catch....go figure!
I cannot link to the auction here, but these are the pics from the auction....and if you go to the website egun.de and enter the item ID of 12858557 in the search box you should find it.

[MDriskill]

Thanks Peter, I popped over to eGun and had a closer look.

I wonder if the 3-digit numbers are maybe just a partial serial, used to help keep parts together during assembly?

Weihrauch did a similar thing for many years. Some of my older HW 50's and 55's have a 5 or 6-digit serial, but only the last 3 or 4 digits appear on the breech block and locking lever.

It might be interesting to see if there are other numbers elsewhere on the gun.

[Swissairgun]

Thanks Peter, I popped over to eGun and had a closer look.

I wonder if the 3-digit numbers are maybe just a partial serial, used to help keep parts together during assembly?

Weihrauch did a similar thing for many years. Some of my older HW 50's and 55's have a 5 or 6-digit serial, but only the last 3 or 4 digits appear on the breech block and locking lever.

It might be interesting to see if there are other numbers elsewhere on the gun.

Hi Mike, I'd have thought that the regulation on every aspect of the German gun makers' work was pretty tight post-WW2, but maybe they could get away with only stamping half the numbers. Sounds unlikely though and not very Germanic....I read that they made over a million Daisy 25's and stamped the MM-YY of manufacture into the butt of every one of them!

I recently asked Feinwerkbau if they could tell when my 600 was made - I sent them an email with the model and serial number before lunch and received the answer just after lunch! I wrote yesterday to BSA to ask if they could send me a scan of the generic owner's instructions for my Mercury S - let's see if they even answer!

[MDriskill]

I confess to ignorance of German gun law in early post-war days, but I have the impression that serial numbers were more of a manufacturer's preference thing than a legal requirement then.

Per my last note, Weihrauch HW 55M no. 140385 (1963) has the full number on both receiver sections, but only "0385" on the bottom of the breech block, and face of the barrel-lock bar. I have others like this...but also older ones with the full serial in all locations.

My only Dianas with individual serial are model 60 match rifles. The sporting models 5, 27, 35, and 50's covering from the 50's to the 80's have no serials, though starting in the 60's they have date stamps.

All my Walthers and FWB's from the 1960's have full serials.

And as for for what BSF was up to...?!?!, LOL.

[Swissairgun]

I confess to ignorance of German gun law in early post-war days, but I have the impression that serial numbers were more of a manufacturer's preference thing than a legal requirement then.

Per my last note, Weihrauch HW 55M no. 140385 (1963) has the full number on both receiver sections, but only "0385" on the bottom of the breech block, and face of the barrel-lock bar. I have others like this...but also older ones with the full serial in all locations.

My only Dianas with individual serial are model 60 match rifles. The sporting models 5, 27, 35, and 50's covering from the 50's to the 80's have no serials, though starting in the 60's they have date stamps.

All my Walthers and FWB's from the 1960's have full serials.

And as for for what BSF was up to...?!?!, LOL.

I will write to BSF and ask them about their serial numbers methodology...probably more chance of receiving an answer back from BSF than I have of receiving a response from BSA about the instruction sheet for my Mercury S!

[oldair]

I doubt there's any chance of getting info on BSF serial #'s as they were bought up by Weihrauch nearly 20 years ago; rather unlikely the records would have been preserved in an accessible fashion.

Don R.

[Swissairgun]

I doubt there's any chance of getting info on BSF serial #'s as they were bought up by Weihrauch nearly 20 years ago; rather unlikely the records would have been preserved in an accessible fashion.

Don R.

No worries, Don, I was joking!

[MDriskill]

Collector / researcher Hermann Grimm published this excellent capsule history of BSF on Facebook today:


BSF History as far as I know, but I can't guarantee it was all like that!

1949/1950
The "Bayerische Sportwaffenfabrik" was founded in 1949/1950 by Dipl. Ing. Egon Wilsker (also Wischo KG Wilsker & Co, Erlangen) on the basis of local hardware factories and was called "Bayerische Sportwaffenfabrik Dipl. Ing. E. Wilsker & Co".

That is probably why there are "Wischo" as well as "BSF/Bavaria" marked guns. I haven't been able to find out yet if both marks were used from the beginning to the end of the manufacturing period, or if "Wischo" eventually disappeared in favor of "BSF/Bavaria." In Germany, "BSF/Bavaria" can be found far more often than "Wischo." The "BSF/Bavaria" logo can be assigned to the period 1952 to 1985. The "Wischo KG, Wilsker & Co Erlangen" logo could have been used until the end of the 60's.

1952
Economic difficulties led to the sale of "BSF Dipl. Ing. E. Wilsker & Co" to the Erlangen gunsmith Hans Schütt.

1952 -1969
 "BSF Hans Schütt GmbH, Erlangen" etc. Hans Schütt died in 1969.

1969
Name changed to "BSF Hans Schütt oHG." The daughter, Ms. "Panciera Schütt", runs the business

1982
The "BSF Hans Schütt oHG" was sold to Herbert Gayer and was then called "BSF Hans Schütt oHG, owner Herbert Gayer".

July 1985
The company “BSF” is finally closed. The Hermann Weihrauch Sportwaffenfabrik Mellrichstadt continues to use the name "BSF" for export products ("Marksman" etc.) and owns the original "BSF" tools for production.

"Burgo"
"Burgo" is the trade name (brand) of Karl Burgsmüller, Kreiensen / Harz. This company produced and sold weapons (hunting weapons, self-defense weapons, sports weapons, compressed air and alarm guns, hunting accessories) up until the 1970s and 1980s. The rifles were manufactured by the Weihrauch company, among others. In addition to the Weihrauch rifles, other rifles were also sold under the "Burgo" name, including models from the Bavarian Sports Weapons Factory (BSF), the BSF model S54 was offered by "Burgo" until 1980 as the model 430.

In addition to "Burgo," BSF also produced for FKN (Fernkauf Nord = mail order company via product catalogues). The S54 was sold by FKN as the "Marschall" and "Supra-Luxury" models (depending on the version).

[MDriskill]

Another interesting find on FB this morning, for you BSF history buffs - a minty boxed S20 pistol with a dated hang tag.

[ddmann]

I owned one for a few months, for me it was just too long to balance accurately. I still think they are stunning guns visually if I was not so intent on only keeping guns I can shoot reasonably well I would have kept it. I also remember the trigger being a bit tricky since the release seemed to vary a bit.  Simply gorgeous guns eh?