BSA Mercury S ; 0.177

[harry palmer]

Here are a couple of pics of my BSA Mercury S, I got this from my local shop for £100.It is a bit of an unusual looking gun ,with it`s silver moderator ,but I like it.The firing cycle is really smooth; no buzz or twang ,just a thunk and the JSB is away.
Power-wise it`s doing 9.6 ft/lbs with Superdomes, but it`s really consistant with 4.52 JSBs ,- a 4 or 5 shot string through the shop chrono showed a low reading of 9.39 ft/lbs and a high of 9.43 ft/lbs.

Take care

Kenny.

[lizzie]

gracious- love it!
A few months ago, I saw one online that I really considered buying, but it was in .22, and I wanted .177. Enjoy!

[harry palmer]

Thanx, it`s been well used,got lots of wear ,dinks and dents ;-but mechnically it`s a doozie!!

[VAFarmer]

the old comets and mercury's were high quality guns, IMO.

Rank right up there with HW, all the way.

the newer BSA stuff, not so much.

Very nice.

God bless,

Farmer

[Tom @ Buzzard Bluff]

Here are a couple of pics of my BSA Mercury S, I got this from my local shop for £100.It is a bit of an unusual looking gun ,with it`s silver moderator ,but I like it.The firing cycle is really smooth; no buzz or twang ,just a thunk and the JSB is away.
Power-wise it`s doing 9.6 ft/lbs with Superdomes, but it`s really consistant with 4.52 JSBs ,- a 4 or 5 shot string through the shop chrono showed a low reading of 9.39 ft/lbs and a high of 9.43 ft/lbs.

Take care

Kenny.

Thanks for the pics and the data. I've always thought the Mercury to be an especially graceful air rifle but had no idea how they would perform.

Just wish the Mk5 Meteor I traded for 4-5 months ago was as pretty! But I can't complain. I traded a well-fettled $75 Chinese rifle for the Meteor and after a rebuild it was delivering 8.47 fpe when I escaped to the shop on Christmas day to run it across my Chrony. I'm assured by the guru on the British Meteor board that it should reach @ 9fpe once the new parts break in. That will be a bit stronger than the rifle I swapped and the BSA barrel is MUCH more accurate!
All in all a much better rifle than I would have expected from the lowest rung on the BSA ladder.
The trigger however not worthy like a Hoover plugged into 220v.;o(   Tom

[harry palmer]

Here are a couple of pics of my BSA Mercury S, I got this from my local shop for £100.It is a bit of an unusual looking gun ,with it`s silver moderator ,but I like it.The firing cycle is really smooth; no buzz or twang ,just a thunk and the JSB is away.
Power-wise it`s doing 9.6 ft/lbs with Superdomes, but it`s really consistant with 4.52 JSBs ,- a 4 or 5 shot string through the shop chrono showed a low reading of 9.39 ft/lbs and a high of 9.43 ft/lbs.

Take care

Kenny.

Thanks for the pics and the data. I've always thought the Mercury to be an especially graceful air rifle but had no idea how they would perform.

Just wish the Mk5 Meteor I traded for 4-5 months ago was as pretty! But I can't complain. I traded a well-fettled $75 Chinese rifle for the Meteor and after a rebuild it was delivering 8.47 fpe when I escaped to the shop on Christmas day to run it across my Chrony. I'm assured by the guru on the British Meteor board that it should reach @ 9fpe once the new parts break in. That will be a bit stronger than the rifle I swapped and the BSA barrel is MUCH more accurate!
All in all a much better rifle than I would have expected from the lowest rung on the BSA ladder.
The trigger however not worthy like a Hoover plugged into 220v.;o(   Tom

Thanks for the kind words Tom,I`ve revised my pellet choice for BSA barrels and found that out past 25 yds the RWS Superdome flies truer than the JSBs.The Mercury is doing around 700 fps ,which is what it was designed to do (a friend has given me a photocopy of a test from an ancient magazine,with this spec mentioned.)
Unlike your tough little Meteor (which only Kryptonite can harm!!) ,the Merc`s not really a tunable gun and if you take it too far you`ll trade away some of the nice firing characteristics for a small power gain,so I`ll stay with it`s slightly soft state of tune .

Also, You might find this link interesting;   http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread.php?379345-Idiots-guide-to-classic-airgun-strips-(pt-1)&p=3631435&highlight=meteor#post3631435

Take care

Kenny

[Tom @ Buzzard Bluff]

 Thanks again Harry!

If you'll read my post "Mk 5 rebuild--final Report" at the following URL you'll find that I tried to return my Meteor to strictly stock condition in order to not overstress it in any fashion. Despite the trigger---which is now incredibly crisp but similar to towing a train with a strap---I love it!   Tom

<http://bsaog.co.uk/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=7463791400dcdab403d7031ee4a91530&topic=38058.0>

[harry palmer]

Thanks Tom,I didn`t realise you were on the BSA owner`s Forum.nice work on the rebuild!

Take care

Kenny.

[waelo]

Mercury and Airsporter are realy good looking guns!

[RedFeather]

I could kick myself for passing on one of these, insanely cheap, a while back.  Everyone who has every had one seems to speak highly of them.  I believe BSA took extra care with the S models.

[harry palmer]

I could kick myself for passing on one of these, insanely cheap, a while back.  Everyone who has every had one seems to speak highly of them.  I believe BSA took extra care with the S models.

They did do some extra tweaks on the  S models; the cocking linkage is  work of art and unlike current Supersports/Lightning XLs ; the heavy barrel on the Mercury S pivots on a proper threaded bolt[ instead of the plain pin that BSA still persist with!...go figger' that one out!!]

Take care

Kenny

p.s. I`ve started using it for Hunter Field Target and it`s none too shabby!!