BSA Comet - review

[mundaire]

On Tirths' request am posting a short review of the BSA Comet/ Meteor Mk VII. This air-rifle is basically a rebadged Gamo Shadow 1000, a product of Gamo's takeover of BSA, in fact the air-rifle that I have even has "Made in Spain" prominently marked, along with the BSA markings. The difference between the Comet and the Meteor Mk VII is basically the stock, while the former has a synthetic black stock the latter comes with a wood stock.

Price as tested: GBP 145/- (bought from Woody's of Wembley, online retailers may be a few quid cheaper)
Calibre: .22 Cal
Rated power: 11 FPE (as it was bought in UK, it is required to be within the 12 FPE legal limit)

First impressions: What hits one immediately on picking up this air-rifle is the widespread use of plastic all over, it's really everywhere - the moulded stock, the barrel block, barrel detent, front & rear sights etc. But in all fairness this is a bargain basement air-rifle and you always get what you pay for! It would be silly to compare this to an AirArms or a Weihrauch (in terms of build quality), it is sold as an entry level air-gun and it shows.

Performance: This air-rifle easily & consistently achieves it's rated power levels with H&N Field Target Trophy pellets, which are also the most accurate pellets at least in my gun, of course I did not have a very wide selection to choose from (the others being JSB Exact Jumbos & a couple of G Smith varieties). What I did find disconcerting was the pronounced "twang", of course I am comparing it to my AirArms TX 200 which is butter smooth but costs a lot more. All said and done the power and accuracy are quite good for an airgun in this price band.

I've had this air-rifle since September, and it makes a decent air-rifle for pest control, with acceptable accuracy and power levels and one which one does not need to baby all the time (it's cheap enough). The only real grouse I have is that the (plastic) foresight lost it's fire optic insert on an outing a month or so back, not a problem as I have it scoped but all the same it was irritating that this should happen at all.

Cheer!
Abhijeet

[mundaire]

Details of pellets tested with this air-rifle:

Pellet – JSB Exact Jumbo .22
Weight (Grains) approx: 15.8 (from Internet sources)

Velocity (FPS)
544
539
527
530
539
535
529
535
528
533

Avg. Vel (FPS): 533.90
Max variation within 10 shot string: 17 FPS
Avg. Power (FPE): 10
Accuracy: Good

Pellet – H&N Field Target Trophy .22
Weight (Grains) approx: 15.1 (from Internet sources)

Velocity (FPS)
568
574
572
571
571
573
573
577
577
576

Avg. Vel (FPS): 573.20
Max variation within 10 shot string: 9 FPS
Avg. Power (FPE): 11.02
Accuracy: Good

Pellet – G Smith High Impact .22 (domed)
Weight (Grains) approx: 18.98 (from the post by biking3819 on IFG)

Velocity (FPS)
464
469
449
444
460
450
444
403
434
458

Avg. Vel (FPS): 447.50
Max variation within 10 shot string: 66 FPS
Avg. Power (FPE): 8.44
Accuracy: Poor

Pellet – G Smith High Force .22 (wadcutter)
Weight (Grains) approx: 18.52 (from the post by biking3819 on IFG)

Velocity (FPS)
471
453
450
456
468
451
439
469
462
Bad reading (due to failing light)

Avg. Vel (FPS): 457.67
Max variation within 9 shot string: 32 FPS
Avg. Power (FPE): 8.61
Accuracy: V. Poor