by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
BSA Meteor Mark I.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
This report covers:
- Front sight hood
- The test
- RWS Hobbys
- Sights don’t adjust for windage
- RWS Superpoint
- JSB Exact RS
- Summary
Today we start looking at the accuracy of the BSA Meteor Mark 1. I will just shoot with open sights today, and to do that I had to remove the hood over the front sight. It doesn’t provide enough clearance to see the bead otherwise.
Front sight hood
The hood is a stamped steel part that slips over the muzzle and slides over the front sight bead. It removes easily. I think it is amazing that it’s still with the rifle after a half-century!
The hood that fits over the front sight is too low to see the target well. It slips off, so I removed it.
The test
I shot the rifle from 10 meters off a rested bag, using the artillery hold. This rifle might also shoot directly off the bag, but I didn’t try that today. I used a 6 o’clock hold on a 10-meter pistol target.
RWS Hobbys
RWS Hobbys were the first pellets I tested. Shot number one went high so I lowered the rear sight leaf. The next 10 shots are the group I will show. They landed to the right of the bull, at 3 o’clock. Ten Hobbys went into one hole that measures 0.585 between the centers of the two pellets farthest apart. That’s a great start!
Ten RWS Hobby pellets made this group at 10 meters. It measures 0.585-inches between centers.
Sights don’t adjust for windage
After such a good start I expected great things from this rifle. The one drawback is the sights do not adjust for windage, other than by drifting the rear sight sideways in its dovetail. That may be why the rifle come with a scope. At any rate, I left everything where it was for the rest of this test.
RWS Superpoints
Next I tried some RWS Superpoints. I believe reader Dom said these would be great. And they were. Ten went into 0.615-inches, with 9 in 0.311-inches. That’s phenomenal!
Ten RWS Superpoints went into 0.615-inches, with 9 in just 0.311-inches at 10 meters. A great pellet for the Meteor!
I will say that when I shot the Superpoints, the rifle jolted forward with every shot. There was no vibration, but the extra jolt was noticeable.
JSB Exact RS
The next pellet was also the last. The JSB Exact RS pellet is also supposed to be good in the Meteor. Ten of them made a group measuring 0.674-inches at 10 meters. It’s the largest group of the test, but also very close in size to the other two!
Ten JSB Exact RS pellets went into 0.674-inches at 10 meters. This is the biggest group of the test.
I noticed a lot of vibration with this pellet. The forward recoil that was there with the Superpoints was gone, but vibration that I hadn’t felt since the gun was cleaned and lubricated was definitely back when RS pellets were shot. It was not as bad as when the gun was not lubricated, but it had been some time since I felt any vibration at all, so it came as a surprise.
Summary
I am very pleased with how well the Meteor Mark 1 preformed. As mentioned, the next test will be with the scope mounted, and perhaps after that I will back up to 25 yards.
Off to a good start! What are your thoughts on the Superpoints? Have you shot them much before?
Jim M.
Jim,
Yes, I’ve used Superpoints in my Hakims and my Diana 27s. Only the .22 caliber seems to work well in those rifles. In other rifles and in .177 they are mediocre for me.
B.B.
I find them useful in older barrels, especially imperial .22 as they seem to be a softer lead and blow their skirts out to size a bit, its a shame they are not domed as the point makes them a bit unstable past 20 yards in my experience.
The domed RWS ones seem to have a thicker, less malleable skirt
I wouldn’t be surprised if the results from these pellets completely reversed at 25 yards!
Dom,
That’s been my experience, too.
B.B.
B.B.,
Your Meteor is shooting a LOT better than I expected it to! That is always a cause to congratulate a fellow airgunner, so, a hearty conflagrations!
I admit I am also encouraged by your results for a selfish reason. I have a broke-down, ugly, not properly operating Meteor. It is in need of a new trigger return spring, probably a replaced piston seal (or perhaps a new aftermarket piston), and a replacement breech seal. I have held onto it to use to teach myself many of the repair/rejuvenate/tune techniques you have taught in these reports. The excuse I have used not to actually tear it open and dive in is that the end result would likely be junk anyway.
But here I see that it might actually turn out to be a decent shooter. (Even if it ends up being inaccurate, I have long known that what I learn from jumping in will be very much worth the effort as an educational exercise.) Right after I hit “Post Comment,” I will head down to the basement to move my rusty old Meteor to the Christmas Break Project corner of my basement from the old mop and broom handle corner where it is currently rusting.
Thanks very much, not just for the lessons, but also for the inspiration to put them to use.
Michael
Michael,
This will be an interesting project. I hope it turns out well for you.
B.B.
B.B.
Is the Tune in a Tub wearing off, or are the JSB’s the wrong pellet?
-Y
Yogi,
I think the JSBs are just wrong in this rifle.
B.B.
BB,
You might need a larger diameter pellet. How tight were the JSBs compared to the Hobbys?
As for myself, I would step up to the next heavier JSB or H&N Field Target Trophy. It does sound like the RS is a little too light and/or a little too loose.
That is one of the few rifles I have seen that shoots a pointed pellet fairly well.
Yogi just brought up a good point, how many shots do you think the tune in a tube can last?
I know it may depend on the power of the airgun, or the “slop” in the spring chamber.
But it could turn into one of those long term review projects, or a 3 pellet tin workout for your first grunt…
Ian.
A decent normal tune should last for several years with moderate use. Why should this be different (though it might)
Ogilkes,
I don’t think it is different. I think those pellets make the powerplant perform differently.
B.B.
Well, now we see why the Meteor was such a sensation. A modern rifle, built with cost effective methods that could shoot too. The British are very conservative in these matters,
‘not hand filed lockwork (intake of breath)? Must be rubbish, Mark my words nothing good will come of it’
or words to that effect. My results correspond with yours as to accuracy.
BB,
This little gem is turning into quite a plinker. This thing would be perfect for taking care of the small furry woodland creatures that might invade the garden plot.
RR,
It’s fast becoming a favorite of mine.
B.B.
ATTENTION AIRGUNNERS!
Today and tomorrow is the Hickory, NC airgun show. There will be air rifles and pistols of all descriptions to drool over, a food vendor onsite and a range where you can shoot. Lloyd Sikes, my son-in-law and I will be attending tomorrow. I would like very much to meet some of you guys. Look for a somewhat tall, portly gentleman wearing a brown camo Harley hat with orange flames on the bill.
BB,
One again for the list of interesting rifles. That is the disadvantage of your blog. Ogilkes, thanks, your comment shows that this rifle is not a fluke, but a well designed rifle which therefore performs so well.
Concerning my question of yesterday about a scope: You are right, inexpensive is not a good argument.
What I look for is a simple scope of good quality which matches a Diana 27 in such a way that the rifle still handles well. As it is a quite light rifle which is used for 10 mtr target shooting on a clear day I do not need large lenses or zoom, but a older style 4 x 20 or 30 scope can do the job.
The problem is that in that range there is nothing or some very cheap scopes which probably are not good enough to shoot an elephant. So for me a blog which compares some simple scopes would be very handy.
Regards,
August
August,
3-7 X 32 scopes are pretty common. Bug Buster and Hawke should be considered. Leupold makes a great scope for air guns but it is $$$. All under 15 oz.
Hope this helps,
-Y
August,
NOW I can answer your question!
Yes, there is such a scope. A range of them, in fact.They are UTG and they are 1-4 power scopes that have some of the clearest optics I’ve seen. They sell for over $100 here in the States and I don’t know how easy they will be to find for you.
If I can find one on this site, I’ll post a link later today.
B.B.
Hi August,
Not too long ago I was looking for a scope for my TX200 and asked B.B. for a blog comparing scopes. He mentioned that he doesn’t prefer to do comparisons.
I have a couple of Hawke scopes and like them very much. I decided to try a UTG scope for comparison and now understand why B.B. was not keen on writing that kind of blog.
Both scopes are 3-12×44, side adjust and mil-dot. The scopes are the same but they are different – subtle differences that are not “better” or “worse” but fall into personal preferences. Kinda hard to compare things like that.
For my 2 cents, I like both brands and feel comfortable buying either.
Good luck with your choice.
Hank
Nice shooting, there are a lot of older air rifles that with a tune will shoot well for not a lot of cost. I did not get in on the first of the scope discussion, but my solution has been to use peep sights. I have one on a Winchester 27 (Diana), Meteor Mark IV and a Marksman 70.
On Tuesday nights we have run what you brung 10 meter shoot. The guys with scopes generally struggle to keep up. Just a thought and in most cases cheaper than a scope.
BB
How are your new glasses you got a little while back doing for your shooting? Do you like or dislike?
GF1,
I can see better with them — just not perfect. I think I have a cataract in that eye, because light now bothers me.
B.B.
BB
That’s a good thing then about the glasses.
And cataracts can be removed. Maybe if you get that done your eyes will get even better.
But can you tell if the glasses has helped you with scoped shooting or open sights? If it does help is one better than the other with glasses or pretty equal?
It just makes me think that shooting with corrective glasses helps shooting. I know I can shoot unscoped open sights or scoped sights better when I wear my everyday prescription glasses. Without my glasses my eyes just don’t see the same as they use to. And then add in cataracts.
Maybe we don’t realize how important clear vision can make a difference in multiple situations. I would definitely tell people to get prescription glasses verses not getting them.
Did you make a right choice getting the latest eye glass prescription to sum it up in one question?
I am very near sighted and it is hard to get my head in the right position to look through the center of my glasses and a scope at the same time. I tend to get a distortion in the shape of the sight picture so that it is not perfectly circular. I don’t know that it affects accuracy but it is disconcerting. contacts would definitely solve that problem.
however, i solved it another way on my daisy 853 which I scoped for indoor practice. I have a centerpoint 4×32 scope which I modified/adjusted to increase the negative diopter adjustment range. I can now see clearly with this scope without glasses. I also adjusted the objective to be able to focus/paralex at only 7 yards. I think all my changes resulted in less than 4x power but it is quiet comfortable and enjoyable for me at 7 yards. a lot of people complain about this cheep scope been crappy, but it is easy to modify and is quite nice for this application.
6.5
That actually sounds like a nice setup on your scope for that distance. Heck I shoot at 6 magnification from 15-100+ yards with my Hawke Varmint scopes on my pellet guns.
And I have actually thought about putting my Bugbuster scope on my Daisy 74 for some indoor shooting this winter. Both of the 74’s I have seem to be pretty accurate guns outside out to 20 or so yards. So might actually do good at 10 or so yards indoors with the Bugbuster scope. I will have to try this winter.
I noticed my front sight hood on my Winchester 94 interfered with the sight picture in some some shots. But I suppose that the hood made sense for the outdoor use that the rifle was designed for. Harder to understand is why the gun was designed to eject cases right into your head when operated from the shoulder. I don’t get it. John Browning was a genius who designed classic firearms with perfect ergonomics, including the Winchester 94 in many respects. It would have been easy to eject the cases in a different direction.
Jim M., I’m afraid you are asking the wrong guy about where to apply Tune in a Tube to the RWS 48. My love for guns does not extend to much technical knowledge. However, I was following your line of thinking. I asked the blog at one point about the mechanism of my B30 since I could not see the spring and B.B. said that the action has a sliding compression chamber that enclosed the spring. For lubrication, I just spray Ballistol everywhere and hope that it migrates to the spring and so far so good. But no doubt B.B. or many others could give you better advice for Tune in a Tube.
In other news, my knives are finally dropping for no particular reason after clanging and bouncing off my target. This just goes to show that there is more going on in the subconscious than this world dreams of. It also confirms another theory of mine related to the Superiority of Primitive Man thesis. This other theory is that there is an inverse relationship between the technology and one’s sense of identification with the weapon. This was observed by military veterans who noticed that while soldiers appreciated their M1 Garands, they would not give them a pat when putting them away as they did to their Springfield rifles. What if you extended this trend line back to more primitive technologies? A thrown knife is pretty far down the list. But what I get out of this is a sense of imagining the knife during the throw and visualizing the flight path as if it were a cruise missile making trace corrections in flight as it goes. It is quite a sensation, even if the knife only travels about two feet in the air. Now that I have the feel, I’m ready to apply the airgun training. I’ll keep slinging them in there, increasing the distance infinitesimally as I go.
Matt61
Going to post something real quick that I just realized for no apparent reason.
I was shooting my today that I have my old Tasco red dot sight on. Yes red dot sight on a Tx. Well let that go for now. But that sight is about 10 years old now. Well probably about 9 years old actually. Maybe just a hair more older than 9 years old.
But it dawned on me and that’s why I’m posting now before my mind let’s it slide by. I have not changed the original battery in it yet. I think that’s pretty amazing. I don’t have that good of luck with battery’s normally.
And I see in the first sentence of the second paragraph I didn’t say Tx.
And I had that sight on my first Discovery I got just a bit after they came out. I didn’t have the Tx back when I got the red dot.
RR
How did the air gun meet go today? And sorry for not getting back to you. Some how the notification slid by and I seen it today.
Did you find anything to buy? And haven’t heard anything about Lloyd in forever. Has he got anything up his sleeve?
GF1,
I am on my way to bed right now, but a quick little note and more in the morning.
Can you say .357?
😉
RR
Well that sounds interesting. Sounds like some long distance shooting will be happening soon. Can’t wait to hear more.
GF1,
I had intended to fill you in earlier, however I was awakened this morning by a phone call from my sister saying I needed to get to the emergency room for my mother. Fortunately, though serious she should recover just fine shortly.
Now, as to what came home with me from the 4th Annual NC Airgun Show. Joe Brancato had a suite of tables set up and on one of them was a brand new Rapid Air Weapons HM1000X .357 air rifle with carbon fiber tank and charcoal laminate sporter stock with a price tag that said if I walked away from that deal I had to be so awesomely stupid I needed to be immediately castrated to prevent me from passing my genes on to future generations.
Needless to say, I have not had the opportunity to even mount a scope on it, but you may rest assured I fully intend to send big, honkin’ chunks of lead way out there real soon.
It looks as though I have gone big bore on you guys.
RR
I hope all is well with your mother. My wife fell and fractured/broke her outer ankle. So that changed things up here at home. So that’s kind of kept me buisy and away from the blog also.
But glad to hear you got that gun. And it sounds like it’s a good looker too. And I have talked to Joe in the past. He’s definitely got alot of info stored away in his brain cells.
Just make sure you keep us all updated when you get it out running through the paces. Long distance shooting is fun stuff. And I hope to get a big bore one of these days too. Can’t wait to hear how it does though. 🙂
Gunfun1,
I know how bad broken bones can be and how long it takes to heal. I hope it is not so bad as to require surgery. I pray for her speedy recovery so that you can get time on the range.
Siraniko
Siraniko
Thanks for the prayers. Hope she gets back to being ok. A little tight on money with out her working now. But thanks again.
GF1,
Unless there are unforeseen complications, she should be OK in a few days. She is getting rest and bunches of antibiotics. She has a pretty good constitution. The only medication she takes is a baby aspirin every day. Not bad for an 85 year old little old lady.
I will indeed keep everyone updated on this rifle. Right now I have to figure out how to mount a scope on this thing. I have a bunch of 30mm rings, but they all fit Weaver/Picatinny rails. Someone took my adapters. 😉
I do have a Hawke 2-7×32 I can mount on it until I can get adapters. That will get me going for a bit, but I know I am going to want far more optics on this puppy before all is said and done.
RR
I will pray your mother recovers fast.
And that scope sounds like it would work if you keep it up on the higher magnification. And yep those are nice little adapters. I’ll be waiting for sure to see how it does with that scope.
RidgeRunner,
I pray for your mother’s speedy recovery.
Siraniko
PS I’m still reading the backlog of comments. Wasn’t it your project to beat a >$1,000 airgun with a modified Marauder? Haven’t reached the conclusion yet to that story.
Siraniko,
I humbly thank you for your prayers.
I do not know if that was me to which you are referring. I have seriously considered a Marauder and upgrading the barrel, stock and such over time. The potential is certainly there for a Marauder to do such. If I am not mistaken, a gentleman has just won the AAFT championships with a Marauder.
The Marauder is a superb air rifle and for the price there are none better. One of it’s shortcomings though is it is not eye candy. Also, when you shoot one of those >$1000 air rifles, you can tell the difference.
With the proper tuning and polishing and modifying you can turn a Marauder into an air rifle that will absolutely shoot with the best made and there are some stock makers that can help you dress her up for the Prince’s Ball, but you will end up paying as much or more as if you had just went ahead and purchased a Daystate, FX, etc.
Personally, I would really like to see Crosman bring out a premium grade Marauder with a nicely designed walnut stock and a Lothar Walther barrel. I would pay the extra.
Siraniko,
Oops, my bad. That was the AAFTA championships.
https://hardairmagazine.com/uncategorized/rabbitt-wins-aafta-national-title-ebersole-wins-crosman-series/
Matt61—-I do not like the front sight hoods like the one on your Win. 94. I had 2 Marlin 94,s ( .44 mag.) that had similar hoods. My son and I used to hunt with them. We removed the hoods during the hunt. The hoods came loose and almost popped off. They stuck to the forward edge of the ramp, blocking the sights. This happened only a few times during practice at the range, but I did not trust them , so we removed them in the field. I like the Russian 91-30 front sight hood , for a battle rifle. It protects the sight, cant be mistaken for the sight, and cant be removed and lost. I dont use hoods on any of my hunting rifles that have enough recoil to displace the hood. —-Ed
BB,
Thanks for the comment (Yogi and Vana too). That showed me where to look for what I wanted. With the current state of the internet the right way to set up your question is almost more important than the answer.
UPG Leapers are hard to get here. There was a Hawke Vantage 4×32 (30/30 or Mildot) and a Diana 4×32 Bullseye which looks be the answer to my question. Interesting was that Diana also had (separately) a zero recoil mount to lessen the impact of the shot on the scope. Maybe something for the heavier springers. It was around 120 $.
Regards,
August
August,
It is indeed difficult to find a decent small scope that is not very expensive. There are some nice choices if you are willing to spend up to about $100 though. I recently picked up a Hawke 2-7×32 for well under that and I am VERY pleased with the quality.
What you should really do is unless your budget dictates otherwise, which unfortunately mine usually does, is not worry about the cost of the scope if it meets your needs (wants). Look at it as an investment in your pleasure. If a cheap scope will not do what you want, fine, get a nice scope.
BB,
Old, here irrelevant question. Some years back when you reviewed and took apart an RWS45, you recommended the UTG base and said get the one for sidelevers instead of break-barrels. Do you remember why? I have a 45 that has been sightless for years. I’m going to lube up the leather seal and find some optics for it and figure I will order up one of the bases.
Thanks.
TwiceHorn,
Welcome to the blog.
I said that because the sidelever base doesn’t droop as much and the 45 doesn’t seem to need as much droop and most Diana breakbarrels.
B.B.
That’s what I suspected. Thank you. I have been lurking forever (>5 years) and am resurrecting the 45 for my father-in-law to have something to shoot field target with me. It’s an 84 so it has a leather seal and I don’t think it has been shot much, certainly not by me (I have owned it for probably 20 years). I’m going to get the mount and some silicone oil and juice it back up, and let father-in-law pick out a scope.
I know it isn’t an ideal FT gun, but he’s on a retiree’s “salary” and I can surely sympathize with that as expenses are mounting up getting a 97 ready to roll for FT.