by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
BSA’s Mark 2 repeater has a rubber-covered beechwood stock.
This report covers:
- Lots of discussion
- Before we begin
- Prevent supersonic
- H&N Baracuda Magnum with 4.50mm head
- H&N Sniper Magnum with 4.50mm head
- H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm head
- Crosman Premier heavys
- Shot count
- Trigger pull
- Summary
Today we look at the power of the BSA R10 MK2 precharged repeater. Remember that, although this particular rifle is no longer sold, it is very similar to the BSA R10 SE that’s currently available. So in essence this is a review of a current pellet rifle, even though it’s also something of an historical review.
Lots of discussion
For some reason this rifle sparked a lot of discussion among you readers. Most of it was about other things, which is fine with me. But a couple of you said that you did like the look of the R10. I put that “dog ugly” remark in the blog to see who would rise up to defend it. There weren’t as many as I anticipated. But you did have lots to say.
Before we begin
Before we start let’s look at a few things first. This rifle is very powerful. The .22-caliber version that’s still in production as the BSA R10 SE is supposed to generate 29 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The rifle I’m testing is a .177, and it was supposed to generate 21 foot-pounds. That’s obviously with heavier pellets, because precharged airguns generate higher energy with heavier pellets.
Prevent supersonic
I had already fired the rifle a couple times and I knew that at the velocities the lighter pellets exit the muzzle, it is impossible to silence this air rifle. But heavier pellets should exit at a velocity lower than the sound barrier, and that would make it reasonable quiet. I plan to test it both as it came and also with a DonnyFL silencer screwed on the front. That means I will be testing heavier pellets today.
Reader Brazos comments that he had the same rifle in the same caliber and his really liked the smaller head sizes. So I will be watching that, as we go. When we get to accuracy testing that will become more important.
H&N Baracuda Magnum with 4.50mm head
This Baracuda Magnum is a heavyweight in .177. Don’t confuse it with the much lighter but still heavy Baracuda and Baracuda Match. Ten of these 16.36-grain .177 domed pellets averaged 792 f.p.s. from the R10. That generates 22.79 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The low was 787 and the high was 798 f.p.s., so the difference was 11 f.p.s. I did see that waiting a few seconds after cocking added velocity, so the new regulator is no doubt breaking in. I’m only talking 5 seconds, or so. I started this 10-shot string with 232 bar in the rifle’s tank. At the end of 10 shots the gauge read 200 bar.
I shot the first shot with the rifle just as it came from the factory, and shot number two was with the silencer attached. Without the silencer the R10 generated 98.6 dB. When the silencer was attached it generated 82.5 dB. That is with the Baracuda Magnum pellet that averaged 792 f.p.s., so the sound barrier was not an issue. With the silencer, the R10 is as quiet as my best-tuned Diana 27. It’s definitely suburb-friendly. Without the silencer it’s about as loud as a standard breakbarrel, which is to say not bad at all. And thanks to the reader who reminded me of how to take a screen shot with my smartphone!
R10 without the silencer generated 98.6 dB at the muzzle. That’s not that loud. It’s maybe too loud for a small yard, but fine for a larger one — say a half-acre.
With the DonnyFL silencer attached the muzzle discharge dropped to 82.5 dB. That’s just over the ambient quiet room level.
H&N Sniper Magnum with 4.50mm head
The H&N Sniper Magnum domed pellet weighs 15 grains. They averaged 815 f.p.s. for ten shots. At the average velocity the Sniper Magnum generates 22.13 foot-pounds at the muzzle. The low was 805 and the high was 822 f.p.s. — a difference of 17 f.p.s.
H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm head
Ten 10.65-grain Baracuda Match pellets averaged 933 f.p.s. the low was 928 and the high was 939 f.p.s. — a spread of 11 f.p.s. At the average velocity this pellet generated 20.59 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
Crosman Premier heavys
The last pellet I tested was the 10.5-grain Crosman Premier Heavy. This pellet is the lightest pellet tested, but it’s also the only pellet made from hardened lead. Ten averaged 928 f.p.s. from the R10 with a 11 f.p.s. spread. The low was 922 and the high was 933 f.p.s. At the average velocity this pellet generated 20.08 foot pounds of energy. And, after 40 shots since the fill there was now about 140 bar remaining in the rifle.
After the first 40 shots this is what the onboard pressure gauge read. I’m calling it 140 bar.
Shot count
But after 40 shots at this power level, where do we stand? To find out I shot 5 more Baracuda Magnums. In the first string they averaged 792 f.p.s. Now they averaged 790 f.p.s. After that I fired five more Sniper Magnums. In the first string they averaged 815 f.p.s. This time they averaged 821 f.p.s. So, after 50 shots the R10 is still on the reg. The reservoir pressure now read 125 bar.
Then I fired five Crosman Premier Heavys. In the first string they averaged 928 f.p.s. Instead of showing you the average let me show the entire string.
Shot……….Vel.
1…………..933
2…………..922
3…………..920
4…………..919
5…………..917
From this short string it appears the rifle is coming off the reg. But let’s look at five Baracuda Match before we decide. In the first string they averaged 933 f.p.s.
Shot……….Vel.
1…………..938
2…………..927
3…………..923
4…………..919
5…………..913
I don’t think there’s any doubt that the rifle has come to the end of its useful air. At the end of these shots the onboard gauge reads about 105 bar. I have caught it right at that instant that it dropped off the regulator. So I am going to say this BSA R10 Mark II can get 60 good shots on a fill.
Trigger pull
As it came from the factory the two-stage adjustable trigger had a first stage pull of 9 ounces, followed by a second stage break at 1 pound, 9.7 ounces. The second stage had two spots of creep in the pull and was not crisp, though it was light. The instructions in the manual said I could reduce the second-stage travel, so I adjusted the trigger.
In the first place, there isn’t supposed to be any second-stage travel! But BSA provides an adjustment to get rid of it, so I tried it.
I did remove the reservoir that the manual calls the “buddy bottle,” and then the stock came off with the removal of one Allen-head bolt. Then I adjusted the second stage travel. To my utter surprise — it really worked! I have adjusted several airgun triggers through the years, but most of them don’t do much, if anything, to change the trigger pull. This BSA trigger, though, actually responded to my adjustment and all the creep in stage two went away!
After I replaced the stock and tested the pull again I was surprised that the trigger now breaks crisply. Often after the stock is back some creep can be detected, but not this time. Stage one is still 9 ounces and stage two is now 1 pound nine ounces on the nose!
Summary
Well, I still don’t think this BSA R10 Mark 2 is an attractive air rifle, but I now have a lot more respect for what it can do. It gets a lot of shots at a reasonably stable velocity before falling off the regulator. It has a great trigger and the magazine doesn’t stick above the top of the receiver. This is going to be a fun one to shoot for accuracy!
B.B.,
This rifle was built for function primarily not form. Everything works as it should. Hopefully it won’t let you down when it comes to accuracy.
Siraniko
Siraniko,
That’s my hope, as well.
BB
BB,
Looking good so far. So,.. if you did not care for the looks of the rifle when you bought,… what were the reasons that you decided to get it over something else?
Also, what are those teeth like protrusions that are just behind the bottle and on (top) of the forearm?
Chris
Chris,
Like Timl said, they are just for lookin’ at.
Back in Part 1, BB said he got a real good deal on the price. That can make up a lot for the looks.
Chris,
It was an eleven-hundred-dollar rifle selling for three and change.
BB
BB,
That would even put my penny pinching butt in action! 😉 Nice!
Chris
Chris,
Well, there were five when I ordered mine from PA.
BB
BB,
I have never been real impressed with PA’s discounts on open box/re-furb/close out stuff. Obviously I need to pay a little closer attention. 1,100 to 300+ is huge! Maybe toss the crew here a heads up if you see something like that again in the future.
Chris
Chris,
By the time my remarks would have posted the five guns were gone.
BB
BB
Right. Very gone.
I have got some good Hatsan PCP deals like that.
And the kicker is they brought more money than what I bought them for when I sold them.
Oh no now the cats out of the bag. Wonder how many guns get turned like that.?
They aren’t functional. The fins on the”toast rack” (part 167411) are just styling.
Tim
BB,
She may not be the prettiest maiden at the ball, but she can really cook. She is much prettier when she is dressed in walnut instead of that mourning dress.
I have a question about cocking the bolt. Is she relatively smooth and easy to cock? So many of the new designs have gone over to the side lever action. On a similarly powered air rifle, would the side lever action provide a true mechanical advantage over the bolt?
Good question. I’m curious too…….
-Y
RR,
No. The bolt throw is short but it does take some muscle to pull back.
BB,
By “taking some muscle” do you mean that you have to use your arm or wrist or just a couple of fingers to cock the rifle?
The cocking force varies a lot (depending on the lever design and hammer spring weight) and I am curious how much effort is required for the BSA-R10.
The side-levers I have are quite light to operate and easily done with two fingers.
Hank
Hank,
I use my arm. It’s probably 10-15 lbs.
BB
BB,
Interesting that.
Just checked and best as I can “guesstimate” (comparing the tension/pressure to that on an accurate spring scale) my side-levers are cocking at under 5 pounds of force – or as a point of reference less than half of cocking the hammer spring on the Maximus.
Also, does the BAS-R10 cock on the pull or push stroke? I ask because FX cocks on the pull stroke (which I find the most comfortable and faster) while the Weihrauchs cock on the push stroke.
Hank
Hank,
The pull stroke.
BB
I like bolts.
RR,
Bolts are great where you have to chamber a 4-5 inch long round – a side-lever isn’t practical for that length of travel.
With pellets being so short (minimal linear travel required) the mechanical advantage of the side-lever to cock the hammer spring really shines.
I have a couple of bolt-action PCPs (Walther Dominator and a Maximus) and a couple of side-lever PCPs (Weihrauch and FX). The bolt-action works but IMHO it doesn’t even come close to the smooth, quick, flick-of-the-wrist cocking of a side-lever.
Semi-auto airguns are a big thing these days, while they are interesting I (personally) don’t see them as a big advantage over a side-lever – I can empty the 28 shot mag on the Impact real quick when facing a charge of hostile pop-cans. 🙂
Bolts are OK but there would have to be a special reason for me to buy a rifle with one. I keep looking at the AF Talons (as a big-bore “sniper rifle”) but think that the lack of a lever is one thing that has me hanging back from getting one.
Anyway, just saying that I prefer the side-lever and why I do.
Hank
Hank,
The Texan has a side lever.
RR
Hmmm… .457 and .500 calibers – major energy!!!
Might be fun to get into swaging slugs and shooting these cannons 🙂
Don’t hunt big game any more but a Texan would be awesome for pesting groundhogs.
Hank
Hank
My 50 caliber Wingshot will see some action with these soon as they get in stock.
/product/air-venturi-50-cal-185-grains-hollowpoint-50ct?p=1046
/product/air-venturi-50-cal-210-grains-balle-blondeau-flat-head-50ct?p=1015
/product/air-venturi-50-cal-177-grains-round-ball-100ct?p=1049
GF1,
Ol’ Gunfun will be slinging some Big Boy lead downrange! 🙂 You will have to come up with some “cool” test(s) and targets.
Hopefully you will not have to wait too long. Shipping across USPS, UPS and FedEx is (really) screwed up now for a lot of folks. GTA has a bunch of stories. Not to mention shortages of many things shooting related.
Looking forwards to it!
Chris
Chris
For some reason I find myself entirely in agreement with you 🙂
The AK1 I ordered from PA on the 3rd has been through a total of 9 transfer stations and has at least 2 more to go to reach San Diego. The WED delivery date has been deleted and changed to unknown. May be all the online shopping going on with Covid?
I recently bought a RAI-Marauder from Chris and it took about a dozen days for my check
to reach him via Certified Mail.
And one point I really need to make is that Chris packaged that rifle and assorted attachments like it was a bunch of extremely fragile collectables … Totally bulletproof packaging and nothing was damaged. PA could take some pointers from him !
Bob M
Bob,
Thank you for the kind words on our dealings. I try to treat people as I would wish to be treated.
As for the shipping situation these days,… how about something getting shipped coast to coast,… 4X? Or,… having your package get within 40 miles of your house 3X,… only to go BACK out of state 3X? (stories from GTA) Tell me folks,… any of you,… that is “efficiency” in ANY sense of the word????
It was a (most excellent) pleasure doing business with you.
Chris
It is causing havoc in all areas. A German friend who is in the business of sourcing and manufacturing spare parts for vintage VWs had a parcel mailed to Holland from Germany returned 3X to him by the German Postal Service, before it finally made its way to the addressee. A lot of repro parts are being made in the Czech Republic, but some in the hobby report 6-month delays in receiving their orders. It’s a pandemic of chaos and disruption.
Bob,
I recall when I sold the TX200? or the LGU? and the fellow replied back to me that his wife was looking over his shoulder as he was unpacking things. As best I recall,… he said that his wife said,… ” Holy Crap!!! This guy is as anal as you are!!!” 😉 (with regards to over? packing well)
Yup,… (over) do it every time as opposed to under doing it. There is some real horror stories out there on how things arrive at the doorstep from the various shipping services.
Chris
Chris
Funny you should mentioned that. I think a lot of us here are a little anal. When I was working as a Quality Assurance Rep inspecting work done on aircraft I was given the nickname PP Bobby. ‘Peter Prefect Bobby’. Down to counting the number of safety wire twists per inch.( To avoid work hardening of the wire, 6 ) “He want’s to find the exact electron that caused the problem.” May have mentioned it in the past.
For the young among us, Safety wiring is a method of connecting two or more bolts, or a single bolt to a fixed point, with wire in a very specific manner so that in order for one to loosen it would have to tighten the other one. Really effective in areas of high vibration, or in dangerous situations. Like alternator mount bolts inside a primary chain / clutch housing on a motorcycle. Locked that rear wheel right up on me !
Just today … I mentioned putting a Center Point dot sight on the M1A the other day so I decided to actually try it out. Wow, the Weaver scope rail is not standard. The rings will not tighten down on it? WRONG! The upper screw of the vertically split rings was already tight on the scope (Came that way) and prevented the lower screws, for the rail, from compressing enough to fully tighten down on the rail. Need to loosen up the top screw first then tighten the rings on the rail second then snug up the top screws for the scope once its in position.
Read instructions, no I did not. It says loosen the top screws first. But the following instructions are really vague, if not wrong, telling you to loosen the lower mount screws to adjust the scope position in the rings? The top screw seems like the one to use to perform that adjustment.
By the way, the DOT Sight did not really bring the sight down but it made it easier to acquire the target with both eyes being open. And it was probably a tad bit lighter than a regular scope. Not positive, it has a lot of knobs on it (4)
Bob M
Bob,
I have used tie wire on BIG stationary Diesel’s, so I am familiar with it and it’s use. We also used torque multipliers. The biggest one was a 3 stack, topped by a standard 1/2″ torque wrench. We did 3,000 foot #’s once as best I recall.
Where I last worked, they had BIG presses. At times, they would sell one and have to split it. I talked with the guys doing the work and they said the used hydraulics to (stretch) the massive corner “bolts”. That was the torquing process. Stretch (X amount measured with dial indicator), run nut down, let off pressure, done. Some rods were 10″ diameter and 40 feet long.
Chris
Chris
Yep I do hope I get some soon.
And yep will have to see what I can come up with to shoot at. I do have a couple old phones laying around. 😉
Vana2,
Danger Will Robinson!
DANGER!!!
The BIG BORE DARKSIDE is strong in you Hank!
Go with a .308 ’cause those Ground Hogs will start reporting your last known position and keep to over 100 meters distance!
shootski
LOL!
Lost in Space are we Shootski?
I do have to admit that launching huge hunks of lead has it’s appeal 🙂
The other day I was looking at the fully rifled Hastings barrel that I have for my 12 gauge and thinking that Foster slugs are escentially .61 caliber “pellets”.
The barrel already has a canteliever scope mount, add an electric valve, tether it to my HPA tank and I’m most of the way to an air-cannon.
Might be a fun project. Certainly qualifies for bragging rights.
What do you think?
Hank
Hank,
I think the rodents near you are all quaking out in their burrows tonight! I have hit an 8 pound woodchuck with a 283 grain Lead .575 ball launched from the DAQ .58 Shortrifle at about 80 meters and it almost turned it inside-out. I think if you can aim it you would have similar results!
shootski
Well, I’m with BB. I think all of the bottle guns are ugly. The Gauntlet is not too bad. I do have a Gauntlet, but I would never say it was pretty. I still really like my Marauder and haven’t seen any reason to replace it.
Jonah
I like Marauders first off.
But with a bottle gun if you need to you just unscrew it and replace it with another till the bottle gets fixed.
What happens when something goes wrong on a resivour tube gun like the Marauder.
Speaking of leaking tube guns, my Marauder has a slowwwwwww leak again. It seems to be losing about one hundred psi a month. Undecided if I should depressurize and add some silicon oil then refill or just tear it apart again and replace/regrease the o-rings.
Derrick,
While not ideal,.. 100 psi over 30 days can be just room temperature fluctuation. It is not like those little gauges are super easy to read with any kind of precision,.. eh? If it were me, I would do nothing with a leak that is that slow. Bummer yes,.. but not worthy of a tear down IMO.
Chris
Sorry, I didn’t provide enough context. I have (cough, cough) a few airguns, so I haven’t shot the Marauder in many months. It’s lost over a thousand psi. Probably more. I guess I’m just mustering up the gumption to get on it.
Derrick,
Just a thought about your slow leak. Unless you can find the leak and then do a repair i would just drop a few drops of Silicon Chamber Oil into the Foster fill port and add some air to blow it into the reservoir. From decades on the Dark Side my experience has shown that the fill-depresurize cycle is to be minimized to avoid Work Hardening the metal parts. The absolute worst thing done is storing a PCP rifle, pistol or cylinder with no gas pressure! Next is getting inside a PCP and leaving salty fingerprints and other organic oils/material inside to cause corrosion. And last but not least, is burning up O-Rings by filling TOO FAST.
Just a guess but pressure gauge and Foster Fill port are the two most common leak complaints on Marauders.
You probably know all that so….
Enjoy shooting her down more often rather than letting her leak down ;^)
shootski
Shootski,
All good points! 🙂
Chris
Chris USA,
Most especially the part about shooting her down more often!
shootski
Yep. Excellent advice. It had a slow leak a few years ago at the pressure gage. One of the o-rings was twisted. Its probably a half hour, maybe forty-five minute job to go through it again. I hand pump the gun–so I’m just being lazy. Hmmmmm. Nope. Still no gumption. At least not for this evening.
Now I wonder if I have any suitable silicone oil on hand? Maybe I can put it off another week if I order some…
Derrick,
Well,… in that light,.. you had better get “in there” then ! 😉
Chris
You did say “again”. Not good. Take a good look around. You overlooked something if it were my guess.
Chris,
Ahhhhh, its been a while. It looks like my last Marauder leak was about six years ago.
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Benjamin%20Marauder
Derrick,
Well,.. I would not know about (cough,… cough),… too many air guns,… but it is good to at least cycle them on a regular basis. In the Ohio Winter,… I at least shoot what I have into an indoor pellet trap every month or two for about 5 shots.
Kind of like a car that just sits,….. bad things happen.
Chris
Its easy to agree with you about shooting them all. Its harder to put that into practice. Pretty sure I have a Diana 75 that needs seals, too. Not in any real hurry to open that one up.
Derrick
I would do like Shootski said if it’s that slow of a leak. It might come back using the silicone oil in the fill port.
Now if it leaks down over night then it’s time to reseal it.
BB, While the Minelli designed stock? Looks great, sort of organic , Dansk like, the fore arm works less well for me.
It’s too anthropomorphic. I like Steyer FT styling. The form looks better as grained wood but, nice snag!
It’s the spring force is the limiting factor on a bolt style. Big bores, that use magazines, like the Umarex Hammer,
might work well as pump action. You can use fore arm strength to manage a bigger hammer spring and cycle the mag, a nice field set up maybe.
Rob
Rob,
Nice thinking outside the box with the pump action idea! 🙂 I think that it has merit.
Chris
Well, in my view regarding airgun aesthetics there are two extremes: firearm lookalikes – the M1A recently reviewed is a good example – and airguns that look exactly what they are, following the ‘form follows function” rule. The AF line is one example of this last group. To my eye this one is somewhere in the middle of the range with the bottle giving it a push into the second group. Not ugly, but it could stand some cosmetic work.
B.B., next time you test this rifle, could you fire a couple of light pellets and use your sound gauge to show the effect of the supersonic projectiles with and without the suppressor? It would be interesting to see in numbers how much of a difference the speed makes.
Henry
Henry,
That’s a good idea. I will baseline the rifle for that test on the day that I do it.
BB
I like the bottle guns. Especially if they are regulated.