bsa lightning xl fac review

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Picture courtesy of socalairgunner.

Average Ratings

Accuracy	8.8/10
Handling	9.3/10
Value for Money	8.2/10
Reviewer Rating	8.8/10
Overall Rating	9.2/10

100% Recommended6 out of 6 Reviews

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By StephanBusch on 11th Aug 2007

StephanBusch's Ratings

Accuracy	9/10
Handling	9/10
Value for money	7/10
Overall value	8/10
StephanBusch's recommendation

Good Points

Excellent handling, sturdy & practical design, well engineered, very solid feel, overall it is a very good quality item.

Bad Points

It takes a lot of practice to shoot consistently as the rifle does have quite a bit of recoil.
My trigger jammed after 3 months (1500 shots).

General Comments

I live on a farm in South Africa and grew up with several different air rifles over the last 25 years. Only recently did I decide to invest in some new technology. I initially bought a Gamo Shadow 1000 - I was blown away by its power and accuracy compared to my old rifles. I used it for a year with no problems - for the price the Shadow is an excellent rifle, but when a friend expressed interest I sold it and bought a BSA Lightning XL (FAC) with the Tactical stock. The BSA is double the price of the Gamo and its build quality shows - the BSA is solid quality and very well engineered. The breech is crisp, snug and moves like a well oiled machine - the Gamo was always a bit on the loose side and after a few years I'm sure it would rattle. I am very impressed with the Lightning XL, it is powerful (900fps), well made, accurate, small & solid, handles exceptionally and fires like a dream. With my older air rifles using open sites at 20m I can group 9/10 shots onto a beer cap - however with the XL and a 3-12 x42 scope I can only group 6/10 shots onto the cap. Now don't get me wrong, the rifle is very accurate but the recoil dynamics due to the high power requires that you hold the rifle precisely the same way each time you fire. That means if the scope is zeroed with you standing & firing freestyle - then you'll only ever hit firing this way - don't try resting the rifle on anything as the recoil will pull the pellets off target and your POI will change. It is one hell of a thing to master, on days when I'm stressed I can't hit a thing as my muscles are all tensed up. But on those days when I'm relaxed you can just let the rifle rest on your open palm and squeeze every shot right on target.
As Pirelli say, "POWER IS NOTHING WITHOUT CONTROL"
All that said and done, after 3 months with the XL and 1500 pellets later, the trigger jammed with the rifle still cocked. I removed the pellet, but it appears that either the trigger has collapsed or the safety has jammed - the trigger will not fire the rifle. I bought it over the internet so now I had to make a wooden box, package the rifle and post it back to the suppliers for repairs. What an absolute hassle and disappointment! I honestly thought I'd have another 25 years of service from this BSA as my 30 year old Meteor is still firing fine.

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