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- BSA TechStar
- Overview
Have a picture of BSA TechStar?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of marks324.
| Accuracy | 10/10 |
|---|---|
| Handling | 8.3/10 |
| Value for Money | 9.8/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 9.5/10 |
| Overall Rating | 9.6/10  |
Full review by
chile
on 28th Dec 2006
User Rating : 9
Respect :
+3
Good Points: The combination of outstanding accuracy and high power. Silencer can be fitted to standard 1/2 UNF - Acceptably quiet with silencer. Cheap for a PCP. It "does the job" for me - 100% recommended for hunters.
Bad Points: As with all PCP's: handling has its own paraphernalia that takes away some of the fun when shooting. First 3 to 5 shots have notorious different power as the rest, but this won't affect your shooting if you are aware of that.
General comments: I have owned two airguns before this one, both springers. Never a PCP. My opinion must be taken in consideration having this in mind. I'm not an "expert", nor close to be one, even with springers. I use airguns for hunting and pest control. I also like shooting at targets and plinking at my little backyard, where I'm surrounded by neighbors. I'm from Chile, South America (sorry if my English is bad). Here we don't have any restriction on airguns or their accessories, such as silencers. That's good, but- the other side of the coin is that the supply of airguns is very poor here, there are only a few Dealers with almost no variety.
With my springer I could get mediocre accuracy, and it was difficult to be confident when shooting - something fundamental when hunting. Also, although this springer is in the "high powered" category, it is not powerful enough to take down some quarry with clean kills. Last, I'm very concerned with noise. That's why I started researching and arrived at the world of PCP's. My priorities are: accuracy, power, silence - in that order. I don't care too much about the following aspects: weight, single shot versus multi shoot, handling, fit and finish (looks)...
I bought the BSA Techstar in 22 Caliber (the only caliber for this gun), from a US-Dealer. It seems that this gun is only for export (US-market) as it does not appear in the BSA webpage. Advertised muzzle energy is 38 ft/lb, which is just a little less than double of typical powerful airguns, and more than triple than permitted power in the UK. It is a single shot hunting PCP, with adjustable power (I haven't tested it yet however), apparently designed after the BSA Hornet. I also bought two silencers, but these from a UK-Dealer, the Weihrauch Silencer and the Logun CCFC Silencer. My opinion of this rifle is after only 3 weeks of use.
Pumping the rifle with the BSA pump (Hill pump) works well for me. I measure 175 cm and weight 80 kg. I take some 7 to 10 minutes to do the work. I could do it in a single session, but prefer to do it in two, to let the pump cool as recommended. At the end the work becomes quite heavy. I sweat a little bit (it is summer here). From the full rifle I fire 30 shots as recommended, not feeling any power decrease when shooting at 20 yards (except as indicated below for the first shots).
About ease of use of this gun (accuracy), I'll tell this story. Shortly after opening the box I was zeroing the 4-12 x 40 scope on it. My wife had been looking very close at all the process, and at some point she got curious enough and asked to fire herself. She had never fired any gun before, of any kind. So anything could happen. The scoped rifle was heavy for her, so she seated down resting her arms on a table. She shot 4 times, at 20 yards: the result was a 1 inch group, and one of the shots got directly into the center of the target. I couldn't believe it. As far as I know, getting that kind of results with a springer takes a lot of effort (training & equipment). And my wife did it with the Techstar, just out-of-the-box, being those the very first 4 shots in her life!! Amazing!!
I experienced very good accuracy results too. I can put pellet after pellet inside a 1/2 inch group, from 20 yards, and never miss one, something I couldn't even dream before. And I know this can be improved - right now it's just me who limits the gun capabilities.
An extra note about accuracy: when the rifle is full (when it has just been pumped) the first 3 to 5 shots are inaccurate (the impact is below than expected). I don't know why. The highest pressure makes it to release poor powered shots? Perhaps it is a fault only in my rifle and not something general. Anyways, this is not something random (it happens always, and in the same way), so I can handle it, and it wont affect my shooting. I don't need to move anything on my scope, just simply take these 3 to 5 first shots until having the POI in the zero of the target again.
The rifle is very powerful. I don't have a chrony but I tested penetration in wood. In a 1 inch pine wood plate I shot 21 grains Beeman Kodiak pellets at 10 yards, and they went complete through to the other side, leaving a noticeable 4 -5 mm mark on the wood plate that was behind the first one. That's quite a powerful. Never saw a springer do that.
It has to be mentioned that most of accurate springers are deliberately low or medium powered guns. I think there is really no great achievement to have good accuracy at low power. This gun has remarkably good accuracy and at the same time it's hitting its targets very-very hard. That's what I was looking for.
I tried both silencers: the Weihrauch and the Logun CCFC. Both are like 20 cm long and light (some 110 gr. approx.). I found out that the rifle sounds very similar with both. I finally stayed with the Weihrauch (perhaps a little bit better, and also looks better). When you shoot close to a hard target (for instance, target on wood) the sound of the pellet hitting the target is many times stronger than the sound of the rifle itself. When you shoot on something soft (soil or sand) or far away, what you hear from the rifle is just a "twang!" which is a sound quite strange for a rifle. The intensity of noise of the silenced rifle I would say is like a medium powered springer, which is quieter than my springer. I didn't try the rifle without silencer because I was told it is very loud, and I don't want to have problems with my neighbors!!
The pellet load and the cocking of this rifle are done in different processes. For me, that is just fine. I have tried loading different pellets (domed and pointed) and the rifle takes all of them with no problem. Perhaps cocking can be a little bit noisy. So, if you are hunting and require extreme silence, I'd recommend to have your gun previously cocked. Of course, don't do that if you'll be walking for a while, since it may be dangerous (the rifle has also an additional safety).
About fit and finish. Here I only had seen Gamo, Norica, Mendoza, Hatsan and Chinese rifles.... I had been told that a BSA is not as beautiful as an Air Arms or a even a Weihrauch, so my opinion in this area is somehow limited, since I've never seen one of those. Anyways, I found that this BSA rifle is beautiful, wood is perfectly finished having no marks on it, and all pieces are metal. I don't have complaints about the plain stock.
Given my experience, I cannot compare this trigger to first class springer triggers. But again... I feel it's very crisp and light, just a pleasure to be fired. Also, as most PCP owners will tell: the rifle almost doesn't vibrate when fired, so you can keep watching your target through the scope at all times, and after the shot you'll see a hole appears just in the place you expected. That's wonderful.
As you can imagine, I'm very pleased with the gun. For me, it "does the job" and it fulfils all of my priorities. It is very accurate and at the same time very powerful, and acceptably quiet (fitted with silencer). I would 100% recommend it to hunters - but there are other interesting models that deserve to be researched further (the Korean high powered hunting PCP's).
Time will say if it is durable enough to be a good value for money (so far it is). By the way, my low rating in "handling" is the best rating I would give any PCP, because of all the paraphernalia that takes to fill them. In this sole aspect, nothing is better than the simplicity of cocking a break-barrel rifle and shooting all day long.
Last words for those who are trying to decide between a springer and a PCP:
I concluded that good PCP's are very easy to shot accurately. Perhaps that's why they are called "the dark side" of airgunning.... "Easy" is the word behind that asseveration.
If you enjoy spending time on your gun: lubricating, cleaning, tuning, reading and researching about... and spend even more time learning how to shot it properly... If you like mainly shooting at targets (FT) and have pleasure measuring your improvements time after time... Well, then I think PCP's are not for you. Your are going to be bored with them. Because with a PCP it's very fast and easy to shot pellet after pellet in the same hole, and you loose some of the challenge of shooting airguns.
On the other hand, if you use your gun just as a tool for performing something else (like hunting)... If you need 100% confidence to get your single shot exactly where you want it... if you simply cannot tolerate to have any mistakes in your shooting situation, then I think a PCP is the right "tool" for you.
In my case, I think I want to take one of each type!! Haven't found the correct springer yet... But, as far as I have seen, the Techstar is an excellent option for a PCP!!
chile's review and ratings | 1698 words | 1 comment added.
Review by
PhillyAirgunner65
on 26th Jan 2006
User Rating : 10
Respect :
+1
The BSA TechStar is one powerful and very accurate pre-charged pneumatic air rifle. My only real complaint with the TechStar is the muzzle report, it's really loud, some compare it to a .22 short! However the muzzle brake is threaded with 1/2" UNF for after market add-ons. The accuracy is superb from BSA's match grade barrel, one holers are common! The trigger is an adjustable two-stage sporting trigger but right out of the box the unit performed flawless with no tinkering needed! The cockin ...
PhillyAirgunner65's full review | 137 words | 2 comments added.
Review by
Marks324
on 2nd Jan 2005
User Rating : 10
Respect :
0
I own the BSA Techstar and although it is my first
PCP air rifle I love it. I have not found any problems with it, it has tons of power and is very accurate. I head shot a crow @ 65yrds no
problem at all. I use 16 grain JSB Diabolo Exact pellets and they work great for me. I am very happy with this gun.
Marks324's full review | 69 words | 1 comment added.
Review by
Field Shooter
on 9th Dec 2004
User Rating : 10
Respect :
0
I find the BSA TechStar to be a fine working field rifle, the action is smooth and the trigger is fine for my use but it is adjustible to taste.
I have had no problem using a handpump.
While the stock is not fine walnut I would not want a field rifle that I had to worry about the wood.
Using Flitz polish will bring the bluing to a high shine if desired and also protects the finish from acidic fingerprints.
It can be somewhat loud without a supressor but with one all one hears is the twang of ...
Field Shooter's full review | 204 words | 2 comments added.
Review by
runnermo
on 6th Dec 2004
User Rating : 8
Respect :
0
BSA TechStar - The hammer would not fall the same from shot to shot when delivered. After two fills, it would not fire at all about a third of the time when the hammer fell. The rear sight was cranked up a full five turns past the last of the click adjustments where it was free to rotate either way. That was still not high enough for a 25 yard sight in with Kodiaks. After following Compassaco's advise to fix the hammer problem, the gun has functioned flawlessly. The stock is square and so l ...
runnermo's full review | 271 words
Review by
shotone
on 19th Nov 2004
User Rating : 10
Respect :
0
I am surprised that no one has reviewed the BSA Techstar here. I guess it has not been a good seller and that it must be an export-only model for BSA.
I purchased one mainly for field target shooting after a recommendation from the folks at Airguns of Arizona. The Techstar is a very good quality rifle. Accuracy is excellent with just a tiny hint of recoil. Ragged hole groups of .35" are the norm for me at 25 yards unsupported. The rifle comes in .22 caliber only. High quality, adjustab ...
shotone's full review | 356 words | 1 comment added.
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