Air Gun Home :: View topic - Old BSA Lightning XL, Been Sitting in a Gun Safe for 5+Yrs.

ChileRelleno · New Member

Background:
I'm a long time powder shooter, and just getting into airguns.
Last month I popped my cherry with a new Beeman Sportsman RS2 series.
Put the .22 barrel on it, and it has proven exceedingly accurate and I've the squirrels to prove it. Cool

Now I've acquired a old BSA Lightning XL, it has been sitting in a gun safe for 5+ years.
What do I need to do to make sure this is good to go before shooting it?
Do I need to strip it down for inspection, oil/grease anything, change any seals?
How detailed is dis-assembly, is this owner friendly?
Should I have a smith inspect it, and if so, name a good smith in the Southeastern US?

SMP · Silver Status Member

Hey thats a cool rifle.

It really should be fine.

Take the action out of the stock and you will be able to see the spring and some of the piston through the slot. Look for rust, dryness and other obvious problems.
Put two or three drops of "chamber oil" down the transfer port into the piston area and work the piston up and down a few times without going so far as to cock the gun.
Using only chamber oil is very important. If you use a gun oil or combustible oil you will get some extreme deiseling and could damge the gun, spring or yourself.
Crosman makes the most common chamber oil. RWS makes one as well. All of them will say "pure silicone chamber oil- for spring air guns"

If you get this far then your away to the races. Fire a few pellets through, they will be wet shots so dont worry about accuracy. Then pull a few patches through with a pull through or push a few felt cleaning pellets through....if you are so inclined.

Cheers...enjoy the gun

Slavia · Moderator

If it looks clean (rust free) on the outside, then it's probably good inside. You can take a peek at the spring by removing the action from the stock and looking through the cocking arm slot. Sparingly oil any pivot points, but DO NOT put regular oil in the compression chamber. SMP is right.

It's a fairly simple mechanism, but with one pitfall: the spring. The spring is preloaded and under compression even when uncocked. Don't disassemble without making a spring compressor to release it slowly, or you risk injury/damage.

This is a website for a BSA owners' group. The first topic listed under your gun is an exploded diagram.
http://bsaog.co.uk/

broommaster2000 · Moderator

I would only remove the safety feature. It's a pain in the a$$ and can cause your gun to malfunction. Aside from that, great gun. Test fire it with pellets that are reasonably weighty. It's a lovely gun in .22. I owned one in .177, and it had some life in it. Felt more powerfull then it actually was. Mr. Green

ChileRelleno · New Member

Thank you for the replies.

Cleaned off the dust/lint, dropped the stock & found'er to be in great shape.
She was obviously well taken care off, and lubed before being stashed away in the back of this guy's safe 6yrs +/-.
Stock has a few nicks/dings, she was well used for squirrels/rabbits, and shows the use.
Came with a decent scope, Bushnell Banner 4-12x40, AO and Multi-X reticle.

Tried a few round nose, HP, and wad cutters of various makes, she likes the Benjamin HPs. 20 yards off handed was getting about 1."-1.25" groups of five.
When I said above that she was put away well lubed, well, she kept puffing a bit of smoke the first 10-15 shots, nothing bad, about what my Beeman RS2 did out of the box.
When I can get to the range next, I'll have to chrony it and see what she does, FPS & FPE.

What a nice rifle, nice workmanship all the way around.
Definitely makes the Beeman RS2 look like what it is, a cheap entry level spring gun.

I'm going to have to either re-stock or rework the Beeman's original stock. I like to DIY, so I'll probably take it off, strip it, reshape, checker and refinish with tung oil.

Slavia · Moderator

Don't forget to take pictures. We like pictures.