BSA Airsport SL review

Is the BSA Airsport SL the best mid-range PCP air rifle?

When I first saw this rifle at the British Shooting Show back in February, I instantly noticed that this was a completely new design for BSA, and after a swift chat with the main man Simon Moore, he explained the thinking behind the design and price tag.

This new rifle was developed to sit within the mid-range price bracket, costing less than £900, whilst at the same time offering top end performance. After having spent countless hours on the range with it, I can certainly vouch for it as far as performance is concerned!

How does the BSA Airsport SL synthetic stock perform in the field?

I spoke to loads of Airgun World readers at the show and have since conversed with my many shooting buddies and the jury is out as far as how aesthetically pleasing this new stock design is to the eye. Some people love it, others just aren’t too sure.

For me, it’s a mix of traditional meets tactical, and this ambidextrous synthetic thumbhole stock ticks all the boxes for me as a tall, long-armed shooter. The length of pull is around 390mm, which will suit most adults perfectly, but I believe it may be a tad long for junior shooters.

This stock goes a long way to helping keep this rifle’s weight down, too, and at just 3.2kg or just over 7lb it gives enough weight for stability but is also light enough to carry around a rabbit permission all evening. A very fine balance indeed.

At the very rear of the stock is vented rubber butt pad, which is adjustable for height, and there’s a loop moulded into the base which can take one end of a sling – a nice touch. Moving forwards the cut-out thumbhole and ergonomic pistol grip design is extremely comfortable, and I settled into holding and mounting this rifle very easily due to this.

Moving even farther forwards there’s a very comfortable fore end grip, and then a long Picatinny rail on the underside to take a bipod or any other accessories you choose.

Does the BSA Airsport SL feature a Picatinny or dovetail rail?

With a 3-9 x 40 scope fitted, the point of balance falls directly from the trigger guard to about four inches down the forend, which is a nice area of pivot. It’s very user-friendly in that regard.

BSA has decided to produce this rifle with a one-piece Picatinny rail up top for mounting your chosen optics. However, for all you traditional dovetail types out there, this 180mm-long Picatinny rail sits on top of a traditional dovetail rail and it can be removed via a couple of small Allen screws.

So, whether you’re using a traditional day scope, which are usually dovetail mounted, or some fancy new night vision, which are usually picatinny mounted, the Airsport SL will take them all.

Like many of the newer BSA PCP rifles, the Airsport SL is built around BSA’s Mono Block platform, which is exceptionally solid and machined to extremely high tolerances. The side-lever action is superb, and very easy to use.

It is a short stroke biathlon type lever, which is spring-loaded, so when you make the initial pull it springs back and you just have to pull the final inch or so to cock it. It really is a joy to operate.

What is the shot count and fill pressure of the BSA Airsport SL?

Of course it goes without saying that this rifle utilises one of BSA’s famous cold-hammer forged barrels, which in this case is 380mm long (15in) and floating. Screwed onto the end is one of BSA’s Slim silencers, which does a really good job of suppressing sound, however there is a 1/2in UNF thread underneath should you wish to swap the silencer out for a shorter model.

Behind the barrel sits BSA’s trusty, tried and tested, 10-shot magazine, which pulls out from the left when the side-lever is pulled all the way back. It’s very easy to load and you simply drop a pellet in, then rotate the inner drum anticlockwise to drop another pellet in, which in turn increases the spring tension inside.

It is very pellet-friendly and features a countdown display so you can keep an eye on how many pellets you have left. Both the .177 and .22 model magazines hold 10 shots, while the .25 model has eight.

Is the BSA Airsport SL trigger adjustable?

The Airsport SL features one of BSA’s excellent two-stage match triggers. Apart from being able to adjust length of weight of the second stage, you can also tweak length of pull. Straight from the box, the trigger on the review gun had a long first stage, which came to a clear stop before a short, crisp and relatively light second stage. It didn’t need any adjusting for me, it’s just how I like it to be.

The break is extremely crisp with absolutely zero creep. I really like the wide trigger blade, which has a crosshatch effect on the face. It sits really nicely on the pad of your trigger finger.

As far as the safety lever goes, that’s another tried and tested BSA classic lever, which can be found directly above the trigger unit at the rear of the block on the left side. Simply push it forward to fire and pull back to make the rifle safe.

How accurate is the BSA Airsport SL at 50 metres?

This rifle features BSA’s latest regulator, which has improved the efficiency compared to the previous model. It also features BSA’s “Blast Tamer”, which provides superior air efficiency and consistent velocities across the entire fill.

Using 8.64gr BSA Gold Star pellets, the .177 calibre test gun was running at just under 11.4ft/lb with a variation of just 7fps over a string of 10 shots. I threw a few 10.34gr pellets down the barrel too, and these returned a whopping 11.9ft/lb – perfect for pest control duties!

You may have noticed from the stats that BSA has moved away from their traditional 232 bar fill pressure with the addition of this 300cc carbon-wrapped bottle, which now holds 250 bar. From a full 250 bar fill you can expect a very healthy 260 shots in .177 and 310 in both .22 and .25, which is a vast improvement and perfect for hunting.

Filling is via a quick fill Foster fitting, which is found on the underside of the fore grip right next to the fill gauge. I must add that there is no female Foster fitting supplied with the rifle, but that’s because most whips these days come with a female Foster end as standard.

I must also tell you that the price tag of £899 is for the rifle and magazine only – it doesn’t come supplied with a case. I can understand why BSA has taken this route to keep the price down.

I had high hopes for this rifle down at my local club range, and in true BSA style it did not disappoint. First up was a quick zero at 30 metres, followed by 50 shots into paper at that range. I’m not joking when I say it was pretty much pellet on pellet. I was putting shots through the same hole regularly.

After pushing out to 40 metres I was consistently cutting out the bullseye in my targets, with just the odd misshapen pellet or user error flyer. I then set about terrorising the 50m spinners, and once I’d worked out my holdover I was absolutely demolishing them.

This rifle is going to appeal to a lot of shooters. It costs less than a grand yet gives the performance of a much more expensive rifle. Whether you’re a weekend club range shooter, or a pest controller, you’re going to love the reliability and accuracy of the Airsport SL, as well as the wallet-friendly price.