Thread: BSA CF2 Wanted

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

God please don't ruin a Hunter like that! Buy a common as piss rifle and do it, not a old fashioned BSA. The hunter/viscounts are quite easily one of the best of the old world rifles and I cringe at such advice really, I know you mean well but please don't

Hmmm - they (Viscounts, Royals, Hunters) are nice rifles (I hunted with a BSA "Hunter" in 7x57 for more than 20 years) but they do have their weaknesses - the main one being the extractor, it doesn't have the very cunning "lock" on the front of the extractor that is a key feature of the Mauser system. The extractor will "pull over" a cartidge and you can guarantee this will happen at the worst possible time. It shares this cost saving feature with the Pre 64 Winchester M70, the Ruger M77 and the Husky M1600, about the only Mauser "clone" that retains it are the Brno's. The BSA extractor will also break if its pushed over a chambered cartridge too often, and they are literally impossible to replace.

Another little known "feature" is the spacer used between the barrel and action face, leave this out when you're doing a rebarrel and/or get the spacing wrong and you'll wear a faceful of hot gas - it nearly cost a close friend his sight - and the job was done by an experienced gunsmith.

Don't get me wrong, I really like these but you need to be aware of their issues as its possible to spend a lot on money on one and end up with a lemon!