BSA Sportsman's 15

Longarms
1

Hi everyone,

My dad has an old BSA Sportsman’s 15 from his younger days and I took it out to the range the other week after giving it a good clean etc.
Issue is, the bolt requires quite a lot of force to close. Having done a bit of poking around, I’ve realised that the tension/stiffness is caused when the bolt engages the switch to lower the plate which allows a round to load in from the tube magazine. This only happens in the bolt’s last cm or so of travel.

My question is, is it normal for a bolt action which feeds from a tube magazine to be stiff like this?

I apologise for not knowing the correct terminology for all the parts.

2

I’ve only shot a couple of tube mag BSA’s but they were both smooth as silk.
Is it shaving rounds?

3

Could you explain what you mean by shaving rounds? It seemed to function fine once the bolt was closed.

Cheers.

4

Is the projectile being cut on its way to the chamber?

5

Ah. No, not that I’ve seen. It may just be that the switch thingy being caught by the bolt is stiff and gummed up with old oil and I need to do a better job of getting it cleaned out.

Will have to do some investigating and report back.

6

I’m thinking about going to springvale this week sometime if you’d like another set of eyes on it.

7

Thank you very much for the offer but unfortunately I’m not in Melbourne, I’m up in Shepparton and the gun is in Ballarat.

Next time I’m there I’ll get it out of the stock and see what I can see. Will report back.

8

Bugger, passed through Shep last week.

Carbi clean spray is good for removing gummy oil etc.

1 Like
9

Ohhhh, good point. And I even have some of it. I’ll give it a go.

10

I had one of these years ago, superb gun but if the action was torqued too tight it would put pressure on the receiver and cause a slight twist in turn reducing bolt clearance and cause bolt to foul near the chamber end. Just something to have a look at mine was remedied with a little bit of relief work cheers!