Intro and History
To trace the roots of the BSA Lightning XL, one must first take a look at the BSA Supersport. BSA has been making break barrel air rifles since 1933, with the company being involved in firearms manufacture since 1861. The Supersport debuted in 1986 and was a popular gun. It’s sleek lines and practicality appealed to pesters and plinkers alike. The original Lightning built upon the Supersport’s popularity and incorporated features that serious pesters wanted including a handier carbine length, a full sized scope rail, and a volumetric silencer. The Lightning XL is the latest offering building further on the original by adding a beefier stock, nicely checkered, a slim-line silencer, and an upgraded trigger. The Lightning XL has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity, prompting BSA to come out with an all weather ‘tactical’ version of the gun sporting a synthetic stock.
Specifications
The BSA Lightning XL is listed as weighing 6.6lbs and having an overall length of 37 inches with a 10 inch barrel. Velocity according to the manufacturer is 900fps FAC. My own tests showed the XL was a touch over that at 840-850fps using 8.44gr JSB Exacts.
Initial impressions
Upon opening the box, I noticed the XL had a bit beefier look than I had first expected; not at all out of place, nor bulky; rather a nice adult look to it in a carbine form. The stock had enough grain to make it pleasing to the eye and the checkering was sharp and tastefully done. Bluing was certainly on par with what one would expect from a European airgun. Nice and even throughout. The permanently attached silencer not only balanced the gun in feel but also in aesthetics and offset the larger stock nicely to give it a compact and stout look about it that I found to be nicer than many other carbine air rifle offerings.
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An ‘Odd’ Gun
Here I should mention that there were some things I found odd about the XL. Odd as opposed to other guns I have had the chance to try. The mechanics of the gun (the action was removed from the stock when I received it) was definitely different in arrangement than other break barrel guns I have observed. The anti bear trap device in particular struck me as different. The stock screws went in at a different angle than others I’ve seen and fit upwards at about a 45 degree angle into the action rather than straight in from the sides. The lockup on the gun was engineered differently as well. I appreciated the efforts to think a bit more out of the box on BSA’s part. These ‘oddities’ may very well be normal for BSA, but being my first BSA gun they were new to me.
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Cocking, Firing, and Pointability
Cocking the Lightning XL was not as hard to cock as one would think given the shorter barrel and power levels of this gun. I found cocking effort to be no more than a similarly powered full sized rifle, although I did not measure cocking effort. Barrel lockup was positive and secure. Pointability of the gun was superb. I was able to shoulder the gun to a consistent cheek weld easily. As far as a standard stock gun, I found the XL to have the best pointability of any gun I have tried thus far. Firing the gun was enjoyable and followed suit with the ‘odd’ moniker I had given the XL previously. There certainly was no twang, recoil was manageable and linear. The gun fired with what I first described as a ‘buzz’ or a mechanical ‘humm’. Not at all distracting nor negative, just different. Perhaps the silencer may have something to do with the sound of the gun. In any case, it was almost like firing a new sort of hybrid airgun to me as I’ve not experienced anything quite like it. The silencer doubles as an excellent cocking handle for the gun and is equipped with a sling swivel stud. The report of the gun could not be described as whisper quiet as silencers have far less effect on spring piston guns than they do on pneumatics or CO2 given the mechanical noise of a spring piston gun.
Trigger
The trigger is a two stage trigger with an estimated 3 /12 pounds before breaking. The first stage had a bit of sticking to it but and a very crisp second stage. The more shots I fired, the smoother the first stage become until there was no sticking. The gun arrived to me not yet broken in and I have put probably 200-300 pellets through it for my tests. The end result on the trigger is a nice smooth first stage with enough resistance for field use and a clean breaking second stage. Not a match trigger, but perfect for it’s intended use as a field gun or for plinking. Safety is manual, and easily accessible. I prefer the manual safety over an automatic safety, but this is a personal preference.
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On to the Tests
For my testing, I fitted the XL with a BSA 3x12x40 scope. The scope and B-Square mounts fit the gun perfectly, giving me about 1/8 inch of clearance for breaking the barrel while not being so far back on the rail as to cause discomfort while shooting. The XL is a short gun and many long scopes simply will not fit on it. Given the area where this gun shines (discussed later), I feel a short, fixed power scope such as a Bug Buster 6x32 or similar would be ideal for it.
A Disappointing Start
After a quick sight in at 15 yards, I moved the target out to 30 yards. I used my standard sandbag rest with a loose hold and proceeded to send pellets downrange. Groups were dismal. I switched pellets and groups didn’t improve. I wasn’t too deterred as I’ve shot enough guns to realize that each has it’s own nuances that need to be observed to get best results. I managed some respectable groups, though not stellar and decided I needed a break and so grabbed a couple of my other guns to shoot leisurely. As I shot I wondered about the review status of the XL. I certainly wasn’t going to fabricate results, but I also didn’t want to give a bad review; especially on a gun that so many out there, including the owner of this one, found to be a great gun. I was missing something, and I knew it.
A Breakthrough
After shooting some nice groups with several of my other guns, and thus rebuilding my shooting confidence, I decided to give the XL another try. I had best results with the JSB Exacts and so inserted one in the barrel. I was still standing and looked out at the targets and noticed my spinner targets set up at 20 yards. I took a halfhearted attempt at hitting one…. “Thunk…plink!” I chambered another pellet and quickly shouldered the XL again and fired… same result on a 3 inch spinner target. I then decided to try the 1 ½ inch spinner target and carefully took aim, trying to use the best offhand technique I could. I fired and missed. Not to be deterred, I fired again and missed again. I cocked the gun again and let out a sigh. I was going to try again and carefully shouldered the gun and started to squeeze the trigger. I stopped before firing, just a bit frustrated and not wanting to miss three in a row and decided to just stop for the day. Of course, at this point, I still had a pellet chambered I needed to get rid of. I quickly shouldered the gun, pointed and fired at the small spinner and was rewarded with a “plink” as the spinner danced for a few rotations. The light bulb turned on at that point and I inserted another pellet and got the same results on the 1 ½ inch spinners as I was previously on the 3 inch spinners. With my renewed confidence, I started going through ideas for another set of test conditions. The XL is not a bench gun but rather a field gun. Since I knew my hunting opportunities would be limited for the amount of time I had the gun, I opted for a new set of test conditions.
The XL Test Scenario
Scanning my surrounding property, I found numerous target opportunities from pine cones to knotholes on trees, to Poplar tree seed pods. I also had the spinner targets and enough room to take shots up to 30 yards on the spinners. I started shooting at various objects with great success. As previously mentioned in other reviews, my offhand shooting leaves a lot to be desired and so for me to find a gun that I can easily shoot offhand truly is something special.
I started out with the spinner targets, moved out to 25 yards and was shooting for the 1 ½ inch target from a standing, offhand position. I tried several groups of 10 shot strings first concentrating on proper technique and hold and made anywhere from 4 to 6 hits out of 10. Using a “point and shoot” method as in a hunting situation, I had much more success.
Out of 10 strings of 10 shots each using JSB Exacts, I obtained the following results:
1. 6 of 10
2. 8 of 10
3. 7 of 10
4. 7 of 10
5. 9 of 10
6. 7 of 10
7. 6 of 10
8. 8 of 10
9. 8 of 10
10. 7 of 10
For many of you, these results may be unimpressive, but that is far more success than I have had with many other guns on that size target at that range using that position. As far as spring piston airguns, only my R9 gives me better results.
At 30 yards, the hit ratio went down considerably, but I was still hitting a 1 ½ inch spinner an easy 1 out of 3 shots on average using the quick point and shoot method. I took no hard data on my pine cone and seed pod shooting sessions, but I found that I could get enough hits even at distances of up to 40 yards to make the shooting worthwhile.
Offhand Groups
Since I am a “group junkie” I decided to try some offhand groups at paper to see how I was shooting. I had one stellar group at 20 yards, but the majority of my offhand groups at 20 yards were n the US Quarter sized range. At 25 yards, my groups were all representative of the picture shown.
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Back to the Bench
Since having a renewed confidence in the XL, I couldn’t resist going back to the bench to try to get some groups out of it. Perhaps I was having an off day on my first attempt. I tried a rolled up towel as a rest and didn’t have any better results, 5 shots inside a half dollar, acceptable, but not great. I then tried a hard rest, just using the porch rail and cushioning the stock with my hand and groups got better…much better. I was able to produce 5 shot groups at 30 yards that were to my liking. Though most groups were in the US Nickel sized range, I did manage a couple of nice one ragged hole groups using JSB Exacts as well as a nice group using Crow Mags, save for one flyer.
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Conclusion and Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed the challenge of the BSA Lightning XL. Not all airguns are created equal and as such, they shouldn’t be tested equally. The niche as far as I can see of the XL is one of a field gun with quick pointability and nice shooting manners. Once I tested based upon these strengths, the gun performed admirably and with a bit more experimentation, I was also able to produce the results I hoped for from the bench. The gun certainly shines as a carry gun that has good accuracy and power in a package that allows the hunter or pester to use to its full capacity.
Many thanks to Jim for allowing me to opportunity to review this gun.