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The BSA Goldstar Air Rifle
By Jon Brooks
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BSA has been around making guns since the 1860’s. Around the turn of the century (the last one), they came out with the "Lincoln Jeffries" underlever air rifle. I have no idea what that gun looks like or who Lincoln or Jeffries were, but it’s nice to know that BSA has that much experience in making guns and airguns.
One BSA air rifle that I’ve been interested in for quite some time is the Goldstar, an underlever, spring-powered rifle. Underlever spring rifles are pretty common. What makes this gun unique among spring powered rifles is that it’s a repeater with a 10 shot magazine.
BSA introduced the Goldstar to the US market back in 1992. While it has been highly acclaimed and has won many awards for excellence in England, it seems to have never caught on here, at least not like the RWS or Beeman lines.
I already own a BSA Super 10 and Super Sport, so I know BSA can put out some nice products. And I’ve never had a problem with my Super 10 magazine, which is similar to the Goldstar unit, so rumors of malfunctioning magazines didn’t scare me. My friend Willy Herron has let me shoot his Goldstar, and I’ve found it to be a nice handling gun with moderate recoil and very good accuracy.
However, what has stopped me from looking seriously at the Goldstar has been the list price. Advertised at $699, it really wasn’t attractive compared to other spring underlever rifles. Maybe that’s why it has never been very popular in the US, maybe the repeating function just hasn’t seemed worth the $200-$300 more than other underlevers like the single shot HW97 or TX200.
I’m not much of a target shooter. But I am an avid airgun hunter, mainly for California ground squirrels but also for rabbits and other assorted birds and critters. For the most part, I use pre-charged repeating air rifles like my BSA Super 10 or Career 707 for hunting, as they offer power and non-recoil accuracy in a repeating rifle. On the other hand, they are loud, and also require a substantial investment in scuba tanks, pumps, and/or filling gear. I often find myself in conservation mode when in the field, careful to keep track of the shot count and passing on plinking opportunities so I don’t run out of air. Quite frankly pre-charged airguns can be a hassle. They also are a little more difficult for the average airgunner like myself to relate to as far as modifications or fixing the little odds and ends that require repair. A spring gun might not be as easy to shoot accurately, but in a repeating format it would certainly offer a simpler alternative to a pcp hunting rifle.
While surfing the net just before Christmas, I noticed the Goldstar had gone on sale, priced from $389-$399 depending on the dealer. I called the importer, Precision Sales International, and they said the sale price is offered by special arrangement with BSA, and would apply only to the inventory presently here in the US. After those Goldstars are gone, subsequent imports may be priced differently. Well, for some $300 less than the standard retail price, the Goldstar became much more attractive. I decided that I would get this Christmas present for myself and ordered one from Kevin Gilbride at Straight Shooters. In this case, I went whole hog, and got the Goldstar with the B- Square fixed mounts (#17501), a Bushnell Trophy 4x12 scope, and a tin of BSA Excalibur pellets. I had the scope mounted and the gun shipped in a Dockosil gun case. Since this is to be a hunting rifle, I chose the .22 caliber version rather than the .177.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The package arrived intact about a week later via UPS. I received it at work, but still managed to find a few minutes to tear the package apart and sneak a quick look. As with my other BSA purchases, it also comes with a Final Inspection Certificate that indicates my gun has a trigger set at 4 lbs., that it’s been tested for accuracy at 25 yards with five shots at 3/4 inch, and that it achieved an electronic chronograph reading of "magnum". BSA must figure that just saying "magnum" is descriptive enough, and doesn’t specify a pellet or velocity.
The gun seemed large, and after handling it for a while, it felt very slightly front heavy. That means the balance point may be a little further forward than on my other spring powered rifles. BSA claims the weight at 8.5 pounds, and it felt every bit of that. I plan to get a sling (for carrying) to attach to the cocking arm. The finish of the metal parts is good, as good or better than an HW gun.
While few American airgunners own a Goldstar, almost everyone has owned a Supersport at some point. And in some ways, the Goldstar looks like a big brother to the Super Sport. Remember that movie, "Twins", with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenneger as twin brothers? Well, in this case, the Super Sport would be Danny DeVito, while the Goldstar would be Arnold; similar in terms of some internal parts and lineage, but fundamentally different in terms of size, operation, and looks. And, like Arnold in the movie, the Goldstar got the better parts.
Of course, the major differences are the Goldstars size and underlever and repeating mechanism. But similarities include the stock attachment system, and spring guide/washer/pin assembly, all of which will look familiar to Supersport owners, just more massive and more solidly manufactured. Both guns share a direct piston/sear system. This looks a little odd to those of us that are familiar with HW or Diana airguns, but seems to perform well.
The stock has a smooth, satin finish, not the glossy kind. I don’t like the glossy finish some manufacturers put on their stocks, because any kind of little scratch or ding really stands out. And as a hunter, most of my stocks will get at least a few scratches at some point. The BSA stock is beech and is supposed to have a walnut stain, but mine has more of a reddish tint to it. It is the BSA Monte Carlo style with a raised cheekpiece and designed for right handed shooters. Overall, the stock is average for air rifles in this class, no better or worse than one might find on an HW or Air Arms rifle. It does have checkering around the trigger grip, which is a nice feature.
One way BSA cut costs for this sale is to provide only one magazine with the gun. I’d heard from other Goldstar owners that they come with two magazines, so I was surprised to only find one in the box and called Precision Sales, Inc. to see if I’d been shorted. They said BSA is providing only one magazine on the sale guns. An extra magazine is priced at about $59 by PSI, although dealers have them for as low as $49.95. I’ve heard that the Super 10 magazines will work in the Goldstar, but not the other way around. I never tried swapping magazines to see if that is true.
I was pretty excited when I received my Goldstar, so as soon as I had given it a quick first look, I arranged to get off work early and headed home for some shooting. First thing I did was to read the directions. I normally don’t spend a lot of time with these, but didn’t recall exactly how to operate the magazine mechanism so I spent a few minutes revisiting the basic operation of the gun. It’s important to read what the manufacturer has to say about operating this gun, because the magazine and repeating function make it different than any other spring powered rifle.
The scope was already mounted and zeroed for 10 yards by Straight Shooters. It was getting close to dark, and I wanted to do some shooting that day, so I quickly set up a range and started popping off shots at 25 yards.
Kevin at Straight Shooters had warned me that it might take a hundred shots or so for the gun to start shooting accurately, and he was right. I tried seven different pellets and about the best I could do was 1 & 1/2" groups. But by the second full session, the groups were more as expected, generally less than an inch at 25 yards with a variety of pellets. The worst performer was the Crow Magnum. You might hit what you shoot at with this pellet, but only if you could send all ten rounds out of the barrel at the same time; at least one of them is bound to hit the target.
On the other hand, the top pellet was the Crosman Premier, with a best group of .38" (c-t-c) and an average for five, 5 shot groups at .56". The BSA Excalibur, Marksman FTS, and Eley Wasps also showed promise. Surprisingly, the Beeman Silver Bears grouped pretty well. I say surprising because they are awful in every other .22 caliber rifle I own. I ran out of Silver Bears after the velocity testing, so I didn’t get a chance to evaluate them for final accuracy. All I ever do with the Silver Bears is try them out in each new gun I get, always with the same lousy result (except the Goldstar). So in this case I had mixed feelings; glad to run out of these pellets because they have been nothing but frustration; but thinking I may have to get some more to see if I’ve finally have found a gun in which they’ll group. The point is if you get a Goldstar, don’t overlook these pellets as they may prove to be a good performer for you.
In terms of velocity, I was both surprised and happy to achieve initial results ranging from 16.5 to 17.5 ft. lbs. I had expected a maximum of perhaps 16 ft. lbs., based on Willie’s gun and reports from others. I figured I was getting some dieseling that would disappear after the break-in period. Or maybe I had gotten a "hot" gun. That’s what I was hoping for anyway.
Some spring airguns like the TX200 are known for being quite tolerant of how they are held. Others, like my Beeman R-1, will punish me if I don’t practice a consistent hold at the right balance point. I’d classify the Goldstar somewhere between the two. I did notice that the groups opened up a little as the rest/balance point was moved to different locations on the forestock. The smallest groups resulted from a rest point just behind the cocking groove.
Willy says his Goldstar is not at all hold-sensitive, and I’ve also heard similar comments from other owners. I shoot a lot of pre-charged guns, so maybe any magnum air rifle would seem kind of hold-sensitive to me. Overall, I’d rate this gun moderate in terms of sensitivity.
At first, the recoil from this gun was substantial. As my 17 year old son puts it "Whoa, this baby’s got some kick". Still, it felt less than an R-1. And either I got used to the recoiling action or it "broke in" over the first 750 shots or so, because it seemed to calm down a bit and was less noticable. I guess I’d have to call it moderate in terms of recoil. There is a sleeve inside the piston that fits over the spring and acts as a kind of outside spring guide. This is intended to minimize the vibration of the spring as the piston is released from the sear. The result is the Goldstar is not particularly "twangy" for its power level. This design also suggests to me that the Goldstar may benefit from a tune that includes a custom fitted spring guide.
One thing I didn’t like in the initial shooting was the heavy pull on the Goldstars 2 stage adjustable trigger. The factory setting was listed in the packing sheet at 4 pounds, but it felt much heavier. I’ve heard that BSA triggers start to break in at 500 shots or so, and I did notice an improvement in the trigger at about that point. The trigger is easily adjustable for pull weight using the screw at the base of the trigger. It is not adjustable for the length of the first or second stage, at least not without taking it apart. Unless a person knows what they are doing, I’d suggest sending it to an airgunsmith for adjusting anything other than the pull weight.
I felt the trigger was still a little heavy so I lightened it by about a full turn of the adjustment screw. When I got around to checking with a trigger gauge I found my trigger breaking at a little under 3 & 1/2 pounds, so it must have been pulling at 5-6 pounds out of the box. Willie’s trigger has several thousand shots on it and is much lighter but still crisp. I plan to revisit the trigger weight every so often and try to adjust it a little lighter than it is now.
Even better would be to have the trigger tuned by an airgunsmith. I had the trigger in my Supersport tuned by Dave Slade at Airgunwerks, and the improvement is incredible. At some point, I’ll probably send the Goldstar in for similar treatment.
The Goldstars trigger unit is welded to the frame of the receiver, so you can’t take it out and tinker with it like you might on a Diana or HW air rifle. I prefer the modular style rather than the BSA welded unit. The safety is a manual type, and can be set or released at any time. It’s located on the right side of the receiver just above the stock, so it’s easy to get to with your right thumb.
HOW IT WORKS
The mechanics of the Goldstar are pretty interesting. It really shouldn’t be that hard to develop a repeating spring air rifle, you just need a way to cock the gun and cycle the pellet to be fired. The real trick is to make it all work with a single stroke.
BSA’s solution was to take an underlever and added the magazine slot at the front of a sliding compression chamber. What happens is that as the underlever is drawn back, the entire compression chamber, which sits inside an outer cylinder, is pulled back and the spring is compressed until the sear (on the piston) engages. At that point, if you remove the magazine you can actually look inside the outer cylinder. As the underlever is moved forward again, the compression chamber moves forward too, while the piston remains in place and the spring stays compressed. A tube extending frontward from the compression chamber then pushes through the magazine and seats the pellet into the rifling of the barrel. This tube does double duty in seating the pellet and also as a long transfer port, about 1 & 1/4 inches. When the gun is fired, the blast of air is projected out of the tube and directly into the skirt of the pellet, with plastic seals on the end of the tube and at the rear of the barrel to eliminate "blow-by".
The pellet is seated in the bore on the second half of the cocking stroke by a tube extending forward from the sliding compression chamber. It retracts on the downward part of the cocking stroke, and pushes through the magazine to load the pellet on the closing part of the stroke. The tube can just barely be seen in the center of the opening. The locking tab is on top of the stock, in front of the magazine slot, where the barrel meets the receiver.
The 10 shot magazine is cycled by a small pin attached to the cocking linkage. It pushes up through the magazine as the cocking lever is pulled back, and the spring-loaded mechanism moves the next pellet into line to be seated by the transfer tube. To remove the magazine, you cock the gun until the sear engages (pull it back but don’t push up yet). While the compression chamber is pulled back, you unlock a small tab (called a "magazine retainer" on the parts diagram) in the front of the receiver, and simply pull the magazine out. To load it you place it back in the magazine slot, lock the tab, and then push the cocking lever forward. Then you’re ready to shoot again.
I was surprised by a forward "push" to the underlever at the end of the cocking stroke, between the end of the stroke and the point that the anti-beartrap mechanism engages. It’s like cocking a break barrel to the end of its stroke and then having it push itself forward a few inches. This takes some getting used to, as the only time I’ve felt anything quite like it is when the sear in a breakbarrel didn’t engage and the mainspring tried to push forward again. Its just an odd sensation and if you plan on shooting a Goldstar, be ready for it.
One complaint that I’d heard about the Goldstar is the tendency for an occasional dry fire. It must be fairly common, because I’ve read about it on the net and Willy says he has dry fired his Goldstar several times too. Kevin at Straight Shooters has told me that he’s had a few magazines returned by customers due to dry firing, which he has then replaced with new ones. The operating manual that came with the gun discusses the dry fires that can occur if the shooter inadvertently cocks and shoots the rifle after the 10th shot, and says "although no damage to the rifle will result if this is occasionally done, it is a practice that should be avoided". With all of that evidence before me, I put quite a bit of time into figuring out how to avoid dry fires.
Perhaps the easiest and most important method of preventing dry fires is to use the full cocking stroke. If you don’t, the pin may not ratchet the magazine, the next pellet will not be advanced, and you’ll get a dry fire. This one measure will probably prevent 90% of potential dry fires. And if you notice that the magazine has not advanced the pellet before you complete the cocking stroke, you can always pull the lever back a second time and try to engage the pin again.
It’s also important to note that if the magazine locking tab is not pushed fully into place, the magazine may not be seated properly to cycle the next pellet. This happened to me within the first 50 shots or so, and the result was a dry fire of the gun. Now I double check to make sure the magazine is locked up tight.
The other problem I found was that the magazine lacks definition of the first nine shots, with only a white dot on the last shot. Since it is all black, it is really hard to see the magazine cycle the next pellet; you can’t tell visually if there is a malfunction during the cocking/loading cycle. I dry-fired the gun one time due to the magazine not indexing properly (maybe I didn’t use full cocking stroke), and had absolutely no idea there was any problem until I heard the result. Boom!!!!!
Then, Willy showed me a way to mark the magazine and visually check the advancement of the next pellet in the magazine. He simply paints little white dots on the magazine to correspond to each shot, while the larger factory dot still shows the last shot. I expanded the idea some, and painted the magazine so shots 1, 3, and 5 would show up as red dots. That way I can just watch to see the magazine color change from red to black or black to red, and be assured the magazine is working. Then, for shots 7 and 9 I used a bright green color, so I’d also know I’m getting near the end of the 10 shots. The last shot is still the factory white color. My thinking on the coloring is to use as little paint or other marker so that it just shows up clearly. Fingernail polish might work pretty well too.
This alteration doesn’t do anything to the magazine mechanism. All it does is allow a person to see if the pellet has been advanced or not. So dry fires can be prevented, regardless of the cause of the magazine mal-function.
This picture shows the colorized magazine. Shots 1, 3, and 5 are red dots, while shots 7 and 9 are green, and the last shot is designated by the factory with a white dot. It’s easy to see if the magazine is cycling a pellet just by looking for the color to change during the cocking stroke.
I understand that taking the magazine apart for cleaning is pretty easy. But getting it back together is almost impossible so it’s not a recommended practice. It’s probably better to blow it out using compressed air or something similar without actually taking it apart. As a final option, the screw on the top of the magazine can be loosened very slightly and improve operation of the magazine in some cases. If you loosen it too much it may continue to loosen by itself and fall apart. Then you’re back to trying to get it together again.
I think the two best approaches are to use a full cocking stroke and to colorize the magazine. That way, in the unusual event of a magazine malfunction, at least you’ll be able to see it and take steps to avoid a dry fire. In fact, since I’ve went to the colorized system I’ve been able to easily see when the magazine malfunctions. It’s happened perhaps 3 or 4 times over 850 +/- shots, and always during very cold weather. I just remove the magazine and manually advance it to the next pellet, reinsert the magazine into the gun, and shoot. As I’ve been able to catch it before shooting, I haven’t had a single dry fire since going to the colorized indexing.
The front of the barrel has the underlever detent housing and front sites. Straight Shooters took my sights off when mounting the scope, so I never used them. They look typical of BSA open sites that you will find on the Super Sport, the front is fixed and the rear is adjustable.
The detent for latching up the underlever doesn’t look like much, just a small grooved pin sticking down to accept the underlever, but has been dependable so far. The front of the barrel housing has a threaded receiver, most likely for the British version to accept a silencer. The US version has an insert instead, to keep the end of the barrel covered and not looking naked. On my gun, the insert keeps working itself loose so I just leave it off with no ill effects. It does make the gun ever so slightly quieter, but most of the noise from this rifle is from the mechanics, not the muzzle blast.
The barrel housing extends an inch or so beyond the actual barrel itself, and the end of the barrel is counter-bored so the crown is recessed a couple of inches further back. You really would have to work at it to damage this crown. All in all, I figure the crown is about 3 inches from the end of the barrel housing. The BSA barrel is not choked. That "hammer forged" process they use in making their own barrels is apparently suited to uniform sizing of the barrel along its length so the choke is not necessary.
The detent housing is threaded for the small insert (shown detached). I leave the insert out as mine keeps working loose.
There’s two other things I want to make sure to mention about this gun. First, my stock screws got loose every 100 shots or so. I checked when my groups seemed to be opening up and in each case at least one of the forestock screws needed tightening. One nice surprise about the Goldstar is that they use a plastic insert as a kind of screw-cup for the front stock screws. I’ve never seen that before, but it looks like it offers some protection to compression of the underlying wood.
The second thing is the scope rail; that oddball BSA Maxi-Grip system. It is 14 mm wide instead of the industry standard of 11 mm. What that means is that only a few mounts will work on the BSA. In fact, the only ones I know of are the B-Square mounts that are specifically designed to work on these guns. Some people use Sportsmatch mounts, and turn the grip on the mounts over. This gets closer to 14 mm, but also may result in de-formation of the scope rails. Plus, I don't see how a person can align the scope true to the bore using mounts that aren’t centered properly to start with. Basically, the lack of choice in mounts is just something you’ll have to put up with if you want a BSA springer.
I know several people that forego the scope altogether and just shoot the open sites or install a peep site like the Beeman/Williams aperture site. These work pretty well if you are used to them, and they fit just fine on the BSA’s maxi-grip scope rail. I find the peep site is hard to hunt with as I have trouble picking up the target without any magnification, particularly if the target is blending into background colors; I put scopes on almost all of my air rifles.
VELOCITIES AND ACCURACY
After the gun was pretty well broken in at about 750 shots, I ran some pellets through the chronograph again. As happened before, I was pleasantly surprised at the velocities I was getting. I’m used to getting guns that shoot below velocity expectations; this is the first that exceeded them.
Thinking that the chronograph might be off, I had Willie bring his chrony over and we put some pellets through it too, and my results were confirmed. I don’t think it would still be dieseling much at this point, so maybe I did get a "hot" one.
The velocity tests are summarized in the table below. All pellets performed well in terms of power at 16.7 to 17.7 ft. lbs. All but the Wasp also showed very good consistency in velocity with only a 5-11 fps spread in each string.
| Marksman FTS |
BSA Excalibur |
Crosman Premiers |
Beeman Silver Bear |
Eley Wasp |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 15.6 | 15.1 | 14.3 | 12.8 | 14.7 |
| Lowest | 697 | 720 | 736 | 773 | 709 |
| Highest | 702 | 731 | 741 | 783 | 728 |
| Average Velocity | 699 | 726 | 738 | 778 | 716 |
| Extreme Spread | 5 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 19 |
| Standard Deviation | 2.20 | 3.30 | 1.70 | 3.70 | 5.70 |
| Energy | 16.93 | 17.68 | 17.30 | 17.21 | 16.74 |
The Goldstar had been rated by BSA at 800 fps in .22 caliber, but I notice that PSI is now advertising it at 750. It’s nice to see a gun that actually meets or exceeds the advertised velocity (Silver Bears). Goldstar velocities provide plenty of power for effective, humane hunting of birds and small game out to perhaps 50 yards. Overall, I was impressed with this power in an underlever style rifle.
After the chrony session I wanted to formally check the accuracy of the "broken in" version of the Goldstar, so I set up some targets at 35 yards and started shooting. This is the subjective part of the program, because the results depend as much on the skill of the shooter as the potential of the rifle, and I’m not a great target shooter. The shooting was done from a rest, holding the rifle with my hand supported by a pillow, and using a "light" hold.
I only shot the top three pellets from the previous target shooting; Crosman Premiers, BSA Excalibur, and Marksman FTS as there didn’t seem to be much reason to try the less accurate pellets. The results are shown in the table below. I was pretty happy with the groupings I got, and after I’m more comfortable with the gun I may be able to do even a little better. A trigger tune would probably shrink the groups quite a bit too.
The Marksman FTS and Crosman Premiers both grouped quite a bit better than BSA Excaliburs. I plan to stick with the Premiers as they provided better groups during informal shooting and have a significant velocity advantage.
| Crosman Premiers |
Marksman FTS |
BSA Excalibur |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Accuracy | 0.89 | 0.86 | 1.03 |
| Smallest | 0.41 | 0.53 | 0.53 |
| Largest | 1.16 | 1.03 | 1.66 |
During the target shooting, I found it easy to put 3 or 4 pellets very close together, often into one hole or at least touching. But those last 1 or 2 pellets would usually end up somewhere else. I’ve included a illustrative target below, using Crosman Premiers at 35 yards. It shows four pellets grouping together, but the last pellet off to the right and low. If this had been a four shot group it would have measured .22 inches c-t-c. That fifth shot expanded the group to about .78 inches. This was typical of my target shooting with this rifle, which was both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Try as I might, I was never able to put that fifth pellet into the same hole as the other four. I think it was me, as the gun showed what it could do with those first four shots.
This target shows a five shot group of Crosman Premiers at 35 yards. Four shots make up a .22 inch group, while the fifth shot widened the spread to .78 inches. The scope was not zeroed on the center of the bull for this string of shots. This was typical of my Goldstar target shooting, with 3 or 4 shots in a very tight group and 1 or 2 shots outside.
I haven’t included any photo’s of the "bad" groups, but there were plenty in the 3/4 to 1 & 1/4 inch range at 35 yards. Most of the larger groups were made by the BSA Excalibur pellet. I’m sure the groups will shrink more if the trigger continues to break in, or if I get the trigger tuned. Also, a more consistent hold shot after shot as I continue to get used to this gun should provide consistently better results in the lower end of the range.
The absolute best five pellet group I was able to shoot with the Goldstar is shown below. This was shot at 25 yards and measures .38 inches overall or .16 inches c-t-c. Accuracy like this is not what I’d call easy to achieve, at least not for me, and I really had to concentrate and work for this one. Still, it shows that the potential accuracy of the gun is excellent.
This five shot group was fired at 25 yards, and is the best group I’ve gotten from this Goldstar. It measures 3/8 inch from outside to outside, less .22 inches to get a c-t-c group size of .16 inches. The scope was not zeroed on the bull for this string of shots. Most groups at 25 yards were under 3/4 inch c-t-c, while at 35 yards the groups generally were under 1 inch.
Despite my lack of talent and dis-interest for target shooting, I have to say that putting the Goldstar through its paces was actually a lot of fun. The noise is not out of line compared to other un-moderated spring guns. And I really like not having to load a pellet for each shot. While the leverage from the long underlever makes cocking the gun fairly easy, I did notice a little arm fatigue setting in after 100 shots or so at one sitting. I can live with that. All in all, even the target shooting sessions were quite enjoyable.
Actually, what occurred to me during the testing is that the repeating function makes this gun so easy to shoot, a person might want to stock up on pellets if they get a Goldstar.
CONCLUSION
It seems like when I get a new gun I end up thinking "I like it, but I just wish they would have done xxx" or " I just wish they hadn’t done xxx". Well, here is my list of "I just wishes".
- I’d really like to see this gun in a carbine version. It feels just a little front
heavy to me. Of course, this length makes it easier to cock too, so there’s
a trade off there;
- BSA could have marked the magazine better, so magazine malfunctions
could be easily visible prior to dry firing;
- A regular sized scope rail would allow a variety of mounts to be used;
- It would be nice if the trigger unit was modular, i.e., wasn’t welded to the action and more accessible for finer adjustment and tuning;
A gun doesn’t need to be perfect to be a good gun, and I can’t think of even one that doesn’t have at least a few drawbacks. So while the list above may sound like I am diss’ing the Goldstar, the truth is that I like this gun a lot. It’s kind of like a wife (or husband), I mean, maybe she’s not perfect, but you love her anyway.
I really like the Goldstars repeating function, much more than I had imagined. Dry firing is not a problem if the shooter takes a few simple precautions. The accuracy can be very good, ranking among the best of my spring powered rifles and certainly more than adequate for hunting. It has moderate recoil and "twang" and is pleasant to shoot. It has plenty of power for hunting of small game, birds, and other critters. Overall, it’s just fun to shoot!!!
The Goldstar also has several tuning options, through Russ Best or John Groenewald to name two tuners. I understand that it is difficult to tune, but responds to better fitting guides and other little tuning tricks. For the "strut" crowd, the Goldstar has a Theoben gas-ram alternative, which may provide a modest increase in velocity and reduced "lock" time. These are installed by Dave Slade at Airgunwerks. Airgunwerks also offers a superb trigger tune.
The thing that makes me hesitate in recommending this rifle is the pricing. At the full retail price of $699, it is priced substantially higher than other underlever spring guns (although none are repeaters) of like quality or power. On the other hand, the only other non-pcp repeater I can think of is the SLR 98, a gas-rammed, 8 shot repeating underlever usually priced around $1,000.
Right now, at the sale price of just under $400 the Goldstar becomes a good deal, and I would highly recommend it at that price. For those favoring the gas rams, the addition of a Theoben unit (at $150+/-) could offer a "poor mans" version of a SLR98 at a total cost of around $550.
Although I haven’t seen it listed in the winners column for US Field Target competitions, there’s really no reason why the Goldstar couldn’t be used for target shooting, especially if tuned down for accuracy rather than power. Still, it seems to me that the repeater function would be less important for competition purposes, and the BSA Super Star in .177 caliber offers a similar single shot rifle at a substantially lower price. Alternatively, the HW77/97 or TX200 are available at a price competitive with the Goldstar sales price.
But for hunters or for shooters that just don’t want to fool with loading a pellet for each shot, the Goldstar is hard to beat. Plus, it is a very enjoyable air rifle to shoot, and when it comes down to it, that’s what airgunning is really all about.
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BSA Goldstar Specs
| Model | Goldstar |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | BSA, England |
| Importer |
Precision Sales International (800) 221-2613 info@precision-sales.com |
| Type | Spring Underlever Repeater |
| Caliber | .177 & .22 |
| Magazine Capacity | 10 shots |
| Velocity |
950 fps in .177 cal 750 fps in .22 cal |
| Overall Length | 42 1/2" |
| Weight | 8 lbs. 8 oz |
| Barrel | 18" unchoked |
| Sights | Open, front bead, rear adjustable notch |
| Stock | Monte Carlo Stained beech |
| Safety | Manual slide, automatic anti-beartrap |
| Trigger | 2 stage adjustable |
| Retail Price | $699 |
About the reviewer: Jon Brooks is an airgun enthusiast from the wet, cold, and foggy northwest coast of California. All photo’s by Willy Herron.
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