BSA’s Scorpion

Due to the phenomenal success of the synthetic stock Scorpion T-10 multi-shot PCP I personally feel the original beech stock single-shot Scorpion has been ‘overlooked’ by hunters. Granted HFT competitors still opt for this rifle due to the fact you don’t have to keep removing a magazine as you move around the firing lanes, but hunters tend to go for the multi-shot.

I’ve recently had a bit of cathartic thinking regarding the air rifles in my armoury, most of which are PCP multi-shots. I then thought to myself how many times have I only needed one-shot – the answer was, most of the time. Obviously there are times when I’ve missed, but even then sometimes a quick back up shot was not required as the quarry had flown or run. So - and I don’t say this lightly - ask yourselves as I’ve asked myself, are we as airgun hunters not becoming lazy in our approach to our chosen shooting discipline. Granted, at night I’d always opt for a reliable multi-shot as it saves fumbling in the dark for pellets. Yes of course you can ‘feel’ pellets and feed them singly into the breech but at night you want the easiest way of re-loading at your disposal and for me that’s cycle a bolt or lever and the next pellet indexes around and I’m good to go for as many as the magazine holds. So it’s with this ethos in mind that I approach this review of what in hindsight is a very desirable air rifle. Read on…

New Wood

The beech wood stock is of very good quality and treated to a rich dark brown stain which really brings out the grain configuration of the furniture. It’s quite a substantial stock, not heavy, but one with a high well-proportioned and uniquely shaped cheekpiece, adding practicality and character to this scope only rifle. The pistol grip drops down very steeply, and the grip itself is quite chunky, easily filling your shooting hand, but the neck itself is relatively slim. Twin panels of a very generous amount of stylish chequering with adorn both the forward tapering forend and grip. The forend also has a stylish rounded profile Schnabel tip. Underneath this you’ll find the air reservoir fill point protected by a screw-on cover cap. Incidentally, you’ll notice there’s a fixed metal rod with a sling swivel attachment point hole through it directly behind and below this – a clever touch. To the rear you’ll find it’s partner, a standard swivel stud ready fitted in the underside of the stock approximately one-inch forward of the ventilated rubber butt pad.

Screwing off the neat front cover cap and you find the hole leading to the inlet valve. The fixed onboard air reservoir uses the Safety Dampened probe-filling system as developed and first used on the BSA Spitfire HF and later on the Hornet and Ultra. So charging the Scorpion is a doddle, and very safe too. The recommended fill of 200-bar gives approximately 60-65 full power shots in the .177 rifle on test. 

A Big Bolt

Full marks go to BSA for fitting the Scorpion with a very large fist filling polished steel cocking bolt. This big bold ball ended assembly is a standout feature. To cock the rifle you simply take hold of the bolt, turn upwards and pull fully rearward until it locks positively in the open position. Due to the short throw (length of rearward pull) it does take a bit of heft to cock. Once locked back, you can place a pellet onto the generously sized loading channel at the breech. Push in the bolt to seat the pellet directly into the 14.75” match grade BSA barrel and turn down to its original position. You’ve now got a cocked and loaded rifle waiting to go. The 2-stage adjustable ‘LS’ (Low Stress) trigger mechanism has proven its worth, releasing shots very predictably, and there’s the added bonus of a manual safety set above and to the right of the action. Designed to work with no internal friction and to be self-lubricating, this means no maintenance should be required; this unit has really helped elevate BSA PCP’s.

A lengthy railed action block makes fitting all sizes of optics trouble free. For this test I fitted a BSA Jaguar 3 – 12 X 56IR 30mm body tube scope. This was the first time I’d used one, and during the time I spent with the Scorpion it proved very capable. I also got my first chance to test the BSA VC (Variable Choke) Silencer. Now this is a very interesting and efficient unit, threaded ½” UNF and calibre specific, meaning whichever calibre you shoot, you can ensure that you have the correct size ‘bush’ fitted in the can. The rifle is threaded at the muzzle to accept a standard ½” UNF female thread silencer so no problems in spinning this up front before setting zero. With the rifle set-up to be ‘on the money’ at 30-yds, the silencer lived up to expectation and was definitely more quiet than the now discontinued SAS cans. First time Scorpion users will be amazed at the accuracy potential and shot to shot consistency, I mention this as the rifle is unregulated. Making thumbnail groups at and beyond 30-yds is the norm for this rifle using most brands of quality ammo.

Conclusions

To sum up; the BSA Scorpion may well have fallen out of favour with some hunters that preferred its more hi-tech looking stable-mate the multi-shot Scorpion T-10, but it’s still undoubtedly a superb rifle in its own right. It’s a lovely gun to shoot and it balances well; even with the silencer up front it only pushes the tape to 40 ¼” in length. It would certainly fulfil many airgunners needs. So if you prefer a one-shot potter for fieldwork, then this rifle performs impeccably, handles like a dream and is deadly accurate.

PRICE: £411
OPTIONAL EXTRA: VC Silencer £40