Hunter-Habib
AH legend
Today, when most younger generations of hunters think of British firearms... they conjure up images in their minds of bespoke gun houses such as James Purdey & Sons or Westley Richards.
But this was not always so. Those of us who are a certain age (esp. the ones like me who were born informer British colonies) have fond memories of BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) firearms.
Building firearms up until 1974, BSA offered mass production decent quality firearms for the working class hunter. Many of their firearms still grace the second hand racks of gun stores found in Great Britain, Australia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh & Africa (albeit in varying conditions).
Since a lot of you gents frequently come across second hand BSA firearms on the market, I thought that perhaps it might help you if I uploaded some of these vintage book pages so that you can better understand BSA rifles & shotguns.
BSA rifles were unique in that the post World War II variants were built on their own proprietary actions. The early “Royal” models were control round feed; being built like the Mauser Model 98 action but with the two piece striker similar to what one encounters on a Springfield Model 1903A3. The later “Majestic” and “Monarch” lines employed a push feed action which was infinitely more reliable than a Remington Model 700 or post ‘64- pre ‘92 Winchester Model 70 action.
BSA firearms were (and still are) quite revered amongst African hunters (both white hunters and local resident hunters). Two of my white hunters (Mr. Cheffings in Kenya and Mr. Palmer in Botswana) almost exclusively preferred a BSA Majestic in .458 Winchester Magnum as their dangerous game backup rifle of choice. As did elephant culler Paul Grobler. It was also Mr. Richard Harland’s personally owned dangerous game rifle of choice until 1973 (which was gifted to him by Paul Grobler). Richard owned another BSA Majestic in .30-06 Springfield as his plains game rifle of choice. Much like myself, he loves these old British rifles but doesn’t have a kind word to say about those beastly built-in muzzle brakes.
Warmest Regards,
Habib
A BSA Monarch in 7mm Remington Magnum
A BSA Majestic in .458 Winchester Magnum still doing what it was designed to do (Please note that this photograph is NOT mine)
But this was not always so. Those of us who are a certain age (esp. the ones like me who were born informer British colonies) have fond memories of BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) firearms.
Building firearms up until 1974, BSA offered mass production decent quality firearms for the working class hunter. Many of their firearms still grace the second hand racks of gun stores found in Great Britain, Australia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh & Africa (albeit in varying conditions).
Since a lot of you gents frequently come across second hand BSA firearms on the market, I thought that perhaps it might help you if I uploaded some of these vintage book pages so that you can better understand BSA rifles & shotguns.
BSA rifles were unique in that the post World War II variants were built on their own proprietary actions. The early “Royal” models were control round feed; being built like the Mauser Model 98 action but with the two piece striker similar to what one encounters on a Springfield Model 1903A3. The later “Majestic” and “Monarch” lines employed a push feed action which was infinitely more reliable than a Remington Model 700 or post ‘64- pre ‘92 Winchester Model 70 action.
BSA firearms were (and still are) quite revered amongst African hunters (both white hunters and local resident hunters). Two of my white hunters (Mr. Cheffings in Kenya and Mr. Palmer in Botswana) almost exclusively preferred a BSA Majestic in .458 Winchester Magnum as their dangerous game backup rifle of choice. As did elephant culler Paul Grobler. It was also Mr. Richard Harland’s personally owned dangerous game rifle of choice until 1973 (which was gifted to him by Paul Grobler). Richard owned another BSA Majestic in .30-06 Springfield as his plains game rifle of choice. Much like myself, he loves these old British rifles but doesn’t have a kind word to say about those beastly built-in muzzle brakes.
Warmest Regards,
Habib
A BSA Monarch in 7mm Remington Magnum
A BSA Majestic in .458 Winchester Magnum still doing what it was designed to do (Please note that this photograph is NOT mine)
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