18 AIRGUN WORLD http://www.airgunshooting.co.uk
THE ED ’ TEST
A SUPER 10 YEARS!
The Editor tests the latest BSA R-10, and reflects
on a decade of airgun advancement
I think BSA should
shout louder
about the R-10 TH.
W
hen you’re 20, ten years represents half
of your life and seems a long time, but
when you’re my age, that same ten years is
less than a sixth of it, so it really can fly by.
That said, an awful lot can take place in ten
years, especially where airguns are concerned.
Through the industry’s program of ‘rolling
development’, and specifically due to the
forces of the ever-changing market, we now
have bullpups coming out of our ears,
regulated rifles at every turn, adjustable stocks
improving gun fit for millions, more moderators
than we can shake a technical stick at, and
better pellets by the billion, to name just a
selection of our general advancements.
To take advantage of these improvements,
field target and hunter field target shooting
have pushed their own competition
boundaries to ever more sophisticated
standards, hunters have more clinical
precision at their fingertips, and as for the
scopes, sights and night vision hardware, well,
that’s beyond the boggling of my simple mind.
Yes, ten years can be a long, long time in the
go-ahead world of modern airguns.
THE R10TH ANNIVERSARY
BSA launched its flagship R10 a decade ago,
as the replacement for the company’s
best-selling SuperTen, and it would be fair to
surmise that the latest incarnation of this rifle
carries a ‘TH’ suffix to signify the tenth year of
its production. Then again, this new R-10 TH
has a ‘ThumbHole’ stock, so that fits, too.
Names count for little in the world of high-
performance airguns, and that’s where this
renowned sporter has lived for many years,
now, but looks and styling still matter a great
deal, and there’s a bit of a misconception goingon around the R-10 TH, so I’ll begin by
clearing that one up, before embarking on the
features tour.THE NATURE OF THE ‘NET
It’s a tragic fact of modern life, that when any
new airgun is launched, there will always be a
bunch of serial nay-sayers braying on the
Internet about how the company has got it all
wrong. It’s the nature of the virtual world,It’s not synthetic; it’s Soft Touch compound over wood - and it works a treat.