KEY SPECS
MAKER: BSA, England (bsaguns.co.uk)
MODEL: BSAR-12 CLX Pro
PRICE: £1,265 (Black Pepper Laminate - tested)£l,215 (Walnut)
TYPE: Precharged Pneumatic (PCP)
CALIBRE:.177 and .22
OVERALL LENGTH: 940mm (Super Carbine). 102cm (Standard rifle)
BARREL LENGTH: 320mm (Super Carbine). 390mm (Standard rifle)
WEIGHT:3.6 kgs (Super Carbine). 3.8 kgs (Standard rifle)
TRIGGER:Two-stage adjustable post and shoe match-style
POWER:11.5ft-lb
Established in 1861, few companies can claim the heritage of Birmingham Small Arms, or BSA as the company is better known. In fact, I’d bet the vast majority of airgunners of a certain age have at one time owned or at least shot a BSA rifle.
The trouble is that when you’ve been around for that long and have brought out so many iconic models, releasing an air rifle that is better than the one that went before gets harder each time. It’s that tricky second album conundrum.
The challenge is even greater when a rifle’s predecessor is already considered to be one of the best and is a favourite with thousands of shooters. So I’d imagine that first meeting in BSA Towers when the company’s top brass told its engineers to come up with a successor to the fabled R-10 was a bit of a moment.
Many months, possibly years, later BSA has given us the R-12 CLX Pro, available as a Standard rifle and Super Carbine. And the early general consensus seems
