BSA, (Birmingham Small Arms) has been an established small arms manufacturer in England for the last century. BSA was the largest manufacturer of small arms in England during the Second World War. Although BSA no longer manufactures conventional firearms, they have continued their century old legacy of building air rifles. BSA has a reputation for building very high quality, well designed and highly functional air rifles  and that reputation is well deserved. BSA does all the manufacturing in house in their factory in Birmingham U.K., including making their own hammer forged barrels.

BSA Lightning XL Combo

    I own two other BSA air rifles, so I was very eager to try the Ultra PCP (pre charged pneumatic) carbine. I have stated before that I am very fond of carbine sized air rifles for the shooting that I do, which involves target shooting, plinking for fun and suburban pest control. My other two BSA rifles, a Lightning XL in .177, and Sportsman HV in .22 have always been flawless and up to any task I have put them to, so I expected great things from the Ultra carbine. I was not disappointed by the Ultra, and it has quickly become my favorite air rifle and the one that is most often my “go to” gun.

       The Ultra has a smaller air chamber that is easy to fill if you are using a hand pump. The literature that comes with the Ultra recommends a maximum of 30 shots and then recharging the fill chamber. I generally have found that I take about 20-25 shots and then refill the rifle. Typically, it takes me 35-40 pump stokes to bring the air chamber back up to 230 BAR.

      The Ultra is a 12 ft lb. rifle in .177 caliber that delivers velocity in the low 800 FPS range with normal weight pellets in the 7.9 – 8.5 gr. Weight range. This level of power is more than ample for most small game that is normally taken with an air rifle at 20-40 yard ranges. In .22 caliber the Ultra delivers a bit more energy in the 16 ft lb. range.
 

      I sighted my Ultra in using BSA Wolverine FT pellets. The Wolverines are relabeled JSB Exacts in 8.4 gr weight. It was a simple matter to quickly sight the rifle in and I was not in the least disappointed with the accuracy of the Ultra carbine. I quickly had ragged one hole groups printing the target with this delightful rifle. This is the level of accuracy I have come to expect from BSA rifles, and I have never been disappointed.

     I have recently been using Crossman Premier Hollow Point pellets (7.9 gr.) in the Ultra and the rifle shots them equally as well as the BSAs. I have had very good performance from the Premier Hollow Points on pest birds at the 20-40 yd. ranges that I typically shoot at.

      The first Starling the Ultra had a chance at was in the big Russian Olive tree in my back yard. The Starling was in the uppermost branches, about 30’ up and was a 25-30 yd. shot from my back porch. A quickly improvised stance on my porch, a clear picture of the Starling in the Bushnell scope and a slow squeeze of the Ultra’s trigger and the Starling was dispatched. The Ultra Carbine with the factory BSA SAS, full size moderator on it is a very quiet, suburban neighborhood friendly rifle.

       I would highly recommend the Ultra carbine to anyone as a light weight, compact small game
hunting Air rifle that would be difficult to surpass. I mentioned before that this has quickly become my “go to” rifle and I have to confess the Ultra would likely be the last rifle I would let go if I had to sell off my collection. The Ultra is that good!