Looking for info on the BSA CFT 7.52x51 target rifle

[Soggy biscuit]

Hi as title states looking for info on the above rifle would it be a good starter rifle and are they able to take a rem 700 picatinny rail like the BSA cf2

 

Cheers sb

[DW58]

We have a couple of these as club rifles - they perform perfectly well. Ours have Picatinny rails on them, but I've no idea what make/version.

[Soggy biscuit]

Thanks dw 58 I've not been able to find much info on them.

[terryh]

I believe the CF2 action was machined 'on the top' to accept Rem. 700 LA mounts if that helps?

[bradders]

I have one here for rebarrelling at the moment

As for the Picadilly rail...anything is possible

[DW58]

My first stalking rifle was a CF2 way back in 1986 - quite an accurate rifle, good action and barrel, but mine had the horrible BSA set trigger.

 

The target version of the action has a closed top while the stalking version was open top. The bolt travel was sometimes improved by the addition of a second guide rail, noteably by Dan'l Fraser & Co. of Cromarty,Scotland who made a range of hunting rifles built on the CF2 action in the late 80s/early 90s.

[Soggy biscuit]

I have one here for rebarrelling at the moment

As for the Picadilly rail...anything is possible

Bradders i guess if someone is paying to put a custom barrel on it they must be good.

[Laurie]

They had a reputation for trigger problems. Pickering RC had one as a club TR rifle for many years - it shot well, but spent a lot of time at the gunsmith having the trigger repaired (most likely not helped by it seeing infrequent use and long periods of inactivity). I've heard the same story about other examples too though. A member later bought it from the club, fitted a scope and was perfectly happy with its performance in general range use AFAIK.

[Soggy biscuit]

I was looking at possibly getting a cf 2 for stalking the fact it's made in England really interests me.

[DW58]

I had a .243 BSA CF2 Stutzen for several years - other than the trigger problems mentioned in my previous post it was an accurate and reliable rifle and I shot many deer plus vermin with it.

 

Please bear in mind they BSA CF2 hasn't been made for at least 25 years and obtaining spares may be a problem as BSA have been out of the rifle business for a long time.

[Laurie]

I was looking at possibly getting a cf 2 for stalking the fact it's made in England really interests me.

 

Being a competition rifle for TR / Fullbore prone shooting, the CFT is single shot of course - no magazine. It was a proper redesign, not the same as the sporting action and had a much heavier and more rigid action than the more common CF2 sporting model.

 

The CF2 was the final (much simplified to reduce manufacturing operations and costs) version of the BSA postwar centrefire rifles, the design being Beezer's only home-designed action so far as I'm aware. (Previous centrefire sporters were built on military actions.) The original models were introduced in the early '50s and were much refined and beautifully made Mauser-system rifles. They were produced in three action lengths, first being the short action for .22 Hornet and .222 Rem, only just long enough for the latter; the medium length action came around 1955 and despite 'medium length', the first production run was in 7X57mm Mauser, also later 257 Roberts and 308 Win a long time afterwards. Finally, came the long action for 3.34" COAL rounds, primarily .30-06 and 270 Win sometime around 1960. The choice of calibres was very much dictated by foreign markets as BSA was attempting to produce premium rifles for the discerning American shooter and also for the British colonies / Commonwealth dependencies.

 

They had lots of names depending on when they were made and who they were being sold to. In the home market, the early rifle was called the 'BSA Hunter', but for Americans, they had names like 'Majestic' and 'Royal'. The company failed to get the premium marque reputation and prices the needed in the US market and the rifles were too expensive to make as they were originally - so three action lengths, large Mauser type non-rotating extractor and blade ejector, fancy bolt shroud with a nifty side-fitted safety lever, cut-rifled barrel all went with a single action length for everything from 222 to 30-06, small extractor inset into the bolt-face and spring-loaded button ejector a la Rem 700 appeared over time in stages, likewise hammer forged barrels, the rifle running in this form as the CF2 for quite a long time before the company stopped firearms manufacture. I have a first medium action production run model Hunter in 7X57mm - a very nice rifle which was still taking Northumbrian deer in the previous owner's hands until 18 months ago. I'll work up handloads for it in due course, but it did OK (1 to 2 inches at 100 yards, 5-shot groups) with ancient Norma 150 and 154gn PSPs. It should be capable of consistent 1-MOA or maybe just under - which was regarded as brilliant in this rifle's period.

 

If you look around, there are quite a few BSA stalking rifles that come up on Guntrader etc, with several variations depending on era - Mannlicher stocked 'Stutzen' CF2s, .222 in heavy-barrel varmint form and suchlike - and they go cheap even for mint examples. Having had a good but very plain .222 Rem CF2 years back, I always wanted an early model with the top-grade finish and all the early action nice bits ... and since I'm a fan of the 7X57 too - my 1950s Hunter fitted the bill perfectly.

 

A contemporary that was an equally good Mauser type action sensitively developed and really well made and finished that usually goes very cheap these days even for mint examples is the Czech Brno ZKK series rifles - ZKK600 (long) and ZKK601 (short action). Find a good one and you have a superb 243, 308, 270, 30-06 etc deerstalking rifle for very little money. Some even come with the original 4-power East German manufactured Zeiss-Jena scopes that were offered as an optional fitted extra.

[Chris-NZ]

No doubt about it, the early models were the best, and like pre-64 M70s, proved too expensive to make as time went on.

Laurie didn't mention the intermediate model (the Monarch) which came after the classic Hunter series. These were a cheaper-to-build push-feed action and fairly heavy. I had a .270 version I bought~ 1974 which I've only recently sold.

 

For nostalgia reasons, I recently rebuilt a .222 Hunter which was very tired. We suspect it had been a Gov't culler's gun and had clearly done serious mileage. The stock was beyond redemption so that was the number one challenge. I actually rebuilt it in .223 which involved re-pressing the magazine insert to handle the different shoulder position. Turned out to be huge work which I probably wouldn't bother with again. Came up pretty nice though

 

[Laurie]

Very nice Chris - well done! Incidentally, I believe many of the run of 7X57s that included my rifle went to your part of the world.

 

(It seems strange today that the first lot of medium action rifles were made in 7X57 when 308 Win would now be most people's first thought / choice in such a rifle, but I've read in several books and articles over the years that the 308 had an initially slow take-up after its 1952 launch and took most of the decade to gather real momentum!)

[Chris-NZ]

Yeh, "Seven Mil" BSA Hunters were a very popular deer rifle round these parts.

 

The other popular ones were Brnos. Here's one I did up for my good hunting mate. Inherited off his brother in rather rough condition and the borescope showed some pitting.

 

 

Here's the first group I shot with it after getting it on paper (2209 = H4350)

 

[bradders]

Bradders i guess if someone is paying to put a custom barrel on it they must be good.

 

It belongs to an old boy and is just plain worn out, so need replacing

[Simon J]

 

Being a competition rifle for TR / Fullbore prone shooting, the CFT is single shot of course - no magazine. It was a proper redesign, not the same as the sporting action and had a much heavier and more rigid action than the more common CF2 sporting model.

 

The CF2 was the final (much simplified to reduce manufacturing operations and costs) version of the BSA postwar centrefire rifles, the design being Beezer's only home-designed action so far as I'm aware. (Previous centrefire sporters were built on military actions.) The original models were introduced in the early '50s and were much refined and beautifully made Mauser-system rifles. They were produced in three action lengths, first being the short action for .22 Hornet and .222 Rem, only just long enough for the latter; the medium length action came around 1955 and despite 'medium length', the first production run was in 7X57mm Mauser, also later 257 Roberts and 308 Win a long time afterwards. Finally, came the long action for 3.34" COAL rounds, primarily .30-06 and 270 Win sometime around 1960. The choice of calibres was very much dictated by foreign markets as BSA was attempting to produce premium rifles for the discerning American shooter and also for the British colonies / Commonwealth dependencies.

 

They had lots of names depending on when they were made and who they were being sold to. In the home market, the early rifle was called the 'BSA Hunter', but for Americans, they had names like 'Majestic' and 'Royal'. The company failed to get the premium marque reputation and prices the needed in the US market and the rifles were too expensive to make as they were originally - so three action lengths, large Mauser type non-rotating extractor and blade ejector, fancy bolt shroud with a nifty side-fitted safety lever, cut-rifled barrel all went with a single action length for everything from 222 to 30-06, small extractor inset into the bolt-face and spring-loaded button ejector a la Rem 700 appeared over time in stages, likewise hammer forged barrels, the rifle running in this form as the CF2 for quite a long time before the company stopped firearms manufacture. I have a first medium action production run model Hunter in 7X57mm - a very nice rifle which was still taking Northumbrian deer in the previous owner's hands until 18 months ago. I'll work up handloads for it in due course, but it did OK (1 to 2 inches at 100 yards, 5-shot groups) with ancient Norma 150 and 154gn PSPs. It should be capable of consistent 1-MOA or maybe just under - which was regarded as brilliant in this rifle's period.

 

If you look around, there are quite a few BSA stalking rifles that come up on Guntrader etc, with several variations depending on era - Mannlicher stocked 'Stutzen' CF2s, .222 in heavy-barrel varmint form and suchlike - and they go cheap even for mint examples. Having had a good but very plain .222 Rem CF2 years back, I always wanted an early model with the top-grade finish and all the early action nice bits ... and since I'm a fan of the 7X57 too - my 1950s Hunter fitted the bill perfectly.

 

A contemporary that was an equally good Mauser type action sensitively developed and really well made and finished that usually goes very cheap these days even for mint examples is the Czech Brno ZKK series rifles - ZKK600 (long) and ZKK601 (short action). Find a good one and you have a superb 243, 308, 270, 30-06 etc deerstalking rifle for very little money. Some even come with the original 4-power East German manufactured Zeiss-Jena scopes that were offered as an optional fitted extra.

Will be interested to read up on your 7x57 trials. I've collected a bit of data myself recently which I'd happliy share as I don't have a 7x57 myself ( yet).