If you want to shoot just for the fun of shooting, a break-barrel spring-powered airgun really does take some shooting. Simple, effective and highly addictive, this type of gun provides a great introduction to shooting sports – it is also a very happy fact that you can pick up a pretty good one for a fairly modest price.
The BSA Meteor CLX – distributed in the UK by Range Right – is a great example of a mid-priced spring gun that provides brilliant value for money. It has a recommended retail price of £350, and should be a great choice whether you’re a newcomer to airgunning or a more experienced PCP shooter who wants a springer for some informal plinking.
This is a very nicely proportioned little airgun. It’s about 104cm from end to end with the supplied silencer fitted and under 87 without it. It weighs just over 2.8kg, which should make it manageable for just about any shooter – teenagers included. It is a handsome little airgun – very nicely styled along the lines of a traditional sporter with a few modern twists.
The BSA Meteor CLX is cradled in a beech stock made by Minelli, and it really suits this break-barrel. The stock has a long forend with a lovely forward sweep at the front and decent-sized patches of very tidy stippling on both sides. The pistol grip feels great in the hand, and I found it comfortable whether shooting thumb-up or thumb-around. It is contoured with a good-sized scallop to accommodate the base of your thumb and has more of the same neat stippling as the forend on both sides.
The rear section of this ambidextrous stock is equally well sculpted. The cheekpiece provides plenty of height for good eye alignment on this scope-only gun. A neat black spacer sits between the woodwork and the butt pad which is squashy enough to provide meaningful cushioning – a nice touch on a recoiling airgun.
Below: The Meteor CLX has an elegant sporter-style Minelli stock
The metalwork on the Birmingham made Meteor CLX is very tidy – particularly considering its price point – and overall build quality feels really solid throughout. It has a 255mm barrel in a choice of .177 or .22 calibres; and that barrel is BSA’s famously accurate cold hammer forged barrel. It’s finished with a half-inch UNF thread, and this airgun actually comes supplied with an elegant slimline silencer that genuinely does provide some sound suppression – it also provides welcome extra grip and leverage for the cocking stroke.
Scope attachment is via dovetail rails, and the Meteor CLX is equipped with BSA’s Recoil Reduction Rail. This system actually absorbs some of the shock from the recoil of the spring and piston action to keep your scope safe. I’ve been using two-piece mounts on the test gun and have had no problems with scope creep or zero shift.
Below top: The supplied silencer reduces muzzle report and assists with cocking
Below bottom: BSA's Recoil Reduction Rail ensures safe, secure scope attachment
The Meteor CLX features a new and improved adjustable two-stage trigger, which incorporates a blade with a gentle curve and a flat face. As ever, I tested it on its factory setting and was very impressed – it’s certainly better than what I would tend to expect on a sub-£400 springer. The first stage was quite light but had a decent amount of travel before it reaches an unmissable stop point which was followed by a very crisp and utterly predictable second stage break.
There is a simple but perfectly effective rocker-type manual safety catch positioned towards the rear of the cylinder, just above the trigger. It is very, very quiet in operation – great news for live quarry shooters who demand absolute stealth. You pull it back into the safe position then push if forward when you’re ready to take the shot.
Below top: The trigger on the Meteor CLX outperforms its price backet
Below bottom: Hunters will appreciate the very quiet safety catch
Cocking and loading is very simple. The stroke is smooth and shouldn’t require too much effort, even of younger shooters. It clunks into position very securely at the end of the stroke and features an anti-beartrap mechanism to keep your fingers safe when thumbing a pellet directly into the breech. With that done, it’s just a matter of swinging the barrel straight up into what feels like a very secure lockup.
The BSA Meteor CLX is a full-power airgun. The .22 calibre review gun was running at 11.3ft/lb with BSA Gold Star pellets and was doing it pretty consistently – variation was within eleven feet per second over a ten-shot string. It’s a nice firing cycle too. There is the sort of recoil you would expect from a mid-priced springer but it’s quick and clean without too much reverberation.
Below: Most shooters should be able to manage the BSA Meteor CLX's cocking stroke
Accuracy-wise, I was quite impressed with this little BSA. It’s easy to regard a gun like this as simply being a backyard tin-toppler. While it is great for that type of recreational shooting, it is actually pretty good on paper too. My five-shot groups were generally remaining within 20mm at 20 metres. That means this airgun does have the potential for pest control as long as you’re realistic about your ranges.
Most importantly though, the British-made BSA Meteor CLX is brilliant fun to shoot. I love the simplicity of a break-barrel’s self-contained powerplant, and this airgun epitomises just that. It has a very nice trigger and a great stock, it’s kind on the eye and it comes supplied with a silencer. That all adds up to a great value package for £350, especially as you also get the added reassurance of BSA’s proven pedigree.
MAKER: BSA Guns
MODEL: Meteor CLX
UK DISTRIBUTOR: Range Right
PRICE: £350
LENGTH: 1040mm (41in) with supplied silencer fitted
WEIGHT: 2.8kg (6.2lb) unscoped
BARREL LENGTH: 255mm (10in)
Article first published May 19th 2026
