BSA Lightning XL SE GRT

When I was a kid, I had an old D7 Bantam, and that was the last BSA I owned.
Well about a year ago I was at the club (MKARC) and one of the old lags there had a BSA Lightning with a Gas Ram. I had a few shots with it and thought it was kinda good in a weird way, the "recoil" was different to any springer I had shot. A sort of thud but nothing else, a bit like a recoiling PCP.
Anyway, as you all know I have a Walther LGV and for a springer it is awesome to shoot, but only for short periods as it is a heavy rifle to carry around and shoot. There is nothing actually wrong with it, and has responded to some mild tuning to reduce vibration and recoil, they have very little of both, but I wanted to make it as smooth as possible. Its biggest drawback is the weight/length. My plans included reducing the barrel length, but it only has a shortish barrel anyway.
The upshot of this situation is I fancied something different so I got this.

Its a BSA Lightning XL SE GRT (Gas Ram Technology) Its a .177  and seems to fit my profile for a "springer" Its fairly short and relatively lightweight. I am not so sure it is actually much lighter, but being shrter it brings the CofG back towards the shooter.

One thing the Walther lacks is any charracter at all in the stock, but the Lightning has it in spades.

I love the woodwork on this rifle. I am definitely not a fan of thumbhole stocks and I do like a good looking "sporter" style, This has this in abundance

I do like the reflex type silencer on this rifle.

The manual safety is good, a simple on and off.
As for shooting this beastie, well, Its different. Cocking the rifle is different as well, a simple nudge on the barrel to break and then, what I can only describe as a very fluid, (very thick fluid) cocking stroke that takes a bit more effort than i was expecting, but once the cocking point is met, a very free return.
Now I have my only niggle as, out of the box, the trigger is ...... not bad, more stiff, to release the sear, I am going to spend some time with this to get the firing as I want it. I was expecting something closer to the TX200 in trigger pull, so watch this space.
Accuracy is unbelievable, probably due to the absence of most of the recoil you would expect after cocking it.
So the moral of this tale is.......... get a Gar Ram for your springer, its has an inspiring effect