Basic started advice wanted.

[Bellycrawler]

AA S400 .177 with a Harris.
Just over 11ftb with JSB's.
Not sure of the scope yet.
I intend to start close range & work outwards.
Mount's ? I've got low with a 40mm scope at the moment.
When I change the scope It'll need new mounts as I'm thinking 30mm tube size.
Would high mounts be better ?
Silencer or air stripper ?
Pellet choice ? I intend to try a few different ones that's ok short range but when my normals go wayward do I look for heavy or light pellets ?
I've got 400yds to play with & a few years ago was shooting out to 115yds with a different rifle but just plinking as the grouping was barn door size.
I intend to find out things as I go along but basic mistakes are expensive.
This is going to be a one off through the summer to see how far I can get so costs need to be kept low by keeping wasted money to a minimum.
A few tips please for my just for fun venture.

[18 Wheeler]

The biggest difficulty is getting the rear of the scope raised up enough to leave some adjustment within the scope at these long ranges.

IME much beyond 80 yards with 12fpe requires perfect conditions for small groups. The 100yrd plus stuff is good fun though.

As Cubleycat mentions in one of her posts on 200yrd shooting, to still have some scope adjustment, the pellet needs to strike about 31cm above the crosshairs at 10yards.

It may be impossible to elevate the rear of your scope enough due to the low mounts if the objective bell is already near to the action.

Other than that you have all the kit needed. Gun is good, pellets are fine and bipod works well.

Have a play with Chairgun to give you some ideas on drop. It's pretty good and can help you get roughly on target.

Keep a few big cardboard boxes, bigger the better, and use them to fix your targets to. At least you will know where your missing then.

[Bellycrawler]

Thanks.
I was thinking of some 30mm size reach forwards, the're 7mm higher than my 25mm low but hadn't considered raising the backend of the scope so I'll try those adjustable Sportsmatch ones, they should sell on easily enough when I'm done.
Just checked what 31cm looks like, oh dear.
Would I benifit with an air stripper or will my normal silencer be OK ?
The pellets I'll find out as I go along I think as that will depend what my barrel likes & not some one else's.
I might have to keep the distance short for a bit.
Just checked over the farm & the grass is way too high.
That gives me time to find a pellet though.

[18 Wheeler]

Adjustable mounts are a start, but to get that amount of elevation you need a LOT of packing, 4-5mm, under the rear of the scope which then brings issues of clamping the scope properly in both sets of rings. Not so difficult on a PCP due to the lack of recoil.

Silencer/muzzle break? Not essential, neither seem to make any difference on the two Daystates I own, but my AA's appears to like wearing a silencer.

Pellets. Some are good at short range and then become poor beyond 50 yards or if there's any wind.

I use JSB/AA/DS variants for everything. They are the most accurate in my guns. If we accept that a heavier pellet should retain it's energy better then it might be worth trying some. I have (Bismags and one I can't remember) but they were less accurate. Don't forget that AA's etc at 8.4gn are a midweight pellet really, and are a good compromise.

There is an element of lottery involved in all this IMO beyond 100yards. It's good fun plinking and trying things out but it's way beyond the range at which any of the equipment is designed or capable of shooting very accurately. The slightest breeze will give you six or more inches of drift.

However, that doesn't really matter because it's still great fun hitting a can at 100 yards or knokdowns at 80.

The best bit of advice would be to keep a small notebook with some of your settings in (Gun/pellet/scope/wind/number of clicks/silencer ON OFF etc) so as to make everything repeatable.

And have fun...

[Bellycrawler]

Pen & note book ?
One thing I hadn't thought of !

[Accuspell]

The notebook is great for keeping records. Keep it safe! I do some shark tagging out of my kayak, and as you can imagine, it gets a bit wet. I use a divers slate and write the stuff down on that, then transfer to paper when I get home.
A divers slate is a plastic slate that folds out, so you have 4 sides of A5. The one I have comes with an underwater pencil. They cost about £4 and last forever. Mine has ot be 10 years old now.

Just an idea - if you get rained on, your notes won't turn to mush! Then copy down your field notes in a nice hard cover notebook at home, neatly. You can never write neatly in the field.

[Bellycrawler]

The notebook is great for keeping records. Keep it safe! I do some shark tagging out of my kayak, and as you can imagine, it gets a bit wet. I use a divers slate and write the stuff down on that, then transfer to paper when I get home.
A divers slate is a plastic slate that folds out, so you have 4 sides of A5. The one I have comes with an underwater pencil. They cost about £4 and last forever. Mine has ot be 10 years old now.

Just an idea - if you get rained on, your notes won't turn to mush! Then copy down your field notes in a nice hard cover notebook at home, neatly. You can never write neatly in the field.

That is well worth knowing, thanks.
Even if It's not raining damp grass is also an enemy of the note book.