great with a PCP, rubbish with a springer

[1airways]

Just got back into plinking in the back yard with my Rapid 7 and was putting pellets through the same hole at 30 yards resting. When I tried a BSA lightning with similar scope, i could not hit a barn door as so much variation. Any ideas or have I got a duff springer

[Olas]

It might be the gun, or it might be the shooter.

if it doesn't improve with a couple of tins of practice pellets its the gun

(assuming, of course, that you're holding , releasing, and following through, correctly.)

[big bad bear1]

practice, practice, practice, anyone can shoot a pcp, but a springer is a whole different animal.

[Lumberjack]

Just got back into plinking in the back yard with my Rapid 7 and was putting pellets through the same hole at 30 yards resting. When I tried a BSA lightning with similar scope, i could not hit a barn door as so much variation. Any ideas or have I got a duff springer

A few questions:
Have you shot springers on a regular basis or are you fairly new to them?
How are you shooting it? i.e. prone/kneeling/sitting/rested on a bean bag/rested on a hard surface
Do you "hold" the gun exactly the same way for every shot or does your grip vary each time?
Are you gripping the gun tightly or cradling it loosely?
Are you shooting continuously shot after shot or do you give yourself a break after every 5 or 6 shots?

[TheWilding]

The Lightning is a difficult beast to tame for target shooting, I'm half way there with mine but there's still a load of work internally left to do.

Its also down to hold, the Lightning is very hold sensitive, even now with all the weight added mine still requires a specific hold or the groups will open up by a country mile


I hold mine about 50mm infront of the trigger opening, just rested in my hand, I dont grip the kneck at all, I shoot thumb up, but I rest it up the side of the stock (now modified my stock with a thumb shelf), and place the tips of my fingers very loosely just past the centre line of the grip, butt just touching my shoulder (buy an adjustable butt plate to improve fit) you will also find what your wearing at your shoulder will make a difference to your POI, even taking my jumper off alters POI.

At the moment my XL Tactical is a .22, my next plan is to swap the barrel for a Supersport .177, short stroke it and do some TP work, and fit a bolt clamp to the barrel hinge pin....... I've tuned it already and managed to get just shy of 15fpe from the standard spring, cut 2 full coils off to enable the fitting of spring slip washers, its now doing 11.6 with AA fields (5.52s) and will cloverleaf 5 shots under a 5p peice.


I also fitted loads of weight to it, made a comb raiser from lead, fitted a weighted hamster and some weights to the front of the stock, also adapted 2 scope mounts to hold weights above the scope, it now weighs in at over 13.5lbs, there is very little recoil, which I hope will be sorted with the short stroke mods. Though I am in the middle of making a new target style stock for it.



As for shooting a PCP, my wife proved how easy they are to shoot just before Xmas at an informal shoot we attended, from a bi-pod over 35yards in moderate wind using a mates R10 she shot a 57 out of 60.... not once but twice..... she has never shot any kind of gun before.... ever