Steyr/Daystate/SMK - a good day out at the range.

[Jesim1]

I don't post many of these type of threads, but once in a while you think - this is what it's all about - and that was today.

I hadn't had my Steyr LG110 out for a while, it's a brilliant gun, but you know how it goes, new guns come along and your existing ones get pushed to the back of the gun cabinet. But not today.



I was reminded last week how good these guns are, and almost lost sight of that by putting my new guns before it to the extent I was considering selling it without really thinking it through. Today I reminded myself why they are one of the most sought after guns on the competition course and a firm favourite since it's launch several years ago. Yes - today it went for a trip to the outdoor range where the wind was "gusting" to a very manageable 3-5mph . The wife and her Daystate Regal came along also, TBF, she did do the picnic and I needed someone to impress .



We done a spot of "big game hunting" - also know as "Bluebottles at 40m" as they strolled across a target card someone had been using for zero - a bad move for the flies, it was carnage. It kind of brings it home how good modern guns are these days when you shooting flies, outdoors, at 40m and taking them out time after time. Both guns were doing a good job of this, and the bell target was not getting much rest either, which with a hole about twice the size of the .177 pellets we were using is pretty good for around 35m outdoors.

Both guns were doing around the 100 usable shots between fills, so with a couple of fills each we went up and down and in and out of the range with spinners, knock downs, zero boxes, and a host of other random targets from resettable squirrels to rats and horses (yea, weird right? ) The Regal my wife has is a real keeper, very consistent, very accurate, and as long as you know it's got a power curve then you don't notice it shot to shot, but you do see the first and last 15 shots or so go down just a cm or so over time, but on a range like this it's not something to worry about, spinners don't care. The Steyr is as you would expect - clinical, pellet on pellet when I was doing my bit, but still heavy with a Big Nikko when trying to do a bit standing, I got 6 out of 10 2" square targets at around 40m, but I could see I was all over the place through the high mag scope, I know this can be reduced, but it was more my inability to hold the rifle steady rather than anything else

After that we took a walk along a mini pistol HFT course at the range with out trusty P700s in .177.



For the money these are a great laugh. They are a bit rough to get at first, and you really need to do a little bit of adjustment to get the power and trigger right, but it's easy to do and gives you a gun that is way better than the money would suggest, I have to say I'm not a big fan of SMK, but when used in the right fashion and frame of mind, these are fun pistols that are fairly accurate right out to around the 15m the course had targets to. We were using red dot sights, and a better shot than I would do justice with these at 20m+, but even at our 5 to 15m ranges we were getting a 80% hit rate on various sized spinners freehand standing.

So on the whole a good day out. The Steyr/Daystate and SMK combination is not one you would immediately think of, but they all performed excellently today, and were great fun into the bargain - role on next time we both have a day off and the wind and sun is in our favour.

James

[ElmerFudd.177]

Sounds like you had a great day.

Great read thank you.

I have a regal and like you say is a keeper. But i would like a steyr just to dam expensive. I got £800 together about 2 years ago and only needed £125 more to get 2nd hand one, then strangly our fridge broke and our washing machine too.

[ChrisC]

Nice write up James, thanks for taking the time to share.

[Alakar]

Great write up James.
Glad that you had a great day at the range .
Feedback like this makes me realise why we turn up in all weathers to ensure others as well as ourselves can come along and enjoy our sport.
That new HFT course for pistols is great fun . I shot it last week with a HW40 ! It's not all about power , but aim points , especially on tricky no7 the short one .

[The Robin]

Nice one James, it's all about fun and not what make of gun we shoot (yes we all like nice kit though ) but days out like these are just great, relaxed fun shooting. Sounds perfect to me

[rabbitwrecker]

Good read...