Springers just got harder to shoot...

[Muskett]

A most excellent post^

The most forgiving springer I own is a Park 91 .177.
I hunt with springers within farmyard ranges, thats 25m or less. Most shots are standing, any support is light not the full weight.

Of a historical note, once farmyard vermin control required a solid hit with a .22. Often whatever hit hard then it was a competition between the hunter and farm dog who got there first. Iron sights were quite able to deliver a solid centre mass hit. There was no great expectation for things to be dead on impact every time, though that was an aspiration, just didn't always happen.
Once scopes with their better clearer sight picture arrived people thought they could have more range and hold tighter accuracy. Range had another 15m to 20m added and the .177 was seen as the way forward due to their inherent accuracy at these extended ranges due to their higher velocity in 12ft/lbs rifles. Thats when it was found how tricky lighter weight air rifles and their springs really were at top power shot at longer ranges. Heavier rifles became more popular: HW35E, HW77, Original 45. Expectations changed and rather than a central solid hit for a kill then head shots, very accurately placed, became and remain the shot to make.

Thankfully PCP's arrived and gave the accuracy and consistency that this higher level of precision demands. Funny, John Darling started out with a .177, went to a .22, back to a .177 and finished using a .22. Most was that he "knew" his rifles and secondly he kept his ranges moderate. Both calibres require precision, he finally arrived at .22 because he had the skill to deliver the trickier calibre.

My advice is find a shooting position that works with the rifle. Then replicate it in the field.
(I love shooting my .17HMR as the bullet is out of the barrel so fast that its difficult to do anything wrong to upset things).

[TonyL]

Excellent posts, gentlemen.

[bozzer]

When you realise that changing the hold position causes problems you then start to listen to the hypnotic phrases ...

Reduced hold sensitivity ... and ... tuning.

This is now time to save yourself lots of pain and kill yourself, as you now start to try and defy science.

You'll be whipping internals in and out in a frenzy. You'll also start adding weight all over the place until your rig weighs about 11 stone.

I only shot in the winters and I got to the point where I would wear exactly the same clothes each shoot. For the prone shots I would have a gloved front hand on the floor and there was an exact point on the rifle that had to rest on that front hand. The butt would be just off the floor and the top of the butt had to be in the exact same place in my shoulder ... which happened to be on a seam on the same coat that I always wore.

If the target/peg position was such that I had to move significantly ( significantly means a very small amount ) away from that then I would abandon prone and take the shot kneeling, as I could have far more control over the hold points when kneeling. I'd take 40 yard 25mm targets kneeling and 15mm 25 yard targets kneeling if need be. I had a better percentage on those in a comfortable kneeling stance rather than an uncomfortable prone one.

I absolutely loved shooting HFT with my springer like that for many years. Eventually, a failing right eye, a dodgy knee, JSB's inability to produce consistent pellets, the soul destroying temperature induced POI jump, and the PCP/scope kit race that squeezed courses even that little bit tighter ( to a point where I felt that any decent wind now made plenty of shots a lottery for everyone ), beat the will out of me.

Great times though. Enjoy.

[Muskett]

I gave up competition shooting because of crushed vertebrae (carrying too heavy bergens and mogul bump skiing) but when I did it was all about holding set positions to allow the rifle to shoot straight and consistently. Give the rifle the same shooting platform every time.
I've said it before when I was shooting County Level .22 rimfire 25m a coffee before would cost me a point. All in the heart rate and time to completely relax. It takes five full minutes to completely relax behind a rifle.

One thing that annoys me with competition shooting is when it gets so competitive that the targetry is reduced beyond the capability of the shooting systems. A new sport starts well and the inevitable arms race happens. Some can buy equipment to find an advantage and so do. Then equipment becomes more important than the marksmanship. To make it more difficult the targetry size is reduced until the equipment, let alone the conditions, gets beyond the the ability. Its then as much a lottery as anything else. 5 top equipped shots all shoot to the same level but who wins is a lottery. For everyone else enjoying the taking part then its absolute chance.

Better is to have ten to max score and then do a shoot off. The targetry should be at least be achievable. On a reasonable day some shooters should be able to max on a course of fire, or very close.

If it comes down to "a coffee" then thats athlete shooting. If the targetry is smaller than the ability of the equipment then thats luck shooting. Once targetry gets to a certain small size its not practical shooting and to me loses its fun factor.

No idea if this is the case on the competition circuits as I don't do it, but its something to watch out for.

[bozzer]

Muskett

The above post is excellent.

I shot HFT from when it started back around the turn of the century. Since then hundreds and hundreds of people have taken part in it all over the world. The main events are usually sold out in no time and many more club shoots take place every weekend. The manufacturers long since realised it was a popular air rifle sport so they got involved by sponsoring shoots and donating prizes for raffles etc. They then produced air rifles aimed at HFT and put a decent price tag on them. So it's been a very healthy addition to the airgun world, especially in the UK where it started.

Like a lot of other sports it's had to evolve. In the very early days it was set up as an option to Field Target but for people with far more basic, dare I say 'Hunting style kit'. FT had evolved itself and the kit race was well on the way there with people using custom stocks and very high mag scopes to help range the targets. A decent FT rig with rifle and scope would cost several hundreds of pounds and maybe a lot of hunters or plinkers didn't want to commit to that sort of spend in order to be able to do reasonably well at FT.

So HFT came along and there were certain rules to make it different from FT and to try and make it so that anyone with basic kit could give it a go with what they already had and do quite well. So no adjustments to scopes so that scopes couldn't be used to range ( by high mag ), so that ranging would be by eye, and no sitting ( the main FT stance ). Max range 45 yards ( FT had already crept out to 55 yards ).

The main position became prone, but not a classic up on the elbows prone using a sling ... but a prone that allowed the front forearm to rest along the ground and the front of the rifle on top of the front hand. The butt of the rifle could be rested on the floor. Pegs are provided so that the front hand can be rested on the solid peg for those that prefer to have the front hand up off the floor or for shots that require the muzzle to be a little higher ( to shoot over fallen logs etc ). So HFT style prone gave a very stable hold on aim and beginners could very quickly reach a level where they could shoot quite accurately, especially with a PCP.

Courses were/are 30 targets ( one shot per target ) and 24 of those would be prone, 3 would be kneeling ( 2 of which are supported against a tree etc ) and 3 standing ( again 2 of those supported ).

The early courses were quite tame with kills of just 40mm and 25mm. Scoring was 2 for a knock down and 1 for hitting the large plate ( then most plates were large ). So beginners could easily take part and put in a reasonable looking score.

The aim seemed to be to get as many people interested and taking part as possible at this point ... and to get them coming back for more. It became popular quite quickly and clubs were starting to emerge. Even some FT shooters were giving HFT a go and some even moved away from FT to dedicate their Sunday mornings to HFT.

Issues started to arrive. The very stable HFT style prone ( which was basically to give a lot of people a chance to hit targets and keep the sport popular ) meant that the decent shooters, with decent PCPs, on anything other than a windy day, were scoring very very highly. Several shooters would either clear ( max ) the course or only miss one or two targets. Shoot offs were taking almost as long as shooting the courses.

In my opinion, at this point, it was simply too easy for the top shooters, in an attempt to make it accessible and fun for the lesser shooters. So things started to change. Smaller kills were introduced and some kill sizes could be set out further. Over a few years the modern day course setting rules evolved and there were several kills of 15mm out to 25 yards and more reduced kills out to other distances. The 'normal' kill of 40mm could be reduced to 35mm out to max range for prone shots.

Kit started to evolve. Almost from the start people had realised that they could use multi aim point rets to help judge range by knowing the size of kills and target plates, distances between standard target kills and base hinges etc. Custom stocks and hamsters were being used to help with the front hand ( now mostly target gloved ) being on the floor but the barrel, scope, needing a bit more height. Front end depth limits were introduced. People were spending more money on higher end rifles and better quality scopes. This continued and now a lot of shooters use top end very expensive target rifles and expensive small objective lens scopes, expensive butt pads etc.

I will hasten to add that the beauty of HFT is that a decent shooter can still take part in HFT with the type of rifle and scope that was being used right at the beginning and still do very well. The extra money spent on top end rifles and scopes has only really bought the top guys the odd extra target ... but as you will know ... one or two targets over a season can make the difference between being Champ or Runner-Up ... so people will do what they can to get whatever advantage they can. It also has to be said that it's their money ... so they can spend it on whatever they wish as long as it's within the rules. A lot of 'lower end' shooters are also using top end kit and probably without any real improvement ... again ... their choice.

Course setters continued to evolve with the sport. To try and confuse ranging they started using non standard sized kills and face plates. Positionals are usually out to the max on most decent comp courses. You rarely see a 40mm kill on a prone shot ( now all 35mm ). Kneeling target range has been extended. Pegs and targets placed so that shooters are forced out of comfort zone stances and positions.

Like other shooting sports the boundaries have been stretched by the elite ( and the elite finding ways to find small improvements ).

In my opinion ( and that's all any of these internet posts are ) ... the accuracy of kit used ( it's still all down to finding a decent batch of pellets that will give you accuracy and consistency in your rifle ) and the stability of HFT prone has pushed the courses to a point where, on a stillish day, no course can still stop the top guys from clearing or coming very close ( maybe missing one or two ), however, the courses are now at a point where, on a day with some decent wind, the scores rely far too much on wind estimation in relation to shooting skills like holding on aim, breathing, shot release, follow through, ability to shoot in various positions, and once that wind reaches a certain point ( it's always variable ) then the scoreboards start to show that it's become a lottery. The rest of the masses have probably had to take a small drop in their scores, on stillish days, and a battering on windy days, but most seem happy with that, as attendances are still excellent.

I'll quickly add that it's the making of new friends and the meeting of old ones and the camaraderie that interests most ... and there's that in abundance at HFT shoots. So I think it's that that keeps most coming back and that is a nice thing.

I'd have tried to keep kills and ranges more relaxed but made the top elite group of shooters take far more shots in traditional positions ... kneeling, standing and maybe even a more traditional style prone. The newbies and 'fun' shooters could be allowed to shoot the more relaxed courses in the way they shoot now with most shots in a relaxed prone stance with the 6 positionals. That way you could still use the same course for the elite and lower end shooters. It would also mean that wind would be less of a priority and more emphasis in the elite group on shooting skills. It would also lessen the lottery on particularly windy days. I'm sure the reply will be that it would be too complicated and too confusing and that the idea is that everyone shoots the same course in the same fashion. There has been no real need to try and change anything as the attendances will prompt the old faithful, go to saying ... If it aint broke, then don't try and fix it. I like another saying ... It may be good, but is it as good as it can be?. Like all things in amateur sport ... you are limited by the time and effort that those who are doing all the work can, and are prepared to, put in.

Anyway ... relevance to this thread ...

As the courses have tightened up, driven by the top shooters using top end PCP target rifles etc, it's become a very tough world for springer shooters. They still turn up bless them and give it a go. New ones, like the OP keep coming along and have dreams that they can master the HFT circuit with an old boinger. A quality shooter won a major shoot last year with a springer. I wish all the springer shooters well.

[Mark_WBA]

Very interesting thread and very insightful...

[cooper_dan]

Some great reading here, clearly a lot of experience. Thanks for the replies.
I'm still of the opinion that you make your own luck to a certain extent. Maybe if the stars align and I get near the top end of the scores one day I'll discover this lottery. For now I'll just enjoy getting there if I can.

I'm not under any illusions of matching the scores of the PCP guys. There's a springer class for a reason
I should be doing at least 4 of the Daystate Midlands rounds coming up. Hoping for about 45 average. By this time next near I'd like to be more like 50 average. I would be happy with that