Spring gun revival (again.....)

[Antoni]

Vey long time ago when shooting full bore pistol at a club, I heard rumours that one fella was taking his mum's blood pressure tablets to calm him down for the local comps.

That always comes to mind now as I work the action of the HW80K for the next shot at the range. As in anything practice improves performance. But practice with a springer needs physical effort. Effort raises heart rate. High heart rate mitigates against relaxation and therefore the necessary calm and light control of the rifle.

PCPs don't have that disadvantage; you could just concentrate on shot after shot.

All the same I don't want one.

[bozzer]

Antoni

Nice post. I love the last sentence after you've just explained why PCP's have even more advantages ( You still don't want one ... Good man ).

I'll digress ... but this is what happens on internet sites. Also ... for a moment ... I'll be a little more serious than my posts normally are but I do think it's a point worth making ( well making again as it's been covered before ).

Antoni's point is valid that the more physical effort required, then the higher the heart rate, and the higher the heart rate the less conducive that is to accuracy. To be honest, most guys that one sees out on a Sunday morning shooting at air rifle comps/clubs, aren't the finest examples of cardiac fitness. So their heart rates are probably elevated from carrying a bag or two around a course and getting up and down from sitting or prone stances. However, Antoni's point is still valid re extra effort to shoot a springer.

I suffer from General/Anxiety and Depression. It's plagued me all my life. Constantly in a sensitised state with my mind switching on the Fight or Flight response at the simplest trigger. So my heart rate is usually higher than it needs to be.

Just spending quiet time, away from the hustle and bustle, down a wood with my air rifle and a dog, is better therapy than any of the pills I've taken.

I find shooting the springer for a couple of hours really helps. If my heart rate is elevated and my muscles tense, then my accuracy suffers. The springer is a great indicator as to how tense I am. So I have to concentrate on letting go. Letting go of any unwanted thoughts and letting go, as best I can, of any muscle tension. Then my body and my heart rate and my breathing relax ... and then I start to get better accuracy with the springer. So shooting the springer, out in the countryside, is like a great meditation session for me.

Sorry ... got a bit Zen.

[Hsing-ee]

Just spending quiet time, away from the hustle and bustle, down a wood with my air rifle and a dog, is better therapy than any of the pills I've taken.

I find shooting the springer for a couple of hours really helps. If my heart rate is elevated and my muscles tense, then my accuracy suffers. The springer is a great indicator as to how tense I am. So I have to concentrate on letting go. Letting go of any unwanted thoughts and letting go, as best I can, of any muscle tension. Then my body and my heart rate and my breathing relax ... and then I start to get better accuracy with the springer. So shooting the springer, out in the countryside, is like a great meditation session for me.

Sorry ... got a bit Zen.

Interesting point, concentration is about forgetting everything else, including anything that a person might be anxious about. Incidentally, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism and therefore of Zen, was reportedly an excellent shot with the bow in his life before he took up religion. There are several references to archery in his teaching, mostly to do with maintaining a peaceful mind. If he was around now, I am sure he'd be doing 10m match.

[Amac]

I too find that concentrating on shooting a few quality shots is very therapeutic as well. In saying that, I also enjoy shooting a tins worth of pellets which all helps with learning correct hold and technique, so it comes as second nature.

Having been going through a bit of a bad period myself since last spring, I look forward to shooting my springers as often as possible as it genuinely helps my mood improve. Those reading this who are serious anglers will understand that I become totally absorbed in the act and just forget about all the s--t thats going on elsewhere. Not that the same level of enjoyment cant be had by chucking a load of lead down range with a dead gun, just that it takes more thought, effort and concentration to do so with a living gun.

Going back to the point of my initial posting, I am honestly noticing more people starting to use spring powered rifles than I have seen for a long time. for example, one of the younger members of our club yesterday part exchanged his R10 for a new TX. I asked him today why he had done this. His reply was "with a springer I am aware that I am part of the shot cycle and when a decent shot comes off, it is far more enjoyable." I think many of us can relate to that. My own PCP target rifle has not seen the light of day for four months now. I cant see that changing any time soon. I would actually flog it but have been prevented by my son who reminds me that I might have to resort to using it to record some half decent scores in HFT. Thing is now though, I would rather enjoy the challenge of using a springer and enjoy it, than score the usual low 50s with the Anschutz. No, for me I am now totally committed to mechanically powered guns and the dead gun is now very much in the past. Having used the TX in a competition last week, I really and genuinely enjoyed what is a considerable challenge on today's course layouts. Not that you have to shoot competitions to enjoy using a springer of course!

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week.

Andy

[TonyL]

Sorry to sound like a stuck record (without actually adding anything), but the excellent posts on this King of threads just keep coming and mirror my sentiments.

[Herx77]

Reading these threads brings back warm memories of the 80's at Markyate.
In fact nothings new about springers it seems, just the repackaging of it.
However there seems to be a different path to 'Nirvana' that is growing. Whereas the 80's competitive springer ( mainly FT capable of long range accuracy of 55yds)was to all aspects a live gun and the developement today it seems is to emasculate them so they almost are a pcp clone shotwise,....weights, over size stocks and anything to retard or absorbe recoil without controlling the live firing cycle.
The 80's version was comparable to one straight out of the box today,compared to a fully tuned model,both it seems as accurate with differing amounts of skill input.
Interesting regarding the heart rate control needed in the 80's where we found it could be dropped, and speculation was rife whether we stopped it or shot between beats?
Don't know whether todays enlightened do this or feel a need to do so, certainly at Markyate ,Dave Welham, mark Commaccio, myself an Terry Doe did. Pcp's it seems do not need this level of control or molycoddling!
HERX77 .

[cooper_dan]

Interesting regarding the heart rate control needed in the 80's where we found it could be dropped, and speculation was rife whether we stopped it or shot between beats?
Don't know whether todays enlightened do this or feel a need to do so, certainly at Markyate ,Dave Welham, mark Commaccio, myself an Terry Doe did. Pcp's it seems do not need this level of control or molycoddling!
HERX77 .

I wouldn't call my self one of today's enlightened by a long stretch. But I've been putting a lot of work into working with my heart beat and heart rate. I spent months working on my prone hold and technique, and got to a point where now my heart beat is the most noticeable 'wobble'.

Haven't found the best solution for me just yet, but still working on it. My current plan is to up my fitness and lower my resting heart rate. I keep meaning to start a logbook of some kind to track my progress. Weapon of choice is a Concept 2 rowing machine we got off the bay. This is definitely not a quick fix but enjoying it so far.

I would be interested to hear what heart beat methods you springer shooters had back then?