The 77 does it again!!!

[rhyslightnin]

The daystate huntsman has been on the blink again, shooting all over the place! not sure why but I think it's silencer related because I bent the shroud and then bent it back... (Seems to be fine for a while then I gently knock it & it plays up). it's frustrating the hell out of me & I think I might need to buy a new shroud for it but after spending a few hundred on the calibre swap I'm loathed to look at fixing it for a bit.

Anyway, in one way it's done me a bit of a favour, as I've been using the 77 instead and today I did all the technical bit, I measured scope height, chronograph readings, calculated drop and had a bit of a practice with the little Nikon's tac turrets .
After typing all the information into the chairgun, I used it to calculate the click values, taped the elevation turret & marked it at 0 (25yrds) 30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80 & 85 yrd intervals..., Now I only had room to check (& roughly I might add) to 50yrds but so far it's pretty on the money. I tested it by putting out a target and walking away turning around, laser ranging, dialing and shooting dead on, And I have to say it's a really good system! Much easier than dope cards or hold over markers! No counting, no aiming off (apart from windage which will be my biggest hurdle I think), no need to remember your magnification, just a nice Plex Ret & a range finder.
I took it up the farm shortly after and shot 4 pigeon at various distances from standing with no hesitation at all. The system plays beautifully into the simplicity of grab your pellets & go!
I'm really really starting to love this rifle, and I'm so glad I've got it. I'm seriously considering getting a 97k in .20 with a scruffy stock and a basic scope, just for dragging round the yard/field, even to the point I'm wondering if the PCP might be obsolete.

Rhys

[baldinio]

Nice one Reece, there's something very satisfying about hunting with a springer mate. I'm glad the 77 is doing the business missed you at the bash, do you think you will be there in September bud?

Chris

[TonyL]

Nice one, Rhys.

As Chris says, you were missed at The Hollow.

[rhyslightnin]

Nice one Reece, there's something very satisfying about hunting with a springer mate. I'm glad the 77 is doing the business missed you at the bash, do you think you will be there in September bud?

Chris

Possibly....

Nice one, Rhys.

As Chris says, you were missed at The Hollow.

Yes guy's, i was watching the bash creep up hoping I might be able to pull a last minute "can I go to the bash" trip but about 4 days before I just forgot about it then I logged on & saw the bash thread on page 2 and realized that ment only 1 thing... Everyone had stopped posting because they were there!! Had I clocked it was fathers day on Sunday also I would have had an air tight excuse.. never mind... I can use the "I missed the last one" reason in September .
Im really sad I missed it to be honest especially as the 77 is up together and really starting to settle in, I'd have turned up with just that gun, packed light and just not bothered with all the usual rubbish I seem to bring
Anyway glad you lot had a good time & i can't wait to see you all soon

[TonyL]

Oh yes indeedy, young Rhys; I see you're really starting to get this spring thing now matey.

Nice and simple. Just grab the gun and some pellets and you're ready to go.

Nice and easy to work on yourself, too, which is such a major bonus. Having said that, I'm not one of those that is continuously pulling them to bits and trying new things. Once fettled, if the cycle's nice and it's accurate that'll do for me and I just leave well alone. One of the guns that I took along this last weekend was a HW95 in .177. Bought new in the mid 90s. It remained totally bog standard until I gave it a little loving and fitted a V-Mach spring, guide and top hat four years ago. And it's remained like that ever since. Last week I thought I'd just give it a quick check over as it hasn't been used for maybe a year and a half. No loose screws or mountings, nothing required at all. A few shots down the garden to confirm all was well and that was it. And it behaved impeccably.

I had quite a few shots using some JSB Exact Heavies that the lovely Phil, Rickenbacker, had brought along. In the side winds, these were grouping beautifully at the 30 yards plus zero plate and were bang on point of aim. Very impressive. The FTTs that I usually use were still grouping tightly in the strong-ish side winds, but were being blown about an inch to the left.

The .22 'Domes through the Vipermax were being blown about 2 1/2 inches to the left!

The impressive performance of those JSB Heavies reminded me very much of a similar comparison many years ago when I was using the old 9.3 grains Silhouettes through a '35 and they behaved impeccably, whereas the .22 Wasps through a friend's '80 were all over the place in the strong winds.

Be great to see you in September my Boingery Young 'Un.

[rhyslightnin]

Oh yes indeedy, young Rhys; I see you're really starting to get this spring thing now matey.

Nice and simple. Just grab the gun and some pellets and you're ready to go.

Nice and easy to work on yourself, too, which is such a major bonus. Having said that, I'm not one of those that is continuously pulling them to bits and trying new things. Once fettled, if the cycle's nice and it's accurate that'll do for me and I just leave well alone. One of the guns that I took along this last weekend was a HW95 in .177. Bought new in the mid 90s. It remained totally bog standard until I gave it a little loving and fitted a V-Mach spring, guide and top hat four years ago. And it's remained like that ever since. Last week I thought I'd just give it a quick check over as it hasn't been used for maybe a year and a half. No loose screws or mountings, nothing required at all. A few shots down the garden to confirm all was well and that was it. And it behaved impeccably.

I had quite a few shots using some JSB Exact Heavies that the lovely Phil, Rickenbacker, had brought along. In the side winds, these were grouping beautifully at the 30 yards plus zero plate and were bang on point of aim. Very impressive. The FTTs that I usually use were still grouping tightly in the strong-ish side winds, but were being blown about an inch to the left.

The .22 'Domes through the Vipermax were being blown about 2 1/2 inches to the left!

The impressive performance of those JSB Heavies reminded me very much of a similar comparison many years ago when I was using the old 9.3 grains Silhouettes through a '35 and they behaved impeccably, whereas the .22 Wasps through a friend's '80 were all over the place in the strong winds.

Be great to see you in September my Boingery Young 'Un.

It's interesting as your talking pellets, it is making me think that the next 77/97 purchase of mine should be a .177, just for sheer choice of pellets... I really like the full length 77 but I can't help wanting to try the k version and I say to myself "what's the point you may as well have a 97 if you want a carbine" so really I just need to decide if I want a full 77 or a 97k in .177..., And at the moment I'm thinking a 97 would just make things that bit more different.

[TonyL]

Sounds very much like a good plan to me, Rhys.

Forget any jibes you may receive from some quarters over the smaller calibre. They're great. And, as you say, a massive, massive choice of such diverse ammunition in seemingly endless styles to play about with - even match grade wadcutters for close range stuff. Cheaper too.

Let variety be the spice of life matey and I'm sure you'll find testing the smaller calibre opens up lots more interesting avenues for you.

[bullet boy]

As much as I love my Huntsmans I do love shooting my HW77 on times and I’ll never get rid of it!
Its definitely a keeper!
Well done lad!

[rabbitwrecker]

Nice one, Rhys...

[TRS1]

The daystate huntsman has been on the blink again, shooting all over the place! not sure why but I think it's silencer related because I bent the shroud and then bent it back... (Seems to be fine for a while then I gently knock it & it plays up). it's frustrating the hell out of me & I think I might need to buy a new shroud for it but after spending a few hundred on the calibre swap I'm loathed to look at fixing it for a bit.

Anyway, in one way it's done me a bit of a favour, as I've been using the 77 instead and today I did all the technical bit, I measured scope height, chronograph readings, calculated drop and had a bit of a practice with the little Nikon's tac turrets .
After typing all the information into the chairgun, I used it to calculate the click values, taped the elevation turret & marked it at 0 (25yrds) 30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80 & 85 yrd intervals..., Now I only had room to check (& roughly I might add) to 50yrds but so far it's pretty on the money. I tested it by putting out a target and walking away turning around, laser ranging, dialing and shooting dead on, And I have to say it's a really good system! Much easier than dope cards or hold over markers! No counting, no aiming off (apart from windage which will be my biggest hurdle I think), no need to remember your magnification, just a nice Plex Ret & a range finder.
I took it up the farm shortly after and shot 4 pigeon at various distances from standing with no hesitation at all. The system plays beautifully into the simplicity of grab your pellets & go!
I'm really really starting to love this rifle, and I'm so glad I've got it. I'm seriously considering getting a 97k in .20 with a scruffy stock and a basic scope, just for dragging round the yard/field, even to the point I'm wondering if the PCP might be obsolete.

Rhys

Which Nikon have you got on it Rhys?

I am definitely preferring smaller scopes over time - seems an under represented bit of the market, for airgun suitable scopes at least.

Tim

[rhyslightnin]

Which Nikon have you got on it Rhys?

I am definitely preferring smaller scopes over time - seems an under represented bit of the market, for airgun suitable scopes at least.

Tim

After much thinking I came up with the idea that I wanted a Plex Ret nice & simple for the nice & simple feel of the 77.. all the bells & whistles were starting to irritate me.
The only problem was I still like to plink at long ranges and a Plex on its own was going to just be a bit too frustrating for me so I needed something with turrets!!
It had to be a side focus px or a small objective & I knew the cheek piece of the 77 was low so small objective it was.... It narrowed my search to really only this scope:

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/n...ra-turret.html

It works really nicely, the depth of field isn't epic like my Meopta 4x32 but it does the job and I like the 1/2 moa clicks as it means in .22 the turret takes you out to 85yrds before the end of the first turn. It's parallaxes at 50yrds but is easy to change which I have done & it's pretty clear. It definitely lacks in some aspects but overall for what it's on its ideal & with some car "pinstripe" tape wrapped around the turret over the rimfie markers the 5yrd lines seem to work nicely. I'm going to put a half way between each 5yrd mark to make it more accurate I think but other than that I'm just going to keep rinsing my pellets through it!! Lol

Rhys

Ps.. they have stopped doing this scope now but they have replaced it with this:

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/n...tTabs-Overview

Which looks really interesting, especially with the new moa & mrad reticles as your not restricted to something based on a specific type of gun

[TRS1]

After much thinking I came up with the idea that I wanted a Plex Ret nice & simple for the nice & simple feel of the 77.. all the bells & whistles were starting to irritate me.
The only problem was I still like to plink at long ranges and a Plex on its own was going to just be a bit too frustrating for me so I needed something with turrets!!
It had to be a side focus px or a small objective & I knew the cheek piece of the 77 was low so small objective it was.... It narrowed my search to really only this scope:

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/n...ra-turret.html

It works really nicely, the depth of field isn't epic like my Meopta 4x32 but it does the job and I like the 1/2 moa clicks as it means in .22 the turret takes you out to 85yrds before the end of the first turn. It's parallaxes at 50yrds but is easy to change which I have done & it's pretty clear. It definitely lacks in some aspects but overall for what it's on its ideal & with some car "pinstripe" tape wrapped around the turret over the rimfie markers the 5yrd lines seem to work nicely. I'm going to put a half way between each 5yrd mark to make it more accurate I think but other than that I'm just going to keep rinsing my pellets through it!! Lol

Rhys

Ps.. they have stopped doing this scope now but they have replaced it with this:

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/n...tTabs-Overview

Which looks really interesting, especially with the new moa & mrad reticles as your not restricted to something based on a specific type of gun

Thanks for your fullsome reply Rhys - I may have to have a look at these, not sure about UK availability though as yet, but I've only done a quick Google...

Cheers,
Tim