Recently at the RMTC we have been considering the interest and appeal in shooting spring powered air rifles and we can see that we are not getting as many enter the MPL postal competition as we have previously enjoyed.

We have also noticed that most spring powered air rifles that are shot on a regular basis these days are used with a scope and the use of open sights has diminished over the years and many are reluctant to purchase a diopter sight for target use - and some new air rifles don't even have the facility to easily add a front tunnel sight either!

With this in mind, we have been trying to come up with a new competition that would accommodate those who would like to shoot with us in the MPL, but using the scope that they already have fitted to their air rifle.

After giving some thought to this problem we have been experimenting on our own club range and think that we may have come up with a solution that works well - and one that we have been enjoying shooting for a few weeks now (just to iron-out any potential problems and to make sure the idea is practical, enjoyable and works!).

Firstly, there are a lot of scopes that can easily focus down to 10 meters (including many affordable budget types such as the Nikko 3-9 x 40 that comes with many "starter" packages etc), but very few that will focus down to the preferred 6 yard MPL distance, so any MPL competition for spring powered air rifles with scopes would be better shot at 10 metres.

At first we thought that this would be a big problem for us as I devised the MPL series as a "shoot from home" competition, but then we realised that most rifle shooters that shoot with a scope seldom shoot indoors, so shooting at 10 meters would still be a realistic possibility for those with a reasonable sized garden or who already have/or can gain access to an area to shoot in.

It was also pointed out to us (during our research) that every few MPL shooters have been able to shoot at 6 yards in their local clubs as they are set-up for 10 meters and either cannot or will not shorten the range for occasional 6 yard use - and the reasons for this are very understandable.

So, the solution we have come up with (and tested) is to shoot at 10 meters but using the standard MPL 6 yard (Air 7) air rifle targets! These targets are smaller than the ISU 10 meter targets that would normally be used, but their smaller size helps to off-set the use of a scope rather than a diopter.

This works really well.

We also considered how most spring powered air rifle shooters "actually use" their air rifles and to this end we would propose another significant change in so much that we propose to allow entrants to shoot from either the standing or sitting position - and using a support or rest if preferred (like when field shooting when resting against a gate post or branch would be the "preferred" option!).

The air rifle would have to be "hand held" ie - no webbing or straps to help support the rifle - but it can be "rested" on or against anything suitable that comes to hand - depending where you shoot this could be a tree, gate post, wall, door frame etc etc.

If you like this idea, please let me know as a few of us would very much like to make this a new MPL class that we hope will appeal more to those who like to shoot their spring powered air rifles with a scope, and who also like the more "freestyle" approach to the variety of "holds" that this competition series would allow!

This series would not in any way replace our existing 6 yard air rifle competition, but it would add another additional series to help those who enjoy shooting spring powered air rifles with a scope.