MPL shooting with scopes?

[zooma]

Last night we had a visit from Gordon (a well know ferret juggler) who is also an experienced .22 LR bench rest competition shooter who usually shoots with some very sophisticated bench rest kit.

Gordon shot one of my TX200 rifles with a scope at 10 meters last night from a simple plastic rest and appeared to really enjoy himself - enough to consider buying another TX200 (currently a non air-rifle owner!).

Shooting a recoiling springer with a scope from 10 meters at an NSRA 6 yard rifle target is a genuine challenge that even the best competition shooters can enjoy and it provides a real challenge and is good fun too!

Anyone who has a .177 recoiling springer (with a scope that can be made to focus down to 10 meters) should give this competition a go to find out "first hand" just how enjoyable it is to shoot!

The older and less expensive the rifle and scope, the more fun there is to be had - and if it is possible to see your scores improve "month on month" it will give a really good sense of achievement - no matter at what level you shoot or your chosen rifle and scope is able to achieve !

[zooma]

I had a fixed focus HAWKE 3-10 x 44 Eclipse scope for many years, but it was not much use to me for this MPL competition as it would not focus down to 10 metres - in fact I don't know what distance this pre-set scope was designed to be used at, although it was nice and sharp at longer distances outdoors.

By loosening the front collar I was then able to hold and turn the threaded sleeve that had the front lens fixed inside it. This was quite a slow job as the sleeve seemed to be coated in a very sticky grease that sludged the movement down considerably but it did unwind very slowly and the further outwards it came - the closer the focus became.

I kept winding this threaded sleeve out (hoping it did not fall out as I run out of screw thread) until it looked like it was "somewhere near" and then I took it to the clubs 10 meter range to see if I could get a good sharp focus on the 6 yard target we are shooting at in this 10 meter series.

I managed to get the focus good and sharp on the target so I was able to read all the printed wording and the scoring numbers on the rings, and then I screwed the front collar back on again to lock it in position.

Now I have a nice scope to use at 10 meters that is ideal for this competition and it cost me nothing as it had been laying around unused for years!

I left the scope fitted to my TX200 when Gordon (the ferret juggler) borrowed it to have a shoot with us on our club range last night. As an experienced bench rest shooter he is used to having very good scopes on his rifles so I took a spare with me in case he did not find it to be good enough - but he used the scope all night with no problems, so I am really pleased !

If you have a fixed focus scope laying around (or buy one cheaply) you may like this link that Russ sent to me. It came after I had already done the same thing with mine, but it shows the method much better as the photographs are easy to understand.

http://web.archive.org/web/201111150.../parallax.html

I am really happy with my (non original) experiment and I will be looking out for similar (cheap) fixed focus scopes that could be helpful to others that would like a simple non-adjustable focus scope to use at 10 metres.

[zooma]

I have got a 1972 HW35 that i would like to shoot in this competition using the HAWKE 3-10 x 44 Eclipse scope that I have adjusted to focus down to 10 meters - but - this rifle has 13mm wide scope mounts (like some old BSA's) and all of the reasonably priced scope mounts I can find are the more regular 9-11mm fitting size.

If anyone has a pair of medium 13mm wide fitting scope mounts that will also take a standard 1'' scope tube (and would like to sell them at a reasonable price), please contact me by PM or email.

Thanks,

Bob.

[PhatMan]

Bob,

Also have a look on BayOfFlea (please edit URL to correct version ) :

https://www.BayOfFlea.co.uk/b/13mm-Scope-Mounts/7307/bn_7023576499

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

[RobinC]

This may help, when we used to shoot 10 mts Running Boar (Running Rat!!!) now emasculated to "moving target" by the politically correct brigade, we had the same issue of scopes not being corrected for parallax at 10 mts, generally, other than the mega money ones, they are set up to be parallax free at 100 mts.

The matter was simply solved by obtaining a 0.1 dioptre lens, if you have a friendly lens man, 0.1 is the tolerance on a lens, so a check of "clear plain" lens's often found one at 0.1. It was a simple job to remove the front ring and fit the lens between two "O" rings.

Also be warned that many 10 mt clubs will not allow 12 ft lb rifles due to potential range damage.

But, best of luck in your endeavours to widen interest in target shooting.

Have Fun
Robin

[zooma]

Thanks Robin,

Some of the variable focus lens that I already have and would like to use will not quite get down to 10 metres (15 yards seems popular) but trying to unscrew any of those lens is “impossible” and the adhesive used to secure them is as good as a weld!

Shame really as I have a few that “almost” work that I would love to be able to use!

[RobinC]

Bob

The scopes I used then in the "good old days" were Nikko Sterling, with an easy remove front ring, probably collectors pieces now!

Have Fun
Robin

[zooma]

Bob

The scopes I used then in the "good old days" were Nikko Sterling, with an easy remove front ring, probably collectors pieces now!

Have Fun
Robin

..got any hiding in the loft ?

[zooma]

I have spent quite some time testing different types of wadcutter paper punching pellets to see what works best in various springers at 10 meters, and there is no combination of .177 rifle barrel and pellet (that I have found) that can give repeated one hole groups (that is a single hole the same size as the first shot) with any 10 consecutive shots from a spring powered (non recoilless) air rifle at 10 metres.

Some pretty good groupings have been attained (one hole - but greater in size than a single shot) but with the size of the 10 spot being so small on the 6 yard Air 7 targets that we shoot this particular 10 metres competition on, it is not possible to guarantee a 10 every time - even if every shot is executed with great repeated precision.

A typical 5 shot target (if shot perfectly in every way) could score 50 ex 50, but this demands some luck.

Another equally well executed 5 shot target could only score 45 ex 50 as the typical best grouping size could easily make every shot a 9 and not a 10.

Any score between 45 and 50 could be scored if the shooter was able to execute five consecutive perfect shots on each target.

Add to this the fact that we are shooting spring powered air rifles (!) and I think it is fair to say that some luck is needed to score a 50 ex 50, and it is highly unlikely that any of us could score 6 "possibles" in a row to give the perfect 300 ex 300.

The fact that some of us have come close to this utopia on occasion I think confirms that we obviously shot very well - but that we also enjoyed some good fortune too!

[zooma]

With most 10 metre shooting clubs now closed, this particular competition could well become the most affected MPL event as not everyone is able to find a safe 10 metres distance to shoot over at home - and is why all other MPL competitions are shot over 6 yards, a distance that most of us can find at home in our garden/garage/loft etc etc one way or another !

What we will have to do is to complete our 10 meters "Springers with Scopes" competition when it is possible - whenever that may be.

This probably means that some of us (maybe all of us?) will be late shooting all of our targets and submitting the scores - but don't worry - they will still count and we will still end up with our full set of season's results.

Meanwhile - - now would be an ideal time to enter a 6 yard event that can be shot from home to save anyone getting bored!!!