Springer shooting at 70 yards

[flims]

since you where determined to hit that black spot how did you compensate for drop? dialed in or hold over? with holding over its harder to group well, the aiming point is covered by the usually thicker reticle. when i zero for a particular distance i only place a dot, i dont bother about Drop or drift, i just want to see group capability.

Next i measure the drop and record the drift after having checked the wind with my wind meter. (if i dont have a wind meter with me i will right down surrounding conditions, leaves, trees swaying etc..). I then see what the drop translates to in MOA and i dial it in.

when i want to practice hitting a mark like you did, i will draw the Dot, dial in the Elevation and wind according to current conditions. i will try to come as close with that first shot. if i miss i will record by how much. This has worked out to 170 yards with my 0.25 FAC unless a strong gust blows it off target in the last 50 yards.

If you do try further distances you might have to correct windage prior to 1st shot as the wind maybe blowing it off target completely as happend in the last picture with Shot 1&2. i like to use 2ft cardboard or a 12x16" metal plate washed in white.

good shooting and keep it coming. it is difficult to find people interested in forming such a discipline for long range requires alot of dedication and many are not interested in all that. i have been trying to get more people into it but not much luck yet.

heres a record i kept this weekend while having a play with Fullmetaljacket's daystate. Not dialing in the shot was the limiting factor. im sure if i could dial it in and use of fine reticle, dat rig can do better.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290266276.jpg
the target
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290268205.jpg

heres another one of my rifle in summer. i would never remember all that if i wouldnt write it.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290266275.jpg

[Davey K]

since you where determined to hit that black spot how did you compensate for drop? dialed in or hold over? with holding over its harder to group well, the aiming point is covered by the usually thicker reticle. when i zero for a particular distance i only place a dot, i dont bother about Drop or drift, i just want to see group capability.

Next i measure the drop and record the drift after having checked the wind with my wind meter. (if i dont have a wind meter with me i will right down surrounding conditions, leaves, trees swaying etc..). I then see what the drop translates to in MOA and i dial it in.

when i want to practice hitting a mark like you did, i will draw the Dot, dial in the Elevation and wind according to current conditions. i will try to come as close with that first shot. if i miss i will record by how much. This has worked out to 170 yards with my 0.25 FAC unless a strong gust blows it off target in the last 50 yards.

If you do try further distances you might have to correct windage prior to 1st shot as the wind maybe blowing it off target completely as happend in the last picture with Shot 1&2. i like to use 2ft cardboard or a 12x16" metal plate washed in white.

good shooting and keep it coming. it is difficult to find people interested in forming such a discipline for long range requires alot of dedication and many are not interested in all that. i have been trying to get more people into it but not much luck yet.

heres a record i kept this weekend while having a play with Fullmetaljacket's daystate. Not dialing in the shot was the limiting factor. im sure if i could dial it in and use of fine reticle, dat rig can do better.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290266276.jpg
the target
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290268205.jpg

heres another one of my rifle in summer. i would never remember all that if i wouldnt write it.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../290266275.jpg

Nice to hear from you Films - I've been following your shooting progress on this section - very impressive! I've also been very intersted in the detailed analysis and preparation that you put into your shooting. I have to say that you are very much further down the road of long range shooting than I have yet travelled but I think your methodology and approach do hold the key to understanding long range air rifle shooting as a discipline.

To date, I've used mildots to 'aim-off', this has been fine as, with a 35yrd zero, I've got enough mildots to shoot out to 80yrds. With a 10X mag scope, 70 yards has been about as far as my eyes work to shoot accurately at small targets, hence this being the distance I've shot to so far.

If I'm going to improve on my results thus far and get better groups at 70 yards and beyond, I know I need more magnification and I also need to update my methodology. I totally agree with you that measuring the wind effect and then dialing that into your scope is the best way to achieve top quality results.

I'm going to be getting a bit of new kit soon and hopefully I'll be able to let you know if the changes I make produce some good results. Keep posting yours - they make great reading for any other enthusiasts out there - hopefully this section will become more popular as the idea catches on a bit.

The great thing about long distance air rifle shooting is that it does not matter what kit you have - good groups at 60 yards with a .22 12 ft lb HW80 and a 3-9x40 scope are equally as impressive as good groups at 90 yards with a .177 Steyr and an FT mega scope - it's skill that is being demonstrated not kit quality.

All the best fella!

[flims]

hello there, thanks for your reply, its very encouraging. i have to mount my old scope on the rifle again as it was in for some servicing. i guess that turret going up and down 7 revolutions in a couple of seconds did take its toll on it after some years.
on the subject of magnification, i think 14x is good enough, i never use more than that not even to shoot at cigarette packet sized targets beyond 140yards. here where temperatures are usually soaring above 30deg Celcius mirage is a killer and high Mag is useless!

Remember with pellets unlike bullets you dont have a trail so spotting a shot is harder especially when they have relatively little energy. a wider field of you will offer you the possibility to catch the pellet arching its way to the target and more importantly till it gets to the target you can wait to see the puff which will help you correct for shot 2.
one thing i found realy neat especially here where limestone is plentiful is that on a hit limestone will send a puff of dust in the air. If you are careful enough you will see it blown/drift by the wind and you can tell how strong the wind is at target. It truly fascinates me at times to see that at target the wind might be 3x stronger. no wonder a Miss!!
i dont want to go in too much detail but watch the surrounding conditions, its amazing how much they can tell you especially the mirage on a sandy/dry soil field!

as a tracker can tell you things from the land and surroundings, a lng range shooter must keep an eye on surroundings. when you dont you will know because you miss!
keep it coming!

[remorem2jh@supanet.com]

Had to get rid of mine, no pellets struck in the same place twice...

Hi guys
I have had a go at tuning the Lightning and it has improved it a bit.
Put a Venom st1 kit but the seal was a loose fit in the oversize cylinder so have now bought an unsized one from S.Pope and fitted that instead,gun feels much less Jumpy now.Not had chance to do any longrange work with it as yet as work has got in the way.
Keep it up lads

Tried the gun side by side with my s410 (it was dark so shot by lamp light) 43yds

[remorem2jh@supanet.com]

Hi Guys
This was my 68yd group With the Longbow . Shot with not much wind on 3x mag Aimed 3 dots high.I shoot on 12ft power level and seem to get worse groups with more mag. Some laterall stringing not sure if thats me or wind

[Davey K]

Some laterall stringing not sure if thats me or wind

Most probably wind - as Flims points out, once you start to stretch the distance, even if there is no discernable wind at your firing point, there can be plenty closer to the target. Although it won't have the effect that wind at the muzzle has, it will still be enough to produce that kind of lateral drift. Try stringing up a hankie or similar material at the target - might help give you a read if there is no vegetation to assist you.

Good shooting!

[flims]

i agree with you. since you are doing this in what seems to be your own private place you can hang some ribbon along the way. closer to the ground the pellet seems to find less wind than high above so keep it as low as possible.if you shoot from an enclosed place like many you will not be aware of the gust. i use to shoot with my car parked behind me. the winds coming form 5 or 8 O'clock to me seemed non existant because the car was shielding me. i would wonder why my hits would be going slightly to one side.then i would stand up and realise that indeed there is a 4mile/hour wind which at longer ranges does have its effect.
remember these are pellets and unlike their big brother Blk Powders(big brother for they are also relatively slowmoving), they dont have the Huge mass to support them!

[remorem2jh@supanet.com]

Might be wind i was shooting out the window of the van so would be sheilded
but also resting on bones would not help the cause , rested on a proper bench would have been better but i practice what i can use around the farm (not that i would shoot that far with the springer) might get a chance for a proper session soon with a mate.
Happy shooting guys.

[Snooper601]

70 yards seems possible with my HW80. I shot it at Lea Valley a few weeks ago while I was bedding it in after tuning it, 500 shots in an afternoon with a HW80

I was hitting small pieces of clays and shotgun carts at 65 yards almost every shot, and that was with only a 10mag scope on it.

Cheers

John

[remorem2jh@supanet.com]

70 yards seems possible with my HW80. I shot it at Lea Valley a few weeks ago while I was bedding it in after tuning it, 500 shots in an afternoon with a HW80

I was hitting small pieces of clays and shotgun carts at 65 yards almost every shot, and that was with only a 10mag scope on it.

Cheers

John

Give it a go snooper and let us know how you got on the hw80 should be stable due to the weight , Bet your arm was sore cocking that beast 5oo times.

[Snooper601]

Give it a go snooper and let us know how you got on the hw80 should be stable due to the weight , Bet your arm was sore cocking that beast 5oo times.

Yup, it was still aching a week later when I did it's first HFT.

I started shooting the long stuff that day as I had shot most of the shotgun carts from 15 yards out and I was getting bored. I also managed to shoot some string at 20 yards that somone had suggested was for just that, unfortunatly after 3 direct hits in the same place, and cutting it, a voice piped up "who just shot my plumb. Bob?"
I owned up but felt very embarrased.

Good trick though

I'll try some long range groups when I get the chance.

Cheers

John

[radicalry00]

Did a bit of long (ish) range shooting today. I was over at a friends house and he has quite a large garden so we thought we'd have abit of target practice. We couldn't be bothered printing out/drawing our own targets so we just used some potatoes instead.
It was at a distance of around 80 yards (he has a big garden, I know, has a couple of football goals in it) and I hit the potato 10/10 shots. The taty was about 4cm x 4cm

I made a video of the first shot here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NDhLyrdSfHg

Seems to make quite an impact even though we're 80 yards away.

[remorem2jh@supanet.com]

10 out of 10 is not bad shooting at 80 yds with a spud gun keep it up fella i had a 97k in .20 and loved it (alas it got stolen) now i don't seem to get much time to shoot but will have a go over the crimbo period.

[brisad]

love the you tube wind up!! notice a stick with the spud on?

[chriscp1991]

for accurate long range springer shooting id recommend a lubed hw97k.
I say lubed as it makes the cocking cycle silky smooth, unlike straight out the box.

A hw springer, if set up correctly, can compete accuracy wise against good pcp's.

chriscp1991