Air rifle or BBQ?
Discussion
pocketspring said:
Lovely. And accurate as well. I had an HW97k for around 20 years. I had it a few years then had it Venom tuned which made it so much better. I traded it in a couple of years ago for an HW100 bullpup. I would have kept it if I could but it was needed to free up some cash.
How you finding yours?
Can’t fault it so far accuracy wise, except it shows up my wobbly/shakiness, which is quite chastening.How you finding yours?
When I get it right, it’s right, when I snatch at it, it’s off.
All about practise and concentration.
vladcjelli said:
All about practise and concentration.
And knowing how to shoot 
A couple of top tips which might improve things.
First, check you're using your dominant eye down the sights. This is more important than using the shoulder of your dominant hand. With both eyes open, point your finger at something a bit away (the other side of a room should be enough). Then close one eye, then the other. Your finger will change where it's pointing when you close your dominant eye. If you're cross-dominant (eg, left handed, but right eyed), shoot off the "wrong" shoulder for your handed-ness. This is less important with telescopic sights, but still will make life easier.
You cannot hold a gun still. Don't try; really: don't grip it, especially with the front hand; you will fight it with your muscles automatically, and the fight will be different every time. Just let the gun rest in a loose hold as much as possible.
This leads on to natural point of aim and trigger control.
Given that the gun won't stay still, make sure it's wondering around your target point, not just touching it and leaving as you muscle it into position.
Look down the sights, close your eyes for a second or three, and open them again. Where was the gun pointing before your muscles brought it back into line? Chances are, it wasn't at the bullseye (or whatever your target point is). Move your body to move the point of aim left and right, move your front hand forwards and backwards (or even change to a higher or lower style of grip) to move it up or down. Close your eyes and look again. Repeat until you're on target the moment you open your eyes.
Good, now the rifle is moving across the bullseye rather than to it then away; it's spending a lot more time pointing the right way, and when it moves off, it's not moving so far off. Accept the movement. Start to squeeze the trigger as the sights come on to target. Don't jerk the trigger all the way now, that's a big movement that (especially on a springer) will pull the rifle off target, and it takes a while to cover that pull distance... remember the rifle is moving, so it'll be off target again from that too.
Squeeze it a bit, and hold that squeeze as the sights drift off. As they come back, squeeze some more... and hold... and squeeze... and hold... the rifle firing should almost be a surprise on maybe the third or fourth squeeze - a small motion, just as you were coming on to target.
Do all this after a reasonably full breath or two, holding a little of the last one in your lungs while taking the shot. (There's a natural point of relaxation with some air left, you'd have to force the last bit out). This'll give you maybe 7-10 seconds of oxygen... your eyes take a huge amount of oxygen to work properly and so after this time you vision will start to go if you try and hold on. If the shot hasn't broken in that time, relax, take a couple of breaths, and start the whole lot again.
Enjoy
defblade said:
vladcjelli said:
All about practise and concentration.
And knowing how to shoot A couple of top tips which might improve things.
First, check you're using your dominant eye down the sights. This is more important than using the shoulder of your dominant hand. With both eyes open, point your finger at something a bit away (the other side of a room should be enough). Then close one eye, then the other. Your finger will change where it's pointing when you close your dominant eye. If you're cross-dominant (eg, left handed, but right eyed), shoot off the "wrong" shoulder for your handed-ness. This is less important with telescopic sights, but still will make life easier.
You cannot hold a gun still. Don't try; really: don't grip it, especially with the front hand; you will fight it with your muscles automatically, and the fight will be different every time. Just let the gun rest in a loose hold as much as possible.
This leads on to natural point of aim and trigger control.
Given that the gun won't stay still, make sure it's wondering around your target point, not just touching it and leaving as you muscle it into position.
Look down the sights, close your eyes for a second or three, and open them again. Where was the gun pointing before your muscles brought it back into line? Chances are, it wasn't at the bullseye (or whatever your target point is). Move your body to move the point of aim left and right, move your front hand forwards and backwards (or even change to a higher or lower style of grip) to move it up or down. Close your eyes and look again. Repeat until you're on target the moment you open your eyes.
Good, now the rifle is moving across the bullseye rather than to it then away; it's spending a lot more time pointing the right way, and when it moves off, it's not moving so far off. Accept the movement. Start to squeeze the trigger as the sights come on to target. Don't jerk the trigger all the way now, that's a big movement that (especially on a springer) will pull the rifle off target, and it takes a while to cover that pull distance... remember the rifle is moving, so it'll be off target again from that too.
Squeeze it a bit, and hold that squeeze as the sights drift off. As they come back, squeeze some more... and hold... and squeeze... and hold... the rifle firing should almost be a surprise on maybe the third or fourth squeeze - a small motion, just as you were coming on to target.
Do all this after a reasonably full breath or two, holding a little of the last one in your lungs while taking the shot. (There's a natural point of relaxation with some air left, you'd have to force the last bit out). This'll give you maybe 7-10 seconds of oxygen... your eyes take a huge amount of oxygen to work properly and so after this time you vision will start to go if you try and hold on. If the shot hasn't broken in that time, relax, take a couple of breaths, and start the whole lot again.
Enjoy
Your explanation is total overkill in this situation & also partially incorrect (in my opinion).
Edited by OzzyR1 on Saturday 24th February 00:45
OzzyR1 said:
The OP is using a basic air rifle in his back garden, probably with a target 10-20m away.
Your explanation is total overkill in this situation & also partially incorrect (in my opinion).
I've yet to meet a circumstance in target shooting where accuracy and correct technique was not beneficial. (I'm not including unloading a full magazine from a co2 pistol at a tin can, mind Your explanation is total overkill in this situation & also partially incorrect (in my opinion).
).Remember Olympic air rifle shooting is at 10m, so it's not insignificant (although obviously no scopes). That rifle should happily produce a very tight group or even one ragged hole at those sorts of distances with reasonable technique.
Which bits would you treat differently? I'm always keen to learn/try other techniques; what I wrote above is my (fairly) quick'n'easy intro to the things I've found make the biggest improvement most quickly in new shooters.
defblade said:
OzzyR1 said:
The OP is using a basic air rifle in his back garden, probably with a target 10-20m away.
Your explanation is total overkill in this situation & also partially incorrect (in my opinion).
I've yet to meet a circumstance in target shooting where accuracy and correct technique was not beneficial. (I'm not including unloading a full magazine from a co2 pistol at a tin can, mind Your explanation is total overkill in this situation & also partially incorrect (in my opinion).
).Remember Olympic air rifle shooting is at 10m, so it's not insignificant (although obviously no scopes). That rifle should happily produce a very tight group or even one ragged hole at those sorts of distances with reasonable technique.
Which bits would you treat differently? I'm always keen to learn/try other techniques; what I wrote above is my (fairly) quick'n'easy intro to the things I've found make the biggest improvement most quickly in new shooters.
Your post was well-written & doubtless helpful to the OP & any other newcomers to target shooting.
In 40+ years, I've gone from an air rifle in my back garden as a kid to full-bore on the Stickleback 1200 in the Imperial with a lot of stuff in between.
Was reading your post through my own eyes/experience & my original disagreement related to positioning and breath work.
Your advice was good and my comments would amount to nit-picking. Personal choice/comfort is important - what may work for me might not be right for you or others.
Stage two has begun.
Redneck bbq smoker prototype mk 1. Just a little one to dip my toe in the water. Planning a full size drum smoker once I’ve learnt things from this attempt.
Test fired it with some cheap meat, turkey leg to see if it was holding temp.
Turned out okay. Got a bit excited and threw it on too early so the smoke taste is quite bitter as it caught the heavy white smoke. Really juicy though.
Chucked some ribs on afterwards which I left on too long, they dried out a bit but were really tasty.
Pleased with it though for a first go.
Redneck bbq smoker prototype mk 1. Just a little one to dip my toe in the water. Planning a full size drum smoker once I’ve learnt things from this attempt.
Test fired it with some cheap meat, turkey leg to see if it was holding temp.
Turned out okay. Got a bit excited and threw it on too early so the smoke taste is quite bitter as it caught the heavy white smoke. Really juicy though.
Chucked some ribs on afterwards which I left on too long, they dried out a bit but were really tasty.
Pleased with it though for a first go.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff