10 meter air rifle match #8 and #9

Things have been hectic and cold.  Not conducive to shooting or the mental aspects of shooting.  Keeping the woodstove going and cars running is a process in and of itself when the high of the DAY is -2F.

I was able to bring a new shooter to match #8 (1/22/13) but found that effort took me completely off my game.  Forgot spotting scope and in general was distracted.  Or, that is my excuse.  I even practiced some and thought I learned a few things.  Those things being, split finger may fatique for 60 shots but yeilds better net results than a fist.  Or so the data shows.  Fist shooting will be put off to another time.  Next, work at pushing the left hip up to the left elbow and make more "positive contact" with hip to elbow.  Seems to help stability.  Third, a wider leg stance seems to reduce verticle wobble.  All those great learnings still netted a disaster.  My head simply was not there.

Match #9 (1/29/13) I went solo and focused on trying things again.  Things went better except I seem to have some tendency to quiver just as I release the shot.  Not sure if it is subconscious or my effort to make the sight picture that "tiny bit better".  Net result is some stupid 7 or worse one 6!  If I could get it so my bad shots are 8s, I would be happy.  It seemed when I really worked on NPA and taking good shots, I could feel the 10 when the "quiver" stayed away.  Practice I think is the word of the day. 91 was my best target of the year and it had one 7 and three 10x, rest were 9s

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x. previous practice 1x (3.6)
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower, 7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.(3.6)
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night.(3.6)
#5 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88) 7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK (3.2)
#6 492 (75 85 76 84 86 86) 14 7s or lower, 6 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#7 520 (88 84 90 86 87 85) 8 7s, 12 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#8 490 (75 85 76 84 86 84) not worth noting. SCHaK (3.8)  Guest shooter.
#9 516 (91 87 86 82 86 84) 11 7s, 13 10x. SCHaK (3.8)  Must stamp out 7s!

2011-12 Season score log

#1 515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
#2 510 (85 89 85 86 82 83)
#3 532 (94 87 83 91 89 88) (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
#4 530 (87 90 90 93 89 81)
#5 524 (86 84 88 91 85 90)
#6 517 (88 85 88 87 90 79)
#7 524 (82 91 88 91 84 88)


Personal Top three 600 scores. Goal, 540.

539 (93 90 90 85 87 94). 11x 7 or lower, 22 10x. 11/??/08
532 (94 87 83 91 89 88) 3/??/12
530 (87 90 90 93 89 81) 3/??/12

Home or last post.

H&R Premier Small Frame Auto Ejecting 32 S&W

click on picture for full image

And now for something non Silhouette just because I find it to be interesting.  I may do other non silhouette posts because too much of one thing can get boring.

The gun pictured on the right is one of two handguns that remain from my my father's collection.  In 1992 he sold 8 of 10 handguns.  These things happen.  I suppose at the time he was ecstatic to get the $4,000 for the lot.  My favorite was his Colt New Service 8" barrel SN 58470.  It had what my Dad called a hair trigger and the blueing was a mile deep.  I never shot it but it was a piece of art in your hands.  It is long since gone to some collector along with the Lugers, Broomhandle Mausers and a Walther P-38.  But this little guy for some odd reason was kept for personal defense. I found it in his desk. 

What I find amazing is the date of manufacture.  Per my father's notes, he called It a "Harrington & Richardson Pocket Revolver 5 shot in 32 S&W".  His note card put an estimated date of mfg to be between 1920 and 1930.  I found a forum that discusses these guns and learned it is much older than that!

Based on the serial number, this gun was manufactured in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts.  The gun has not gone far from home during its 115 years and I suspect it has had little to no use. One advantage of being an obscure calibur is it won't be shot much.  Here is a post from Jim Hauff who collects H&Rs and was willing to share his considerable knowledge after collecting them for 16 years.

click on picture for full image

YOU HAVE an excellent example of a 1st Model PREMIER SMALL FRAME AUTO EJECTING 3rd Variation (1897-98). They rarely show up with that much color case on the trigger. Serial number fits within the known range for that mod. and var. Since it is pre 1905 production - H&R would not recommend the use of smokeless/Nitro powders in the earlier guns - their prohibition not mine. The BLUED finish is very scarcely found in these early examples and is worth a premium to collectors. Prefix code 'O' seems to have been used in 1898. Current RETAIL value, in my humble estimation for a piece in that condition would be in the range of $275 - $300 if presented to the right audience. NICE heritage piece.

also: it has the latch hold open device - the small button on the left side of the top strap, when pushed all the way in while lifting the two piece latch, then released will hold the latch and cylinder retainer upward while you remove the cylinder - DO NOT attempt to reinstall the cylinder without the latch and retainer hook upright or you will "engrave" a very fancy pattern all over the surface of the cylinder - I've got a couple that folks have so embellished.  (original post)

I just thought I would change things up a bit.  Should anyone have reloading dies I am casually thinking of loading up some fresh ammo.  Most likely it will sit in storage as it has for the past 60 years.  Maybe I will do the other handgun should there be interest. SAAMI link on exact case size.  Lyman mould would be a 311252 or 311227 should anyone be willing to loan a mould or cast some for me.

10 meter Air Rifle Match #7

This will be short as it is more for my training than any form of sharing useful information.

I had skimmed a little of Ways of the Rifle and Air-Rifle Shooting.  One nugget of info stuck which I tried to use.  I tend to get anxious or nervous when I start to shoot.  So, let me tell a short story on myself.

10+ years ago I went to my first "big" match.  By big I mean HUGE!  150+ silhouette shooters at the biggest event of the year, Winnsboro!  First shot, there I was with my mentor/spotter Fenton S.  I was trying to get the shot off and I was shaking  so much I could not get on the right bank let alone animal!  Fenton looked down at at my shorts which were shaking just as much as I was.  HA!  He said "What's the matter?  It's just like any other match."

I guess it is just the way I am wired.  I don't think I can change it.  Thus the reason I try to train all year.  My goal is to make breaking the shot feel like second nature or "subconscious".  My weakness, the more I try to execute that "perfect" shot, the "less likely" it is to happen.  If it is not habit or "routine", odds of success is low.

I had some of that last night.  My first shot was a deep 10.  I built my stance and did all the basics.  The next 5 shots were 9s.  Then I started to "try" to shoot well so as to not ruin the good run I had going.  I think you know what happened.  I was in and out of this mode for most of the match.  I look at the positive, I am getting better at "building" my standing position.  Now I need to reinforce the habit.

That said, here are the results.  I thought 12 10x was going to be tops this season.  How the heck did I shoot 15 10x on the second match of the year?  Goes to show just how big the mental aspect of this sport is for me.

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x (3.6)
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.(3.6)
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night.(3.6)
#5 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88)  7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK (3.2)
#6 492 (75 85 76 84 86 86)  14 7s or lower, 6 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#7 520 (88 84 90 86 87 85)  8 7s, 12 10x.  SCHaK (3.8)

2011-12 Season score log

#1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
#2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
#3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
#4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
#5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
#6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
#7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)  

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

Home or last post.

Good reading on scope testing

The topic of scope testing came up again.  I refereed them to my posts on the matter as I really do not have any new material.

BUT!  There was a wonderful website by a Canadian Fellow with some tips and tricks.  A Dan Theodore had done some extensive testing on various brands of scopes. His article was useful not just from the objective data about scopes but also for his methodology.  I have regretted more than once that I could not point people back to this wonderful article.

Recently I found this web based tool which is part of the Library of Congress.  I can only gather there is some desire to archive the somewhat perishable website information.  If you have an old URL or even just want to see what a URL "used to say", put it in their "way back machine" and select from a calendar when you want to see the website.  I put in my missing or "broken" link and viola, there was the old website with the wonderful scope testing article!

Here is the "way back tool".  Correct, this is not shooting related, just a handy tool.

Here is an excellent read regarding scope testing saved by the "way back tool".  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

As info, here are some past blog entries re scopes:

Starter Scope
Entry level Scope
Canting a scope...why 
Shooting the box.....see scope repeatability HERE.

I am a little surprised.  I thought I had made an extensive post on how to "shoot a box" to test a scope's ability to return to zero aka repeatability.  I will keep on looking.  For now, you have to go to the last link and read about "scope repeatability" as I have not written my own version.  What I like about Dan's test is that ammo variability, wind and other issues are pretty much eliminated.  A quality 10m target air rifle will shoot one hole all day long.  His test truly measures the repeatability of a scope.  There are some great nuggets in his article.  I am glad I could find it.

10 meter Air Rifle Match History

For the first match of 2013, I seem to have a bunch of excuses.  All worthy.  In short, holidays, kids home from college, fighting 2F (-16c) in a 200 year old farm house, I have created many reasons to not practice.  But, here is the silver lining.

My Tuesday night 10m air rifle match resumed.  Two 10m rifles and two 10m pistols.  Good use of the range for a Tuesday night.  I went in without any practice.  About the only prep work I did was to ENSURE I had the 3.8mm front insert and replaced the 3.2mm.  A "too small" insert which I use for shooting the 10m silhouette animals. I also used the JSB SCHaK pellets.

My ability to build a stance and hold to execute quality shots was about a 6 out of 10.  Bad.  Lack of practice, muscle memory, myelin, who knows.  You won't do well at this game without practice.  PERIOD!  As Tom D. says, "Have a desire to do well.  If you don't put in the effort, your scores will reflect in...."  Simple and clear.

Learnings:

• I am experimenting with resting rifle on my fist instead of my silhouette split finger.  It shows promise but I learned, it somehow changes the geometry of my trigger finger and I started to pull through the second stage and had 4 ADs, one lost me 6 points! Should NEVER happen!
• Fist support.  Works well and gives me a more stable sight picture and thus lets me focus on trigger execution.  BUT!  For some odd reason I wiggle on a horizontal plane when I do break the trigger yielding 8s or even a 7 when I had expected a perfect 10.
• Sometimes I find it best to forget about using the spotting scope and just focus on better shooting.  Looking at a bad shot to confirm is was a bad shot is only a distraction.  I improved when I just skipped spotting by the middle of the match.
• JSB vs H&N.  My hold was not good enough to discern lower accuracy as I was able to in match #5.  I write it here so as to not forget the issue.  Truth be told, when my indoor range was put away for the holidays, my 4 tins of vintage H&Ns which shot so well vanished.  Sigh.
• PRACTICE!

Results.  Given the number of ADs I had, and my need and ability to "re-learn" how to shoot or should I say, do more good things than bad things by the end of the match, I am at peace. More often than not my scores decline by end of the match due to energy and focus.  Tonight my last shot was a deep 10 (see picture) as it should have been.  Unclear about the impact of using the 3.8mm insert.  Too many other issues to focus on so the jury is out.  I stick with it until I can truly evaluate it when my hold and trigger finger is better.

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x (3.6)
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.(3.6)
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night.(3.6)
#5 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88)  7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK (3.2)
#6 492 (75 85 76 84 86 86)  14 7s or lower, 6 10x. SCHaK (3.8)

2011-12 Season score log

#1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
#2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
#3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
#4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
#5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
#6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
#7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)

2022-24 Season score log

#1  467    (74 78 81 70 85 79)  not pretty.  2 snowbirds.  3 10s. A place to start.

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

Home or last post.
 

TPM January 1st, match #3 results

Happy new year.  The first post for 2013.  We had a lot of interest in this match program.  Sorry to be a few days late but the 2F outside and all the family home made shooting a bit of a challenge.  We have some folks from Texas and Kentucky joining us.  Welcome!  Hats off toe Niklas who continues to shoot well.  I will add that we have some youth too.  Elisabeth is 19 and Nicholas is 15.  Awesome!

It seems like folks are enjoying it and may want another chance.  Keep putting TPM in the subject line.  It helps me search for the submission among the other thousands of inbound mail.  Digging up the email is the biggest job.

Next match.  Please submit your next scores by Jan 20th.  I will try to have two matches per month.  You can submit a score for every gun you own as long as it is .177 cal.  If you have just one gun, you can shoot it scoped and shoot it iron sights for the over achievers out there. 

The newest edition of USAShooting Sports is out.  A touch of airgun related material.  I wonder if it is more of an ad for SCATT systems than really teaching us anything. See page 14.

Niklas is also treating us to another picture of his beautiful range.  I am so jealous.

What ranges in Finland look like, thanks Niklas!  Click on photo for larger image.

Have you excercised your myelin today?

This may be a little to cerebral for the casual plinker.  I mined this nugget by wading through the many posts on TargetTalk.org.  This website/forum is dedicated to competitive, Olympic style shooting disciplines.  I find it a bit more analytical than Steelchickens.  Folks really get into the system of shooting.  Let's face it, the sport is 95% human and 5% equipment.  That is what makes it so darn exasperating and fun at the same time.

There are some people who just have talent.  I am not fortunate in this area and my only way to improve is practice.  After reading Lanny Basham's With Winning in Mind some 8 years ago,  I truly felt I had an epiphany.  When other veteran shooters took on the roll of Match Director, I used to have the luxury of just practicing and showing up at a match.  Part of my practice was shooting 33 feet in my garage in Texas.  I used my TX200 and my Weaver KT15.  I would spend hours working on hitting those little animals.  Then, one day at a match, I had a bit of an out of body experience and my mind said "just put the reticle on the animal just like home" and I managed 10 rams with my 10m airgun.  Yup, that's 45 yards with a target airgun.  You could watch the pellet travel the last 10 yards and see the impact.  It was as if I was reliving a dream. In fact, I was reliving my many practice shots, and for a moment, I just let my trained body take over.

Lanny calls this the subconscious state.  I fully agree with what he puts forth and encourage others to read the material and develop their own understanding of what he is telling us.  Recently, found an article which is a bit more physiological than Lanny's psychological explanation.  This new to me article talks about the role of myelin and importance of training, quality training to teach the "nervous system" how to behave.  All of this was in response to the question of whether "wobble boards" were helpful or not.  This is akin to shooting with a heavy trigger and then hoping a light trigger will yield better results come match day. Or shooting a really heavy rifle and then shedding the weight for the match.  The point was, practice with something that is as similar to if not identical to your competition equipment.  The argument is that this reinforces, "strengthens" the neurosystem (myelin) system.  In short, it indirectly is telling us to not train by introducing "extremes" into our regimign.  Thus my effort to reduce weight in my gun.

This article is not intended for the casual "equipment centric" shooter.  This is intended for the shooter who maybe has hit a plateau and is looking to better understand what techniques are out there to aid them in climbing to the next level.

Here is the 2007 NYT article.

Here is the post which introduced this old NYT article.

Now if I could just find the Larisa Preobrazhenskaya of off hand shooting to tell me what I need to focus on to improve, I think it would all click.  But then I would have to learn Russian! 

10 meter air rifle match #5

Change is the only constant.  Time to minimize or at least manage change better!

I arrived to the match somewhat unenthusiastic.  Or, perhaps less intense.  Slice it either way you want to.  Heck, I am still trying to figure it out.  Get my gear, targets, spotting scope set up.  Pellets...hum, 50 H&N left in tin.  Then start on my supply of JSB.  Not perfect but tests (I thought) suggested JSBs were the best.

Put the gun up and crud!  I forgot I still had my 3.2mm insert in from my 10m silhouette challenge.  Damn!  My box of inserts were at home so here I am going smaller when my plan was to go larger.  Guess that underscores the fact I don't write down my match plan.  Too late now.  Trudge on with the small insert and learn from the experience.

To make a long story short, the small insert did not cause as much difficulty as I had expected.  I actually shot my best match of the season. Change seems to bring odd discoveries.  Now I have to process them.  Here are my key discoveries.

• Relax, don't try so hard.  Just shoot well with focus on position and correct what is wrong and do more of what feels right.
• Chicken finger goes away when I just shoot without high expectations.  
• At home practice works.  Working on white paper helps focus on position, NPA issues.
• I was "unfed" and just beginning to have the hunger feeling. Impact?
• After two bad shots, put gun down and walk away for a break.  Stop! 
• If the hold does not feel/look steady, rebuild position.  Again, STOP! 
• Don't switch pellets in the middle of a match.  Duh!
• At home practice works.....likely helped with chicken finger.

So, I think the results points to a general "unorganized" effort.  I think I am serious yet I am not.  If a smaller insert brings counter-intuitive results, pellet chaos, just think what a more organized, analytical, deliberate approach will yield?  Things to ponder.  Things to ponder.

Pellets.  Although I am the first to admit, remind myself, and then do both again, my 5th and 6th string of 20 shots with the JSB SCHaK was very different than my vintage H&Ns.  For the first 40 shots with the H&Ns my call and POI was scary accurate.  As I switched to the JSB, I found the exact opposite.  So much so I started to adjust my sights.  I became unsettled and now I need to re-test my pellet supply.  Sigh.  Poor organization?  Poor position and I was unable to correct?  Started to get tired?  Things to sort out.


2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night. 12/11
#5 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88)  7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK

2011-12 Season score log

#1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
#2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
#3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
#4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
#5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
#6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
#7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)  

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

Home or last post.

10 meter air match #4 and the dreaded "chicken finger"

Disgraceful.  More odd experiences at the range. 

Thoughts.  The first change was that due to a large turn out for Air Pistol on Monday nights, I said I would move Air Rifle (me) to Tuesday nights and see if we can grow the program.  So, new format, just me and one other shooter.  Not quite the intensity or focus of Monday nights. 

Next, I have been practicing at home.  I felt as though I have developed the mechanics to get into the right postion, NPA, etc to create a high value shot consistantly.  I was excited to put it to the test and felt 540 was a distinct possibility. Maybe too high an expectation.  As one advisor suggested, "don't be so worried about the score, focus on good execution."

To my delight and fear, the first three shots were 9s and 10s.  "WOW!  This realy does work I'm telling myself".  Then, out of no where, I put a snowbird on paper.  I little "quiver" as I made the shot and the night was over from a score perspective and my intensity drained out of my body.  56 shots to go!  I knuckeled down telling myself it is just one shot.  My first 10 was an 88, impressive since one shot gave up 6 points. Five more 88s would have been a 528. 

But, it would seem there were more birds in the flock and I landed two more in the white.  Bizzare.

My evaluation is "trigger tremor".  With a 3.7oz trigger and a 3.6mm insert, I think it is too much to put together for the "perfect" shot and nerves or trying to execute that 'perfect shot' which is more than I can manage.  I found THIS article useful and perhaps my effort to get the "perfect shot" creates more negative results than positive.  Yup, I am "Cheeken" to squeeze the trigger and I end up with a huge "ah crap".

So.  My shooting partner gave me some old steel Anschutz inserts and I am going to try 4.3mm and shoot one or two matches and then re-evaluate.  I don't want to change too many things too quickly.  But that 3.7 oz trigger may also be on the the "to do" list.


DATA

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7 or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7 or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7 or lower, 11 10x. JSB ScHAC pellets. First Tuesday night. 12/11
#5

2011-12 Season score log

Match #1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
Match #2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
Match #3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
Match #4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
Match #5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
Match #6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
Match #7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)  

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

Home or last post.

TPM Dec 9th match #2 results

Ok, it has been 60 hours since the results were due in, more than my 24 hour stated objective.  I had a few distractions and I am only now getting to the results.  Niklas cut me a break and did not submit his results this week.  I know I can do better but keeping it together for 40 shots I find is a challenge.  Something to work on! 

Click on photo for quality image

We have two new members join in this prestigious event.  I am excited to have Emmett join us from Texas.  I have challenged him to drag some of my old Texas shooting buddies into the fray.  They after all are the guys I blame for getting me hooked on this silly sport in the first place.  And Tom has now put his new to him 603 to the test.  I got to see it last night and it is a beautiful gun.

Niklas submitted a picture of his 603RT for our consideration.  I find his range of the greatest curiosity since I can't get another airgun!  Getting air going here in the States is akin to getting Americans to ride a bike to work.  Some do and are passionate about it, yet the vast majority twist the ignition key daily.  Hopefully Niklas might post a comment with some additional info about his range.

I or John B. would be interested in how Emmett is affixing a scope to his LG55.  One big disadvantage we have up here in NH is there is no place to go see airguns set up.  So, send in pictures, we can learn VIRTUALLY!  Emmett, do you use your LG55 for 45 yard rams in Air Rifle Silhouette?  The left is a picture to what we envision is the best solution for putting scopes on older 10m guns.

Interesting to note we have 11 guns that "could" post scores in just two matches.  Just 6 submitted this week and I am an owner of two of the silent guns.

Next match, #3, due end of day, Jan 1st, 2013 to bring in the New Year.  Start early and get some good practice in!  Original match rules HERE. 

Old .177 pellet guns rule!

Creative scope solution on 10m gun

Not only is this a rare glimpse of a LH Anschutz 2002SSP, it also demontrates an ingenious marriage of old and new technology.  Where there is a will, there is a way!  Close up picture here.

So go ahead and get those 10m Silhouette postal scores in!

Home or last post.

10m air rifle training notes

First, the Board of Directors approved the dedicated use of the indoor 50 foot range for air rifle Tuesday nights.  This may not make the powder burners happy.  Hopefully we can all survive.  We will have a 10m air rifle club match every Tuesday night at 6 pm.  I would love to see some other folks join in so we can have some shoulder to shoulder friendly competition.  I believe there are two of us.  We have room for 6 more shooters!

Second, training session learnings.  More specically, three observations:

1. For the first time I shot at a blank target to "soak up" what my body was doing when I executed the shot and the impact on follow through.  I have read about this drill but never actually tried it.  I am sure there are many reasons to do this drill but here is what I learned.  I sometimes just barely grip the gun with my trigger (right) hand.  Almost akin to benchrest shooters who just touch the trigger.  I felt like I was having less "input" into the rifle when my trigger finger moved.  The negative is I have a weaker hold on the gun as a whole.  I then tried a full grip, light but full.  Based on my "blank target" it seemed to me the follow through and execution was much more stable with a full grip than a non grip.  This seems to be the result of "pulling the gun down" into my body vs. just having it balanced between shouder and forearm.
2. I also focused on complete body and head position with eyes closed.  Only after I find that comfy stable settled in position do I open my eyes.  (just like the book tells you to in order to fing NPA).  If I am off the target, I use the varioius techniques to adjust my POA by moving my entire body, not moving the gun with muscles.  This effort, although time consuming, really seems to settle things down and I have had some very long looks at a perfect sight picture (3.6 mm discussed later) and I could then work on a solid release.  9s and 10s when I did this right.  Something to remember. For more in depth reading about the benefit of NPA and follow through go HERE.
3. My front insert may be too small.  After shooting at a blank target, I began to create my own small "black hole" which I could see and aim for.  To my eye, the pellets were going in right on top of each other without much effort.  I mused that they were all 8s or better.  I then put up a target and promptly shot a 6.  My assesment, I try to hard for the perfect sight picture with my 3.6mm apperature and that contributes to "snatching" at the trigger when a rare "perfect" look presents itself.

These three observations are in order of confidence.  Meaning, I truly believe in #1 and found I was able to repeat the result from the different approach to the target.  The last observation I have less confidence in my evaluation of what I saw during the practice session.

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Part 3, so what MOA is a 10 value in a 10m Air Rifle bullseye?

This question I have asked myself a few times.

The size of the center dot is .5mm.  But, your pellet is 4.5mm in diameter.  To avoid splitting hairs or millimeters as is the case here, assume one must hold and execute a shot in a 4mm area using a "center to center" method of measurement.

Let's try the non calculator, non 2(Pi)r reasoning approach first.  Quick math tells you if you have to hold 4mm at 10 meters for a 10x, you have to hold 40mm at 100 meters as it is 10 times the distance.  40mm is 4cm or just a tad over 1.5".  Translation?  If you can score a 10 routinely in 10m Air Rifle, than your hold is equal to 1.5" at 100 meters which is more than adequate to take a smallbore ram.  But what does that mean at 40, 60 or 77 meters?  Here is where MOA brings value to the analytic shooter and lets you compare and contrast your ability at different distances, even 10m air rifle.

The worksheet above gives you the values of the various scoring rings from an MOA hold perspective.  If you are able to shoot an 8 or better each shot, your hold then is a 5 MOA hold.  But, is that good enough for a smallbore turkey?  Until now we have been working in friendly geometric shapes.  Silhouette animals are hardly equivalent to a bullseye. Using the link for PDF targets on my blog, you can look at a turkey with an MOA grid overlay.  Decide for yourself if a 5 MOA hold will work for you all of the time or some of the time.  Would a 3.3 MOA hold work?

In closing, you really have to have a fairly steady 9 hold or better for Turkeys.  Yet an 8 hold for Pig will work.  It is also interesting to see how accurate my quick math was were I estimated a 10 dot hold at 10 meters was worth a 1.5" at 100 meters.  Hopefully this will begin to come together for you so you can use it as a training tool to better understand your results. I think this will be the end of the MOA series.  If anyone thinks of a way to improve the utility of the material put forth, I am all ears.  I have no formal marksmanship training and all of this is from my own personal quest to understand what I need to do to improve.

PRACTICE not MATH I suspect is the answer!  I am hardly holding the 8 ring and I need to improve that!!

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Part 2, What's in a click?

While things are getting colder outside, things have been heating up on the email side of the blog.  Folks are exploring ways to get an indoor shooting rig set up for the 10m Silhouette challenge so they can be warm while they practice.  But, like anything that is worth doing, there are a few obstacles along the way.  Let's look at them as great learning opportunities and not a reason to skip it.

First on the list is focus.  Not all scopes are capable of focusing down to 33 feet.  But, there are a number that do.  The KT-15 does.  The Sightron 6-24x42 does even at full 24 power.  Even my Bushness Elite 4200 8-32x40 will focus at 20x.  Non EFR 6.5-20x40 Leupolds won't.  Before you tear apart your summer gun, make sure it works at 33 feet.  Some scopes will at their lowest power but not at a higher power.  See what you have.  Of course with an aperture you don't have this problem.

The next challenge is the scope's range of reticle adjustment.  The reason I wrote the MOA post was to create a better understanding of how a scope works and what the specifications truly mean.  Optics are far more complex an instrument than most users give them credit. Understanding what a click is on your scope and what that equates to in MOA and change of your POI on the paper or steel target is important.  I have presented the math, now let's understand what it means in the real world.

Hopefully my "top of barrel" and "imaginary circle at the 100 yard range" comparison made sense.  Bottom line, the "length" or "distance" of a MOA unit changes as you move out on the "radius" which is the distance between you and the object on which your scope is focused.  Obviously at 10 meters, a few clicks on your scope won't do much.  At 10m, 1 moa (four clicks) adjustment is only worth .11".  Or, 2.9mm at 10 meters for the civilized world!  My point, one click on a typical 1/4 moa scope is only going to move that pellet 3 mm!  Not much.

Scope specs.  When you are shooting at 100 yards, both the focus and the mechanical range of a basic scope is not that demanding. No surprise that marketeers make scopes that perform well in this common use but not so well in other less common uses.  Why add extra cost when you don't have to?  Read your scope's specs.  It might have a total "theoretical" range of 60 moa or less.  Old Leupold 6.5-20 have 90 and a Nightforce has 100 moa range.  The new Leupold 25x made for silhouette, only 40 moa.  Yuck.  I'm not suggesting you need these scopes to play the game.  I am just trying to illustrate there is a difference other than price.

You never want to be at the outer range of adjustment so it may only be 50 MOA or less that is usable.  If your scope is not "windage centered", this 50 MOA may be just 30 MOA.  People never experiment with their scope in this manner when it fact it can be quite educational at close range.  I recently put my Sightron through the test and was reminded how not all scopes are equal.  Max elevation range was just 6" at at 33".  Not much!  Specs tell me I have just 40 moa range in elevation. 

So, what is in a click?  At 10m, about .7mm.  Not much!  Now, how many clicks will your scope allow?  And, on the last 8 clicks, was the reticle even moving?  All these things can be explored and better appreciated by shooting at close range.  What is the effective operating range of your favorite scope?

For the 1/5th game you need to understand these things.  If you see your shot is under the rail at chickens, putting in 1 click is useless.  I might argue 1 click at chickens is useless period.  Is your gun and ammo really that accurate that a .11" adjustment will have any relevance?  Heck, 4 clicks, a full 1 MOA is still just 1/2 inch.  Get to rams, and a full MOA it is worth 1.15".  That is the point I wanted to make in this post.  What is a click really worth at the four distances we shoot!  Something important to understand when you feel like you broke on the animal but the bullet went elsewhere.

Good shooting!

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Part 1, What really is an MOA?

I had been guilty of accepting the old 1 MOA is 1" at 100 yards.  I knew it was a sloppy rule but in general it worked.  But, when you start trying to understand your scope and its capability when trying to develop indoor practice methods, it helps to dig a little deeper and truly understand what MOA really is.

I will try to make this as easy as possible.  A Minute of Angle is a geometric unit of measure for an arc.  For those who dislike geometry, let's let look at it this way.  A circle has 360 degrees.  And, each degree has 60 minutes.  For me, that last little factoid must have been presented in class while I was out sick.   This well known detail had not been an area of knowledge for me.

Armed with this new knowledge, we then know there are 21,600 minutes of angle in a circle by the following simple math, 360 x 60 = 21,600.  So, if you are looking at the top of a oil drum, there are 21,600 arcs or MOA that make up the full circle or circumference   Obviously the "length" of those arcs is pretty short but they all add up to equal the circumference which we know as 2(Pi)r.

Assume when you are shooting at 100 yards you are the center of a large invisible circle and the distance between you and your target is the radius.  So, one large imaginary circle, much larger than the oil drum, with a 100 yard radius but still 21,600 MOAs!.  We know then that the circumference of this imaginary circle is 2(Pi)100 yards or 628.3 yards.  Divide the circumference into degrees, 628.3/360 = 1.7 yards for each degree.  But, we need to divide this further into minutes so we divide again by how many minutes there are in a degree which is 60.  1.7/60 is .029 yards in each minute of angle.  A fraction of a yard is meaningless so let's convert to inches.  36 *  .029 is 1.05".  Look familiar?  There is our sloppy rule of thumb that 1 MOA is equal to 1" at 100 yards.  As you can see, this is pretty basic math and now you can calculate what the length of a MOA arc is at any distance.  Below are some common distances.

Click on image for larger view

Part two will look at what this all means for you and your scope which will elaborate on why I have the last two columns to the right.

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10 meter Air match #3

Although the score would suggest disaster, the match tonight was a big win for me.  Tonight was an experiment and I feel I got some good feedback.

First, I decided to reduce my barrel weight by half.  Effectively reducing the front weight to 6 oz.  I did some research and I may have had my strategy wrong.  I had always thought weight out front was used to aid in "slowing down" barrel movement.  I may have missed the importance of gun balance.  My balance point on my rifle was well ahead of my front hand.  Now it has been moved back.  I might even add some weight on the back to further experiment.

I also realized I may benefit by sight risers as my head is not vertical.  But, I don't own them so that will be another day.

So, why did I not see better results?  Because I forgot to bring decent pellets.  All I had were the nasty Daisy pellets.  I am going to ignore the score.  I tested them afterward off the bench.  Of 8 shots, they held a seven but, that is if you are breaking perfectly on the center which I was off the bench.  An offhand 8 can turn into a 6 easily and that is why I am going to forget about the absolute numbers.  It is practice and I leaving it at that.  Bring the right pellets next time.

Here is a good discussion about rifle balance and I think there are some good takeaways to be found in this thread.

DATA

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11x 7 or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19x 7 or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.

2011-12 Season score log

Match #1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
Match #2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
Match #3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
Match #4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
Match #5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
Match #6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
Match #7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)  

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

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A useful blog dedicated to 10 meter Air Rifle.

I stumbled on this great website as I was looking for ways to improve my practice.  At this point, I am not sure if my lack of progress is due to lack of talent or lack of a poor practice regimen.  Or, perhaps a gun that is poorly configured for me to develop my talent.  All things to look at when you don't have any coaching available.

I decided to take inventory of my gun, an Anschutz 2002SSP..  Of course, blame the equipment!  Not really, I just wanted to collect more data so I can be more informed when and if I decide to change anything. For now, I am only going to change (reduce) the amount of barrel weight by 50%.  Zero cost experimentation.

Trigger.  My trigger (5021) is a two stage trigger and the final stage breaks at 3.7 to 4.0 oz after about 10 tests.  Most were in the 3.7 oz (105 grams) spot.  There are times I pull through it.  And there are times I think it should have gone but did not.  At such a light pull, it is a delicate issue when releasing the shot.  I need to research this trigger and see if the trigger is indeed designed to operate at this low a setting.  It is how I got the gun.

Front insert  Too small an insert, like too much power on a scope, makes me "jump around" and in general get the visual sense I am moving all over the place.  I may be using an insert that is too small but for now, that is all I own.  I use a 3.6mm.  A real set which ranges from 3.1 to 4.3mm.

Barrel Weights: I have been shooting with 13 oz (365 grams) of weights on the front.  I see many successful silhouette shooters put the maximum allowable weight on their barrels.  I figured more is better.  But it does add to fatigue.  I am going to try with half that amount and see what differences I notice.

Barrel extension.  I just happen to have an extender which lets me put the front globe 2.75" (70mm) further out giving added sight radius.  Technically this should help.

Armed with this info hopefully I can learn what to experiment with as I seek to hit my goal of a 540/600.

http://airrifleshooting.wordpress.com/

Any and all input welcome.

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TPM Results week 1

to enlarge click on image

Not a bad turn out!  Two countries and 4 States represented.  Hats off to Niklas!  37 is an impressive outcome.  I went back through my Air binder and actually found my targets from 2003.  My highest score was a 36 back when I was doing this seriously every week.

Some abbreviations. FT = Field Target, RT = Running Target.  CP = Crosman Premier.  IIRC Crosman Premier comes in two weights, lite and heavy and airgunners call them CPLs (7.9g) or CPHs. (10.5g)  They were the best Field Target/silhouette (domed) pellets for a period and came in a funny if not crude cardboard box in some odd quantity of 1250. 

I hope you all found this to be good practice.  Next set of scores....well, I will make it 2 weeks out.  We used to have a program that was weekly.  It bogged down.

Everyone has until 9 pm  USA Eastern TIme (GMT -05:00) December 9th to send in their best effort.  One target/score per gun for those of you with more than one airgun toy!  Looks like it is time to start using some quality pellets if I am going to catch Niklas!  The Bimcos were heavily oxidized and the Daisy pellets stink as they can only hold the 6 ring off the bench.

(link to blog entry with match rules and target)   Just in case you did not get in on the first match.  You can join in anytime.

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Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends

I am blessed to have three extra family members with us this weekend.  That is a 100% increase in the normal number of folks around the table!

TPM or Thanksgiving Postal Match.  Yay, one score in other than mine!  That means we are up to two shooters!!  Victory.  I was concerned I would be the only one.  A nice FWB 601 "Running Target" got a chance to stretch her legs.  I am just trying to figure out how a scope fits on a 601.  IIRC the loading port lever pops up right in front of the sights.  I can't tell you the number of time I have gone to execute that perfect shot on my 2002SSP only to find I failed to close the loading port.  Always a stupid feeling.

The posting of comments seems to be inconclusive.  I think it works and believe it is mostly operator error.  We'll see.  I hope to have some fun comments going when I post the results.  I may change the format so that comments are displayed vs. having to click on them.  It was cleaner with comments suppressed.  We'll give it a try.

Don't eat too much turkey!

Smith-Corona 4S178564

Just in case you thought you were at the wrong blog, don't worry.  You are correct, this is a little off topic. I know, a distraction from the real objective but I had a request from my oldest daughter to use one of those silly contraptions us adults call a typewriter.  At the time, we had two but neither were ready for use.  I just happened to keep my Mother's college typewriter as well as my college typewriter.  Guess the apple does not fall far from the tree huh?!?!  The old manual from 1947 was easier to fix than its younger sister, Coronamatic electric c. 1980.  But they both work now.  Here is a sample from the oldest one.

Click for larger image

And, just if you are curious, this unit on the right is from what is called the "Speedline" portable family by Smith-Corona.  It is known as part of the "4 Series" Introduced in 1939 and briefly produced after the war while they tooled up for the new "50's era" product line introduced in 1949 called the "Super 5".  This particular example is the "Silent" model but it is no where close to silent.  So, the SN is a 4S which tells collectors all they need to know.  Funny, no number 1, you have to use the lower case L.  I typed on a 5 Series recently and other than more ergonomic keys, I can't feel the difference between it and a 4 Series.  For a full history of the Smith-Corona line go HERE.

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