Offhand Using Variable Power settings

[Frank in Fairfield]

Soon (next month) to be 73 with all of the maladies of old age and one or two because of the actions of my Uncle Sam, it is becoming more of a challenge to hold my rifle offhand for any length of time in Hunter Field Target. (I do not, and will not, shoot in the kneeling position and if forced to do so, will just log the target (s) as missed.) (You know why!) So, the only forced positions I will shoot are standing. I am happy that there are youngsters (and some old shooters) that can hold their rifles offhand with their scopes set to the authorized 16X (higher in the other classes) but my scopes only go to 14X. I have been toying with the idea of reducing the power settings and thus make the rifles easier to hold (slowing down the effect of the sway.) I have seen some shooters do this when shooting silhouette (a completely offhand shooting excercise..) So today I put my target out at 13 yards (diagonally in the garage and out to the sideyard, so as to not disturb the neighbors) and took the TX200 out for a few. I shot 5 shots at 14X (+2 mil-dots), 5 shots at 7X (+1 mil-dot) and 5 shots at 4.5X (.5 mil-dot). The swaying action was less evident as the scope power was reduced and the accuracy (while nothing to whistle about) is OK for me. I think I will try this in August when I shoot HFT again. Til then, the air rifles will be earning a rest as the rifles of choice in July are my .22-250s as I hear there is an abundance of prairie rats in Wyoming that need to be thined out...

[Flintstone]

I'm only 62 but my osteo and rheumatoid make it difficult kneeling or prone (getting up). I really prefer silhouette. Evens out the playing field better than field target. The equipment requirements for field target are a bit over the top for me.

[Frank in Fairfield]

Tony,
All you need for field target is a .177/.22 rifle shooting less than 20fpe.
If you want to shoot Hunter class you can use a bucket and two sticks tied together to form a bi-pod.
A scope of any power you have but it will be limited to 16X when shooting.
You do not have to have a bucket or sticks.
If you want to enter other classes, than the sky is the limit..

Again, this is all you need but to compete you will want drop data at various ranges and hopefully mi-dots on that scope.