.177 side lever worthwhile?

[darryl]

Tom,
I'll concede that magnums with underlever and side lever cocking mechanisms are generally heavier than their barrel-cocking counterparts; generally. The Tech Force Jet, a barrel cocker, comes in @9.8lbs. The RWS-54 and the Tech-Force 87 are the heaviest rifles I own @ 9lbs each. The 52 is only lighter by a few ounces. So if the issue is weight, no argument from me there. I often struggle with trying to find a comfortable standing position where I can balance a heavy rifle sufficiently to hold it on target. It's a good thing I've discovered the joy and challenge of shooting with open sights. (The added weight of scopes makes unsupported shooting an exercise in frustration and quick fatigue for me.) I haven't yet explored shooting from a kneeling position nor any other position just yet. Maybe I need a shooting harness to help distribute the weight of these Beasts. Maybe I just need to get the lard out and EXCERCISE! You know; do some weight-bearing stuff to improve my strength specific to holding these behemoths steady without a bench rest. Or, maybe just get a nice shooting stick. Yeah...that's the ticket!

Does everyone here shoot their rifles from a bench rest?
darryl

Oh I'll add that shooting from a rest allows me to enjoy the accuracy of these rifles while using open sights (not quite as accurate as when suing a scope, obviously). When I shoot without a rest ti's guaranteed that my groups grow considerably. But shootin' is fun, and fun is healthy.

[Mark 611]

For a hunting stance if I'm gonna take a shot thats more than 60yds I use a sitting technique and support myself and rifle form my knees, this is why I don't shoot from a bench only a standing or sitting, when your out in the field your shooting my come in any forum and shooting from a bench will hurt you in your shooting cause your not learning to support your rifle and hold it to make shots other than what you learn from the bench JMHO.

[AirScopes]

Darryl, I bought a bench rest and have yet to take it out of the box to use it. I like to shoot off-hand, and I do it with some heavy rifles. Sometimes standing, Sometimes sitting but upright, and in the laziest of moments, sitting and resting elbow to knee. I think that bench resting is really for absolutely testing accuracy in a gun... and I also have to say there aren't any of them right now that are disappointing me off-hand. I've done 5-shot groupd off hand into one hole on more occasions than I think I am allowed in one lifetime -- even if it was only 10 yards. I'm a little lucky sometimes.

Once I was playing golf, and on a hole where a friend of mine actually killed a goose by driving a ball that broke its neck, I was laughing so much I couldn't shoot straight. After a zig and zag down the fairway, I ended up about 80 yards from the hole, about 20 yards from a pond, and needed to shoot over the pond and up a hill to get on the green. I could just see the top of the flag. My standard joke is that gravity is stronger over water, because if it is there my ball is going in. The way I'd been shooting I had no chance... So I took out my putter, yelled "four" and swung REALLY HARD. The ball leap off the club, bounced off the water a few times like a skipped stone, and bounded up the hill. No one saw where it really went. We looked for a minute assuming it was over-shot into the weeds. Just as I was about to drop a ball, one of the guys who was up on the green finishing up said "I found it!" No one expected to find it in the hole. I wish there'd been a camera on that one.

Anyway, I get lucky a lot.

Certain guns I'll only shoot with the open sights. My Mendoza has the peep sight, my BS4 has the match sight, and there are a few I haven't bothered to scope. I try to mave each gun have a purpose and reason for selection... like a putter.

Richard

[darryl]

Mark, I think now i have a reason to practice yoga!!! Getting down is the easy part. It used to be that getting up required careful forethought and planning, but thanks to titanium hips I'm good to go so I'll try shooting from a sitting position very soon.

Rich, I'd rather be lucky than good any day! I have to agree about using a bench rest to test accuracy. It makes all the sense in the world, really. Once I know a rifle can do it, then it's on me to do it off-hand. That rally clarifies it for me, especially since I'm doing a lot of shooting with open sights now. I have five rifles, and there currently isn't a scope on any of them.

Austin, maybe we should try to get Crosman to produce domed pellets as you suggest, in the 9~9.5grn range. From a manufacturing stand point, the yield on a pound of lead would go further: 737 pellets @9.5grn versus 667 pellets @10.5grn. Put another way, that pound would yield 10% more pellets. For each tin of 500 pellets, @9.5grn, from that pound, there is enough lead left over (in simple terms) to produce a further 237 pellets. So how do we go about it: domed pellets @9~9.5grn? Maybe start a writing campaign to Crosman?
darryl   

[s10gto]

I mostly shoot from a bag rest with my 52. Was using H&N Barracuda's with great groups. I thought 10.6 would be best for this magnum. One day open a tin of H&N FFT 8.65. Well  I couldn't believe it. Stacking pellet on pellet.

Dustin

[darryl]

Dustin, that's a nice pellet weight. Glad you had success with the H&Ns.

I've gone ahead and dropped a letter to Crosman through it's website, expressing interest in a 9.5grn pellet in either domed or hollow-point, or both. I gave a rundown similar to what I posted here. I even asked if it might be interested in a writing campaign promoting the suggested weight so it could gauge public interest. Always let them tell you "No".
darryl

[darryl]

didn't know that, austin. here's hoping Crosman takes interest. If I hear anything positive back from them maybe I'll post a poll to gauge interest here on the GTA. Crosman could then look it over. I know there are other pellet makers that offer a pellet in the 9+grain range, but Crosman's premier series is very popular; I have read more than a few rifle reviews that speak to that point. And the price of the Crosman pellets ain't bad either.
darryl

[darryl]

Don't know if it's of any importance, but I received a reply from Crosman's Kim Yaddow, and a ticket number (52654). He/she simply states my email has been forwarded to the engineer.

[Bullit]

Hope U have better luck than I had with Crosman.

I to contacted Crosman, and received the same reply from Kim Yaddow as well.
That was over a month ago....haven't heard any more from them since.

I asked about something in the 9g size domed.

Perhaps More of you guys could contact Crosman with the same question?
"Squeaky wheels get the oil".

[darryl]

My history with Crosman is a bit different. I once contacted customer service about a "new"trigger Crosman came out with for it's 2240 C02 pistol. Well, that trigger was supposed to be wider, and take out the lateral slack of the original. It did  not take out any slack at all. I wrote and complained.Crosman sent me a free tin of my favorite pellets/500ct 14.3grain domes. Who knows what will become of this latest communication, Mike. But I like your idea. Do you think it would be appropriate to mount a writing campaign by posting in the Airgun Gate? I suppose I'd have to get a sense of what the interest is in a pellet weighing in at 9+grain. One way to find out.
darryl