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Backyard "practice" with a scoped 10 meter rifle?

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bark-eater:
I'd like to buy a new gun and start shooting HFT, but realistically wont have the time and money this year.

 I do have a 30 yard range in the backyard and a dusty Daisy 953 with a Tasco 2.5x12 mildot scope. It has the Pilk trigger tune, but I haven't spent much time dialing it in beyond shooting minute of beer can at 40 yds with  generic Crosman CPH/Premier pellets. 

 The 953 is probably putting out 4 ftlbs at the muzzle.  I'm going to pick up a Gamo Squirrel, but it remains to be seen whether it will react at 30 yds. 

 I ordered a couple tins of 8.64 H&N  Trophy pellets and hopefully they will work with the 953's fast twist barrel, and shoot a bit flatter than the 10.5 Crosman pellets.

 I'm of the opinion that any trigger time is a good thing, but I also know its possible to ingrain bad habits, so I'd appreciate any feed back that will help me hit the ground running when I can swing a dedicated HFT rig.  Thanks, Woody

 

lillysdad621:
Sorry for this delayed answer and i hope your desire for joining HFT has not dissipated. The 953 is a great gun to practice HFT especially at that range you are correct, they are about 4.5 fpe guns but they should knock the target down at 30 yards without a snag (unless you split the pellet of course). Most targets when they are well mantained should go down with 1 fpe, and if chairgun pro is correct, my 953 with crosman prems 7.9 at 477 fps (4 fpe) will still have 1 fpe at 130 yards! ( the drop will be ridiculous, but it will have 2.5 fpe at 45 yards, the max distance at HFT).

So setting the target at 30 yards should give you decent practice. Get a decent scope (12x max, remember the rules) with a clear reticle and mil dots. I would also place cards at 8, 10 12,15, 20 and 25 yards. make small circles about nickel sized and learn your hold over. The x53 rifles are very consistent in velocity so the drop should be very predictable. Then just practice your form. I have shot a 10M rifle for both HFT and FT open class. My FWB300 is set to shoot 8 fpe and it will knock down a 55 yarder if hit correctly. But i have practiced with my 753 and 953 out to 50 yards and it can reach out there... but is not a reliable knock down beast. on paper thou? its a completely different story :)

PS you should also google "minisniping"... you will see 10M guns in a completely new light.

Frank in Fairfield:
HFT…16X scope be ok now..

lillysdad621:
yeah sorry, im shooting UKHFT, so we are stuck at 12x...

bark-eater:

--- Quote from: lillysdad621 on August 15, 2022, 09:08:16 PM ---Sorry for this delayed answer and i hope your desire for joining HFT has not dissipated. The 953 is a great gun to practice HFT especially at that range you are correct, they are about 4.5 fpe guns but they should knock the target down at 30 yards without a snag (unless you split the pellet of course). Most targets when they are well mantained should go down with 1 fpe, and if chairgun pro is correct, my 953 with crosman prems 7.9 at 477 fps (4 fpe) will still have 1 fpe at 130 yards! ( the drop will be ridiculous, but it will have 2.5 fpe at 45 yards, the max distance at HFT).

So setting the target at 30 yards should give you decent practice. Get a decent scope (12x max, remember the rules) with a clear reticle and mil dots. I would also place cards at 8, 10 12,15, 20 and 25 yards. make small circles about nickel sized and learn your hold over. The x53 rifles are very consistent in velocity so the drop should be very predictable. Then just practice your form. I have shot a 10M rifle for both HFT and FT open class. My FWB300 is set to shoot 8 fpe and it will knock down a 55 yarder if hit correctly. But i have practiced with my 753 and 953 out to 50 yards and it can reach out there... but is not a reliable knock down beast. on paper thou? its a completely different story :)

PS you should also google "minisniping"... you will see 10M guns in a completely new light.

--- End quote ---

I got pretty far with dialing in the Daisy, but got squeezed for time and had to dial back the "hobby's"     

Where I left off, I was shooting well enough at 30 yds to identify some consistency problems with the rifle.  I ordered everything to rebuild the gun from Daisy, and will hopefully have a chance after the holidays to focus on such things.

One thing I have been pondering is how to adjust the 12 x scope. The way I had it the crosshairs  were zeroed on the apex of the pellets flight and the "lowest" mildot hash was good for 30 yds.   I adjusted the zero   to get out farther and hit some targets, but I felt like it negatively affected my accuracy inside 30yds. Dropping the magnification also "worked"  to extend the reticles range, but again reduced my hits under 30yds.

The scope is on high rings with a "factory" shim set.   Any thoughts on how to tweak the set up so that long shots are less of a Hail Mary?   Or should I just focus on ranging and shooting under 30 yds?

P.S.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I had swung back to this forum because I was thinking of Christmas presenting myself with a  UTG 4-16x44 scope. I am assuming that 16x will not be an improvement over 12x as far as an "effective" range, but I'd like to try a side parallax wheel, so maybe I could dial the UTG down to 12x and call it an improvement.

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