Why is 10 yards the airgun benchmark?

[fwbsport]

What I'd like to see for real is an air rifle sport where it's a biathlon event; one air rifle and hiking or skiing or snowshoe hike or whatever that a rifle can be taken to do both.

This is the reason I hate targets at set ranges while shooters sit.  We need sports where we move, however slowly, to our next target in the field.  This would be a great sport for all ages if all ages can participate, but at olympic level this could be a new thing.

If I was Picard I'd say, "Make it so."
But Captain Kirk would say, "Why not?"

Out of the two the first response is more aggressive......

 

[subscriber]

Two more considerations that are connected to what has been said:

1. Depending on scope height above the bore and the power of the airgun, a 10 yard zero often comes close to being a 55 yard zero.  These two zeros simply being the first and second time the pellet crosses the line of sight - one the way up and on the way down, after the trajectory peaks somewhere in between.  Even with low mounted open sights, a 10 yard zero could provide "point blank" aiming all the way to 30 yards, again depending on the specifics.

2. A respected reviewer, such Hard Air Magazine tests air rifles and ammo at 10 yards.  Perhaps they do that because that is all the space they have available.  In this HW100 evaluation linked below, they recognize that it "shoots too hot" in .177, and mention tuning it down:  https://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/weihrauch-hw100-pcp-air-rifle-test-review-177-caliber/

Now Ted Bier experienced spiraling of pellets at over 50 yards with the .177 HW100 out of the box.  He solved that by tuning it down to 12 ft.lbs (videos below).  Initially, it shot great for him at 25 yards.  If that is all one wanted to do; then no harm, no foul.  Ted regularly shoots pests at 50 to 100 yards, and uncovered a problem that 10 yard or 10 meter groups would not even hint at.  Despite their 10 yard indoor range, Hard Air Mag knew that shooting pellets at near supersonic velocities was counter productive, and tuned their sample HW100 down a bit.

So, there a lots of airgun shooters that have much longer "standard ranges" than 10 yards. 





 

[Ribbonstone]

They had to pick something....back then, the only real standardized airgun competition was 10 meter offhand type shooting.

HAve to admit...sticking to 10 yard/10meter testing doesn't really make too much sense today.

Something longer to be the common test range with the airguns and airgun uses today.. Home limits would still be pretty short for most of...the long range guys wouldn't be pleased with anything too short

All I have at home is 20-25yards for testing (with 30-35 yardbeing the max.safeshooting...but not testing...distance).  25yards  gives me enough information to at least weed out the hopeless pellets from the ones that might be worth testing (away from home) farther away....saves time/effort not to bother with the ones that didn't make the cut.

Even the match-type rifles get tested at that 20-25yard range,even if they were made for 10meters....they just don't generally move on to more distance.Rifles expected to be used farther aaway do move on to more distant testing.


So I'd vote for 25yards/50 yards.  The longer distance only for airguns pretty much designed to be used(by their power output)at that kind of distance or longer.  That should be far enough to figure out what's working and what's notand give a useful number for the way sporter airguns are used.



Prefer printing on-line 1/4" grid graph paper...then either printing on-line targets on that graph paper or just drawing targets on.Eyeball measurements won';t be off by more than 1/16th of an inch once you get use to those 1/4" background grid squares.

Stuck with 4 5-shot groups for a lot of years (not just one group....but at least 4 5shot groups).

Have found myself in the last couple of years going for 10 shot groups when I think the rifle has the right match of pellets/tuning. Not so much for "bragging rights"sized targets...just more interrested in expections of near the worst than putting my hopes on the best.

[lefteyeshot]

To me it's 25 yards with a springer, holes touching or close to it. Some springers will do it some want.

[SteveP-52]

I have about 30 yards to shoot, maybe 35 if I back a ways down the driveway but the 25 yard mark I posted about earlier is about the range of most pests in my back yard and why I use that distance. I want to know I can hit the mark with any of my rifles at that distance so when I line up the crosshairs, it's a one shot done deal.

[lefteyeshot]

Yeah Steve, those Tommys are a lot prettier than the 95s.

[Deckard1973]

What I'd like to see for real is an air rifle sport where it's a biathlon event; one air rifle and hiking or skiing or snowshoe hike or whatever that a rifle can be taken to do both.

This is the reason I hate targets at set ranges while shooters sit.  We need sports where we move, however slowly, to our next target in the field.  This would be a great sport for all ages if all ages can participate, but at olympic level this could be a new thing.

If I was Picard I'd say, "Make it so."
But Captain Kirk would say, "Why not?"

Out of the two the first response is more aggressive......

 

I did something like that:  https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=99524.msg937468#msg937468

[north country gal]

Please note that 10 meter competition is done offhand and if anyone thinks shooting at 10 meters offhand, and getting good scores on those 10 meter targets is easy, especially with pistol, you haven't tried it. I shoot at 10 meters in our basement all winter long, because it's the only practical way I can shoot all winter in our northern climate. Believe me, after shooting for score at 10 meters all winter, moving out to 30 yards in the spring on metal spinner targets is a breeze. 10 meter shooting, offhand, will make you a better shooter, no matter what range you shoot, outdoors. Very demanding sport on those 10 meter targets.

[Deckard1973]

Please note that 10 meter competition is done offhand and if anyone thinks shooting at 10 meters offhand, and getting good scores on those 10 meter targets is easy, especially with pistol, you haven't tried it. I shoot at 10 meters in our basement all winter long, because it's the only practical way I can shoot all winter in our northern climate. Believe me, after shooting for score at 10 meters all winter, moving out to 30 yards in the spring on metal spinner targets is a breeze. 10 meter shooting, offhand, will make you a better shooter, no matter what range you shoot, outdoors. Very demanding sport on those 10 meter targets.

Very well said!

[lizzie]

Mine is 25 yards and 5 shots that will fit under a quarter or smaller. I said quarter because that's about the size of the kill zone on the head of a tree rat and their furry little heads are all I aim for

As is mine! I call it starling range. Hahahaha

[Mossonarock]

North Country Gal said it way better than I was going to.

Which was:
Why 10yards? Try standing and shooting your air gun unsupported at a target 10 yards away and shoot a 10 shot group less than the size of a dime. Then get back to us on this. I suspect you will have answered your own question by then. If you can't do it at 10 yards, you're not going to do it at 20. Remember: the key here is you are shooting totally off hand; there's nothing to help you hold your gun. Good luck! I can't do it.

[T3PRanch]

If I can throw a rock to my target then it is TOO close! 

[Ribbonstone]

PIck a range..any range.....it will be too close to be meaningful to one set of shooters....too far to be meaningful to a different set of airgunners….just aren't going to get a universal agreement.

Won't get an agreement on the number of shots per group....or the number of groups.

It's pretty much individual use dependant. Doesn'tmake much sense to test a 5 foot pound match rifle at 50 yards...or a 50 foot pound long range rifle at 10.

[triggertreat]

10 yards would not give the information I would need about my particular guns, but do understand there are guns that would warrant that type of range.  We don't have any lizards crawling up walls around here, lol.

I like 50 yards with 5-shot groups to really start to show the accuracy with mine.  If that's not working well, I'll go to 25 yards (the minimum range) and go from there.

I say, whatever your benchmarks are, make sure you can reach them with what you have.

[Bladebum]

Please note that 10 meter competition is done offhand

That makes sense to me, as that would be much more difficult and does require a much higher level of skill. My post is mostly referring to reviews/videos showing bench groups of a particular gun at 10 yards (or around). I've seen it quite often and it had baffled me why that seemed to be an accuracy test people are interested in.

[Bladebum]

North Country Gal said it way better than I was going to.

Which was:
Why 10yards? Try standing and shooting your air gun unsupported at a target 10 yards away and shoot a 10 shot group less than the size of a dime. Then get back to us on this. I suspect you will have answered your own question by then. If you can't do it at 10 yards, you're not going to do it at 20. Remember: the key here is you are shooting totally off hand; there's nothing to help you hold your gun. Good luck! I can't do it.

I plink often offhand around 20 yards at various small targets. My gun is no target rifle, but I can hold my own shooting offhand pretty well...with that said, I'm afraid if I actually shot for groups offhand at even 10 yards/meters I'm pretty sure the results would be, not great 😬 I'll have to give it a try one day.

[Bladebum]

PIck a range..any range.....it will be too close to be meaningful to one set of shooters....too far to be meaningful to a different set of airgunners….just aren't going to get a universal agreement.

Won't get an agreement on the number of shots per group....or the number of groups.

It's pretty much individual use dependant. Doesn'tmake much sense to test a 5 foot pound match rifle at 50 yards...or a 50 foot pound long range rifle at 10.

Very true statement. I know in archery hunting for reference, most back east guys wont shoot past 40 yards. Out here in the west that's a close distance shot so my first pin is a 30 yard. I also plink or practice stupid far with my AG. Ranges that I would NEVER hunt at, but honing in on a water bottle at 150 yards makes you do everything right, that way when you step in to AG hunting ranges it's all but a guarantee your going to make the shot.

[BackStop]

I don't know if this really pertains to the OP, but I use my indoor 10 meter range for initial testing, whether I am sighting in a new scope or checking out a new pellet.

If I can get on paper, in either case, that is the first step and much easier to do at 10 and say 25 yards/meters.

After that, I do move out to 25 yards.

However, when testing new pellets, if I can't get near hole in hole at 10 meters (front rested, rear against my shoulder) then I don't even consider moving that pellet out to testing at longer ranges.

Next, I move to 25 yards and the procedure is much the same, but I don't expect hole in hole because of my own lack of ability and I am using pellets, not slugs.


As my extreme range is only 55 yards, I move out to that by ~10 yard increments after I establish things at 25 yards.   I note the hold-over at each range and if I can still get a nickel sized group when I reach ~50 yards.   Well... IMHO, enough said!!!  (grin)

No, my groups are not always that good.   Nor are they OFTEN that good!  Quarter sized groups at 50 yards CONSISTENTLY would be nice IMHO! (chuckle)

I know that the way I shoot, even with the front rested, I have good and bad days.

Sometimes even the beat of my heart can destroy my groups.

Anyway, I always START at 10 yards/meters and proceed from there.  (smile)

[Mole2017]

As already pointed out, sanctioning bodies set the rules. As one article said it, as things shaped up during the 20th century shooting distances were in "round numbers" like 10, 15, 25, and 50 meter ranges. Seeing as Europe, especially France, was behind so much of the early Olympic efforts, the metric system prevailed.

10 meters seems to have "stuck" as the minimum distance that was still competitive. In fact, the ISSF reduced the target sizes to make things harder--and not just for the 10 meter folks.

So, 10 meters/yards ends up as a range that most could relate to and is easy to set up indoors too, but once you start putting scopes and rests into the equation, it does become almost too easy. When I started out about 10 years ago with my first air rifle, the CFX, I soon settled on 20 yards because that range (a) would show differences between pellets, technique, or whatever easily, (b) was convenient for multiple-bullseye target sheets (I wanted cheap targets), and (c) was not so far away as to make it hard to see what I was doing with just a 3x scope (shooting .177), though it wasn't long before I turned it up to 9x.

Whoa..there's a thought. I was kind of late to this air rifle hobby. The Discovery and Marauder were the only PCPs I knew about then--in just .177 and .22 at that--but inexpensive crazy high zoom scopes were pretty rare. Now? They're everywhere.

[eeler1]

What subscribr and backstop said is pretty relevant.  I sometimes have a hard time getting on paper with a new gun/scope combo at 25 yards.  At 10 yards, if I'm grouping about an inch below the bull, then I'll be pretty close when I set out to 25 yards, no searching for hits and wasting pellets or air.

And, a lot of times as a hunter/plinker, the shots are close in.  So if using a scope, it has to focus down to 10 yards or less.

My $0.02