HW 97 Ohhh Yeahhh at 50 yards

[barcabarca]

I am getting ready for an FT match and decided to take my HW 97 to the range to find my POI at 50 yards.  These are the best of about 10 groups I shot with H&N FTT 8.64gr pellets.  The second group was the very best of the day. Most of them looked like the first group, 4 good and a flyer!!     It was 75 deg, very little wind about 4pm..  This was shot with a Leapers 8-32x44 on 24x on the bench with a pile of sandbags under the forearm and my hand between the rifle and the bags.  It's shooting a bit over 14 fpe with the new JM Hornet kit.  Smooth cocking, good short shot cycle, no more twang from the OEM spring but still plenty accurate. It does require more careful hold and is a tiny bit more jumpy than when it was at 12 FPE...

[s10gto]

Now thats some great shooting! You sure did you part and the 97 did hers. I love my 97K's

[mtsheron70]

Those are great!  My HW97k will stay with me forever!  Great guns aren't they.

[barcabarca]

I love mine!! I wish I had one more just like her, only in .20  or maybe .22....I can't bring myself to sell my Diana Rifles tho...  I would really like to try the D56th with the new T06 trigger, to see if it is as nice as my HW97 trigger..

[Motorhead]

Sportin a spring gun of that power printin paper that well ... ya got a good shooter there indeed !!
Fantastic grouping & best of luck at the upcoming FT event.

[PakProtector]

hey-Hey!!!,
I do need some training shooting a springer...no groups like that from mine. Good luck on your FT match...and let us know how you did.
cheers,
Douglas

[Calmark]

Great accuracy with that HW97. It looks like you've got her pretty well dialed-in.  I can only hope to shoot that well at 50 yards someday.  Best of luck in the FT competion and let us know how it goes. 

[barcabarca]

Ok, so many people have said complementary things  about my shooting and all that first of all: I think you are all being WAY too modest.  I'm sure you have all hit those targets in your past shooting experiments, I've seen an awful lot of good shooting on these pages.

Second: Here is the things, many of which I learned from you all about how to shoot long distances with a springer.  I will share them not because I know them or anything like that,  just to re-iterate what has already been taught.  Kind of a review for myself. Please feel free to add any info you all have learned: 

Start with Best pellet for rifle.  Know your OPBZ (Optimal Point Blank Zero or where the longest "flat spot" is for your pellet-rifle-scope )

1.  Springers need to be free to move according to their design and piston stroke.  The "artillery" hold is critical.  I have been holding the rifle Very Lightly.  One person here described it as "floating" the rifle.  I lay it on my open palm and make sure my fingers barely touch the forearm.  My trigger hand barely touches the wrist of the stock and my thumb is placed on top of the wrist of the stock not around the wrist of the stock. 

2.  Repeat your hold, cheek weld and eye placement as much as you can shot to shot.  I have tiny dots on my stock so that my placement of my palm and fingers is exactly the same ( or as close as I can make it anyways) each time. Put the rifle into your shoulder pocket in the same place each time.  I use a level on the rifle attached to the scope rail to hold the rifle level every time so that the pellet trajectory is starting from a mostly level, position, every time.

3.  I learned that the longer I hold my breath the more wiggle on target I have. Breathe in then breathe out half of your breath and hold.  I read somewhere here that you have only a few seconds ( 3-6) where after you hold your breath your pulse rate will drop ( I think it's called the Valsalva effect?) you have to pull the trigger then. If your wiggle increases or vision blurs, you are out of time.

4. If you can't pull the trigger comfortably in the time frame in 3. Pull out of the shot and start your shot ritual all over again.  Don't allow yourself to try to "save" a shot. If it's not in place when you are on target, then reset and start again.

5. Cheek weld in the same place every time.  Check the cross hairs and you head placement by using the "head bop" if the cross hairs "flex" or "wiggle" then you need to re set your cheek placement again.

6. Your eye relief should be where you get an entire sight picture. the whole circle.  Make sure your scope is adjusted so that the crosshairs are very clear on the target. Like they are painted on clearly.

7. Rifle rests on flesh. Flesh rests on sand.   Rifle, hand, sandbags.

8. Any tension in your forearms or shoulders can translate into a pulled shot.

9. Follow through is very important.  You have to pull the trigger then make sure the rifle jumps freely and then make sure you keep it close to your original POA when you finish the shot.  I count to three and make sure I hold on target AFTER the shot. This seems to make a difference, even though logically, i guess it cant. The pellet is already gone after all. Gremlins I guess...

10.  Have fun.  My friend who is a well known mountain climber told me that the joy of being older is that you adopt more "focus sports" rather than "hustle sports" you gravitate in your older age to sports that have lots of moments of total mental immersion and focus.  ( Think Golf, Darts, etc..)  Not physical commitment.  Shooting is a GREAT sport to forget about your troubles and find some inner peace and zen.


  Please feel free to add stuff. There is a guy on the Yellow who is shooting really long distances with his springers.  I would love to have us have some kind of 50 yard or 100 yard postal match for springers.. maybe someday....maybe I can open up a "challenge" of some kind... anyways.  I  Love trying the longer distances.

Thanks to you all for being so friendly and open with your help.  It really makes me love this community of air gunners. You all are great.

[thekid]

That is some good shooting.
That is also some well thought out advice/experience.

I float my rifles, they sit a hair in front of my shoulder...after the shot it will be in the shoulder. I have found for me this gives it the room to breathe, if I cannot wiggle the rifle, in my position...I am out of position.

I love shooting long distance, unfortunately at the moment that is not possible, Itching for it though.
This is also how I found the best pellets for my gun... ones that group well at 20 yards, will then be stretched out to 60-80 yards, the best group is the best pellet.
I would use a sheet of ply wood, put targets on that, measure the groups ( some you didn't have too, it was that obvious).
After this then resight in at the intended distance, usually 25 yards.
Then let the fun begin.

I have always practiced my stances, be it seated, kneeling, prone, (no more standing) or benched, Having a good bead on the target is very important. Just as important is the position of you. A well practiced stance, letting you point the gun more naturally, will ensure a better group.
If going for a 50 yard bench shot, after in position, I will take a second or two, close my eyes and let my body relax. When I open them if the crosshairs are not in the general viscinity of the target, I reposition my body NOT the rifle.

Tense muscles to stay on target will give you poor groups. The muscles do not have the ability to hold firm through the double recoil. If relaxed and the crosshairs are 2 inches to the left, but you are fighting to keep on target, then the pellet will go left of the target.
Being in a relaxed state is critical to accuracy.

When aiming at different angles, the rifle will behave differently during each position....aim low...aim high...aim level.
Seeing that the rifle rocks at the time of the shot,  Muzzle up during the time the piston is rushing home.....muzzle down when the piston hits home.
At the different angles, different parts of the butt pad are going to make contact with the shoulder, when this happens groups will change dramatically.
Aiming up....top of butt pad will contact shoulder...aiming down, bottom of buttpad will contact armpit of shoulder....aiming level will throw the buttpad into the shoulder. Each will have a POI all it's own....unless floating the rifle, with the trigger hand making fine tuned adjustments...instead of your shoulder.

This is for Target practice... it applies to hunting, but more for the precision of tiny targets.

Just some of my experience.