Shooting more accurately

[Zzyzx]

Am shooting blackbirds on the cattail sloughs and am not that great at it. Am getting them at 15-20 yards and then about 40-45 yards. The closer ones I am hitting most of the time. The ones right about 40 yards I hit more often than not, say 7 of 10 shots. The rifle is the Tech Force 89 in .22 cal with a 6x scope on it. Is working well. I will shoot and do OK and then have 3 or 4 misses in a row. Crosman Permier Hollow point pellets which seem to shoot well with this rifle. Occasionally I know I hurry a shot, trigger breaking before I am ready. My fault on it getting too excited or hurrying in the setup. Some shots are from the pickup, some leaning on and across the hood or over the roofline. All these from the road, country farm to market and dirt roads with no farmhouses within a half mile. All doing the job trying to thin some blackbirds so they don't breed and add to the thousands that attack the sunflower crops.

What I I do to get a bit more accuracy and especially to stop 'hurrying' some of the shots?

With the Evanix Blizzard this is not a problem. Has not happened to me at all. Stop, cock, aim and shoot. Regularly nail them withing 50 yards and a bit more than half the time at 70 and a bit more.

Both rifles I will shoot into the massed blackbirds in the cattails at 100 yards or so, mainly scaring them up from resting just as i will do later when the sunflowers are ripe and the birds start stripping the fields. If they are used to vacating the areas as the pellets zip by, occasionally hitting one of them maybe, they will do it then and help save some seeds for the neighbors to harvest and Twins fans to chew on during the games.

Anyhow, suggestions for settling down a bit and not hurrying the occasional shots so I get more accurate as I work on cleaning out a few of the feathered black locusts?

[bcshooter]

Hi Joshua, Shooting accurately at a target that is 2 inches wide and three inches tall at 35 to 40 yardsrequires practice, pratice and more practice. Have you tried seeing at this distance where your pellet is striking? Have you tried shooting paper? Set up targets at 40 yards with a POA of a 1 inch circle and see where your pellets are impacting. IMHO shooting target at 10 yards you should be dead on, every shot, at 10 to 30 yards ,your pellets should impact within a 3/4 inch circle. When shooting a springer the 30 to 40 yard targets are more differcult. Plenty of shot deviation from wind, wobble andpellet ballistics. I use a 2 inch circle at these distances andI do not hit within the circle all of the time........Bill

[atchman2]

Have you done the normal stuff on your TF 89 like checking the stock screws, scope mounts, etc?  

At the longer ranges on such small targets, I'd think you'd want a higher magnification scope with mil dots.  I know on my TF 89 it starts to drop about a mil dot at 30 yards.  Out at 70 yards I have to aim two dots high.  

One of the other things mil dots allow is better compensation for the wind.  In a "normal" side wind I aim about half a dot to the left or right.  

I concur with practice.  I'm headed out to Kansas in a few months to prairie dog hunt.  A normal shot is 30 to 40 yards.  However, I still sight my air rifles to 20 yards or so.  I just want to be sure that when I get a good shot at the closer ones I hit them with ease.  The longest one I've ever shot was at 70 yards on a calm day with my RWS 350.  This time I'm taking my 350 again, my TF 89, and my TF 99.  I'm actually going to take two rifles at the same time like I do for Coyote hunting.  The 350 will probably be sighted in at long range, and the others in at the normal range (one of the TFs is going to be for family members to hunt with me).  

Before I go out there though, I intend several hours of practice out at my friend Jim's farm.  I can shoot as far as you could ever shoot with an air gun out there.  It also allows me to practice in different positions, with shooting sticks, prone, etc.  Prairie dogs are a LOT easier to hit than what you are trying to shoot.  

Atchman

[caplock]

I found years ago that to get repeatability which = accuracy with a recoiling air rifle was all down to grip and riding the recoil cycle.
ALL of my springers and gas ram rifles require no more than a supporting guiding hand on the fore end, open palm and a light controlling grip on the the stock/ pistol grip area.
Trip the trigger, piston moves fwds rifle wants to move rearwards, piston hits end of cylinder, rifle stops abruptly and wants to move fwds again in a split second. Try and strangle hold it and it will start to scribe an arc around the target as it does its high speed direction changes whilst dragging you around with it.
Go light on that grip, let it do its thing and look at your results.

Have a look at this slow mo vid of a HW90 during its firing and recoil cycle. Imagine gripping the thing to death and magnifying the effects especially if your shooting position is unstable as well i.e standing and square onto the target

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaW_Hs0B79c

Give it a whirl, may see the benifits if not already doing it.

Cheers John

[RedFeather]

Two things to try:

As suggested, go on the net and search for some downloadable balck bird or crow targets, then make them near life sized. Post some at forty yards but also at twenty yards. Your twenty yard target will actually tell you how accurately you are hitting the birds. Just seeing them pop off doesn't tell you where you placed the pellet. Could be your groups at twenty are adequate to take the birds but, should they be on the wide side, they will open up even more at forty.

Also, some pellets are very good at close range (i.e. - wadcutters), while not so good at longer ranges. You might want to see if a different pellet shoots more accurately at the longer range.

BTW, does you scope have an adjustable objective? If so, are you using it?

[DougT]

Good advice from caplock and Redfeather.

My TF-89 .22 likes to be held loosely: one open palmed hand supporting the rifle right in front of the triggerguard, a light hold on the stock/trigger, and shouldered lightly.  If you maintain the SAME way of supporting the rifle, whether offhand, kneeling, bench, etc. your accuracy & POI should be consistant.  

You may want to consiter a tune or do some trigger work.  Find a schematic of the trigger parts and then smooth/polish all surfaces that tough or move against each other.  I did this, replaced one spring and adjusted the set screws and it made my trigger very nice.  The pellet selection is also critical.  Just because some pellets group well at 15-20 yards doesn't mean they will at 40 yards.  If a pellet groups well at 40 yards, it should also group well at 15-20.

Lots of shooting the TF-89 is required.  It took me 5000+ rounds to figure out how to shoot mine accurately.  It drives my friends crazy that they spray pellets out of it even when I tell them how to hold it.  

Good luck.
Doug

[atchman2]

Just one more thing about my own TF 89.  It LOVES RWS Pellets!  Not sure why they shoot so well, but both my 89 and my 99 shoot them better than any other brand.

[DougT]

Mine likes the RWS pellets the best as well.  I've tried nearly 25 different pellets and the RWS shoot the best.  H-points are the most accurate and hit hard, but the pellets slows more rapidly.  The domes or meisters should carry a little better.

[atchman2]

I'm shooting the pointed RWS pellets in my TF 99. They shoot pretty well out of it.  I bought some on a lark at BPS.  The Hollow Points shoot well, but the Superdomes are by far the best.  I'm going to order four tins before I go to Kansas this summer for prairie dog hunting!  

I stopped using the Hollow Points for hunting when I hit a possum in the head and it kept on going! They would be fine for the squishy game, but I'm now a devoted user of Crossman PHPs for raccoons and possums.  You just have to have a hard pellet to get through their skull.

[djmyers]

On pyramid air there is a article about the artilary grip for shooting springers. It works. Also if you are shooting off of any kind of rest you can fill a sock with rice and use it as a rest. I use that when target shooting. It allows the rifle to rest and recoil as it will everytime. It works pretty good. Also depending on my shooting area I use a camera tripod with the rice sock on it. Very stable.

[atchman2]

Nice idea on the rice sock.  I built some shooting sticks but I haven't tried them with the springers yet.  The sock idea would be ideal for my needs.  I just need to find a green or black one to match my sticks