Sorry for the late reply, my family and I just came back from a spring break vacation. I'll try to answer your questions to the best way I can.
1. Shooting between 5 - 10 yards can actually tell you more about your airgun's tendency than directly shooting it outdoors. To make it more precise your shooting ability and the gun's accuracy will show itself more at this distance compared to actual field target shooting. Here is my explanation why.
Since we both have a break barrel type of airgun we both know that springers are hold sensitive. Now, to test directly if your airgun can shoot well use a good bench or rifle rest to eliminate much of the shooter's variable (you in this case) and fire your airgun. You would realize that using a bench rest or rifle vise will tell you more about your airgun than anything else. If at such a short distance (below 10 yards) your airgun cannot exhibit the tendency to group its P.O.I. tightly (below 1/2") even after correct scope and barrel sight-in then there must be something wrong with it (but I doubt if a lot of commercial airgun will exhibit this tendency). Any error caused by the airgun and the shooter will definitely be amplified when shooting at distances longer than 10 yards. I don't know the exact computation but I think that your error might be amplified 2X for every doubling of distances. In my case, I would say that my inconsistency of hold would be more of the culprit why I did not hit my intended target.
I have already thrown away some of my old paper targets set at 20 - 40 yards distances but what I normally do before (when I was still able to practice at my friend's farmhouse) is to shoot those sycamore seeds (about 1" - 1.5" in diameter) from 10 to 45 yards tops and still hitting them hard. I was able to shoot them because I believe that I have sighted-in my scope at 20 yards both indoors (by interpolation) at at actual 20 yards outdoors. I only use CPHP's pellets right now because I know its shooting tendency with my Big Cat. Once I noticed that the pellet has a tight fit on the breech then I know that most of the time it will land very near my intended P.O.A.. If I noticed that the pellet is a bit loose when I put it on the breech then I know that it will probably be a flyer (I have noticed this many times with my Big Cat).
Now to compare shooting indoors from 5 - 10 yards to shooting outdoors from 15 yards and onwards I guess the main factor to consider is temperature and wind drift. A 0.177 caliber pellet is so light and slow compared to a 0.308 or any high velocity ammo that it will exhibit a considerable drop beyond 50 yards. Add in the effect of wind and you now have a lot of variables to think of before you take your shot. That's the reason why I set my scope sight-in at 20 yards because those sycamore seeds are located from 20 to 50 yards and in that distance range I can fairly predict what would be my P.O.I. whether I need to compensate for a holdover or a holdunder. If you go to
http://www.arld1.com website and access its Holdover/Holdunder simulation using estimated 920FPS for my Big Cat and a 1.5625" Line of Sight above Bore (L.O.S.) with a 0.027 B.C., at 5 yards my P.O.I. would be approx. -1.005" and at 10 yards my P.O.I. would be approx. -0.555" . With a 20 yards Zero-In distance you can find out from the simulation that from 15 yards up to 35 yards my total deviation from my P.O.A. would only be 0.33"! Isn't it convenient? Without turning any adjustments on the elevation and windage turrets I am pretty sure that the pellets would land very near to where I aim the crosshairs. I was able to validate this by hanging tin cans at 10 yards intervals (20 yards, 30, 40, 50... even up to 70 yards one time) and still hitting them. The only changes from the intended P.O.A. to the actual P.O.I. would be the effect of scope cant and my inaccuracy to technically use the mildot of the scope to calculate the proper vertical compensation.
Now, with regards to the soldier's head I did not notice any ricocheting of the pellet because when I recovered the toy soldier's head it was fully penetrated by the pellet so the pellet went through the carton board then to the magazine backing. I believe you or I would be better off shooting soft targets indoors and try to avoid any hard metal objects because at such a short distance we'll never be sure if those metal targets will deflect the pellet to the trap properly of hit us back accidentally.
I hope this gives you some clarification to your questions. Feel free to ask any GTA members about your inquiry. I know that they have far more mature and wide experiences about airgunning than I do Roberto. In the mean time let's both enjoy using our Big Cat to our delight! Hehehe.
I've just upgraded my scope from the included 3-9X40 non A.O. scope to a LEAPERS 3-9X50 A.O. scope with illuminated reticles and it's such a big improvement! Worth every penny that I've saved for it! I would highly recommend this scope to anyone. Imagine a $69.99 scope that can go as low as 5 yards and still be able to use the 9X magnification without any hassle at all! It sure is a 10 yards shooter's scope for me. Hahaha.
Speedturtle
