Annie and I got up early this morning. She had to take some medicine as she is recovering from a bit of "female surgery"/ The vet advises she should not be too active for the next week, but I suppose that would mean I would have to leave her in her crate 24/7, and it looks like her stitches are doing OK, so she and I went out to shoot.
There are 5 very good hints in the photo of my back yard bench that can help you improve your accuracy. One of them is very subtle.
1. Weighing pellets
Played with my geek tools a bit last night - Chrony, digital scales, and it struck me that I hadn't been shooting my pre-weighed pellets or my R9 much lately, so I decided to see what the R9GF would dow with some 14.3 gr. Crosman Premiers. Since I normally don't shoot CP's in this one, I shot two 5-shot groups and two singles at a sight in target just to see how they were grouping. The left target is before, and the left after a subtle change that made a big difference. I have never seen this hint on an air gun forum and it was surprising how much difference it made! . . .
2. The Post-It Note Float
OK here is the tip. I read on "another forum" I have been spending some time with a passing comment about a fellow putting talcum powder on his front rest. I have noticed a tendency for my leather front rest to be just a bit "tacky" - in the friction sense, not the South Carolina sense - but I guess I had supposed that was normal and perhaps even good. I looked for some talcum powder and had none. So I started thinking about substitutes to let the forestock slide more freely on my front rest and hit on the idea of sticking a Post-It note in the "V" of the front rest. Nothing else changed. the second group speaks for itself. Wow, who knew? When shooting from a front bench rest, having a slick front rest works better than one with traction. Makes sense if you think about it -- but I never had (duh).
3. Pellet Tray and Pellet Seating Tool
Having DQ'ed myself on a match or two by hitting a 10X, then, with my old eyes, losing track and shooting the same bull again, I decided to take an ash tray (never used for the original purpose, and count out 20 of the weighed pellets , then close the pellet box so I 1) wouldn't lose count, and 2) wouldn't accidently take a pellet from a slot with a different weight. I also thought to use my heavily modified pel seat tool a swizzle stick (cut down, pointed on one end, and sanded smooth) and kept it with the ash trap. By the way, if your pellets don't roll around smoothly in the bottom of an ash tray, the skirt may be bent.
4. Careful scoring
I tend to underscore myself sometimes, I think -- a natural tendency on my part to avoid any question of over-scoring a target. But being excited about my discovery with the Post-It note thing, and really pleased with the immediate improvement with my scoring, the one obvious flyer I still managed was all the more disappointing -- it sure looked like a zero on the paper. The paper, BTW, is manilla drawing paper I found on sale at a back to school display, but I am not convinced it works any better than plain white paper as I hoped it would. And, it is half an inch too wide for my printer and has t be cut down. Oh well, I only bought one package. Anyway, I digress -- I put a pellet in the hole just to double check and instead of a zero, came up with a score-saving 8. So from now on, if there is any question, I plan to put a pellet in the hole and check any close shot carefully. But the same applies to the 10X bull.
Finally, I must confess that I have not been shooting both the outdoor 30 yard/30M matches and the 10M Steroid matches on the same weekend, primarily because I am lazy. I have a target trap that is 8.5 x 11 inches lined with 4 inches of duct seal putty, but now, having absorbed a great many lead pellets in addition to the duct seal putty, it is a heavy thing to lug down the stairs, hang on the backstop shoot outdoors, then lug it back upstairs, hang on the backstop and shoot indoors. It tends to stay in one place or the other. So, this weekend, I made some modifications to the outdoor backstop and pass the suggestion on to you.
I picked up 8 bricks of duct seal putty and two pieces of 2x2 x 36 inch treated pine (pre-cut risers for outdoor decks, less than a buck each) and decided to frame a permanent pellet trap on my backstop. Eight bricks can be arranged in 6 horizontals and 2 verticals to make a rectangular backstop 1 inch thick. If you shoot more powerful air rifles, then maybe 16 bricks and 2x4 frames are in order. Anyway, I cut the 2x2 to fit the putty, not vice versa, and this sure made things easier. Pre-drilled 2 holes in each side of the 2x2 and just ran some galvanized screws through the frame into the 3/4 in marine plywood of my backstop (which, BTW, seems stout enough to stop everything I shoot on its own). Then I lined the frame and tacked a piece of blueboard insulation over the frame. Apply a quick, light spray of 3M Super 77 Adhesive, and now, all I have to do is stick up a paper target. Works great. When the styrofoam blueboard gets totally shot up or I start hearing any pellets whack the wood, it will be time to re-work the duct seal, I guess
Shoot safe and have fun!
PS: the other tip is to be sure and drink a bunch of caffein when you shoot! Annie says Hi!
