Ah, but define accuracy, Tommy :-). Some aren't satisfied with Olympic caliber performance, while others are thrilled to be able to hit the broad side of a barn, from inside the barn! Like most things, it's relative :-).
My evolution as a shooter is a little odd. I got a brand new Daisy Model 21 for Christmas when I was 10. For those unfamiliar, that was the double barrel shotgun model. For those interested in such things, they're worth around $1000 now. Anyway, that one disappeared before my birthday the next June, did something my mother considered unacceptable and never saw it again. No guns of any sort until I joined the Navy at 17. Bought a used Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Mag, and that started my love affair with large bore handguns. Enjoyed shotguns as well, but never really got into rifles. A few rimfires here and there, and one brief period of self abuse with a .444 Marlin, but that was about it. So fast forward another 25 years, the guns have pretty much gone away. Lived in Seattle, and it was just too much hassle and expense, especially if you were a handgunner. And once I moved to a place where it wasn't a hassle, just too many other things going on, and no money to spare on "toys". Oh, I bought another .22 and a 12 ga., but neither ever got shot, so both got sold.
Then we moved again, and now I have room for a nice big garden, and my wife finally gets to have her chickens. But predators like chicken dinners, and cats like to use garden beds as litter boxes, so something needed to be done. That "something" ended up being a Gamo CFX, and suddenly a rifleman was born :-). Went from the CFX to an HW 77 over the next couple of years, then went to the Dark Side. Stayed there almost exclusively for the next 2-3 years, and then just recently, sold off all my PCP's and went back to springers. The current collection consists of a Gamo CFX, a Diana 34, a Beeman R9 GF, and a TX 200 Mk. III, all in .177.
So where do I go from here? Tuning, of course. Sometime in the next week or two, I'll be making a trip to Bellingham to pick up a brand new Grizzly 10x22 lathe, after that, we'll just have to wait and see. I've satisfied myself that I can shoot as well as I want or need to, so that part of it really isn't the challenge it used to be. But I've found that I enjoy working on these things almost as much as shooting them, so it's time to take this hobby in a different direction. So I intend spending the next few months seeing how many mistakes I can make on my own guns, maybe buy some beaters to overhaul and resell. I've learned a lot over the last few years, the main thing being, I still have a hell of a lot to learn! But it's all good, and it's (almost) all been fun, so stay tuned. Later.
Dave
