Airguns Are For Real Men!

I gotta tell you, it's very hard to get anyone interested in Airgunning in West Texas. After all, this is Texas. All the he-man, hardcore firearms types live here. To them, airguns are toys that aren't worth a second look. You should see the first look :( yikes. You'd swear you just insulted their mother. Heck, I was a firearms person myself years ago. Never knew anything about airguns.

Now that I do know all about airguns, I can tell you from experience that Real Men DO shoot airguns. You can be a coke short of a six pack and shoot a firearm decently. At least the way most people do. Setup some bear bottles and pull out the Smith & Wesson and have some fun. But is that all their is to it?

Not until I started shooting airguns did I come to realize there is so much more to shooting. Take ballistics for instance. I had no idea of trajectory until I started shooting an airgun. The rise and fall of a projectile. The feet per second and the foot pounds of energy needed to take down a target or a varmint. How crucial shot placement is. Go for the KZ and don't look back! How to range find with a scope. Determine your yardage, adjust your scope and take the shot. It's like sniper training. One shot, one kill. How about hold sensitivity, breathing control...the list goes on and on.

Can anyone but a real die hard shooter handle what is involved in airgunning? I don't think so and here is why. With an old .22 or 30/30, it's easy to whip the rifle out, point and shoot. If you miss, it must be you, right? Well, maybe and maybe not. Now pull out an airgun and point and shoot. Hmm. You seem to be missing more. Is it the gun? Yeah, it must be the airgun. It's a piece of junk. Why did I buy an airgun in the first place? (Well, that about sums up many first time purchasers of airguns).

What the first time airgun user doesn't realize is the following....

1. Airguns have to be broken in (shot many hundreds of times before it "settles" in and gets accurate.
2. Many Airguns are hold sensitive and require time to figure out a method of hold to get greater accuracy.
3. Airguns have more arc in the trajectory since they shoot less feet per second and use a lighter projectile.

Hence the attitude is, if it doesn't shoot great right out of the box and just like the ole faithful .22 rim fire, then airguns must suck.

NO, airguns don't suck...it just takes a Real Man to master one!

Addressing the Breach Seal issue on the HW97's

I just received a new HW97 and as the one before it, there is little to no contact with the breach seal to the barrel. It has a stock Beeman breach seal in it for reference. The last HW97 breach seal was so bad that I could move the compression chamber about a 1/16 of an inch back and forth with the gun cocked. This new gun has a tighter compression chamber in the action that makes it impossible to move with my fingers. So here's how I checked it.
When spring tension is against the inside of the compression chamber, move the cocking handle just a little before lockup and you should feel the rubber of the breach seal bump and hit the barrel just before the cocking lever locks into place. Play with it a while, you'll see what I mean.
Now, that does not mean your breach seal is good. Remember that it has spring tension behind it. So now cock the gun all the way and slide the compression chamber toward the barrel. Can you still feel the rubber breach seal bump the barrel just before locking the cocking lever in place? Play with it back and forth. If you don't feel a slight rubbery spring feeling with the cocking lever just below lock up, then your breach seal may not be extended or long enough to seal properly. There are two ways to fix this. First, you can make a shim. A hole punch is the perfect size to cut a hole in a shim and slide it down into the recesses of the compression chamber before putting the breach seal back in. I used a .025 shim made of a plastic coke bottle. You can also purchase a Macarri HW97 Breach seal which are custom made a bit longer than the Beeman ones. Just remember to shim, insert the seal and then test to make sure it is touching and the cocking lever still locks up to the barrel easily. If you put too much shim in, the cocking lever will be hard to push into the locking sleeve.

My HW97 before shimming was shooting 827fps with CPL's and a tad harsh. After shimming, I picked up an additional 19fps to 846fps and it shot a tad smoother. NO air escaping. Imagine what a breach seal leak will do to your gun and spring over a period of time. I know what it can do, as it took a great shooting HW97 of mine, robbed it of it's power and ruined the piston seal and spring. See if yours needs shimming and if so, you should end up picking up some fps and getting longer life out of the internals.

Just thought you should know!

I Love Field Target

And I never saw it coming. My first ever air rifle was a chinese B3-2. It was the cat's meow. Put a little daisy scope on it, and wow, shooting in my own yard quiet as a mouse. Well, next I had to have a Gamo1000. I didn't think I could afford it, but I saved up and got it. Then had to have a better scope...well, you know the rest of the story. After searching and searching, I found a place to shoot with some others here in town. We setup a table and shot at targets from 20 yards. That just wasn't cutting it. Well, after doing some searching on the internet about airguns, I found some forums, and then others and so on, until I found out about Field Target. Hmmm, I thought, that sounds pretty fun. So I researched and found Brad's site and how to make your own field targets. By that time, I had started a club and had a few members, so we went to town on some plywood making field targets. Well, our first field target match was unbelievable. I thought, "this is the most fun you can have with a gun, any gun" and it is! Sometime after that, I met a guy in Odessa Texas named David Bare. Now David had BIG plans for field target. He talked me into going to Baton Rouge to the Cajun Classic. Like an idiot, I showed up with a Crosman Mendoza RM622 in .22 caliber and a Famous Maker 12X scope. I shot like crap plus, my scope went bad after lane 2. Well, Ron Juneau, the super nice guy he is, lent me his setup R9 with leupold scope and all the ballistics marks. I had never did range finding, so it was new to me, but after that day I was sooooo hooked you would not believe it. I had to get a good gun and a scope capable of range finding. Thanks to David Bare and some others, I ended up with a nice HW97 and a Bushnell Elite 4200 scope. I was set. It didn't take long before our little club here turned into a full fledged field target club. After all, we were in LOVE. We were dying to join AAFTA, but we knew we would have to hold an AAFTA match once a year, and although we could have at any time, we wanted our range to be setup super nice with bathroom and covered practice area, etc., so we worked our living butts off until it was accomplished and held our first big AAFTA match named the KTAC Desert Heat Match last year. It was so cool. We had shooters from the Yegua airgun club and the Bayou Airgun Club, plus shooters from Lubbock Texas, Andrews, Wink, Odessa, and Monahans come shoot with us. Well, we are gearing up again this year already. Lot's and lot's of work, and to tell you the truth, I don't mind one single bit. It's all worth it just to shoot field target.
Now, regarding AAFTA, we couldn't wait to join and we are members in good standing for 2 years now with many more to come. I love the people in field target. They are the nicest people you ever want to be around. To me, the fellowship is just as awesome as the shooting! As someone who runs a FT club, I know how hard it is to get a club going and do the work for a match. You can ask guys like Ron Juneau and Scott York too. They'll tell you it's no walk in the park, but it's all worth it. I want my club to grow. I want the sport to grow, and I want AAFTA as an organization to grow. Why AAFTA? As membership in AAFTA grows, the more the sport will spread around the U.S. Maybe with more funds coming into the organization, they would actually be able to afford some advertisement outside of the regular airgun publications. Maybe all it will take is some solidarity among shooters to stand behind one organization to get things rolling. Hey, I'm gonna try! If airgun field target were more main stream, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get members in airgun clubs. If people could feel the way I feel when I'm sitting in a big field or sitting in the woods with a few friends and an accurate air rifle taking down targets that at face value look almost impossible to knock down, they would be instantly hooked. I know I was And I'm hooked for a life time.
Thank you ALL to everyone I have ever met, chatted with, emailed, and shot with in these short 3 years I've been airgunning. You have all been a blessing to me and made this sport so pleasant and fun to be a part of.

The OTHER Sport of Field Target

Picture this: Your typical FT targets, but without the killzone, mounted on a single hinge with no spring, just a string to reset it with...and they are set out from 10 to 45 yards. So what do you do? You take the lowest end plinker you have with a good 4X scope and you shoot some "Mini-Field Target". Harnesses and shooting jackets?? No need! Range finding? Forget about it!

This is Field Target it's most simplistic nature. Just you, a cheapy airgun, low powered scope, and some fall flat targets. ANYONE can shoot it. Kids, novice shooters, retirees, and YOU. And man is it fun. When your shooting a gun that puts out a whopping 500-600 feet per second with a super lite pellet, the hold over at 45 yards is a sight to behold, let me tell ya. But it's very doable and you won't believe how many targets you can take down with a little practice, some determination, and a big ole smile on your face. Not to mention that it's a great way to get beginners interested in shooting Field Target..AND when kids shoot Mini-FT, you won't hear the "Ohhh, I missed again".. It's worth it just to see the smiles on their faces.

Think about it

Infighting among Field Target Shooters

I haven't been involved in airgun Field Target for very long, but I really love it. It's a great sport and the best fellowship among people I have ever had. It's great to go to a match out of town or out of state and find that every single time, the fellow airgunners are just the best people in the world to be around. So I have to say that when I see fighting and arguing amongst the ranks, it just kills me. I sure don't want to see this sport shrink in membership, but grow as I'm trying to grow the sport here in Kermit. I've talked to field target shooters that have dropped out of AAFTA because of decisions they consider to be bad or bad timing. Then there are those who argue about the rules or about other clubs or members. I say, we need to just get along. And I don't say that lightly. This sport means too much to so many people. For those elderly shooters that do it for relaxation and fun, to those not able to compete in more aggressive and physical sports, and even the group that wants full out competition. We NEED to get along. I challenge everyone here to sign back up with AAFTA, support the organization, and start supporting our fellow shooters. Stop the griping, and conform to the rules at hand. We have rules and they are made by governors that are elected. Let's just leave it at that and go forward..Please. It's time to get positive, not negative. It's time to make up with those we have not gotten along with. It's time to step up and support AAFTA as an organization and get this Airgun Field Target sport growing. We're not gonna do it with all the infighting and desention among the ranks. I know some will want to bicker after this post, but can we just drop it and say, "OK, Let's just do it" and go forward??

Winter Down Time & Review

Well, things are going to slow down over the winter months and it's that time again to go over the Field Target rifles and equipment. We have made major headway on our equipment this year. All the targets are now mounted to patio blocks for weight. All the strings are rolled up on new spindles and we have new string winders. This makes for a very quick field target range setup and takedown. That leaves us much more time for shooting and less time getting worn out working. The range itselve looks great! We haven't had to build anything lately. I'd say we are basically finished.

During the down time, my HW97 is going to Pomona Airguns to get a supertune. It had dropped off to 750 fps over the past year from 805. This was due to a breach seal that wasn't sealing properly. Over time, the spring went bad as a result and probably the seal too. Pomona says they should be able to get me shooting smoothly at around 870fps or 13-14fpe. That would be great.

David Bare also just recently got his TX200 from Pomona with a super tune. He couldn't believe how nice it shot. He's the one that is sending my HW97 to Pomona to get the tune. David is a stickler for perfection and if he's happy, then it has to be good! He also got his new Nikko Sterling side wheel scope in and mounted and soon with have his custom Mike Abernathy stock for it.

David McMillan is working on getting a new Leapers 8-32 sidewheel scope, but has his new TX200 stock with riser wrapped around his sweet shooting B40 now. It shoots at 930fps with a nice solid thunk and now spring twist and it hasn't even been tuned! He's come a long way and should be a contender during the upcoming FT season.

Ricky knight has his TX200 shooting great in Hunter Class. If not for health reasons, he'd be shooting excellent. But even now, he has improved vastly. Since he shoots Hunter Class, he has a BSA 4-12 scope on his TX200 and he's happy with it. Hopefully with some ballistics help, we can get him shooting better than ever in the upcoming season.

Thanks to all the club members for their help this past year. Some are not involved in Field Target as much as the core members, yet they show up and shoot mini-field target and have a blast doing it. B3's abound in our club and it couldn't be more fun.

Until the Cajun Classic... we'll see ya there.

There is no perfect field target range....

Every since starting the field target club here in West Texas, I had been contemplating how we might make it better here in Kermit Texas. With the wind and open country, I had thought about finding a wooded area to shoot field target in as I was unhappy with the conditions we face. After some long thought, it occurred to me that there is NO perfect place or conditions for field target. You should shoot in the area you live and accept the conditions. After all, that is really what field target shooting is all about. I have accepted where were at and am content to continue the sport of field target in the beautiful country of West Texas. Come what may, we will persevere! Thanks to all the members of KTAC for keeping FT alive here in our "neck of the woods" :)

What's next?

Well, I'm glad our first AAFTA match is over. I seriously think it almost killed me. Setting up EVERYTHING in temps over 100 is no picnic. A few of us worked for several weeks getting every detail wrapped up and ended up putting on a great match! The weather was great, the course worked out good, and there were plenty of shooters. So what's next? Just some nice relaxing shooting... There's plenty of time now to go over the air rifles and get some kinks worked out. I know David Bare just bought his HW97 and has some fine tuning to do on it. Ricky just got a new TX200, so he'll be working on that for a while, and David McMillans B40 is getting broke in now, and we still have to work out the ballistics on it. For me..well, I'll change a seal or two, and will be putting a solid 1 piece mount on the HW97, but I can take my sweet time doing it!
What a rush it's been lately with the Cajuns match, the Republic of Texas match, and then our own Desert Heat match. It's time to breath...I'm gonna head off to St.Louis with my R1 and do some shooting with my dad. There can't be anything more relaxing than that!