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Thread: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

  1. #1
    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
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    Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    I'm off work today, and I intended to spend a sweet hour or two at the local air rifle range.

    In honesty, my heart (but not my head) was set upon an additional gun to my collection: a pre charged pneumatic I'd seen and shot last week, but that's an aside and by luck it had sold already, leaving me time to concentrate on my shooting with my spring air rifle.

    It's a good range. It's friendly and the first half is indoors, and the rest .. today... in pouring rain.

    When I arrived a family of father and sons, estimate age from 19 to 13 I'd guess. They were chatting in the gun shop and out they went to the range across the way. I sat with the gun shop owner, a hot tea in my hand and we chatted about shooting in general. Good times. The family had come on the suggestion of their friend who is a local gun rep, supplying air rifles and clothing to gun shops, and they had struggled to find somewhere friendly and helpful, without intense scrutiny on their motives for membership, nor pressure to buy a gun or three.

    This did put some sorrow in my heart tbh. How will entire families join in with a new sport if it's so hard to just try it? I know it's a daunting thing to go and take your whole family to a new sport. Either way, they chose well.

    I unloaded my HW80 and some paper targets and waited until they'd all expended their 10 shot magazines and listened to really friendly family banter. Then it occured to me that the three sons were all shooting PCP's (charged with compressed air... no recoil) and dad was shooting a faily low grade springer (old style, cocked y pulling the barrel down to compress the spring.. lots of recoil. Not painful.. just wobbly for accuracy)

    frankly they were handing him his arse on a plate. Not surprising... their borrowed guns were £400 + each, .... Dad's was £95

    I was sat next to junior and his shooting stance on the table rest was bad. I asked if he'd like help? He did.. yes please. 10 minutes later.. good student to be honest.

    We all finished our targets, made the range safe and swapped paper targets again. Excellent banter and very safe. I taught the father to break the barrel of his gun a little to show it was safe.

    I wandered among them a little and realised just how MUCH I wanted to teach them all !! Quite a shock to me, my desire to help them all. Many of you know I don't struggle to stick my oar in.. so I asked if they'd LIKE more of my help? Pretty clear "yes please" :-)

    Firstly I suggested changing to some of my other pellets for the father. His .22 choice (made by his sons, with all innocence) were SMK Spitfire pointed pellets. Without being too subtle, I showed them how badly malformed many of them were. Pointed pellets deform easily. Ones with twin skirt rings more so. Combine that and you've got a disaster. I stuck 10 H&N diablo (from the middle son's borrowed PCP) in front of Dad and groups tightened.

    Next.. stance. Much is online about artillery hold.. I'll let you research it, but suffice to say, if a gun wants to recoil you have to let it. SO long as you let it recoil the SAME WAY every time, then you will hit a lot more.
    Mammoth improvement. Then I swapped him to flat headed wad cutter's. Useless at long range for hunting, but up close on paper targets... many air rifles prefer them. Crosman were good but RWS Hobby were perfect. Group's tightened.

    And this father got quite proud.

    Around him his sons were improving, with and without my help.

    I suggested the two "girls with compressed air cheating guns" stand up and stop leaning on the kitchen table joke was taken very well and they tried. Was funny watching them try to hit anything at all A standing shot is HARD on a small paper target.

    Then I suggested the two older sons try the gun Dad's using. NO WORRIES... in they jump. Utter failure.

    Dad shoots the PCP.. and does exactly what I knew he'd do... hits the target first time, shakes his head and says "it's not so much fun... it's too easy"

    3 hours later.. and I've perhaps shot only 20 myself... and they've recharged over and over and emptied tins. But oh the smiles

    Met back in the shop, much smiling and thanking, and off they went happy as a family can be. Shop owner suitable pleased and grateful, and Zak wanders home swelling with the inner pride of a job well done, voluntarily and sufficiently I hope to bring a family into shooting.

    A lovely afternoon

    Quote Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
    "The second you aren't paying attention to the tool you're using, it will take your fingers from you. It does not know sympathy." |
    "If you don't gaffer it, it will gaffer you" | "Belt and braces"

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    radix lecti dave87's Avatar
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    Re: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    Well done Zak - I had a go at shooting clays a few weeks back and rather enjoyed it. Started looking at getting into it, but most local ranges' websites are rubbish!

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    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
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    Re: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    It's NOT a Web based business....I've got to agree.

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    Va Va Voom Lowe's Avatar
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    Re: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    Lovely stuff Zak, having a third party look over your technique is so helpful. I learned a lot from people offering advice at various shooting clubs back when I was doing a fair bit of field target shooting. I never really got the PCP bug even though it meant I wasn't scoring as high as the others. What I did find though was it was a whole lot more satisfying when you got a good grouping with a springer, or you managed to hit a 25mm eliminator at 40+ yards. It's also funny how the skills stay with you too, bit like riding a bike. Got a good story about that actually.

    Bare in mind I used to shoot most when I was about 18, then I lost access to a rifle when I was at uni. A few years later when I was in my mid twenties I visited my Dad with my (at the time) girlfriend since he'd moved and was now living on a farm. He'd recently dug out the old TX200 had it serviced and so offered me the chance to see if I could still shoot in a straight line! We didn't have any paper targets so had a rummage through the bin and came across an empty Bisto tin. We took the lid off, put some Blu Tak on the bottom of it so it would stand up, and took it to the bottom of the garden. We roughly measured it at 32 yards - fairly easy range for the TX200, bread and butter stuff. So, to make it more interesting Dad suggests no sitting shots. Standing only.

    I dial in the range on the scope, load up a Superdome (washed and hand selected naturally), feel the weight of the rifle in my hands and take aim. Breath slowly, relax, release half a breath and BANG. Bisto lid goes flying. We three take a walk to find the lid and see where I'd hit it. Dad holds it up and there's a hole absolutely dead centre. It had punched a rough hole, leaving a few bits of plastic as an 'exit wound'. Dad raises an eyebrow and doesn't say anything. Girlfriend rolls her eyes disapprovingly, as if I'm showing off. Dad suggests it's a jammy fluke and that I can't do it again. He stakes a pub lunch on it. We walk back to the shooting position, I settle in for the shot and BANG, Bisto lid goes flying again. We take a walk down to the target and my girlfriend finds the lid. She holds it up, grinning. "You missed!" she says. Thinking I must have hit the Bisto container instead I give it the once over but can't find a mark on it. Indeed, the Blu Tak's still there so I must have hit the lid. Dad asks to take a look at the lid, and after a couple of seconds starts to shake his head and mutter a few choice words under his breath. He chucks the lid over to me.

    One perfectly punched out hole. No rough bits hanging out the back any more.

    It took about a minute for the missus to work out what had happened, and she didn't say much the rest of the day. I on the other hand enjoyed my pub lunch. Always tastes better when someone else is paying.

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lowe View Post
    ... It took about a minute for the missus to work out what had happened, and she didn't say much the rest of the day. ...
    OTOH, she was right, of course - you were showing off. You just had the skills to back it up

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    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
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    Re: Today, I taught a family to shoot straight :-)

    TX200

    still one of the finest springers

    http://www.air-arms.co.uk/products/spring-guns/tx200-hc

    Quote Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
    "The second you aren't paying attention to the tool you're using, it will take your fingers from you. It does not know sympathy." |
    "If you don't gaffer it, it will gaffer you" | "Belt and braces"

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