Advice for a newbie....

federerfan

Hi everyone,

I am interested in getting into target shooting. The indoor variety, 10 meter is it? Like you see in the olympics, with the cool leather gear etc.

Only I need some advice about what type of air rifle to get, CO2, pneumatic, compressed air, (taht the same?) spring loaded etc

I'm confused.

If someone could tell me what the good shooters use, a few models etc, I would be very greatful.

I think I've sussed the licence and club details...

Thanks in advance

fedfan

federerfan

Well thanks for all the words of wisdom guys.

That must be some personal dispute that can garner 137 replies, and advice for a newbie is ignored.....

Any actual shooting enthusiasts here that can point me in the right direction?

fedfan

Gun Shy

Seeing as it's Sunday most active shooters are generally at their respective clubs, likewise those that have families generally tend to be caught up in the family outings especially coming up to Christmas.

Have no fear I can guarantee you plenty of replies in the next few days and although I know next to little about the style of shooting your interested in I would recomend that you chase down previous posts from Sparks as this is his area and you might gleam something from those.

However he will be in contact with you shortly.

Rew

Jaysus 4 hours and you expect 137 replies!!

Its taken months for that arguement to get that big. You will get replies don't worry.

Personally I know knowthing about airrilfes other then shooting coke cans with them

scorphonic

Yeah gun shy is right...give sparks a while and he'll be onto you. I know a few good rifles, but I'll leave that to sparks to expand on. My best advice to you would be to join a college rifle club (if your that lucky to have one) or to join a local target shooting club...they are around..just search...even try and contact the NTSA. http://homepage.eircom.net/~ntsai/ . you can see their webpage here. anyways, try and learn as much as you can before trying to purchase a rifle...these are finely tuned instruments, get a good one so that it lasts!

Sparks

Honestly, you try to run one match and you get missed

Feder, your best bet would be to join a good club and start off shooting with the club rifles. Unless you've been shooting for a while already, you'd want to try the sport first-hand before laying out what can run to over a grand for a decent air rifle; going out and buying an Anschutz 9003 on the first day would be grand if you'd just won the lotto but wouldn't make you a better shooter

Again, the choices of clubs are limited If you're in Meath, you're sorted; the Wilkinstown Target Shooting Club is currently the best air rifle club in the country and has two ISSF qualified coaches running it. If that's too far to go and you're an alumni of either UCD or TCD, there are college clubs you can join. Apart from that, I don't know of too many clubs shooting ISSF air rifle in the Republic, but just about every pony club out there shoots air rifle on the same targets over the same distance with the same rifles, so if you know your local pony club, ask them about the tetrathlon shooting and if you can try your hand at it.

As to what rifles to start with, again, I'd recommend shooting on the club gun for a few months at least to learn what you're doing and get used to the position and the discipline. After that, you've got quite a wide range. I actually would recommend you get an aluminium stocked rifle if you could afford it - the new Hammerli air rifle is quite nice - but if money's too tight, a second-hand Feinwerkbau 600 series will do very nicely. A 300 series might do you for a year or so but they're not really very competitive anymore unfortunately.

The reason I'd recommend an aluminium stock is just a convienence thing - it's a damn sight easier to adjust those stocks than it is with laminates as there's no carving involved And if you're starting and have the money, might as well buy something you won't have to replace for a decade or more.

On the pre-compressed versus pneumatic (spring-powered, like I said, not so competitive anymore as the action moves too much. Nice training tool for follow-through, mind) question, you've got some pros and cons on either side. Pneumatics are convienent, won't need any support bits and pieces, and simple. But they also need charging after every shot and that can drive up your heartrate in a match, which isn't good for your performance. They also tend to need more maintainance as they've more moving parts under more force than with precompressed air rifles. PCA rifles are much less effort to recharge, and have a higher muzzle velocity (meaning less time in the barrel for the pellet and thus the follow-through is less critical), but you need a scuba tank to refill from, a dive shop to refill that tank every six to twelve months, annual inspections of that tank and you don't want to juggle with the air cylinders on the rifle either, by the way. (The air's compressed to 200 or 300 bar depending on rifle model, and while they're very sturdy and it's rare to see it happen, scuba tanks - or PCA air cylinders - would make a rather untidy end to your day if they're pierced or broken open).

As to who uses what, to be honest in Ireland that's not going to be so helpful - check the firing lines in the International matches instead. Feinwerkbau's P70 and P700, Anschutz's 2002CA, Walther's LG300 and Steyr's LG100 feature quite heavily. The Anschutz 9003 seems to have had a bad start - I've heard reports that all the top shooters have returned them with problems - but their new 8002 rifle looks like they've learnt from that. However, it's unproven as yet. The new Hammerli AR30 is being used out in Wilkinstown as a club gun at the moment, personally I think it's an excellent design though we did get a faulty action on one of them (a broken linkage, probably during shipping). WTSC also uses the Steyr LG100 a lot.



Feinwerkbau 300


Hammerli AR30



Steyr LG100


Steyr LG110 (the replacement model for the LG100)


Anschutz 2002CA


Feinwerkbau P70


Feinwerkbau P700


Walther LG300


Feinwerkbau 603

Just remember if you're buying, that it's very hard to choose based on performance when they all look so good

federerfan

Guys,

Sorry about the pushiness, just lost a match and was in baaad mood !

Apologies.

Sparks, thanks a bunch for the info. Excellent advice, well written.

Just what I was after. Unfortunately living in Waterford so it will be difficult to begin, but I'll make it work.

But one more question if I may, whats follow through?

I'm sure it has a different meaning than when applied to my forehand !

thanks again guys/gals

Fedfan

Rovi

federerfan wrote:

But one more question if I may, whats follow through?

I'm sure it has a different meaning than when applied to my forehand !

Well, according to Roger's Profanisaurus (Viz Comic), it's not strictly a tennis term (although it probably might apply under certain circumstances)- http://www.viz.co.uk/?domain=viz&page=%2Fprofanisaurus%2Fprofan_results.php%3Ffb%3D1%26profan%3Dsearchstory%26id%3D652%26prof_search%3Dfollow+through

I'm sure Sparks will be along with a different definition shortly.

.

jaycee

whats follow through

afaik.. It's the practice of keeping your target sighted after you have released the shot. The principal being that if your still aiming at the target after you pulled the trigger , then you are holding steady while you pulled the trigger.

Sparks will probably have a neater and better explanation.

Rew

jaycee wrote:

afaik.. It's the practice of keeping your target sighted after you have released the shot. The principal being that if your still aiming at the target after you pulled the trigger , then you are holding steady while you pulled the trigger.

Thats pretty much it. You keep everything as it was before you took the shot except the trigger is fully pulled . Nothing more too it.

Sparks

federerfan wrote:

Sparks, thanks a bunch for the info. Excellent advice, well written.

Nae worries Federer.

Just what I was after. Unfortunately living in Waterford so it will be difficult to begin, but I'll make it work.

True, but you can always set up a one-point firing range pretty much anywhere you have permission to shoot for air rifle; and it's a tad easier to get for air rifle than smallbore or fullbore. And there's at least one lad down near to you (out near tramore) that travels to Wilkinstown every month or so to get some coaching and then trains himself down in Waterford, so it's possible enough.

But one more question if I may, whats follow through?

JC and Rew nailed it. Follow-through is maintaining your aim at the target for several seconds after firing. There's two parts to the why of it; firstly, there's watching what your rifle does in recoil. With air rifles especially, there's very little recoil when firing (though that's not the same as none - even the deadest modern air rifle has some recoil effects, even when the shooter's muscles twitching exceed them by far), but watching how your rifle behaved during and after the shot still tells you a great deal about how you executed that shot and can highlight problems. The other part of the why is that you need to keep the firearm as stable as possible right through the shot, especially with older air rifles and pistols where the muzzle velocity and lock times (time from pulling the trigger to the firearm actually discharging) were so slow that you had to keep aiming at the target as the pellet was in the barrel for so long! But even with fullbores, good follow-through's needed; if your follow-through is bad, it means you're not a good platform for the rifle and that means you're going to find it harder to progress and put in better scores.

Rovi

I still prefer my definition!

Sparks wrote:

...if your follow-through is bad, it means you're not a good platform for the rifle and that means you're going to find it harder to progress and put in better scores.

.

Sparks

Well, it's not impossible to progress without good follow-through Rovi... just really, really, really unlikely

federerfan

Thanks again Sparks,

It'll make my research a lot easier, now I'm armed ( :rolleyes: ) with all this info.

Interested in making contact with the Tramore guy.

Would probably end up doing somethig similar to him in the future?

Any contact details?

Obliged if you PM'd me anything you have...

Will let ye know how I progress...

Cheers

fedFan