Airgun Home | Shooting Diary | My Airguns | Airgun Safety | Slavia 622 Restoration Current Regimen | Email Me Shooting Tips | See My Progress 24 April 2004 - Not a bad session today, I suppose. Shot 307/600 in actual match, which isn't a personal best, but shows me that I can break 300 more than once. I can't say that there were any particular lessons learned, but I did feel a little wobbly... I didn't really feel as solid on the target as I normally do. I'm actually suprised that I did as well as I did, given that it had been ten days since I'd fired a single shot. Hopefully, I'll get a lot of practice this week, since I'm on vacation for the next week. 14 April 2004 - A new personal best, in Actual Match score today: 322/600. Good to see I'm improving. And a fairly narrow spread across the match, too: extrapolates ranged only from 300 to 337 or so. Not bad. Figured out, too, a note on trigger control: you have to actually pull the trigger at some point. Now this seems obvious, but for a long time, I was just kind of applying pressure to the trigger, and waiting for the shot to break. The result of that was my standing there, trying to hold on to the bull, not breathing, for a really long time. I found that what worked better was to pull the trigger back to just before its release point as soon as I bring the rifle to my shoulder, and then lining up on the bull. Takes just a tiny little twitch, then, to fire the shot. I don't have to hold on for as long. Seems to work ok... good enough for a new match score best. 12 April 2004 - A lucky break, and a shooting opportunity today. Went and bought some more of the Beeman Coated pellets (might stick with them, unless I get advice to the contrary, for now). And wow, what a difference actually sighting in the rifle makes. Took me a while to figure out whether it was the sights or the rifle that was to blame, since I could never tell (when you're not that good yet, sighting in is tricky). Then it occurred to me (duh): Put a target up that is nothing but a straight vertical line, and shoot for anywhere on the line to adjust windage. Once that's correct, use a horizontal line to adjust elevation. That worked. The shots are now landing exactly where I put them, exactly where the sights are pointing at the moment the shot breaks. Much better. And the sight picture itself suffered some adjustment. Set it up so that the black of the bull sits on the top of the front sight post, instead of just behind it. It's much easier to see, and it showed me just how much I waver in the vertical. Need to work on that. The problem right now is that I'm allowing the shot to break before I'm actually ready for it; it's coming unexpectedly, too early or too late. Need some trigger control practice. But a look at the scores (click "see my progress", above) is telling: this last match was much more consistent. Best and worst extrap are beginning to close in on actual match score, which I take as a good sign, actually. Means I'm not hitting spikes and valleys as much. Oh, and 299/600 in actual is a new personal best. I know it really blows as a competitive match score, but hey, two weeks... 11 April 2004 - Managed to shoot today, and didn't do so well. Best extrapolate was 300 exactly, and actual match was only 258, which is actually a record low (at least for as long as I've been keeping track). But there are reasons, I swear! I'm pretty sure my sights were off. My groups all seemed low and left, and nearly every shot in the first extrap was left. Sometime in the second extrap, I paused to adjust the sights. I did better after that, scoring 300 on the third. Actual match score suffered, but I'm not putting too much stock in this one, given the sighting issue. I also am beginning to suspect that my sight picture is a bit of a problem. I've got them set so that the black of the target actually ends up behind the front post, greatly obscuring it and making it very difficult to line up on the target accurately. I suspect, too, that I'm kind of "chasing the holes", subconsciously adjusting my point of aim to achieve the desired point of impact, instead of aiming consistently and adjusting my sights. I need to deal with that. I did figure out, however, one little tip on technique. I found out that if I rest my cheek a little more on the cheekpiece, without gripping the stock too much with my right hand, I seem to be able to hold on to the target a little better. I seem to remember reading that target shooters don't even use their neck muscles to support their heads; the cheekpiece does it all. So I think this is correct. It seemed to help, anyway. So, a frustrating day of shooting. If there's anything encouraging it's the fact that once I'd adjusted my sights, I shot a 300 extrap, which is better than my average. Next session should be Wednesday, if not before. 9 April 2004 - Tried to shoot today. Picked up some different pellets, the Beeman Red Coated Wadcutters. I could tell immediately from looking at them that they were a much higher quality pellet than the Crosman Copperheads I had been using. Found out in a hurry that they shot a lot higher than the Crosmans, too (they must be lighter), so my sights had to be adjusted for elevation. I also discovered that my normal breakfast cereal is absolutely no good to eat before shooting. Makes me kind of burpy, and bending at the waist into shooting stance puts too much pressure on my stomach. I just felt achy, and my groups were garbage. No good at all. Then the rifle started making weird grinding noises when I cocked it. Thought I'd better get it apart and figure out what was wrong, and in the process of disassembling it, the trigger spring popped out and flew somewhere in the basement. I spent the rest of my shooting time looking for it, and cleaning the basement in the process. So, no scores to post for today. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday. I'll have to see. 7 April 2004 - I didn't actually shoot today, but I thought this would be a good day to actually begin the online shooting diary I've been thinking about. The basement range just became useable last weekend, so you're not missing too much of my progress. There have, however, been some significant things that have happened in the past ten days or so, so I'll catch you up. First, I've developed a shooting regimen that seems to work nicely. It keeps things fun, but still allows me to track my progress well. This is how I've been doing things so far. If you have suggestions, please email me. My first few sessions, I was shooting around the 250/600 mark, both in extrapolate and in actual scores. Shooting offhand is difficult, I found. My "wobble zone" across the target through the sight is pretty wide, and I find that timing seems to have a lot to do with it. What's tricky is applying timing (pulling the trigger with the 10-ring in the sight) without jerking the trigger. Slow constant pressure. My last session (on the 5th) brought me up above 300/600. I shot only 227.5/600 on the first extrapolate match, but 352.5 on the second, and 305.0 on the third. Actual score came out to 290/600, which was a new personal best. Possible contributing factors? I got a great new front sight post from George at the P&D Eporium here in Edmonton. He just happened to have one lying around, a nice globe sight with changeable inserts that fit perfectly onto my 631's dovetail. I'm using the insert that looks just like a sharpened front sight post. Much better than the bulky stock post that seemed to fill the entire notch of the rear sight. I also figured out that it helps a lot to relax. Don't hang on to the rifle for dear life. Don't tense all your muscles in an effort to keep still. Just relax. Learned to not pull the rifle into my shoulder too much, learned to just let it rest on my chest and my closed left fist. Learned to let my right elbow fall more to my side, instead of sticking it out from my body. Learned that if your sights settle in on the target, but start drifting again before you can squeeze the shot off, put the rifle down and start the shot over, because that stability won't come back. That should about catch you up on where I'm at. I'll post updates after my sessions, and try to keep things current. If you have suggestions that might help me, or questions, never hesitate to email me. I like email! Really, I do!