(with apologies...nope, didn't find some cute little Jamacian...well, I did but my wife wouldn't let me keep her)

Been having some trouble consentrating at he bench...guns I know shoot small groups are shooting large ones (but go back to shooting small groups when other people shoot them)....all things considered, the last 6 months haven't been unstressful.

So I went off yesterday to see an old friend (actually, he started out as a freind of my father), and we spent the day shooting in his back property. Same deal...shooting like a possum passing peach pits.

But my buddy brought me back to his back yard (where he has a 40yard plinking range) and brought out two older match air rifles. A FWB 300U and a Gamo 126.

An hour of that was what it took...zero recoil, both rifles can shoot into 1/3" at 40yards if you read the wind right (and on occasion, have made little oval holes for 5 shots). Great fun. Now his eyesight won't let him shoot iron (he's 86) so both rifles wore Simmons 6-18 Air Rifle scopes, but don't think chewing ut a 1/4" group at only 40yards doesn't make you tense up at shot #4 and 5.

Back to the big range, and things got a lot easier...groups got back to where they were supose to be...and at last I felt the I was controling the rifle rather than just going along for the ride.

SOOO...it's not the recoil a gun generates...it's not the velocity of the bullet. What it seems to be is (1) sight (2) trigger control (3) THE WIND (4) follow through. Thunk me in the head, I knew all that, but sometimes you just need a little refreasher.
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BTW: he put the old gamo 126 in my trunk when i was loading things up at the end of the shoot.

I think folks forget (or never knew) how important the mental aspect of the game is. It's easy to get wrapped up in equipment and ballistics.

How many posts do you see that are asking "How can I shoot better"? compared to "How far can this rifle kill a deer"? or "How can I get another 100 fps out of this cartridge"?

I think folks forget (or never knew) how important the mental aspect of the game is. It's easy to get wrapped up in equipment and ballistics.

How many posts do you see that are asking "How can I shoot better"? compared to "How far can this rifle kill a deer"? or "How can I get another 100 fps out of this cartridge"?


He couldn't work the Gamo 126...it;s a one stroke pneumatic and the forward stroke of the side lever is a bit much for him now...can still handle the spring of the FWB300 as that's a backwards effort.

Are right, posts on how to shoot better are fewer and farther between than they should be.

My solution has been airguns...and am curently geting a few off hand shots a few times a day with that heavy match gun. MAy be short-short range, but I'd bet that it will be a help next time I'm at the "real" range.

I am pleased and smiling :D Mr. Ribbonstone Sir!
Shooting is good theropy for all that ails ya! Is alot more fun than an ennema too!
Cheezywan

Yes, absence from the bench takes its toll. For me it's my Benjamin Sheraton peep-sighted pellet gun that resets the think-what-you-are-supposed-to-do button.

Sooooo....Cheezywan, tell us more about your ennema experience. But do it in a manner that won't hijack the thread.

Yes, absence from the bench takes its toll. For me it's my Benjamin Sheraton peep-sighted pellet gun that resets the think-what-you-are-supposed-to-do button.

Sooooo....Cheezywan, tell us more about your ennema experience. But do it in a manner that won't hijack the thread.

All yu need to know about enemas: Better to give than to recieve.

Recycled public school techer...doing X-ray (at long last, a 5 month unemplyment period due to Katrina)...the AM's are sometimes filled with barrium enemas....have then stacked 3 deep waiting thier turn. If your doctor ever mentioned "air contrast barrium enema" to you, will be a point where you seriously consider hunting him down like a varmint. (BE bad enough...but we drain 1/2 of it and then pump you full of air).



Do have a Sheridan...know all the modern airguns have their place, but the good old pump up sheeridan doesn't scream "Call the cops, someone has SNIPER rifle in the back yard!" Most people have had expericne with Benjamins of Sheridans, and the look of someone pumping up a pneumatic reassures people you aren't a terriorist.

The gamo 126 is a full sized match gun..big heavy stock, adjustable everything, trigger in ounces, and low velocity. Don't count it my gun, it's on extended loan.

Thanks for the clarification and the chuckle. I was under the impression Cheezywan was trying to relate a "personal" experience. Don't know how I would react if he did.

OK girls. It is spelled "ennema". It is good that I remember what it is, rather than how to spell it.
I recall having one performed on me as a little boy. "Let me know when you feel full? One gallon, two gallon, etc."

One of my mentors used to threaton me with "a ###### good ennema" when I was getting close to crossing "the line".

Ribbonstone,
It is good that you are finding your "groove" again. You have lost alot and are still recovering. I wish you the best.
Sorry to hear that you are working again. I know what that is like.

I am wondering what happens when a "flashhole" has an ennema?
Cheezywan

Cheezywan.....too much data.....one gallon....two! Sounds like one of those life-altering experiences to me. :D Thanks for being a good sport.

Cheezywan.....too much data.....one gallon....two! Sounds like one of those life-altering experiences to me. :D Thanks for being a good sport.


Shooting is a mental enema for most of us...clears out the clutte, leaves us clear and clean...at least when things go right.

When things go wrong at the range, tends to make us grumpy and nasty tempered....noting as aggrivating as having rifle and ammo, just not a matched pair.

(BTW: avrage BE runs about 1600-2000cc's...call it a 2 l. plastic soft drink bottle.)

I would just as soon that Cheezy's enema remained an enigma...enough of that topic. Sounds like a tramatic childhood experience that may have helped shape his adult life.:)

Ribbonstone,
glad to hear you are regaining your shooting form. It is amazing what some work with a airgun or .22 can do to return a shooter to proper shooting. Without the recoil and muzzle blast all the mistakes glare at you like the group on the target, then you can correct them. I will agree that a poor range session can change your outlook for the worse, but I try to keep it fun.

I will think of something to contribute to this philosophical discussion of shooting malfeasance when I manage to stop laughing.

Ralph

:p You guys are just sick!! EEW :rolleyes:

:D

RJ

Ribbonstone does bring up a good point regarding the "groove". Never thought of it that way, but is true. It feels good to be in "it", and is miserable to be out of i"it".
Keep squeezing the trigger boys.
Cheezywan

I usually shoot a .22 to replicate the centerfires... my 10/22 doesn't kick at all and the stock I built for it is an identical one to the one I built for my big game rifle... I don't really like the air rifles, had too many defective ones to want to spend another dime on them...

I usually shoot a .22 to replicate the centerfires... my 10/22 doesn't kick at all and the stock I built for it is an identical one to the one I built for my big game rifle... I don't really like the air rifles, had too many defective ones to want to spend another dime on them...


Part 2:

Deterimined to get my off hand shooting back to a respectable level, spend all week getting a little short range trigger time (very short range...but that's the idea). Short sessions once or twice a night, every night.

Got to do a litle real range work today...and just a week of practice seems to have brought back at least some of the old skills (relearning really doesn't take as long as learning did). In fact, practicing with an 11 pound air rifle seems to have made the 8 and 9 pound centefires at lot less tiring.

But i have to say...for short strings.short practice sessions, nothing beats weight as a stabilizing influence.

Wife and kids gone for a few hours. I was working a four hole toaster that cooked two slices on only one side. Is time for target practice. Milk jug at 25 yards. First shot, saw the cap come off. Second shot, saw the water "splash" in the jug. All I saw for shots 3,4,5 was water level going down.
Inspection of target showed 2 hits of 5 shots. There should have been five?
I am out of my "groove"!
All shooting was off-hand standing with my always gun.

I am drinking a beer now while reflecting on this. My thoughts are to put the four-holer at 25 yards and go to work with the five-holer! That would make the four-holer "toast".
Cheezywan

I am drinking a beer now while reflecting on this.

Cheezywan


Multi-tasking...not only drinking beer, creating potential off hand targets (can still recycle them with holes in them).

Not trying to get into competition form (now way i have that kind of time to put into it, and age/eyesight just isn't going to let tht happen), but figure i can still stand and shoot for ten good shots.

Thing is, practice lets you tell the difference between one that got off clean and one that you bobbled in some way...getting that little 1 second delay in vedio feedback...don't know how else to describe it, but for a second or two the image of the cross hair as the gun fired is kind of put in a mental loop, and as you replay it, can see the problem and know that shot didn't get off clean.

With centerfires, would also get that rise in recoil...and paying attention to that rise, seeing if it twitched to the left or right, or kind of "jitter bugged" up like spastic freeze frame, that shot is out of the group.

Can promise this, if you DON'T have a clear precise visual memory of the crosshair at the moment of firing, that shot is well out of the group.

Having fun...popping pellets...getting that goove back.

Too bad I like the Hornsby's, only in bottles... they don't like the bottles at the range so much... ;) and you usually can't get your deposit back with crushed or holey cans...

Multi-tasking...not only drinking beer, creating potential off hand targets (can still recycle them with holes in them).

Not trying to get into competition form (now way i have that kind of time to put into it, and age/eyesight just isn't going to let tht happen), but figure i can still stand and shoot for ten good shots.

Thing is, practice lets you tell the difference between one that got off clean and one that you bobbled in some way...getting that little 1 second delay in vedio feedback...don't know how else to describe it, but for a second or two the image of the cross hair as the gun fired is kind of put in a mental loop, and as you replay it, can see the problem and know that shot didn't get off clean.

With centerfires, would also get that rise in recoil...and paying attention to that rise, seeing if it twitched to the left or right, or kind of "jitter bugged" up like spastic freeze frame, that shot is out of the group.

Can promise this, if you DON'T have a clear precise visual memory of the crosshair at the moment of firing, that shot is well out of the group.

Having fun...popping pellets...getting that goove back.
I agree with all. I was just a little surprised to have missed 3 of 5. I was looking for stress relief. I found more stress.
I am gratful that the first two were "hits". It was a short barreled revolver. I can tear it down in short order.
The toaster is a different matter. I can't figure out how to get to the wiring without wreaking it! It is not built to be repaired. If I can get it to work, I am thinking of "Parkerizing" it.
I will not give up until I make toast.
Cheezywan

What kind of beer were your drinking?

What kind of beer were your drinking?

Who? Me? Time has passed. I am pretty sure it was the "good cheap stuff"! I have a very delicate system and need to stay away from that "high end stuff". It gives me "the wind". 30mph with slightly lower gusts.

I am shooting better now. I will get some extra daylight after work now due to the daylight savings deal. I kinda wish "they" would not mess with the clock, but it does allow for extended shooting at days end.
Cheezywan