American Airguns Blog
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Off to Red Stick
I am going to be leaving for Baton Rouge this afternoon to shoot in the Cajun Classic field target match. The Cajuns, as it has become to be known, is one of the premier field target matches held each year. The Kirkendolls, Juneaus and the other BAC members put on a first class match every year. Even if you aren't a great FT shooter, this match is worth the going just to eat the food they provide at the match and in the Baton Rouge area.
Baton Rouge is about a 7 hour drive from Huntsville, where I live, so I like to leave in the afternoon and listen to talk radio and enjoy the drive. I usually get there on Thursday so I can spend the day on Friday at the range. I enjoy the practice day before the match as much as the actual match itself. It is a time to shoot my airguns as well as others and see all the members of my airgunning family. We talk about old times, airguns, politics and just about everything else that old friends talk about.
The match itself has gone to a two course, two match format. I like this format, we shoot 50 shots each day on 13 lanes. It allows for us to finish both days with time to eat and have time after the match for other activities or getting on the road back home.
The weather is predicted to be wonderful so this years match should follow in a long line of great matches at Baton Rouge and I for one am going to enjoy it! See you all on Monday.
Baton Rouge is about a 7 hour drive from Huntsville, where I live, so I like to leave in the afternoon and listen to talk radio and enjoy the drive. I usually get there on Thursday so I can spend the day on Friday at the range. I enjoy the practice day before the match as much as the actual match itself. It is a time to shoot my airguns as well as others and see all the members of my airgunning family. We talk about old times, airguns, politics and just about everything else that old friends talk about.
The match itself has gone to a two course, two match format. I like this format, we shoot 50 shots each day on 13 lanes. It allows for us to finish both days with time to eat and have time after the match for other activities or getting on the road back home.
The weather is predicted to be wonderful so this years match should follow in a long line of great matches at Baton Rouge and I for one am going to enjoy it! See you all on Monday.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Before A Big Match
Something always seems to happen right before a big match. I have been working on my HW97 match stock in preparations for the 2005 Cajun Classic this coming weekend (April 2&3 2005). I finally got all the upgrades done to it that I have been wanting to do and got it out back of my house to try it out and practice a bit. The zero was really off, more than I expected for the changes that I made to the stock, so I rezeroed and shot for a bit. I began to miss high which isn't unusual for me until I get settled in and start following through on my shots. However the groups remained high even after I felt like I was doing my part.
I reset zero again and switched from 25 yards to 50 and shot for a bit and the same things started happening again. It seemed strange but I had been suspecting that there might be a problem with my Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x scope for some time and decided to check it. The crosshairs didn't seem to be verticle anymore and I checked that with my scope leveler and a plum line. Sure enough, it wasn't straight with the top of the reticle out about 5 degrees from verticle.
Before I pulled the scope off the rifle I wanted to be sure it wasn't some other problem so I double checked all the screws on the rifle to make sure I didn't have anything loose, which they weren't. I went out to the garage to shoot the rifle over the chrony. I was fearful that my adventure into the Paul Watts tune may have been taking it's toll on the gun and that the velocity may be varying a lot or that the recoil may be affecting accuracy somehow. A few shots over the chrony revealed that my honey of a HW97 was still as consistant as ever, shooting between 873 and 884 fps. Everything on the rifle looked fine, it seemed to be the scope.
I have several of the Bushnell scopes of various magnifications but my favorite is the 6-24x. It is so clear and bright and usually very tough, if only they would make an 8-32x with a 50mm belle! I digress. I had been shooting about a year with this scope and now that I think about it I haven't shot as well with this scope, having more of the "what happened to that shot" moments. In fact it was this scope that shifted on my at last years Good Ole' Boys match that cost me my third win in a row there. I also had some pretty inconsistant shots at our first club match a couple of weekends ago. I originallly decided to shoot with this particular scope because it has the mil-dot reticle which comes in handy on very windy days giving a rest to the scope I had been using for a few years with very good success.
I decided to pull the scope and go back to my other Bushnell 6-24x scope that has the standard duplex reticle. After mounting it and getting everything straight and level I headed out to the backyard again to sight in and test things out. After getting a good zero at 25 yards I stretched it out to 50 and bam, I was back in action! My groups were tight again and I started hitting my 9mm & .45 cartridge cases. My airgun universe was in harmony again. Why is it that these things always seem to happen right before a big match?
I reset zero again and switched from 25 yards to 50 and shot for a bit and the same things started happening again. It seemed strange but I had been suspecting that there might be a problem with my Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x scope for some time and decided to check it. The crosshairs didn't seem to be verticle anymore and I checked that with my scope leveler and a plum line. Sure enough, it wasn't straight with the top of the reticle out about 5 degrees from verticle.
Before I pulled the scope off the rifle I wanted to be sure it wasn't some other problem so I double checked all the screws on the rifle to make sure I didn't have anything loose, which they weren't. I went out to the garage to shoot the rifle over the chrony. I was fearful that my adventure into the Paul Watts tune may have been taking it's toll on the gun and that the velocity may be varying a lot or that the recoil may be affecting accuracy somehow. A few shots over the chrony revealed that my honey of a HW97 was still as consistant as ever, shooting between 873 and 884 fps. Everything on the rifle looked fine, it seemed to be the scope.
I have several of the Bushnell scopes of various magnifications but my favorite is the 6-24x. It is so clear and bright and usually very tough, if only they would make an 8-32x with a 50mm belle! I digress. I had been shooting about a year with this scope and now that I think about it I haven't shot as well with this scope, having more of the "what happened to that shot" moments. In fact it was this scope that shifted on my at last years Good Ole' Boys match that cost me my third win in a row there. I also had some pretty inconsistant shots at our first club match a couple of weekends ago. I originallly decided to shoot with this particular scope because it has the mil-dot reticle which comes in handy on very windy days giving a rest to the scope I had been using for a few years with very good success.
I decided to pull the scope and go back to my other Bushnell 6-24x scope that has the standard duplex reticle. After mounting it and getting everything straight and level I headed out to the backyard again to sight in and test things out. After getting a good zero at 25 yards I stretched it out to 50 and bam, I was back in action! My groups were tight again and I started hitting my 9mm & .45 cartridge cases. My airgun universe was in harmony again. Why is it that these things always seem to happen right before a big match?
Monday, March 28, 2005
Match Stock Thigh Rest
Wow, it has been almost a week since my last blog, time sure flies when you are busy! I have been working on my HW97 match stock over the past week trying to get ready for the FT season starting this coming weekend at Baton Rouge. I have been busy building up the pistol grip on my Macarri stock (more on that in a later blog) and the other thing I made was an adjustable/removable thigh rest.
I have been wanting to make something like this so I can reat the rear of the stock on my thigh without having to try to contort my body to get the stock itself on my thigh. That really put me in a strained position and makes it difficult to relax when I shoot. A thigh rest will get the gun up off my leg so that I can sit more comfortably and relaxed.
I decided that I would make a plate that would mount under my current Morgan butt plate and have an extension out of the right bottom of the plate to mount a removable arm that would contact my thigh. I started by tracing the Morgan buttplate onto a piece of 1/8" steel and then sketching in the extension at the bottom. I then found come 1 1/2" steel tubing, cut it to 2" lenght, and then cut off 1/3 of the tube to form a semi-circle. I welded a 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece of 1/8" steel to the tube and that formed the actual thigh rest. I drilled two hole in the thighrest arm and welded a pin in the top hole. I then drilled two holes in the buttplate extension, one for the pin and the other for a threaded screw. The thighrest arm was then inserted into the buttplate extension and swung the arm above and below the main hole and drilled two more holes so the arm can be moved up or down as needed.
With a couple of mounting holes drilled in the buttplate piece the whole thing was ready to be painted an mounted. After I mounted it on the rifle I got some tennis racket grip tape and applied some of that to the face of the thigh rest which gives it a bit more grip on the leg. All and all it turned out pretty good, I can adjuste it up and down for various shots and it can be easily removed for transport. It really helps me to relax and has improvde my overall consistancy.
I have been wanting to make something like this so I can reat the rear of the stock on my thigh without having to try to contort my body to get the stock itself on my thigh. That really put me in a strained position and makes it difficult to relax when I shoot. A thigh rest will get the gun up off my leg so that I can sit more comfortably and relaxed.
I decided that I would make a plate that would mount under my current Morgan butt plate and have an extension out of the right bottom of the plate to mount a removable arm that would contact my thigh. I started by tracing the Morgan buttplate onto a piece of 1/8" steel and then sketching in the extension at the bottom. I then found come 1 1/2" steel tubing, cut it to 2" lenght, and then cut off 1/3 of the tube to form a semi-circle. I welded a 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece of 1/8" steel to the tube and that formed the actual thigh rest. I drilled two hole in the thighrest arm and welded a pin in the top hole. I then drilled two holes in the buttplate extension, one for the pin and the other for a threaded screw. The thighrest arm was then inserted into the buttplate extension and swung the arm above and below the main hole and drilled two more holes so the arm can be moved up or down as needed.
With a couple of mounting holes drilled in the buttplate piece the whole thing was ready to be painted an mounted. After I mounted it on the rifle I got some tennis racket grip tape and applied some of that to the face of the thigh rest which gives it a bit more grip on the leg. All and all it turned out pretty good, I can adjuste it up and down for various shots and it can be easily removed for transport. It really helps me to relax and has improvde my overall consistancy.
