American Airguns Blog
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Gettin Ready
Like many other field target shooters across this great land, I have been preparing for the US Nationals. The match is going to be held in Tacoma Washington on August 20 and 21. I am really looking forward to going this year. Last year Roz Sumpter and I held the Nationals at Roz's place in Pulaski TN. Neither of us shot worth a hoot last year with all the work we were doing preparing and running the match. We had a lot of help but it still takes it's toll on this old body. I am really looking forward to going to the Nationals, shooting and enjoying myself. My wife's family lives in the Seattle/Tacoma area so we are also going to spend some time after the match vacationing.
Over the past week I have been fine tuning my gear to get ready for the match. Last year I was so busy getting things ready for the match and trying to keep living life that I didn't get much time to actually shoot. This year life is still busy but I have been able to shoot a bit more. The past few days I have made some final adjustments such that I finally feel like I am getting comfortable with my rifle in its new DaveG stock.
One thing I noticed on Sunday while I was shooting was that it appeared that my scope wasn't mounted completely vertical. So I went inside and leveled my rifle and sure enough, the scope wasn't vertical. After taking a bit of time to reset the scope back to vertical I went back out to shoot. Shooting at several different ranges confirmed that the scope was now vertically centered with the bore. A good side effect of resetting the scope was that now I wasn't canting the rifle away from me, something I didn't realize until after I fixed the scope problem.
Things were going pretty good last night but decided that the trigger was just a bit too heavy so I decided to readjust it a bit. I fiddled with the Paul Watts trigger blade and the pull weight screw. As I shot to test the new setting I realized the pull weight screw kept vibrating loose which then would make the trigger too light. So I had to remove the pull weight screw and apply some Loc-tite to it. After a bit more fiddling with all the adjustments, I finally reached a point where I was happy with the pull weight and the length of the first stage.
While I was adjusting the trigger, I was sitting on the floor of my family room shooting out the back door. I realized that I was sitting lower and was more comfortable this way so I decided to remove some of the filler from my bum bag. I had added a bunch of filler to it last spring but I think now that I put too much into it. I removed about 5-6 cups of filler and headed to the back yard again.
With everything re-adjusted and tweaked I shot for a short while and everything felt good. It has been a long time since it felt like that. I shot for a while and managed some pretty good groups. It was a good feeling and I hope that this year I will shoot a little bit better at the Nationals than I have in the last few years.
Over the past week I have been fine tuning my gear to get ready for the match. Last year I was so busy getting things ready for the match and trying to keep living life that I didn't get much time to actually shoot. This year life is still busy but I have been able to shoot a bit more. The past few days I have made some final adjustments such that I finally feel like I am getting comfortable with my rifle in its new DaveG stock.
One thing I noticed on Sunday while I was shooting was that it appeared that my scope wasn't mounted completely vertical. So I went inside and leveled my rifle and sure enough, the scope wasn't vertical. After taking a bit of time to reset the scope back to vertical I went back out to shoot. Shooting at several different ranges confirmed that the scope was now vertically centered with the bore. A good side effect of resetting the scope was that now I wasn't canting the rifle away from me, something I didn't realize until after I fixed the scope problem.
Things were going pretty good last night but decided that the trigger was just a bit too heavy so I decided to readjust it a bit. I fiddled with the Paul Watts trigger blade and the pull weight screw. As I shot to test the new setting I realized the pull weight screw kept vibrating loose which then would make the trigger too light. So I had to remove the pull weight screw and apply some Loc-tite to it. After a bit more fiddling with all the adjustments, I finally reached a point where I was happy with the pull weight and the length of the first stage.
While I was adjusting the trigger, I was sitting on the floor of my family room shooting out the back door. I realized that I was sitting lower and was more comfortable this way so I decided to remove some of the filler from my bum bag. I had added a bunch of filler to it last spring but I think now that I put too much into it. I removed about 5-6 cups of filler and headed to the back yard again.
With everything re-adjusted and tweaked I shot for a short while and everything felt good. It has been a long time since it felt like that. I shot for a while and managed some pretty good groups. It was a good feeling and I hope that this year I will shoot a little bit better at the Nationals than I have in the last few years.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Makin' Stuff
One reason I like airgunning so much is that I can involve so many of my interests into one hobby. On top of my love of airguns and shooting, I can involve my interested in technology and computers by having my website. I have always enjoyed working with my hands and being creative by making things from wood and metal. Over the last few years I bought a cutoff saw, welder, and grinder that now I don't know how I lived without them.
I had been wanting to make a flip up/down target like the one that Knockover Targets make but I didn't like their design. I wanted a design where the bottom disc was only visible after the top disc was hit. I have been thinking of how to design a target like this since the first of the year but couldn't come up with a simple design that would be easy to make. Then in early April I was pulling down my attic ladder when I noticed that it had two springs on either side for it that held it up when the ladder was up position and down when it was in the down position.
Just like that I had the answer to my design problem. A spring could be used to hold the flip target up and then when it is hit it and the spring moves past the pivot point of the target arm, it will pull it down and hold it. Time is a precious commodity and I had to sit on this design for a long while before I could actually build a prototype. So back in late May I finally had some spare time and headed out to the garage workbench. I built up a basic design and played with it a bit and got a prototype that works really well. The spring holds the target firmly but the direction of the holding force is such that it doesn't affect the amount of force required to flip the target between positions. I tested it out in the backyard for a few weeks now and it hasn't failed me one, not yet anyways. I may try to take it to the Nationals this year and give it a more comprehensive test.
I had been wanting to make a flip up/down target like the one that Knockover Targets make but I didn't like their design. I wanted a design where the bottom disc was only visible after the top disc was hit. I have been thinking of how to design a target like this since the first of the year but couldn't come up with a simple design that would be easy to make. Then in early April I was pulling down my attic ladder when I noticed that it had two springs on either side for it that held it up when the ladder was up position and down when it was in the down position.
Just like that I had the answer to my design problem. A spring could be used to hold the flip target up and then when it is hit it and the spring moves past the pivot point of the target arm, it will pull it down and hold it. Time is a precious commodity and I had to sit on this design for a long while before I could actually build a prototype. So back in late May I finally had some spare time and headed out to the garage workbench. I built up a basic design and played with it a bit and got a prototype that works really well. The spring holds the target firmly but the direction of the holding force is such that it doesn't affect the amount of force required to flip the target between positions. I tested it out in the backyard for a few weeks now and it hasn't failed me one, not yet anyways. I may try to take it to the Nationals this year and give it a more comprehensive test.
