American Airguns Blog
Friday, May 04, 2007
Low Power Field Target
There has been some talk about a low power version of field target. Most of this talk was about simple hinged faces that would fall if hit anywhere on the face. However, I started thinking a bit about what fun could be had using low power airguns at shorter distances.
As many of you know I have a Walther LGR that is just a joy to shoot. I have a 35 yard range now at my new house and I enjoy shooting my LGR there. It only shoots around 5.5 ft. lbs. but at 35 yards it will rag out a hole with JSB Express pellets. I put out one of my old wood field targets last night to practice on and man did I enjoy hitting that 1" kill zone with a 7x scope. That got me to thinking.
I wondered how many guys have a lower power air rifle that would enjoy shooting it in a low power FT competition. The drop and drift of a 5.5 ft. lbs. rifle from 8-35 yards is about the same as a 12-20 ft. lbs. rifle from 10 to 55 yards so the challenge would be similar, especially if you limit the maximum kill zone to 1". If you really wanted to make it a challenge the distance could be rounded up to 10-40 yards and the 40 yard shots would be very challenging.
The interesting thing is that all the same FT targets and related equipment could be used on the course, the only thing that would have to change would be the distances and the guns. If the course was setup for 10-35 yards, then even many pump-up and CO2 rifles could be used effectively. Also, if a guy wanted to use a 10 meter match rifle you could buy one off the shelf and go at it. With 300-450 shots per fill you could shoot all weekend on one cylinder! Think about how many shots you might get out of a low power USFT.
I don't know if anyone else would be interested in shooting a match this way but I know I would love to take out my LGR, FWB300 or R7 and shoot some FT with them. The only problem I could see is deciding which one to shoot.
As many of you know I have a Walther LGR that is just a joy to shoot. I have a 35 yard range now at my new house and I enjoy shooting my LGR there. It only shoots around 5.5 ft. lbs. but at 35 yards it will rag out a hole with JSB Express pellets. I put out one of my old wood field targets last night to practice on and man did I enjoy hitting that 1" kill zone with a 7x scope. That got me to thinking.
I wondered how many guys have a lower power air rifle that would enjoy shooting it in a low power FT competition. The drop and drift of a 5.5 ft. lbs. rifle from 8-35 yards is about the same as a 12-20 ft. lbs. rifle from 10 to 55 yards so the challenge would be similar, especially if you limit the maximum kill zone to 1". If you really wanted to make it a challenge the distance could be rounded up to 10-40 yards and the 40 yard shots would be very challenging.
The interesting thing is that all the same FT targets and related equipment could be used on the course, the only thing that would have to change would be the distances and the guns. If the course was setup for 10-35 yards, then even many pump-up and CO2 rifles could be used effectively. Also, if a guy wanted to use a 10 meter match rifle you could buy one off the shelf and go at it. With 300-450 shots per fill you could shoot all weekend on one cylinder! Think about how many shots you might get out of a low power USFT.
I don't know if anyone else would be interested in shooting a match this way but I know I would love to take out my LGR, FWB300 or R7 and shoot some FT with them. The only problem I could see is deciding which one to shoot.
