I know a number of new shooters to springer air rifles that have found this article helpful in shrinking their group size and in general improve their springer air rifle shooting. So I though I would post it here so others could maybe pick up a pointer or two. I know it helped me.
SHOOTING "SPRINGERS" ACCURATELY
By Larry M. Gibson
I have been asked many times "How do you shoot groups like that and why can't I?" Those who've asked this question are very well meaning. They have invested their hard-earned money on a rifle and expect to be able to shoot it at least, reasonably well! Most of you will make your selection of a rifle based on the advice of others, whether it be from a magazine article, input received via the internet or personally from a friend or salesperson. Nothing wrong there as this is the usual course of events. Nothing wrong that is until you, the new owner, shoot your new rifle!
The problems begin when you get home or wherever your range is and set up a target. A few pellets are fired and you find the holes are everywhere! The more you shoot the more frustrating it becomes. After all, Joe Snuffy said in his article he was shooting dime size groups at 20 yards with this model rifle. The salesperson said this model was "reported to be wonderfully accurate". So why can't you shoot a group smaller than wallet size? Heck, right now you'd settle for silver dollar size, wouldn't you? Well let's discuss the situation and see if perhaps we can learn a few things. Then maybe the smaller groups will come.
First question, CAN you shoot? Now don't get all huffy and upset. I know you're an All-American born and bred to shoot deer at 1000 yards across a canyon while at full gallop shooting under the neck of the horse with your trusty hoop-leever thutty-thutty! After all we are a nation of rifleman, right! WRONG! Rifleman, read that marksmen, are trained to shoot. No one is born with that skill. Nor will you acquire that skill reading about it, not even this article, watching others shoot or from the movies. You will acquire that skill only when you know, understand and can apply the fundamentals of marksmanship. The best way to learn and acquire the skill of marksmanship is with proper instruction.
I remember my first "lesson" in marksmanship. I was six years old and wanting to hunt some gophers with an old Benjamin pellet rifle we had. My Dad who was in the army in WWII gave me the first lesson. We all know everyone who was in the army can shoot, right? After all we did win the war! Anyway the lesson went something like this; "Son ya put the front sight in the rear sight and squeeze the trigger. Got it? OK, go get one"! That was it! And I'll bet many of you reading this haven't had much more.
My point is, be honest with yourself. If you can't or don't know how to shoot now, admit it to yourself. Get some proper instruction because if you don't you will never shoot well. I would suggest your local rifle range/club. They generally have a smallbore program or may even have an air rifle program. Many will have "loaner" rifles and minimal equipment for you to learn. If you start at the beginning of their "season" they usually provide excellent instruction to novices. Admit to them that you are a novice. Believe me it will be apparent to them and they will be glad to help you. This is real the way to learn.
So, OK for the sake of argument let's assume you can shoot. Spring-piston air rifles (springers) like every firearm require the application of the fundamentals of marksmanship if you are going to shoot them well. But before the shooting begins there is the preparation of equipment; is the rifle in good repair, are the sights well mounted and all screws tight, do the pellets properly fit the breach to seal the bore, do we have a selection of proper pellets to test, and do we have good targets with a well defined aiming point? Have we really read the owners manual and do we understand the accuracy capabilities of our rifle? Do not expect an "entry level" rifle to shoot as well as a "top of the line" model. It just won't happen.
How do you know what is "accurate" for the rifle you have just bought? For the purposes here let's stick with "field" rifles to be used for plinking, casual target practice and small game (or pest control) hunting. Target rifles are another story and another article. Let's say you have just picked up a new Beeman R1 .22 caliber and you went whole hog, at the dealers advice, and had a Bushnel 3x9 air rifle scope installed on the rifle in Beeman's two piece mount. Not a bad setup! Now the question here is what kind of accuracy should we expect?
Beeman states in their catalog a center to center (c-t-c) accuracy of 0.21" at 10 meters (about 11 yards) which was probably shot with match pellets. How can you interpret this to give an indication of accuracy at our maximum anticipated range of say 50 yards? First remember that because a particular pellet may be accurate at 20 yards does not mean it will be accurate at 50 yards, but a pellet that is accurate at 50 yards will be accurate at 20 yards. There are many reasons for this, which are beyond the scope of this article. This is why you must test several pellets at the maximum anticipated range you will shoot to select the most accurate pellet for your rifle.
If you take the group size of 0.21" and multiply it times five (10 meters goes roughly 5 times into 50 yards) you have a group size of 1.05". But it really doesn't work out that good. Groups generally open up on a parabolic curve as the range increases and not as a straight progression. Therefore, you should expect your new R1 to shoot groups with some pellets of 1.5 to 2" groups at 50 yards. A reasonable and realistic expectation of usable accuracy. If you have another rifle for which there is no published accuracy data to interpret then testing is the only way of determining the rifles accuracy potential.
You now have an "idea" of what to expect. Test shooting should be done from a solid bench rest position when at all possible. If that is unavailable then a prone supported position should be used. If these are unavailable then you are not testing, you are merely shooting. The idea is to eliminate as much "shooter error" as possible. To reach any valid conclusion as to which pellet is the more accurate you must test and assess the accuracy of the rifle, not yourself. But you still have to know how to shoot, even from the bench, so let's review the fundamentals of marksmanship as they apply to shooting springers.
First and second of the five fundamentals of marksmanship are position and grip (or how you hold the rifle). The position you should use is the bench rest position. Make sure that the bench is of correct height so you are sitting comfortably and not scrunched down all bent over. The bench should be solid and wobble free. Remember the key to any position be it standing, sitting, prone or bench is that it must provide a stable platform. There are basically 3 shooting techniques or methods of gripping and holding springers when shooting them. Which one you use depends on the shooting situation, i.e. bench or field and the individual likes of your rifle.
The Beeman technique or as I call it the "field" hold is described in the Beeman catalogue as; "Hold your airgun loosely against your shoulder and let it jump around when you fire it. Don't pull it in hard into your shoulder or strangle its forearm and don't rest the forearm on a hard surface. Let it recoil and vibrate freely - don't try to prevent it." Many also call this the "artillery" hold and it is generally the preferred hold with springers.
The "hard" hold is described as; "grasp the end of the forearm with the non firing hand so the thumb and index finger are along each side of the barrel pulling the rifle back into the shoulder hard (firmly would be a better term). The firing hand should grasp the small of the stock firmly and pull back hard also". This hold works well with "recoilless" springers like the RWS M54, some of the match rifles and the pump or PCP type rifles.
Bench rest position (also used in the prone supported position with a forearm rest) is when the forearm is laid into a grove formed into the front sandbag. The non-firing hand does not support the forearm but supports the rear sandbag onto which the toe of the stock rests. The non-firing hand adjusts the elevation by sliding the sandbag back or foreword. Merely squeezing the sides of the rear sandbag can make fine elevation adjustments when aiming. The firing hand grasps the small of the stock very lightly, only enough to just hold the rifle into the shoulder and steady the hand for a smooth trigger pull.
Some springers will shoot well from the standard benchrest position, most won't. With those springers that don't we must use the field or hard hold in conjunction with the bench rest. Thus most often when a bench rest is used with either the field or hard holds the back of the non-firing hand or forearm is laid over or against the rest. Never lay the stock or barrel against the rest (solid object, tree log, rock, etc) as it usually changes the point of impact dramatically and you will miss. There are variations to the above three positions, which mostly are dependent on shooter physique or the style of stock used.
The third fundamental to discuss is aiming or sight alignment and sight picture. In your case with the R1 and the Bushnel 3x9 riflescope you are going to set the power at 9 and adjust the AO to focus at 50 yards. Remember to read the instructions that came with the riflescope. You will need to know how to properly make adjustments to zero the rifle. If you are using the iron sights there should be some instruction in the rifle owners manual. If not, well that's the subject of another article, remember that you move the rear sight in the direction you want the shot group to move, i.e. if you are hitting low move the rear sight up. How much to move it you will have to discover.
To shoot well with iron sights you must align them correctly. The manuals usually have a picture of correct sight alignment but they fail to mention the most important thing. You must FOCUS on the front sight. To do this correctly, hold your trigger finger out at arm length. Now FOCUS on it hard enough to see your own fingerprint! That is how hard you must focus on the front sight! Yes, I know the target has your attention or it may be blurred but if you expect to shoot well FOCUS on the front sight. It's OK for the target to be blurred because you'll aim at the same spot on the blur and will therefor shoot good. If you lose your focus on the front sight and look at the target your groups will open, every time!
With either iron sights or a scope do not just aim at the target. For a proper sight picture, to enable you to shoot the smallest groups, you must aim at a "point" on the target. With iron sights a black bullseye is the best target. It should be just large enough that it is slightly wider that the width of the front sight. But you must still aim at a point and not just at the bullseye. You should use a "6 o'clock hold" meaning that the bullseye is sitting just on top and centered on the front sight. The point you are aiming at is the very bottom of the bull, or "6 o'clock" if the bull were a clock. When using a scope I like to draw small plus signs on the backs of target paper. I do this with a Magic Marker and they are about _" by _" which is good for 9x scopes. I can then square the reticle over the plus sign very precisely. If we want to shoot precise (small) groups then we must aim precisely.
Whether using a scope or iron sights your "eye relief" or stockweld must also be consistent. Your eye must be the same distance from the rear of the scope or from the rear sight for each shot, this is "eye relief". The stockweld is the placement of your cheek on the stock at the same place and with the same pressure for each shot. Do not press down hard on the stock with your cheek, only use enough pressure to steady your head on the rifle. Proper and consistent stockweld will ensure consistent "eye relief".
All scopes have a specific amount of "eye relief" required to have a full field of view. The head should be placed at the proper position on the comb of the stock (stockweld) and the scope should be moved forward or backward to obtain the proper "eye relief". With the factory iron sights the importance of the consistent stockweld is paramount. If mounting an aperture (receiver sight) rear sight mount it as far to the rear on the receiver as practical. The closer to your eye the better. Note how match rear sights extend out over the back of the receiver.{/quote]
To be continued in Part II
