Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Airgun Shooter

There’s always been a debate between shooters about whether it’s best to go single-shot to achieve absolute accuracy, or whether pellets fired from a magazine are just as good. I’ve found accuracy can sometimes suffer due to a multi-shot magazine being slightly out of alignment and deforming the pellet as it enters the breech. This can cause it to veer off in flight, destroying the tight group that you have worked so hard to achieve. There are other reasons why single-shot mode can at least be perceived as being more accurate. Perhaps your mates at the range are using single-shot, so you may feel obliged to do so as well. And sometimes it’s a state of mind. With all the effort needed to load an individual pellet into a rifle,…

In the world of weekend warrior cycling, to which I once belonged, there exists a special formula to help you work out how many bikes you need: n + 1 where n equals the number of bikes you already own. I’ve been trying to adapt the equation for airgunning purposes and I think I might have cracked it. I’ve come up with (gu)n + 2. You’ll notice that the coefficient has doubled. This is because airguns are generally cheaper than bikes and they take up less space. This small breakthrough in mathematical science couldn’t have come at a better time for me, as I admit that I’ve been pondering the purchase of not one, but two new rifles. I’m still loving my Ultimate Sporter, but I’ve noticed there are a…

I’ve never actually seen anyone come to blows over it, but I’ve certainly witnessed some very heated debates about which type of air rifle is best to shoot – one powered by a mainspring, or one with an onboard reservoir of compressed air. People’s preferences and opinions are, of course, forged by many different factors, such as what type of rifle they were brought up with, what type of rifle they currently own and how well they can shoot it. But what about the newcomer to the sport? Take the case of someone who’s never shot an airgun before, but is excited to set off down a path that could lead to a lifetime of enjoyment. Provided, that is, that they start enjoying themselves at the outset and keep coming…

Summer rabbiting is one of the highlights of the airgun hunter’s year, not just because it offers the chance to pit your wits against a challenging adversary while carrying out vital pest control, but also because successful shooting is rewarded with delicious free-range, low-cholesterol meat for the table. Rabbits have had their ups and downs over the years. When I was a boy, local populations were frequently decimated by bouts of myxomatosis. Through generations of survivors, rabbits have built up a resistance to this horrible disease, but they then took another hit when rabbit haemorrhagic disease struck. This new threat has had a detrimental impact in many areas, but I’m pleased to say that my locality has shown a strong recovery in the past couple of years – so much…

Presented by experienced journalist and Group Editor Mat Manning, The Airgun Show is the ultimate fortnightly show for all airgun aficionados. And we cover every part of the airgun world, ranging from pest control and shooting for the pot to HFT and high level Field Target. It’s all real and in the field; our cameras follow expert airgun hunters as they set out with quarry, including rabbits, rats, squirrels, pigeons and corvids in their sights. And it’s not just about hunting. The Airgun Show also features rifle reviews, product news, special-interest features and much, much more. STAY TUNED… … every other Thursday for the essential show for airgunners. Subscribe now at… www.theshootingshow.tv/airgun-show Follow us at @ShootingShowTV facebook.com/TheShootingShow youtube.com/TheShootingShow…

WANTED: Crosman Mark I or Mark II air pistol. Any condition. Peter Bucknall (Staffordshire). Tel: 07939 914342. FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW 100 KT .22. New and unused since purchase. Includes Optisan Mamba 4-16x50 matt black sight with RAQ reticle. Also Weihrauch HW 100 deluxe gun slip. £550. Robert Montague (Surrey). Tel: 07990 511793. FOR SWAP: HW97 thumbhole wood stock – fits HW77. Will swap for a diving bottle – must be in test. John Spraggon (Rickmansworth). Tel: 0746 443 6371. FOR SALE: AGT Uragan Compact in .177. Bag, two mags, fill probe, extra custom riser cheekpiece. Four months old. Cost £1,350. For sale at £950 ono. Paul Ford (Denbighshire). Tel: 0784 1457260. FOR SALE: Artemis M16 PCP rifle in .22. Comes with two magazines and silencer in original box. Selling…

How did you get involved in shooting? I got started through the Pony Club Tetrathlon and then moved on to competing in Modern Pentathlon, which now includes a final combined event of pistol shooting and cross country running. When I competed in Modern Pentathlon, running and pistol shooting were two separate events and it was 10m air pistol as opposed to laser pistol which is used today. I focused on pistol shooting competitively from there and did the other disciplines for fun. I never considered a rifle or shotgun, it was pistol all the way. Of which of your achievements are you most proud? I shot 10M Air Pistol and 25M Sport Pistol at London 2012, and my main achievement was actually getting there. I’m the first and only British…

LETTER OF THE MONTH BREAK-BARREL BLISS There is a real pleasure in fitting a new scope to a new rifle and seeing how it will shoot. I am sat at my table in the garden zeroing the rifle at 30 yards. The scope turrets’ covers are off and I’m loading a pellet at a time into the open breech. Getting a decent size group is much harder than I thought it would be. Yes, my new gun is a springer, and a break-barrel one at that. I’m new to airgunning, starting early last year. I jumped straight into PCPs, wanting the best that I could afford. It is the modern way and the ease of use, high-capacity magazines and cocking action all appealed. I started with a Weihrauch 110 K…

Leather has been used as a sealing material in all sorts of applications ever since the beginnings of engineering. Leather is a remarkable material. It has slight elastic qualities, is hard wearing, flexible and is also easily worked into required shapes. It was these properties of leather that permitted the gunsmiths of the continent to make the very first pressurised airguns as far back as the late 1500s, and there is a bellows airgun from 1580 in the Livrustkammaren museum in Stockholm. Leather provided the means for gunsmiths to create a seal that would be tight enough to make an airgun work effectively – and also to fill the bellows to fire the forges that would allow them to heat the metal to be worked at high temperatures. Leather seals…

Daystate’s bestselling rifle is the Huntsman, and while it’s been subjected to numerous redesigns and improvements, it can still trace its lineage back to when the company started out more than 40 years ago. But it’s those redesigns and improvements that have maintained the Huntsman’s presence over the decades, with the latest incarnation being the Revere. Part of the Huntsman’s appeal lies in its traditional looks, with the bulk of the air cylinder being seated deeper in the stock, making it look more like a rimfire rather than an airgun, and with the Revere, Daystate has managed to retain that slimline sporter appeal, while making some exciting changes. Traditionalists needn’t worry about these alterations though, because the Revere will sit alongside the bolt-action Regal rather than replace it. Instead of…

If you were to play a game of word association with a group of airgun shooters and called out “Bisley”, the chances are pretty high that the typical response you’d get would be “Magnum”. But while Bis Mags are a well-known pedigree pellet, they are not the only ones to be offered by Bisley, with Long Range Gold being an interesting alternative. LRGs, which are available in .177 and .22, are made for Bisley by H&N in Germany. They’re described as being of medium weight while offering extreme accuracy and consistency out to 50 yards. With this in mind, Bisley says they are suitable for shooting both Field Target and hunting. In this test I’ll be looking at the .22 version, which comes in a tin of 500 pellets. Being…

The world is about to be hit with a new CO2 BB air pistol release. No, not another CQB mil-sim blaster – this is the Atom-8, a gun so small that it could very well win the title of the smallest air pistol ever made. Of course we have seen several small air pistols before. More than 40 years ago there was the Cub by Jaguar Arms, for example, but the new Atom-8 from Las Vegas-based Goblin Air-Sports is supposedly “the smallest CO2-powered air pistol in the galaxy”. Goblin are best known for their airsoft blasters, but decided like many others to get into the traditional airgun market. The Atom-8 has a drop-out magazine with a valve, but as you might have already guessed, it’s a tiny one. The Atom-8…

Camouflage means the art of blending in with your surroundings, but that doesn’t have to involve wearing the latest disruptive digital pattern or full-on ghillie suit. All some shooters really need is clothing that will perform well at the range, but won’t make them look out of place after their session, like when they’re popping into the supermarket or heading to the pub. Military 1st has an enormous collection of clothing from brands like Propper and Helikon that are far less obvious than the usual shooting attire. Here are just two sets of shirts and trousers that are lightweight, but practical and presentable, and will fit in well with a large variety of activities and environments. PROPPER MEN’S HLX SHIRT SHORT SLEEVE This low-profile design, seen here in Khaki, is…

A CO2-powered BB-firing Kalashnikov AK-74 is the latest gun to appear in the Brothers in Arms series of replica 20th century combat weapons produced by Lee-Enfield (Guns) Ltd. The AK-74 follows the release of the First World War-era SMLE, and is a reproduction of the model developed in the early 1970s by Russian weapons designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. The AK-47/AK-74 has been produced in the tens of millions, and it is said that more AKs have been produced than all other models of assault rifle combined. The airgun version has the same dimensions as the original and wears wooden furniture. It’s powered by a single 12 gram CO2 capsule, which its makers say will return at least 40 shots. The AK is field-strippable, and has sights that are adjustable for both…

What is Go Wild At The Warren, and how did you get started? Go Wild At The Warren is an outdoor leisure facility in Sussex that is offering shooting experiences for shooters from the ages of 10 years old and upwards. There’s an RPG and mortar experience, proper shooting lessons, archery experiences, bushcraft courses, a camp craft cooking course – and you can bring your own rifle. I’ve travelled all around the world to some of the most remote places, taught survival, and have been shooting since I was about six years old. Go Wild started out with a Hunger Games training camp, which was hugely popular at the time, and then from that we set up archery experiences, which was followed by us offering shooting experiences. Last to come…

Most rangefinders tend to be much of a muchness – point them at your target and press a button, and they tell you how far away it is. The Rapier Ballistic Rangefinder from MTC will do this job really well, measuring distances out to 1,000 metres with an accuracy of + or – 1 metre – but this particular device can do a lot more than just tell you the range to your target. It’s compact, and weighing less than 180g with the battery fitted it’s very easy to carry in a jacket pocket. And contained inside this tiny package is a Bluetooth module that can pair with your smartphone. By inputting relevant data about your rifle, scope and ammo combo, the Rapier doesn’t just tell you how far away…

When it comes to an athlete’s nutrition, you wouldn’t be blamed for overlooking the sport of airgun shooting. Most shooters, whether they’re out hunting in the fields, or in the woods shooting an HFT course, don’t usually cover the same amount of ground as footballers, and they come home with significantly fewer bruises and injuries than their local rugby team. But maybe the world of sports nutrition shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss shooting, which can, after all, be a taxing and stressful sport. I’m sure both amateur and professional shooters will agree that practising for hours on end and firing goodness knows how many pellets can be physically challenging, albeit tremendous fun. For the competitors among us who participate at the big events at home, or even around the…

Like just about everything else, the price of pre-charged pneumatic air rifles seems to go up and up, with top of the line models costing £2,000 or more becoming increasingly common. For someone new or returning to the sport, or a springer shooter looking to buy their first PCP, such prices are daunting, and it’s all too easy to assume that rifles at the other end of the fiscal spectrum are not worth bothering about. The reality though, is that nothing could be further from the truth, and whilst some are better than others, there are a few excellent budget PCPs. Mat Manning has used a Zbroia Hortitsia on many of his YouTube hunting trips on The Airgun Show, proving that you don’t need a PCP that costs the earth…

I must admit that finding potential targets that are a little different from our regular ones has started to become quite challenging in these difficult times. For those of us lucky enough to have access to a club that offers outdoor facilities at which we can socially distance, combine all of the regular hand-washing regimes and conform to the requirements of keeping the virus at bay, it does offer us the opportunity of coming up with some novel approaches for our non-serious target shooting days. “I RECKONED THAT WE WOULD STRUGGLE TO HIT THE SWINGING TARGETS” Talking of which, the presence of, as some of the more serious shooters in my own club have described us as the ‘Plinking Brigade’, has led to some minor disagreement from shooters who have…

There is no denying that we are witnessing a serious trend for smaller and smaller bullpup airguns – a phenomenon that I regard as being good and bad in equal measure. Many manufacturers are leaping on the bandwagon by quite literally cutting corners to produce mini-guns that satisfy the current hunger for stubby airguns, but don’t really cut it in the field or on the range. Get it right, though, and a diminutive airgun can be an extremely useful piece of kit, especially if you’re a hunter who’s planning to shoot from a cramped hide or from the confines of a 4x4. And FX Airguns has a reputation for getting bullpup design dead right. Offerings from this acclaimed Swedish gunmaker usually strike the perfect balance between compact proportions, simple but…