Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i Airgun Shooter

Photographer Steve Clayton’s image of a barn owl hunting has won a leading wildlife and nature prize run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. “Steve has captured the moment when the owl closes in on its prey, hovering with wings outstretched, ready to swoop. It is a remarkable image, and the judges were unanimous in selecting it as the overall winner,” said GWCT judge James Swyer. Steve explained: “I took this image in July, around 8pm, in a field of fresh-cut hay. I was waiting for a fox to appear, as they often hunt mice in the hay, but this owl showed up and began hunting. It didn’t see me in the hedge bottom and came quite close and I was able to get the image. The fox never…

WIN! THE BEST LETTER GETS A SET OF SPORTSMATCH MOUNTS LETTER OF THE MONTH LEAD’S NOT DEAD Being an inventor, and a member of an inventors and innovators group, I am interested in everything. I never know where a new idea might be discovered. I am also an active shooter for these past 56 years using airguns, target pistols pre-Dunblane, rifles and shotguns. I feel I am being hounded by the anti-shooters and unsupported by the shooting organisations, and frankly betrayed to some extent by shooting journalists willing to appease shooting detractors by using substandard ammunition materials. When one battle is won by shooting opponents they will find something else that displeases them regarding our chosen and somewhat necessary sport. I did a bit of research, reading some scientific papers…

PRINT & DIGITAL SAVE UP TO 54% BETTER THAN HALF PRICE! – WAS £29.19, NOW £13.25 SUBSCRIBE ONLINE NOW www.magazinesdirect.com/X202 OR CALL0330 333 1113 and quote X202 Choose your package DIGITAL SAVE 34% WAS £12.97 , NOW £8.50 •INSTANT ACCESS ANYTIME, ANYWHERE ON IOS AND ANDROID• PRINT SAVE 33% WAS £16.22, NOW £10.75 •HOME DELIVERED• GREAT VALUE Pay by Direct Debit ✔ Automatic renewal – never miss an issue □ Print & Digital: Pay only £13.25 every 3 months, saving 54% (full price £29.19) □ Digital Only: Pay only £8.50 every 3 months, saving 34% (full price £12.97) □ Print Only: Pay only £10.75 every 3 months, saving 33% (full price £16.22) Please post this form to FREEPOST FUTURE PUBLISHING LIMITED (No further address needed. No stamp required - for UK only) ■ Please keep me…

Without exception, the Hunter Field Target World Championships is one of the greatest events in the HFT scene, but due to travel complications, many overseas competitors were unable to attend the “Worlds”. Consequently, the WHFTA 2021 HFT World Championships was renamed the WHFTA 2021 British Open. However, the number of shooters able to attend the event wasn’t compromised with the host club, Emley Moor FTC, promising that this year’s event would be as impressive as previous years. Founded in 1993, Emley Moor FTC has been at the forefront of many of the larger HFT leagues as well as having great success at holding their own competitions – with credit to the existing WHFTA course-setting team. Chosen to host the two-day event, Emley Moor’s team of Trev Ryan, Chris Cundey and…

Who’d be a rat? One moment you’re enjoying life with unlimited food, plenty of warmth and a nice roof over your head. The next minute your world is turned upside down and all hell breaks loose. Sometimes it helps to think like your quarry, and those thoughts, or something like them, must have been going through the tiny rodent minds of the rats on one of my permissions recently. It’s a free-range chicken farm, and during the day the hens roam around the area. But when the sun goes down, they march into one of several huge chicken houses where they’re tucked up for the night. Sounds cosy doesn’t it? And I suppose it is, apart from the fact the birds have to share their sleeping quarters, not to mention…

They may not be so plentiful these days, but back in Edwardian Britain there were quite a few .25 calibre air rifles around, such as Gems, Millitas, Bugelspanners and Musketeers. When BSA got firmly established, taking the Lincoln Jeffries patented design to the next level, the company eventually released their Improved Model D in the big No.3 Bore, or .250” calibre. There was a short version, but the increased powerplant of the longer 45” action compensated for the heavier pellet. Today, .25 springer owners look for a selection of mid to lighter weight pellets to maximise performance. But in 1908? BSA decided quickly to ditch the calibre, concentrating on the .22 in this longer action. This was less to do with the heavier calibre and more to do with marketing,…

Daystate shooter Tom Adams has won Extreme Benchrest 2021 – the world’s richest airgun competition. He shot his Red Wolf to victory in the 100-yard Pro Class Finals at what was the 10th EBR in Phoenix. Tom’s victory netted him not only $5,000 in prize money, but a Mahindra Roxor off-road vehicle worth over $32,000. With a prize of over $77,000, EBR 2021 attracted 165 competitors from around the globe. EBR 2021, which was organised by Airguns of Arizona and hosted by Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club, pushes both shooters and their equipment to the extreme across multiple classes. However, Tom’s .22 Red Wolf was up to the task in the main event – he won with a score of 222, four points behind Nikolay Boldov on 218. Tom also took…

WORTH £330 MTC’s 4-16x50 F2 is the first in a series of new King Cobra scopes to be launched this year, and while it’s chock-full of features, including some superb glass, the first things that you’ll notice about this 30mm-bodied optic are its distinctive copper-coloured accents, including a front band, side plates and MTC logo. As the name implies, the King Cobra 4-16x50 F2 is a second focal plane telescopic sight, and this optic comes equipped with the SCB2 (small calibre ballistic) multi-aimpoint reticle. The reticle offers six levels of illumination in red, with the IR control being located on the left-hand side of the saddle, outboard of the parallax control. It also features click-stop adjustments in milliradians, with one click moving your pellet or slug’s point of impact by…

It’s 5.15am. Not only that, but it’s a Sunday morning, my alarm is ringing in my ear and I’m starting to wonder why I ever thought this was a good idea. The internet has a lot to answer for, because it was on one of the airgun forums that I heard about today’s planned activity. I drag myself out of my pit, quietly creep out of the bedroom trying not to wake the wife and fall unceremoniously through Jack’s door to find him just waking up. He’s pretty chipper for an 11-year-old, especially when you consider the time, and is far more excited at this point than me about the prospect of a two-hour drive north to essentially lay on the floor a lot with our air rifles. We are…

While it’s possible to spend a small fortune on airgun shooting, our sport still remains accessible to all. Many shooters new to the sport will cut their teeth on airgunning via some good old-fashioned garden plinking, and today this still remains a viable, fun and safe way to introduce new people to the sport, with the gear required for this generally being fairly inexpensive Plinking isn’t just for beginners though as it’s also a great way to mentally unwind away from more challenging pursuits such as hunting or competition shooting. Let’s say you’re starting out. Buying a rifle is one thing, but what about all the paraphernalia you’ll need to get up and running? Most of us need to be careful with our money, and that’s where rifles like the…

One reason airgun shooting is growing in popularity is because it’s a sport that remains accessible to all. With that in mind, we’ve gathered together some of our top choices of guns, optics and gear for a huge range of applications that will deliver a positive and enjoyable shooting experience. Rifles AIR ARMS S510 TACTICAL Air Arms’ new S510 Tactical combines the proven action of the S510 with an ergonomic and functional AR-15-style stock, which lets the user change the way the rifle is configured to suit the type of shooting they’re about to do. air-arms.co.uk BROCOCK RANGER XR Some airgun hunters need to travel light, while others shoot from confined areas. Brocock’s Ranger XR will find itself at home in any of these scenarios as it’s a super-compact and…

When it was launched back in 1996, the Air Arms Pro Sport was unashamedly designed to be beautiful to behold and technically outstanding. Its sibling, the TX200, had been unveiled in November 1991, and already had a huge following, along with much silverware on the competition circuit. Although the Pro Sport shared the mechanical heart of the TX200, it had to look different – sleeker and more purposeful – to claim its crown as the pinnacle of the Air Arms spring rifle range. By designing the aluminium cocking arm to sit inside the stock of the rifle, and heavily shrouding the 377mm barrel, Air Arms were able to produce an air rifle which had the look and presence of a fullbore. Even after 27 years, the Pro Sport is described…

Technological advancements in night vision optics have far exceeded anything that most shooters could have imagined just a few years ago. The InfiRay Rico RL42 thermal riflescope is at the top of the tree when it comes to the evolution of after-dark optics, and I have been having a great time putting it through its paces over the past few weeks. Before we go any further though, I will point out that the Rico is not cheap and retails around £2,999.99. Three grand is a serious amount of money to fork out for a thermal optic to plonk on top of an airgun but remember that this is one of the best out there. Shooters who do enough after-dark pest control to justify such an outlay and can stretch to…

When the weather cooperates, shooting at night in the winter can be very productive. Hordes of scavenging rats come in from the exposed countryside to seek shelter around farms and those grass-gobbling rabbits still have to venture out of their burrows to feed. Of course, shooting in the dark requires night vision optics. Lamping still works, but in my opinion it doesn’t hold a candle (pun intended) to infrared (IR) and thermal technology. There are plenty of products to choose from and fortunately varying budgets are increasingly catered for. There are three basic categories of night vision optic – infrared (IR) scopes, thermal scopes and add-ons – either IR or thermal – that are attached to a regular day scope. We’ll be taking a look at all three over the…