The Outdoors Guide

Many people seem to judge the effectiveness of a springer tune by how smoothly the rifle cocks, the amount of force needed to cock it, and the lack of spring noise that accompanies the shot. In fact, it is incredibly easy to achieve any or all of those qualities, but whether they are achieved at the expense of a reduction in accuracy is often overlooked. The other quality that is sought in a tuned rifle is a ‘nice’ shot cycle, but that’s a rather personal matter, with some preferring a quick action, others something more sedate. To make matters worse, our subjective perception of the nature of the shot cycle, and what the rifle is actually doing, is not necessarily the same thing, and I’m convinced that we tend to be susceptible to forming an opinion based more in line with our expectation than fact. The recoil takes place in around one hundredth of a second, and most rifles’ recoil displacement is in the region of 6mm to 9mm. A fast action might reduce the time duration of the re...

Open sights on a CO2 plinking pistol are about the simplest sighting system you can get. They are all I had on my first CO2 pistol, the CP88, and then we began to see lasers and smaller red dot sights come to the market. There is nothing wrong with open sights. In fact, I use them now in my three gun competitions. Most open sights on BB guns are fixed and nonadjustable, but as long as you know where they are shooting, most fixed open sights are close to the mark. A lot come with white dots on them now for faster alignment; one dot on the front post and one dot either side of the rear notch. Some even have fiber-optic elements, but that is mainly on CO2 pellet-firing pistols and not the faster-firing BB guns. EYES OPEN The standard technique with air pistol shooting is to close the eye you are not using to line up the sights. This is the way I was taught, and it’s only in the past few years that I’ve changed to having both eyes open. It’s mainly due to the three gun comps I sho...

In this article we’re going to look at the two main methods of making adjustments so that your shots will fall on target in spite of changes in range and environmental conditions. Let’s look at Dope first because it’s perhaps the easiest to explain. D.O.P.E is actually an acronym, and although opinions on its meaning vary, it is for the greater part taken to mean Data of Previous Engagements, although more recently, it has become a word in its own right. In simple terms, DOPE represents a collection, or table, of reference information gathered from previous shots, which the shooter can use to adjust point of aim to allow for varying distances or wind. This data is then put into the scope, giving a better chance of getting the first round on target. This data can be a small pocket book, but is more usually collated on a single piece of card that can either be attached to the rifle, or worn around the neck, for easy reference; it is usually known as a DOPE or range card. ZER...

We’ve gone big on Weihrauch this month, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the HW100KT LA featured on the cover and in the editor’s test is the most important airgun to carry that famous German maker’s name. You’d be wrong, though. This HW30K, junior-sized, break-barrel springer kit is every bit as ‘big’ a product, and perhaps even more important, thanks to the role it plays in our sport. THE HW30K KIT Let’s see what the Weihrauch HW30K Kit contains, before we evaluate its importance or anything else it may provide for its £200 price tag. For that money, or very possibly a bit less, you get the HW30K rifle in .177, a neat little 4 x 32 scope with finger-friendly turrets and a duplex reticle, and a set of two-piece mounts. Most importantly of all, the rifle is a proper Weihrauch, with all of the build quality and performance that brand carries. Along with the Weihrauch quality comes a pride of ownership that will make any junior shooter feel as important as the rifle, ...

First, thanks to everyone who wished me well in my efforts to learn as much as I can about the sport of airgun shooting. The editor passed these on to me, along with some good advice about where I’m going with my series, although he told me he’d rather I found out as much as I can, myself, because that’s how the readers of this magazine will do it. My series is about finding the right way to do things, but in the real world that means making the mistakes that everyone makes, and after reading what I wrote last month, I realize I’ve already made a huge one. SAFETY FIRST I’ve been thinking so much about learning the dozens, probably hundreds, of skills and techniques, that I’ve taken the most important one of all for granted. Safe, legal shooting has to be the main priority for everyone in our sport, and I’ve been taught to handle guns, knives, axes, power tools, and even vehicles in a safe and responsible way since I was old enough to touch them. The main piece of advic...

I pulled up in a lay-by at the side of the road and studied the field in the distance, through my binoculars. The area I was surveying was a group of three, freshly drilled bean fields and I was looking for pigeons. The fields had been drilled only two days before and it can take a little while for the birds to find the food, but patient observation revealed regular pigeon movement going in and out, although the birds disappeared before I could see exactly which field they were favoring. The beans were supposed to have been put in at the beginning of April, but this crop needed to be drilled into warm soil and only now, in the middle of that month, were conditions right enough for the farmer to go into action. We’d had some rain the night before, making the land too wet to drive over and this lay-by was the closest spot I could get to the bean fields, so unfortunately, that meant I had a long haul on foot with all my gear to get to the area I was shooting. Undeterred, I set off lo...