Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Airgun Shooter

International-level shooter Emily Shawyer is one of the first people to become a Target Sprint Organiser under a new training programme launched by British Shooting. The online course is for anyone aged 18 or over who’s interested in organising a Target Sprint activity, event, hub or regional centre. No qualifications are needed as a prerequisite to the course, just the aspiration and willingness to coordinate Target Sprint activity. It’s already attracted a varied audience, from post A-Level students wishing to boost their experiences, skills and CVs, to adults already familiar with Target Sprint, as well as those new to the sport wanting to understand how to get the activity up and running in their schools, clubs or groups. Emily is no stranger to Target Sprint, but like most other shooters…

FUN TARGET PLINKING I’ve been doing some super-slow motion filming of me hitting bottle tops, flower heads and grapes. I’ve also done a video of the slow motion on YouTube at www.bit.ly/funtargetplinking. The flowers were all shot with a .177 CP2 with the Carbine barrel on, with a cheap eBay scope, fired off a tripod using JSB Diabolos at around 10m. Bottle tops with the CP2 were at 15m on the tripod. The grapes were shot with a .177 HW99 S topped with an MTC Mamba Lite at 15m off the same tripod, again with JSBs. The video was from a Samsung Galaxy S9 set to Super Slow-Mo, which records at around 960 frames per second. I sat the phone on a minitripod at the side of the flowers and…

480cc The valving system improves efficiency and shot count from the 480cc carbon bottle, which takes a 240 bar fill and is removable, so a spare can be fitted in seconds 240bar 3.1kg Weighing 3.1kg (6.8lb) for the full-length 600mm barrel version and measuring 840mm (34”), the rifle is available in black or bronze finishes 13 The new higher-capacity magazine system takes between eight and 13 shots, depending on calibre, and is cycled with a sidelever cocking action, the lever for which can be swapped to the left in just a few minutes 22MM The Delta Wolf features under- and side-mounted Picatinny accessory rails as well as a 22mm Picatinny scope rail that can be moved by as much as 150mm to accommodate varying types of optic 150MM…

I was driving to work to start an afternoon shift whilst listening on my car radio to the incoming news reports on 9/11. As I walked into the crew room, on the small portable television I could see the horrors of the terrorist attack on the twin towers unfolding on the news channel. It was only two days earlier that I had started working on a police armed response unit, and I thought to myself: “This could be interesting.” From that day on the police use of firearms changed to provide an effective response to terrorist attacks, further accelerated by the events of 7/7. My initial training was akin to an armed traffic car where we basically turned up to a firearms incident, placed a containment and sat it out,…

AIRGUN SHOOTER GOLD AWARD As any air rifle hunter well knows, the most accurate shot will always be made from the most stable shooting position available, and in the field that often means shooting off a set of sticks. Most shooting sticks work by providing a simple support for the forend of the rifle, but while sticks offer far more control than simply shooting offhand, the gun can move around in an open fixture like a typical V-yoke. Spartan Precision Equipment has recognised this age-old problem and come up with a space-age solution called the Davros Head. The device, which looks something like the domed head and mechanical eyestalk of a Dalek, creates a secure anchor point between the rifle and the sticks, and offers a large range of articulation…

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 SALE: Air Arms S410 TDR in.177 calibre. Comes with one magazine, filler probe, silencer and gun bag. The gun is a 2015 model and has been well looked after. No dents or scratches and is in very good condition. Only selling as I am nearing the end of my hunting life so seeking to reduce my guns. I have had no problems with it, except for losing a mag, and it is one of my ‘go to’ guns. It carries an MTC Viper scope which I will sell with the gun at extra cost…

Smith & Wesson’s powder-burning M&P 9 M2.0 may be targeted at military and police personnel, but it attracts plenty of interest from civilian enthusiasts too, and airgun shooters have now been added to the list thanks to the new, fully licensed CO2-powered blowback reproduction from Umarex. The S&W M&P 9 M2.0 fires steel BBs and uses a drop-out magazine with a capacity of 18 rounds, which also houses the 12g CO2 capsule. The handgun features a realistic blowback action, and like the original pistol, there’s a Picatinny rail for accessories, as well as the ability to change the backstrap to better fit hands of different sizes. A medium backstrap is included with the pistol, with a full set of three sizes available to purchase separately. The S&W M&P9 M2.0 has…

Most airgun shooters know how important it is to find the right pellet for their rifle, and manufacturers and retailers sometimes produce sampler packs of pellets so you can try a variety of ammunition without having to fork out for several full tins’ worth. By their very nature, the number of pellets of each type you’re getting in packs like these will be limited, so think carefully about how you’re going to shoot them and what sort of results you’re looking for before actually pulling the trigger. One of the most natural things to do when switching ammo types is to re-zero your rifle, but in this case it’s also one of the most wasteful. Instead, just maintain a constant point of aim for each pellet type and see how…

It’s eight in the morning on Fathers’ Day. Normally I celebrate this important date in the retailers’ religious calendar in the proper way – lounging in bed while my children try to tempt me with a selection of either carbonised or dangerously undercooked foodstuffs. Not this year though. For 2020 is a year like no other. This damp Sunday morning finds me driving, heading west out of London. I’m in a good mood, but impatient and I quietly curse the 50mph average speed zone on the almost deserted dual carriageway. My rifle lies across the back seat, cocooned in its case, cleaner than it’s ever been and full of air. I pass a petrol station and remember the last time I came this way, three months ago. I’d stopped for…

SIG Sauer’s P365 has plenty of attitude thanks to its blowback action and dinky dimensions, and it has a spirited nature too, which just adds to the experience, making this a small gun that’s capable of creating a big grin. It’s becoming more and more common for firearm manufacturers to create airgun versions of their bullet-firing originals, and this CO2-powered BB-firing P365 is based on the company’s microcompact 9mm. SIG Sauer has really excelled in mimicking the original. This little airgun has a detachable 12-round BB magazine, but still manages to weigh just 360 grams (12.8oz) and has an overall length of 146mm (5.75”) – dimensions that are pretty much right on the money. It has an ambidextrous safety catch which can be operated by the thumb of the shooting…

Qiang Yuan Sports made a name for itself with its range of indoor competition pellets, the current line-up consisting of three types: Training Grade, Match Grade and Olympic Grade, and indeed I saw the latter pellet being put to good use in the recent British Open Airgun Championships at Bisley. But while these.177 pellets are designed for punching clean holes in paper at 10 metres, flat-headed pellets often find their way into many an airgun hunter’s kit bag, and that’s the way I’ll be evaluating the Training Grade pellets for this test. The idea of using a wadcutter pellet in a hunting scenario is to avoid over-penetration while delivering as much energy to the quarry animal as possible, making for an immediate and humane kill. But while wadcutters are incredibly…

Many of you will know, or at least remember, the name Lane’s. Best known for their pellets, collectors trade their rusty tins eagerly. Lane’s are less well known for their earlier air rifle, the Musketeer. At 41” long – and heavy – these were aimed more at the adult market. A hefty 20” barrel made cocking the break-barrel gun easy. To release this a sidelever was pulled back, the sheer weight of the barrel dropping down and forcing the breech up as if it was automatic. Simple and secure, this was in the early 1900s when modern methods of locking a barrel shut had yet to be invented. Unlike foreign imports, the Musketeer was also designed, if not also made, entirely in Britain. In fact the famous gunmaking name Greener…

After its initial release, the Legends Cowboy Rifle quickly became a firm favourite with Wild West enthusiasts and garden plinkers alike. This rifle offers all the fun of a typical Western-style powder-burner, with a surprisingly high level of accuracy, and the highlight has to be its satisfying lever action that sends ‘spent’ cases flying. The original variant of this CO2-powered BB gun was offered in a distressed antique black finish, but Umarex now has three more options – these being a polished chrome, gold or blued action. Anyone who’s familiar with the Umarex version of the Peacemaker revolver, or the Colt Single Action Army to give it its proper name, will be pleased to learn that the blued finish on the Cowboy Rifle is a perfect match for the SAA.…

Swedish airgun manufacturer FX has released an updated version of the Wildcat, one of the main upgrades being the ability to run the new high-capacity Side-Shot magazine – the same system found on FX’s Crown and Dreamline rifles. The enhancements made to the Wildcat MkIII also affect the main action block, with the rifle getting a larger plenum for improved airflow and valving as well as a new rear power adjuster. The Wildcat MKIII comes in two configurations: the Compact with its 500mm barrel in.177 to.30 calibres and the Wildcat MKIII Sniper that houses a larger 300cc air cylinder and a 700mm barrel in.22 to.30 calibres. All rifles are fitted with a synthetic stock, with a Picatinny rail available as an optional extra. All Wildcat MkIII rifles and barrel kits…

Six general licences for the control of wild birds are being reissued on a temporary basis – in a move described by BASC as being both “sensible and workable” for shooting and conservation. The general licences had been due to expire on 31 July, but Defra is now reissuing the temporary ones before publishing new licences in November that will come into force on 1 January next year. The decision was hailed by several countryside organisations including the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Countryside Alliance, the Moorland Association and the National Gamekeepers Organisation. Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and gundogs, said: “While BASC continues to call for a fit for purpose and future-proofed licensing structure as soon as possible, this announcement … will reassure our members that…

SHOOTING AT HOME We airgun shooters had been restricted regarding open spaces to shoot over, such as our permissions or ranges, owing to coronavirus. I overcame this dilemma by placing a target in my shed and shooting from my back door, which gives me a nice 12-yard target – perfect for my HW45.177 using H&N Power copper-coated pellets. It’s just great to keep my eye in and give my trigger finger a workout at the same time. My longer outside range gives me a nice 20 yards – great for increasing the pistol’s power setting. I use five foot pounds for the longer range, and at eight yards the HW45 is set at the lower power setting of three foot pounds. So at least I have two ranges to shoot…

Crows are a serious problem for anyone trying to make a living in the farming industry; these scavenging birds are notorious for pecking the eyes from newborn lambs and also cause major damage to crops. This outing follows a call from a disgruntled farmer friend who had crows wreaking havoc around his farm. Large flocks of the birds descended around lambing time, which is never good news, and they also turned their attention to the cattle feed. Before long, areas around silage clamps, feed rows and water troughs were caked with crows’ droppings, posing a health risk. The birds were so numerous that I initially targeted them with a shotgun so I could take them on the wing. My outings yielded bags of around 30 birds, but crows learn quickly…

I am sure that everybody reading this magazine would have been just as pleased as I was when the government decided to slightly ease up on the full lockdown restrictions that had been placed upon as us all and allow limited contact with fellow sports enthusiasts, providing of course that the necessary social distancing measures were in place. I don’t know about you, but a couple of months of enforced isolation and being away from the things that keep me sane (well, a bit) have certainly reminded me that the sports we all enjoy really do form a very important aspect of our lives that we have perhaps taken for granted for a very long time. The freedom to just turn up at a shooting range for a bit of…

If God has a penthouse suite, and I am deserving of it when I fall off my perch, heaven for me is a lush, grassy field with a never-ending hedgerow full of rabbits, and I’ll spend eternity wandering up and down it on an early spring evening, air rifle in hand. For now though, one of my favourite permissions is a soft fruit farm. Nestling in the Buckinghamshire countryside, it covers many hundreds of acres and produces tons of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. The fruit is grown inside mile after mile of polytunnels, with many of the plants having been raised up on stands to keep the berries off the ground and, presumably, away from the ravenous bunnies. Some of the fruit is grown on the floor though, and the…

Thermal imaging optics open a whole new world to the air rifle hunter. Their ability to see heat makes them great for after-dark pest control when targeting species like rats and rabbits, but they can also be used by day when they offer some surprising advantages over a conventional scope. One of those gains is the ability to spot quarry that would otherwise be virtually invisible in our normal vision spectrum; squirrels that are just peeping over a branch high in the canopy suddenly stand out like a sore thumb when you’re able to see their heat signature. One of the factors that initially stifled the popularity of thermal imagers was their price. Not so long ago, you had to pay four or five times the price of a top-end…