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Outdoor Section => The Outdoor and Survival Forum => Topic started by: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 06:46:05 PM

Title: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 06:46:05 PM: Had a fun competition at the club today. Round 1 was with 10m pistol and some silly targets (small pictures of Santa etc), two points for a perfect shot, one for a more marginal hit. I managed a pretty poor 13x40, though I should say that this was on the higher end of the score chart. :D My mate, who shoots at a pretty high competition standard managed a much better 22x40, despite opting to shoot with a Crosman 2240.

Round 2 was up at the HFT course; 20 targets, kneeling or standing depending on personal preference. I have to say I had a pretty bloody good round at this coming back with 33x40. That beat a good few PCP shooters and was the top score with a spring rifle.

Combined scores put me in 5th place out of about 20 shooters. Anyway, the main aim was to have fun and in that regard it was a total success. :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on December 27, 2015, 10:37:05 PM: Quote from: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 06:46:05 PM
Had a fun competition at the club today. Round 1 was with 10m pistol and some silly targets (small pictures of Santa etc), two points for a perfect shot, one for a more marginal hit. I managed a pretty poor 13x40, though I should say that this was on the higher end of the score chart. :D My mate, who shoots at a pretty high competition standard managed a much better 22x40, despite opting to shoot with a Crosman 2240.

Round 2 was up at the HFT course; 20 targets, kneeling or standing depending on personal preference. I have to say I had a pretty bloody good round at this coming back with 33x40. That beat a good few PCP shooters and was the top score with a spring rifle.

Combined scores put me in 5th place out of about 20 shooters. Anyway, the main aim was to have fun and in that regard it was a total success. :salute:

33x40 on positionals is pretty damn good G :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 10:48:54 PM: Quote from: kirk13 on December 27, 2015, 10:37:05 PM
Quote from: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 06:46:05 PM
Had a fun competition at the club today. Round 1 was with 10m pistol and some silly targets (small pictures of Santa etc), two points for a perfect shot, one for a more marginal hit. I managed a pretty poor 13x40, though I should say that this was on the higher end of the score chart. :D My mate, who shoots at a pretty high competition standard managed a much better 22x40, despite opting to shoot with a Crosman 2240.

Round 2 was up at the HFT course; 20 targets, kneeling or standing depending on personal preference. I have to say I had a pretty bloody good round at this coming back with 33x40. That beat a good few PCP shooters and was the top score with a spring rifle.

Combined scores put me in 5th place out of about 20 shooters. Anyway, the main aim was to have fun and in that regard it was a total success. :salute:

33x40 on positionals is pretty damn good G :tu:

Cheers buddy. :hatsoff:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on January 13, 2016, 10:02:11 PM: I've got my old HW57 working again! :woohoo: 10mm groups at 25yards, 25mm groups at 40yards.

Final problem turned out to be the stock. After taking it apart again and again I'd managed to stretch the wood at the front stock bolts. This meant that whole action wasn't sitting right in the stock and, I suspect, was moving very slightly on each shot. A bit of fettling later and things seem to be back in shape.

It'll not replace my HW35 as my competition rifle, but it's fantastic to have a backup. :)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: zoidberg on February 01, 2016, 10:18:37 PM: Congrats on getting that sorted. :tu: :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 01, 2016, 10:21:51 PM: Cheers buddy. :cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 19, 2016, 02:51:51 PM: :rant: :rant: :rant:

I was at the club last Sunday and was shooting my HW35 as per usual. Something was up, something bad. It had gone from being a beautifully consistent shooter to suddenly throwing out some low flyers. Fast forward to this morning and I take it down to the indoor range. First thought was the scope, so tried it with and alternative and still no better. Took off the moderator and sling just in case something was interfering with the shooting cycle. Still no better. OK, it's probably just me right? Fortunately one of my mates was there and had his chrono with him. Shot a ten shot string and found out that it seems to be two different power levels, five shots giving me 10.9 ft/lb, the next five giving me 9.9 ft/lb. One whole ft/lb! Did another ten shots and it did exactly the same thing....

Tried setting up my old HW57 but while it's better than it's been in a long time it's still not up to a place I'm totally happy with.

Don't know what's going on, but I think I need to open it up and have a look-see. Given I've got a competition on Sunday I think it's time to dust off the Brocock.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 20, 2016, 02:31:01 PM: Well, that's the course set up (one at my home club for a change) with myself and my friend being the ones who decided on the layout. Lets hope everyone likes it. The Brocock is nicely zeroed in with my Hawke scope on top. I've not seriously shot the Brocock on a proper course in months so I'm not holding my breath for a good score.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 21, 2016, 05:40:43 PM: OK, enough of hijacking Kirky's blog, time for my own one. :-[

The good news is that the course my mate and I set up seems to have been popular enough, with a mix of short range, long range, elevation and declination, kill sizes and a couple of optical tricks thrown in as well.

The gusting wind was a factor later in the day and I know it cost me a good few points, including a doughnut. :-\ That said I'm actually happy enough with my 49x50. Not a top score but above average on the day. Factor in that I was usiing a rifle that I hadn't shot in months, was hastily set-up and I was on my "best guess" hold over guide I really can't complain too much.

Now to see if I can get my HW35 working properly......
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on March 12, 2016, 09:35:18 PM: ....HW35 still not working properly. :-\ And I've got my first league competition tomorrow. :(

I've got to admit that I've not actually put much effort into sorting it and the comp has kinda snuck up on me. :-[

The good news is that I've borrowed a very nice HW98 from my good friend (and rival) so at least I've got a chance to do well. Of course trying to compete with a rifle that I've only shot for the first time this evening and only for about half an hour might seem foolish to some....:think:

Na, it'll be fine. :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on March 13, 2016, 10:27:52 PM: Well, things got even more fun than planned. Set off this morning at 7am to pick up two friends and head to the competition just outside of Glasgow. 2 hours later we arrive and, despite being relatively early, the car park is already full. Not to worry though, there is a field set aside as an overflow. Even better it's on a hill and covered in slick grass and mud, giving me a top excuse to knock my new car into 4x4 mode and park with ease. Not the same story for most others though, so we got to sit on the tailgate feeling smug and watch car after car fail to make it into the field, let alone up the hill. Very gratifying. 8)

So after watching the show we decided to actually do something with guns and took ourselves off to the plinking range. Everything was working just fine and I was looking forward to shooting with my borrowed rifle. One formality though, the chrono check to make sure all the guns are shoot below the 12ft/lb limit. Got to the front of the queue and the HW98 is clocking at 12.1fl/lb. :doh: No pass, no shoot.

Plan B is that my mate and I decide that we can shoot the course together and I can borrow the gun he brought for himself rather than the one he had already lent to me. Only slight issue is that it's not set-up for my eye and I don't really have time to work out what the point of impact is for me. The preamble is all in an effort to justify my woeful score of 37x60. Borrowed gun, never shot it before, not set-up for me. I think I've covered myself from all possible blame. :D

Still, it was actually a bloody good course that I'd not shot before and, despite not scoring at all well, I actually had a very pleasant day. The fact I also had a good long run in my new car and very nearly justified having a 4x4 was just icing on the cake. :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on March 14, 2016, 10:52:44 AM: It's always fun watching people struggle to get parked >:D

37x60 under the circumstances isn't a bad result G,though I'm surprised you were allowed to share the gun. It's a pain the HW98 being over the limit...was it on pellet weight? Or was it simply over sprung?

As to the HW35,if worst comes to worst,look at sending it to Hull Cartridge for a full service :pok:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 11:33:48 AM: Quote from: kirk13 on March 14, 2016, 10:52:44 AM
It's always fun watching people struggle to get parked >:D

37x60 under the circumstances isn't a bad result G,though I'm surprised you were allowed to share the gun. It's a pain the HW98 being over the limit...was it on pellet weight? Or was it simply over sprung?

As to the HW35,if worst comes to worst,look at sending it to Hull Cartridge for a full service :pok:

We did clear it with the SARPA rep and he didn't seem to mind. As to the HW98 failing I suspect it's a matter of two chronos disagreeing.....weather, lighting, calibration? Who knows. Our club one consistently read it at 11.7ft/lb, a little warm but on the safe side. My mate's going to collapse a coil or two on the spring anyway.

As to my score, it's a lot better than nothing. The SARPA league is decided on your cumulative top six scores over the year and, for one reason or another, I only shot five comps with a spring gun last year dropping me way down the order.

As to the HW35 I'm definitely going to be looking at the breach seal and the barrel lock-up to start with. The barrel feels rock solid, but I'll strip it and see if there's something in there causing it to not be in just the right place.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 12:35:19 PM: Here's an interesting alternative to UKHFT: http://www.uksarc.co.uk/rules/

There's plan to run 3 or 4 of these comps up here in Scotland with, I believe, slight tweaks to those rules. So no preset positional shots, no peg to hang on to, smaller targets with more realistically placed kill zones, and longer ranges. The idea as I understand it is to make you think if it's worth going for a risky 2 points with a chance of a total miss or play it safe and go for the single point.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on March 19, 2016, 11:23:06 AM: Not gotten around to fully stripping the HW35, but I have flushed the barrel articulation with gun oil and I definitively think I'm in the right area as it's markedly better. I think it may be as simple as a rougue bit of crud or grease has gotten into the lock receiver. However, while it's not too fiddly taking a HW35 apart putting it back together can be a very different story.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on April 10, 2016, 05:00:53 PM: Quote from: Gareth on March 19, 2016, 11:23:06 AM
Not gotten around to fully stripping the HW35, but I have flushed the barrel articulation with gun oil and I definitively think I'm in the right area as it's markedly better. I think it may be as simple as a rougue bit of crud or grease has gotten into the lock receiver. However, while it's not too fiddly taking a HW35 apart putting it back together can be a very different story.

What with one thing and another I've only just gotten around to doing the full strip down this morning. :-[ Without wanting to jinx anything it does seem to be shooting well at the indoor and outdoor range. I was rushed at the indoor range so the zero is a little rough, but it didn't do anything odd while I was setting it up, nor at the outdoor course. I've got a few weeks until the next competition so I'll take my time and try and get it just so.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on April 20, 2016, 02:22:26 AM: Got to play with a very neat little chronograph on Sunday; a Bluechron. (http://www.bluechron.com/) Very much a more up to date feeling bit of kit then the likes of the Combro, with a easy to read touchscreen interface. Feels very well made as well. Gave the same readings as a couple of table top chronos. I was impressed. :tu:

The other good news is that it also confirmed that the HW35 is definitely back up and working, pushing out AAF pellets at 745fps for 10.35ft/lb. It's not as quick as a lot of other rifles but it's sweet to shoot and back to being accurate.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on April 20, 2016, 02:25:55 AM: Also found out that one of my main rivals HFT is now the World Champ: https://sites.google.com/site/whfta1/results/2016-results/recoiling-class-results-2016

Congratulations to Dale. Now all I have to do is beat him. >:D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 08, 2016, 07:40:07 PM: Quote from: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 12:35:19 PM
Here's an interesting alternative to UKHFT: http://www.uksarc.co.uk/rules/

There's plan to run 3 or 4 of these comps up here in Scotland with, I believe, slight tweaks to those rules. So no preset positional shots, no peg to hang on to, smaller targets with more realistically placed kill zones, and longer ranges. The idea as I understand it is to make you think if it's worth going for a risky 2 points with a chance of a total miss or play it safe and go for the single point.

Well, I got to shoot a competition under the SARCs rules and have to say it's a very fun format. Interesting to see different shooters tackling the same shots in different ways. Even better I won my class with a 42x60. :woohoo: Given the highest score was a 47x60 I'm pretty happy with my shooting.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: zoidberg on May 09, 2016, 05:38:59 AM: Excellent! :cheers: :cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 09, 2016, 12:58:05 PM: Cheers mate. :hatsoff:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 10, 2016, 03:12:10 PM: After shooting the SARCs competition on Sunday, which involves a lot more shooting from the knee, I was switched on to the benefits of a knee bag. Basically it's used to support the rear leg and give you a more stable position to shoot from. Anyway, being Scottish, I wasn't quite prepared to shell out £25+ for a purpose made bag. :whistle: After a bit of rummaging through the cupboards I found this old boot bag that I'd gotten free years ago. Then I stole a load of beans from my daughters beanbag (I'm a bad father >:D) and hey-presto a very serviceable shooting bag.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on May 11, 2016, 08:48:45 AM: Quote from: Gareth on May 08, 2016, 07:40:07 PM
Quote from: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 12:35:19 PM
Here's an interesting alternative to UKHFT: http://www.uksarc.co.uk/rules/

There's plan to run 3 or 4 of these comps up here in Scotland with, I believe, slight tweaks to those rules. So no preset positional shots, no peg to hang on to, smaller targets with more realistically placed kill zones, and longer ranges. The idea as I understand it is to make you think if it's worth going for a risky 2 points with a chance of a total miss or play it safe and go for the single point.

Well, I got to shoot a competition under the SARCs rules and have to say it's a very fun format. Interesting to see different shooters tackling the same shots in different ways. Even better I won my class with a 42x60. :woohoo: Given the highest score was a 47x60 I'm pretty happy with my shooting.

Bloody well done Gareth :clap:

Love your bean bag :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 11, 2016, 02:29:18 PM: Quote from: kirk13 on May 11, 2016, 08:48:45 AM
Quote from: Gareth on May 08, 2016, 07:40:07 PM
Quote from: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 12:35:19 PM
Here's an interesting alternative to UKHFT: http://www.uksarc.co.uk/rules/

There's plan to run 3 or 4 of these comps up here in Scotland with, I believe, slight tweaks to those rules. So no preset positional shots, no peg to hang on to, smaller targets with more realistically placed kill zones, and longer ranges. The idea as I understand it is to make you think if it's worth going for a risky 2 points with a chance of a total miss or play it safe and go for the single point.

Well, I got to shoot a competition under the SARCs rules and have to say it's a very fun format. Interesting to see different shooters tackling the same shots in different ways. Even better I won my class with a 42x60. :woohoo: Given the highest score was a 47x60 I'm pretty happy with my shooting.

Bloody well done Gareth :clap:

Love your bean bag :tu:

Cheers buddy. :cheers: If you get a chance to try a SARCs comp I'd certainly recommend it. There was only a couple of Scottish HFT team there with their Styers and I don't think they enjoyed scoring so low, or that the Target class wasn't top billing. :D All the normal tricks of shooting a target orientated PCP from a peg were out the window.

I also liked the fact that you often had to decide between a risky kill or a safer plate shot. Gave a lot of folks a large number of doughnuts. All quite challenging and produced much lower scores than a HFT course, but then almost everyone felt they had an excuse for it.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 11, 2016, 06:22:20 PM: As he wasn't at all well my mate Nick didn't feel up to the competition on Sunday and, as he also competes in the Recoiling class and is a consistently good shot, his absence did my chances no harm. On returning home and telling my loving daughter that I had finally won a competition she replied "well done Daddy. Was that because Nick wasn't there?" Ouch. ::)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on May 11, 2016, 10:47:24 PM: Hey,a win is a win!
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 11, 2016, 11:02:21 PM: Quote from: kirk13 on May 11, 2016, 10:47:24 PM
Hey,a win is a win!

Oh, I'll take it all right. :D I have beaten Nick before, so it's not unprecedented, but I'm certain that he'd at least have run things close.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 18, 2016, 03:34:34 PM: A new addition to the air rifle collection. Gone is the troublesome HW57, in is a HW97. For those of you with long memories you might recall that I've had an HW97 before. :whistle: That one went goodbye when I was getting into PCP air rifles and I thought I'd not be doing a lot of spring gun shooting. Fast forward to now and I barely touch the PCP and I'm firmly established in the Recoiling class. Now I wasn't looking for a new gun, honest, but I happened to be looking at the second-hand pages of my old dealer and saw he had this up for sale at a very reasonable price. A quick phone call later and I was in the car heading back to the Lothians. He gave me a very fair trade in deal on the HW57 and so I shelled out £140 for this one.

OK, so it's still a heavy beast which was one of the reasons I got rid of my first HW97, but that one had a hollow synthetic stock and this one's all wood stock feels much better balanced IMO.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on May 18, 2016, 06:12:49 PM: Ive said this before,and I will say this again and again: the 97 is a truly great gun!

Hope this one works out for you G!
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 18, 2016, 06:24:07 PM: Quote from: kirk13 on May 18, 2016, 06:12:49 PM
Ive said this before,and I will say this again and again: the 97 is a truly great gun!

Hope this one works out for you G!

Cheers John. :cheers: I'll be heading over to the indoor range shortly to see just how well the new 97 and I get along.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 18, 2016, 09:35:03 PM: Quote from: Gareth on May 18, 2016, 06:24:07 PM
Quote from: kirk13 on May 18, 2016, 06:12:49 PM
Ive said this before,and I will say this again and again: the 97 is a truly great gun!

Hope this one works out for you G!

Cheers John. :cheers: I'll be heading over to the indoor range shortly to see just how well the new 97 and I get along.

Well, we get along just fine. Took about 2 minutes to zero, though more by luck than design. After than it became a simple matter of pointing it at something and knocking it down, almost too simple. It's incredibly mild mannered in terms of recoil. No idea if it's been tuned already but it's sweet enough that I don't think I'll be doing anything in the short term. Best yet is that it happily gave me 1p sized groups at 35 yards with all hits touching. So no fiddling around with this one I think, just a steady diet of Air Arm Fields and it's good to go. 8)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 19, 2016, 09:13:45 AM: Oh, and it also doesn't appear to be hold sensitive. The only thing I've got to do now is get it checked on the chronograph to make sure it's not doing anything silly. Given it's very mild recoil and it's flat trajectory I'm not unduly worried.

I've also got to start doing lots and lots of push-ups. Lots and lots. :-\ This is still a heavy beast and unsupported standing shots are very tough on the arms.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 22, 2016, 04:33:45 PM: Had the gun at the club today and it shot a very consistent 775fps with AAF pellets for 11.2ft/lb so no worries there. Shot a perfectly acceptable 48x60 in light wind and with a "best guess" range map. Should have been a 50x60 but I might have shot the wrong target once. :whistle: On my second (and non-scoring) attempt to shoot the correct target I knocked it over.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 24, 2016, 01:40:37 PM: Took the HW97k to the indoor range this morning to swap my Hawke scope onto it. No trouble at all setting it up and I've basically go no excuse for missing other than human error. Those might be famous last words though. :doh:

I've decide to experiment with my zero a little (remember those last words?) and have set it up as a 27 yard zero (first zero being 16 yards). This gives me a very slight hold under between 18 and 24 yards, but as the pic will hopefully show it's all but non-existent. With this set-up I've also got a negligible hold over up to 30 yards. For all practicable purposes a zero from 16-30 yards? We'll see. ;)

Did a slightly more rough set-up with my Nikko scope onto my HW35 as a back-up rifle just in case something goes wrong with the 97 between now and the competition on Sunday.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 29, 2016, 09:19:09 AM: Heading for the next HFT comp in Dunfermline this morning. Wish me luck. :)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 29, 2016, 06:27:33 PM: Came a respectable third, with a 44x60. The chap in second was only a point ahead of me and I felt I should have done a little better but I'm not complaining too hard as a medal is a medal. :D

Tough course with a lot of optical tricks that made ranging a real task. Tellingly the guys who make up a large part of the Scottish team all came home with a comparative low score of 53x60, at least 5 points less than most of them expect to score. A series of 6 targets were out across an open field where the wind was playing silly buggers and gusting from zero up to enough to make some folks miss completely.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Etherealicer on May 29, 2016, 06:47:23 PM: Quote from: Gareth on May 29, 2016, 06:27:33 PM
Came a respectable third, with a 44x60. The chap in second was only a point ahead of me and I felt I should have done a little better but I'm not complaining too hard as a medal is a medal. :D

Tough course with a lot of optical tricks that made ranging a real task. Tellingly the guys who make up a large part of the Scottish team all came home with a comparative low score of 53x60, at least 5 points less than most of them expect to score. A series of 6 targets were out across an open field where the wind was playing silly buggers and gusting from zero up to enough to make some folks miss completely.
:cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 29, 2016, 06:58:14 PM: Cheers mate. :hatsoff:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on June 05, 2016, 04:15:25 PM: Just an afternoon at my home course but came in with a PB of 56x60 using the HW97k. We keep a tally of scores over the summer months so this might net me something yet but I'll be honest and say I really don't pay attention to how these things work.

Anyway, very pleased with the result, dropped one point on either a gust of wind or a flyer, one on my unsupported stander, one on a 15mm kill and one on a supported kneeling shot where I jerked the trigger.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on June 19, 2016, 10:34:32 AM: My club ran an "open sights" competition yesterday. Open/iron sights have been making a bit of a popular comeback up here in Scotland over the last year with a good few people using them on the standard HFT circuit. I can't say it sounds like fun to me, but each to their own.

Anyway, my mate thought it might be nice to have a comp where the course had been set up with open sights in mind. Sightly shorter ranges (up to 35 yards), slightly larger kills (no smaller than 20mm) and no peg to hang on to. A marker simply denoted the general vicinity of where the shot was to be taken from. There were a couple of prescribed positional shots, but other than that it was up to the individual to choose how to take each shot.

I'd had a couple of hours practice with iron sights over the last two weeks but other than that I'd not shot with them since I was a young teenager. Perhaps not surprisingly the gold and silver went to a couple of chaps who have been shooting with open sights in the HFT circuit but I was very pleased with a bronze medal for myself.

Gold was 52x60
Silver was 48x60
Bronze was 46x60
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on July 02, 2016, 11:45:18 PM: Quote from: Gareth on May 08, 2016, 07:40:07 PM
Quote from: Gareth on March 14, 2016, 12:35:19 PM
Here's an interesting alternative to UKHFT: http://www.uksarc.co.uk/rules/

There's plan to run 3 or 4 of these comps up here in Scotland with, I believe, slight tweaks to those rules. So no preset positional shots, no peg to hang on to, smaller targets with more realistically placed kill zones, and longer ranges. The idea as I understand it is to make you think if it's worth going for a risky 2 points with a chance of a total miss or play it safe and go for the single point.

Well, I got to shoot a competition under the SARCs rules and have to say it's a very fun format. Interesting to see different shooters tackling the same shots in different ways. Even better I won my class with a 42x60. :woohoo: Given the highest score was a 47x60 I'm pretty happy with my shooting.

It's round two of the Scottish SARCs league and it's being held at my home club. Somehow I was talked into setting the 30 new targets for the course. :doh: I'm hoping everyone likes it. :-\
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on July 04, 2016, 01:52:19 AM: Today went well, with everyone saying that they enjoyed the course. My mate Gavin took top honours in the Sporting gun section with a 49x60. I came second in the recoiling class with a decent 46x60 just piping another clubmate into third with his 45x60. An extremely good score given he's very new to shooting with a spring gun.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on July 26, 2016, 02:55:10 AM: Looks like I came third in the Recoiling class at the HFT Scottish Championships. If I sound slightly surprised at this it's because I had thought I came in fourth. In my defence the guy who was given the place (and the trophy) on the day seems to have been awarded a couple of extra points in the morning round by a poorly added up score card. It was a tough day, partly due to a pretty challenging morning course, partly due to the rain, but mostly due to the fact I was bloody knackered. I'd spent the whole previous day travelling back from Northern Ireland and had to get up early on the Sunday to make it to the comp meaning I'd had about 4 hours sleep. I did OK in the morning and for the first 20 targets in the afternoon but after that I fell apart and just couldn't seem to knock anything over. :-\ Now all I need is a tactful way of asking for my trophy. :think:

http://scottishairgunner.com/chat/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3421
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 09, 2016, 02:59:28 PM: Picked up my Scottish Championship 3rd place trophy on Sunday at the Grampian comp. Sadly I didn't place at the comp itself after struggling with horrible gusty winds of up to 40mph. Others coped better than I did.

(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0010_zps2yds8gax.jpg)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on August 09, 2016, 03:09:14 PM: Exceptionally well done Gareth :salute:

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Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 11, 2016, 12:03:32 PM: Quote from: Smashie on August 09, 2016, 03:09:14 PM
Exceptionally well done Gareth :salute:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers mate. :cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 11, 2016, 12:18:21 PM: I've got a "open sights" competition on Saturday in Dunfermline. "Open sights" simply means you can't use any kind of optic magnification, so simple peep sights, notch sights and diopters are the name of the game. The targets aren't quite as small or as far away as on a normal HFT course, but the basic format is the same idea. I've talked about this style before and attended one held at my club and came third. I suspect this comp is going to be a little better attended so I'm not confident of doing so well this time but wish me luck anyway. :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on August 11, 2016, 12:50:47 PM: Quote from: Gareth on August 11, 2016, 12:18:21 PM
I've got a "open sights" competition on Saturday in Dunfermline. "Open sights" simply means you can't use any kind of optic magnification, so simple peep sights, notch sights and diopters are the name of the game. The targets aren't quite as small or as far away as on a normal HFT course, but the basic format is the same idea. I've talked about this style before and attended one held at my club and came third. I suspect this comp is going to be a little better attended so I'm not confident of doing so well this time but wish me luck anyway. :D

That sounds like a lot of fun, good luck :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 13, 2016, 08:07:51 PM: Had a very nice walk in the woods this morning and I even shot at a few targets. ;) Actually managed a quite respectable 3rd with a 41x60. Much tougher course that the one we held at my club so the winning score of 49x60 was bloody impressive. :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 28, 2016, 07:51:12 AM: There is surely only one reason I could want to be awake at this time on a Sunday morning (6:45am), yes it's another competition for me today. Wish me luck.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 28, 2016, 10:08:42 PM: Oooh, but it's tight at the top. Two chaps finished on 47, myself and another finished on 46. So this should lead to a shoot-off for 1st and 2nd and another for 3rd and 4th, right? Well, no, sadly not. Why? Because the other chap on 46 missed a target that eventually gets pulled and so is given a bonus point taking him up into joint 1st and automatically dropping me to 4th.

Not helped that I had a really rough and ready zero on my scope due to me having had the stock off and only getting a chance to very roughly zero it on the outdoor plinking range twenty minutes before the comp started.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on August 31, 2016, 02:10:49 PM: Why did they pull the target?
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on August 31, 2016, 04:16:48 PM: Quote from: Gareth on August 28, 2016, 10:08:42 PM
Oooh, but it's tight at the top. Two chaps finished on 47, myself and another finished on 46. So this should lead to a shoot-off for 1st and 2nd and another for 3rd and 4th, right? Well, no, sadly not. Why? Because the other chap on 46 missed a target that eventually gets pulled and so is given a bonus point taking him up into joint 1st and automatically dropping me to 4th.

Not helped that I had a really rough and ready zero on my scope due to me having had the stock off and only getting a chance to very roughly zero it on the outdoor plinking range twenty minutes before the comp started.

What? explain please, I am easily confused (as you know :rofl: )
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 05, 2016, 10:22:17 AM: Quote from: Kevin Davey on August 31, 2016, 02:10:49 PM
Why did they pull the target?

I believe it wasn't falling easily enough. ::)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 05, 2016, 12:04:59 PM: OK, so yesterday was the third and final round of the Scottish SARC league. I've talked about the differences between SARC and UKHFT rules before so I'll not get into it again, but suffice it to say the chap setting yesterday's course could have done with double checking what those differences should be as it mostly felt very HFT. In fairness that was at least in part down to the limitations of the ground. I shot with my HW35 for a change, rather than my HW97, and that was a mistake. Not that the HW35 isn't a good rifle, but it is much more hold sensitive, likes a lighter pellet and has a piss poor scope on it that I really need to replace. All this is by way of making my excuses for shooting a poor round.

Happily, the League is based on your top two rounds rather than all three, so yesterday's score can be relegated to the pages of history and never thought of again. :whistle: So with my 1st and 2nd in rounds one and two I won the overall Recoiling class.
(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Knives/DSC_00891_zpspxxkgagt.jpg)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: kirk13 on September 05, 2016, 02:57:55 PM: Nice haul of silverware there Gareth! Very well done mate :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 05, 2016, 02:58:51 PM: Good result Gareth :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 05, 2016, 05:30:58 PM: Cheers gents. :hatsoff:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on September 05, 2016, 07:50:51 PM: Congratulations. Nice knife you got there.

A weihrauch HW35 was my very first air rifle, in .177, with a peephole sight on it. With a decent spring in it, it had very repeatable accuracy.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 18, 2016, 06:31:37 PM: Back to the SARPA HFT league today, this time at Cloybank estate. A nice enough course set up with good variation in range etc. The wind on the other hand was making itself well known; ramping up and down all the time and making itself a bloody nuisance to be honest. Took me far too long to get any kind of handle on it and so I only shot competitively for 20 or so targets. All that said I did come home in second and had a few shots that I was flipping happy with given the conditions. :)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 25, 2016, 06:20:10 PM: Just a afternoon at my home club today and my mate persuaded me into shooting the course with open sights. Despite the course being set up for shooting with scopes I still had a bit of fun and came home with a 36x60 (8 kills, 2 doughnuts), my mate beat me by a couple. Re-took a few shots after our head-to-head and, for some reason, did much better shooing from the knee rather than prone. Much better.

I also might have bought a .177 Mk2 Air Arms S200 for a hundred quid. :whistle: It's not for me you understand, it's for my daughter.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 25, 2016, 06:22:00 PM: New page banana dance!!

:nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance: :nanadance:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 25, 2016, 07:00:46 PM: Congrats mate :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 25, 2016, 07:06:33 PM: Quote from: Smashie on September 25, 2016, 07:00:46 PM
Congrats mate :tu:

cheers mate. :cheers:

Quick phone snap.

(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_00171_zpsaak9wigp.jpg)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 25, 2016, 07:09:06 PM: Quote from: Gareth on September 25, 2016, 07:06:33 PM
Quote from: Smashie on September 25, 2016, 07:00:46 PM
Congrats mate :tu:

cheers mate. :cheers:

Quick phone snap.

(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_00171_zpsaak9wigp.jpg)

Ooooo teh sexeh :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 27, 2016, 10:17:04 PM: My daughter just got the invitation to come to the induction day at my club on the 9th of October. One very happy little girl. :D Just so happens that I'm one of the guys running the induction day so I think her chances of getting in are pretty good. ;) Given that the news has her bouncing off the walls I can't wait to see what she's like when I tell her I bought a rifle for her to use.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 27, 2016, 10:44:52 PM: Quote from: Gareth on September 27, 2016, 10:17:04 PM
My daughter just got the invitation to come to the induction day at my club on the 9th of October. One very happy little girl. :D Just so happens that I'm one of the guys running the induction day so I think her chances of getting in are pretty good. ;) Given that the news has her bouncing off the walls I can't wait to see what she's like when I tell her I bought a rifle for her to use.

Go on tell, what did you get her? :ahhh
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 28, 2016, 12:27:37 AM: The AA S200 is for her to use. Not that I won't borrow it from time to time. Just to make sure it's working you understand. ;)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 28, 2016, 10:25:09 AM: Well if it's as accurate as my S510 she will be out shooting you pretty quickly :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 29, 2016, 11:06:43 AM: Quote from: Smashie on September 28, 2016, 10:25:09 AM
Well if it's as accurate as my S510 she will be out shooting you pretty quickly :D

I'm hoping that's still a few years down the line. :think: However if she does then I'll just take the credit as a fantastic instructor. :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 29, 2016, 11:30:38 AM: OK, so you know I just got the S200 for my daughter, but I've also just done a little shopping for myself. :whistle:

(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0018_zpsljch7qch.jpg)

I saw this up for sale second hand at the dealership I've always dealt with and needed to have a look.
(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0019_zpspgnvpxfp.jpg)

The side-lever system isn't nearly as common as break-barrels or even under-levers, but they do the job just fine.
(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0021_zpsfsg44efj.jpg)

If you can't quite make it out this is a Diana 48 and, in a departure for me, it's a .22.
(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0020_zpszfektjqq.jpg)
(http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/gareth_SAKs/Air%20stuff/DSC_0023_zpsr0tvjdsv.jpg)

You can probably tell that the condition is a little rough and ready, but it seems to be mechanically sound and the price I paid reflected it's condition. I love the weight and feel of the rifle, it's gives off the air of being extremely over engineered and has a very old school vibe. 8)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 29, 2016, 01:03:30 PM: The MOD 48's are good, nice to see you have finally come over to the right way of thinking in calibre as well :pok: :rofl:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on September 29, 2016, 01:11:52 PM: Quote from: Smashie on September 29, 2016, 01:03:30 PM
The MOD 48's are good, nice to see you have finally come over to the right way of thinking in calibre as well :pok: :rofl:

:P

For HFT I think I''ll be sticking to .177 for a long time yet. ;) This rifle just filled in a lot of "wants": I wanted a Diana made rifle, I wanted a side lever and I wanted one .22. As I've said before there is quite a thing growing around shooting with open sights and I've enjoyed the couple of competitions I've done. The iron sights are missing on the 48 but I've ordered a new set and I can see myself using this rifle strictly for that.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on September 29, 2016, 01:15:55 PM: Quote from: Gareth on September 29, 2016, 01:11:52 PM
Quote from: Smashie on September 29, 2016, 01:03:30 PM
The MOD 48's are good, nice to see you have finally come over to the right way of thinking in calibre as well :pok: :rofl:

:P For HFT I think I''ll be sticking to .177 for a long time yet. ;) This rifle just filled in a lot of "wants": I wanted a Diana made rifle, I wanted a side lever and I wanted one .22. As I've said before there is quite a thing growing around shooting with open sights and I've enjoyed the couple of competitions I've done at that. The iron sights are missing on the 48 but I've ordered a new set and I can see myself using this rifle strictly for that.

I'm still looking for a Webley Omega in .22, the best break barrel rifle I have ever owned, I shot that for 3 years with open sights until I could afford a decent scope for it. My father view was "it's your hobby, you pay for it".
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on October 02, 2016, 06:37:53 PM: It was our turn to host the SARPA HFT league today and so I've spent a good few hours/days this week helping set up the competition course. Not my design this time but there was still a lot of grunt work needing done. It turns out that the gods were smiling on us and decided that they'd give us a splendidly sunny day with only a little wind for the first twenty minutes or so. In my usual recoling class my mate (who also designed the course) came first with a 54x60, and my score of 52x60 was good enough to put me in the shoot-off for second/third.

So the format for a shoot-off is this; three targets are set out, one each at 15, 25 and 35 yards and you take turns at shooting all three, all shots taken from the kneeling position. Only shots that knock the target down count. In the event of a tie they you do it again but this time from standing. I found myself shooing against a chap from another club who just happens to be the World Champion in the recoiling class. He goes first and knocks over one out of three from the knee. Not bad, but I've got a chance of beating him. Bugger, I do exactly the same, even going so far as to land my pellet marks right on top of his. On to the standing then. He takes his shots and, while all were close, he doesn't knock any over. Here's my chance then; first shot I land just a hair low and it's still standing, second shot (this at the 25 yard) and joy-of-joy it goes over! That's it, game over, no need to shoot at the last, I've beaten him. OK, so it was only for second and as far as the league goes our scores are still recorded as the same, but in a straight head-to-head I came out on top. Very happy with that.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on October 02, 2016, 07:24:00 PM: :tu: :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on October 02, 2016, 07:32:24 PM: Quote from: Smashie on October 02, 2016, 07:24:00 PM
:tu: :salute:
:cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on October 23, 2016, 11:12:25 PM: So that's it, the SARPA HFT league is now done. Final competition was held at a club I've never been to before called Bedlay. A very interesting course with more than half the shots being taken up the side of a ruddy steep hill! Weather was fine for most of the day with wind only being a factor on one or two shots. It took me too long however to get my head into shooting up at targets at more than 45degrees. I got there in the end but couldn't put together a fantastic score (43x60). That said it was more than some very good shooters managed so I placed third on the day.

This was good enough to secure my fourth place in the league standings. I honestly could have hoped for slightly better, but I'm not disappointed either. I've gained plenty of bling over the summer and I did top the SARCs league so I've really got nothing to complain about. :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on October 24, 2016, 12:54:34 PM: Congrats Gareth :salute:

(http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_0490.gif)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on October 24, 2016, 03:03:41 PM: cheers Kevin. :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on November 01, 2016, 01:47:17 AM: Tonight was our clubs Halloween night-time shoot. A great fun event with lots of ghoulish decorations hung around the place. Just twenty shots all taken from the knee (or the occasional supported stander) so a maximum score of 40 possible. The only downside was the fact it started raining heavily an hour before we started and didn't stop until 20 minutes after we finished. ::) My mate and I got round the course a good 15 minutes quicker than anyone else. :D Despite the rushing I managed to shoot well and only plated 4 targets and so came home with a very respectable 36x40. Good enough to bag me second place out of about 12 shooters. Keeping in mind that I think I was the only person shooting a spring gun I'm pretty bloody pleased with the result. :cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on December 13, 2016, 08:27:17 PM: Missed this before, well done G :salute:

After a lot of messing about about I got the TX working again or the 'Bitch' as I now affectionately call her. You'll have to have a go with that :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on December 13, 2016, 08:59:18 PM: Quote from: Smashie on December 13, 2016, 08:27:17 PM
Missed this before, well done G :salute:

After a lot of messing about about I got the TX working again or the 'Bitch' as I now affectionately call her. You'll have to have a go with that :tu:

Cheers mate. :cheers: I do like the TX, even if not quite as much as my HW97. ;) Remind me; is your's the full length rifle or the carbine?
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on December 13, 2016, 09:02:54 PM: Quote from: Gareth on December 13, 2016, 08:59:18 PM
Quote from: Smashie on December 13, 2016, 08:27:17 PM
Missed this before, well done G :salute:

After a lot of messing about about I got the TX working again or the 'Bitch' as I now affectionately call her. You'll have to have a go with that :tu:

Cheers mate. :cheers: I do like the TX, even if not quite as much as my HW97. ;) Remind me; is your's the full length rifle or the carbine?

It's the full length :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on January 05, 2017, 12:13:15 AM: Here's one for you Smashie. My mate has gotten very into the idea of open sights shooting and so has put some diopter sights on his Tx200 carbine. We were shooting at our indoor range tonight and I asked if I have a go. I was stunned by shooting this five shot group at 25 yards! That's less than a 5p sized group with open sights. The guy who owns the TX was looking at my hits though a spotting scope and couldn't quite belive what he saw.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on January 05, 2017, 12:21:46 AM: To put this in context; that's a group I'd be perfectly happy with using a recoilless PCP rifle and a x10 mag scope. My mate was quite rightly very pleased with putting all his shots in the black, which looks like a small pin head at 25 yards. Shooting that group with a borrowed spring gun and open sights is, if I do say so myself, bloody impressive. Not sure I could do it again mind you. ;) Even this Weihrauch fan has to admit the TX is a bloody good gun.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on January 05, 2017, 12:32:59 AM: Quote from: Gareth on December 27, 2015, 06:46:05 PM
Had a fun competition at the club today. Round 1 was with 10m pistol and some silly targets (small pictures of Santa etc), two points for a perfect shot, one for a more marginal hit. I managed a pretty poor 13x40, though I should say that this was on the higher end of the score chart. :D My mate, who shoots at a pretty high competition standard managed a much better 22x40, despite opting to shoot with a Crosman 2240.

Round 2 was up at the HFT course; 20 targets, kneeling or standing depending on personal preference. I have to say I had a pretty bloody good round at this coming back with 33x40. That beat a good few PCP shooters and was the top score with a spring rifle.

Combined scores put me in 5th place out of about 20 shooters. Anyway, the main aim was to have fun and in that regard it was a total success. :salute:

And just to bring this blog full circle I really should mention the Christmas shoot last month. Looking at what I did last year it's remarkable how little has changed. :doh: Shot a 12x40 with the pistols (most shot less than 10; they're bloody small targets we're looking at). On to the HFT course and it was a full 30 targets this year rather than 20 last year. I shot a very good 44x60 all from the knee or standing, mix of supported and unsupported. Combined score was good enough to get me 4th overall and far and away the top spring gun score. No prizes for that though. :D
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on January 05, 2017, 12:58:32 AM: Quote from: Gareth on January 05, 2017, 12:13:15 AM
Here's one for you Smashie. My mate has gotten very into the idea of open sights shooting and so has put some diopter sights on his Tx200 carbine. We were shooting at our indoor range tonight and I asked if I have a go. I was stunned by shooting this five shot group at 25 yards! That's less than a 5p sized group with open sights. The guy who owns the TX was looking at my hits though a spotting scope and couldn't quite belive what he saw.

Yup that's damn Impressive and better than I manage with the 'Bitch'. although there are a few ting with her I cant quite put my finger on so it's off to the gunsmith.

My new glasses may help as well lol :rofl:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 05, 2017, 07:36:49 PM: Here we go again. :D Had the first leg of a pre-season "friendly" with the Grampian ARC, with this leg being hosted by them. The rules are UKHFT but not all the targets are exactly compliant, with at least one being out to somewhere around 60 yards. While this is a match between our two clubs anyone is welcome to come along, with that in mind it wasn't that well attended unfortunately. :-\ They are in the arse end of nowhere though so perhaps it's not all that surprising. We had a couple of chaps shooting in the Open class, two more in the Open Sights and myself in the Recoiling. Sadly one of the guys in the Open had a disaster and only shot a 38x60, nothing like as well as he can and we can only guess something is up with his rifle or scope. The other chap shot a more respectable 48x60. Our two reps in the Open Sights shot a 31x60 and a 36x60, not bad at all given the bias of the course towards long range.

Still with me? Good. ;)

So how did I do I hear you ask? Well, remember I said if wasn't all that well attended? That meant I had absolutely no-one to shoot against in the Recoiling class and I'd have still won if I'd shot myself in the foot on the second peg. ::) The shame of it is that I shot a pretty decent 51x60 and I'd have given anyone else at least a very good run for their money, if not a sound hiding. Oh well, a very nice day out on a fun course, I scored more than a lot of PCP shooters and I shot well to do it, so I really can't complain too hard. :)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on February 05, 2017, 07:55:12 PM: A lot of people seem to be very anti springer now. I've been tweaking the TX and also myself and I'm getting pretty good with it. It's a big difference from a PCP but tame compared to what I'm used to (I would hardly call the TX recoiling).

If you can shoot a springer consistently, you can shoot anything. I miss with the 510, my fault, no excuses. I think it's people not being prepared to take the time to learn. :facepalm:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on February 05, 2017, 08:11:41 PM: I wouldn't say shooters up here are "anti" springer, but a lot of them skip over them and go for a PCP. People acknowledge they are harder to shoot well, but don't seem to understand that some of us LIKE a challenge and find PCPs a bit boring. The Open Sights competitions are done with springers I guess, but that's quite a different proposition.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on April 23, 2017, 11:03:25 PM: Well, it's Competition time again and today saw the 2017 SARPA League kick off in windy style at New Kypeside. An interesting course that winds up a shallow river bed and has some crazy cross winds that seem to manage to blow in two directions at once. :think: I did OK at reading the wind, but I was particularly pleased with my range finding. Even better I managed to shrug off a terrible streak of misses (a total of four doughnuts) and come back swinging.
It felt like something went wrong with the scope for a bit as I was totally missing mid-ranged targets that all but filled my reticule. Just no way I shouldn't have hit something. :shrug: I gave the whole rig a good shake to see if something sounded lose and, while it didn't rattle, it did seem to sort out whatever was going wrong. So despite the shocking misses I still managed to rack up a good for the day 43x60 which was good enough for second place in Recoiling.
Further investigation need to be done on the rifle and scope; check scope mounts, stock bolts, dial the internal scope tube all the way up/down, left/right etc. to see if something went wrong or if I was just suffering a run of bad luck in finding blades of grass or whatever.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on April 24, 2017, 12:47:37 PM: Good luck for the season :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on April 24, 2017, 12:54:31 PM: Quote from: Gareth on February 05, 2017, 08:11:41 PM
I wouldn't say shooters up here are "anti" springer, but a lot of them skip over them and go for a PCP. People acknowledge they are harder to shoot well, but don't seem to understand that some of us LIKE a challenge and find PCPs a bit boring. The Open Sights competitions are done with springers I guess, but that's quite a different proposition.

PCP is much much easier to shoot, especially the modern guns that really accurately regulate each shot so you get super consistency. I used to shoot at an indoor 10m club called SCAWS in my town, and used a weihrauch 35 with a peephole sight. I shot it for a couple of years before having it chrono'd and finding out it had quite a swing in power between shots. I thought it was down to me wobbling around to much. It corrected for the most part with a new spring, but was never as accurate as the guys using pcp guns.
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on May 01, 2017, 08:16:03 PM: Quote from: Kevin Davey on April 24, 2017, 12:47:37 PM
Good luck for the season :tu:
:cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 23, 2017, 08:49:18 PM: Well, I've not been doing a very good job of keeping up with this have I? :-[ I have shot a couple more competitions since I last posted and it's been going OK, especially my first place at the New Caledonian club. Most recently though was the STS HFT Championship where I managed to come third for the second year in a row. This consists of two courses in a single day and both of them tough. Awkward shooting positions were the norm for the day plus a lot of shooting up a steep embankment. I managed to put a crick in my neck on my third shot of the day and had had a niggle for the rest of the day. However I certainly wasn't alone in that.

(https://scontent.flhr4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/20770281_693306847533042_3584332122003670924_n.jpg?oh=a026056d74846504b45791ab5902b71c&oe=5A327939)
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Kev D on August 23, 2017, 09:17:11 PM: Congratulations :tu:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 24, 2017, 05:16:35 PM: Quote from: Kevin Davey on August 23, 2017, 09:17:11 PM
Congratulations :tu:
:cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Smashie on August 25, 2017, 06:27:12 PM: Bloody well done sir :salute:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on August 25, 2017, 07:59:56 PM: Quote from: Smashie on August 25, 2017, 06:27:12 PM
Bloody well done sir :salute:

cheers mate. :cheers:
Title: Re: Gareth's HFT shooting blog
Post by: Gareth on October 31, 2017, 04:04:33 PM: I've not kept this going very well have I? :-[ The STS HFT League ended a couple of weeks ago and I managed a very respectable 2nd place in Recoiling class. Theoretically I could have still stolen 1st at the last comp but I would have had to shot my best score of the year and, frankly, I didn't. :D I did finally manage to win at my home ground though and I take some consolation from that. Oddly, I think I probably scored better on average last year, but the courses felt less spring gun friendly and everyone who shot Recoiling class dropped a few points as well.