Spring has sprung. Get out and shoot your Henry

Air guns to the rescue

All things air related here. BB guns, pellet guns, paintball guns, even air shotguns.
Post Reply
User avatar
North Country Gal
Firearms Advisor
Posts: 6054
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:46 pm
Location: northern Wisconsin
United States of America

Air guns to the rescue

Post by North Country Gal » Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:04 pm

Thanks to a week and a half of really lousy shooting weather, we've put off making a trip to our local club range. Doesn't mean I haven't been shooting, of course. Yup, air guns to the rescue! All I have to do when I want to scratch my shooting itch is to grab an air gun and step outside to backyard, 30 yard, air gun range. In really cold weather (we've already had snow, up here), a session may be as short as 20 shots before I dash back, indoors, to pour myself a cup of coffee and warm up. All very easy and convenient to do, of course, if you keep few air rifles and a tin of the appropriate pellets right by the door.

For these quick, impromptu, spur of the moment shooting sessions I prefer to use quick and easy to use airguns. This is one of my favorites. It's a scoped HW30S Laminate in 177. Cocking is effortless, the accuracy and quality superb and when shooting at 30 yards, the little HW30S has just enough power to flip our resettable metal targets, though it takes a good direct hit to flip a target instead of just make it wobble. All part of the fun and the challenge, all the more so since nearly all my shooting is without a rest.
Image

One thing that makes my backyard airgun shooting especially fun for me is the use of metal spinner and reactive targets. Our club range is paper, only, so being able to shoot metal on our backyard range is a treat. Oh, now and then I'll shoot some paper when I'm ambitious, bu it's all about fun and shooting metal s always more fun than punching paper. :)

By the way, 30 yards is a nice air gun distance. It's close enough to be only mildly affected by a strong breeze, but far enough to be a nice challenge. You can, of course, shoot air guns, seriously, at less than half that distance. For example, when the winter weather really gets nasty, I shoot indoors at only 10 meters and I know folks who shoot at even closer distances.

All this is to remind folks that there is an entire world of serious and fun shooting as close as your back yard or your basement. Don't stop shooting because you can't squeeze in a trip to your local range.

Yes, you, too, can go on a backyard safari... with your airgun, of course. :)
Image
3 x

User avatar
RetiredSeabee
Administrator
Posts: 2284
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 5:04 pm
Location: Harrisburg, North Carolina
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by RetiredSeabee » Sat Oct 13, 2018 6:40 pm

Love the crow target. Sure wish I could have that much fun in my backyard. Gotta wait for the next house.
0 x
Load on Sunday and Shoot all Week.......okay it's a Mare's Leg I will reload on Wednesday. ;)

dddrees
Cattle Driver
Posts: 703
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:55 pm
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by dddrees » Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:19 pm

Looks like a lot of fun. Same here although my backyard isn’t quite as big. I still enjoy getting some practice in when I’m unable to get to the range.
0 x

Henry88
Cowboy
Posts: 1872
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:12 am
Location: Osteen FL
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by Henry88 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:13 am

Nice Weihrauch NCG. I have heard before how the HW30 is effortless to cock and yet enough power to be accurate/fun.

I also got the impression that it was less hold sensitive than other springers, perhaps due to less power. Funny how the Walmart/Academy crowd buy the highest fps gun, presupposing they will hit the target and consequently do the most damage, I guess.

Coincidentally, all my range reports are at 30yds, but it's because of the layout of my yard, location of shade tree :D , etc. When I set up my night range which is temporary, it also has to be 30yds, cause that's how the guns are setup. Having said that, I too felt it was perfect, 25yds just seeming a "little too close".

We have the opposite problem in Fla, it gets too hot to shoot :D , so hoping to get the airguns out more.

Thanks, and keep them coming.

Patrick
0 x

Henry88
Cowboy
Posts: 1872
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:12 am
Location: Osteen FL
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by Henry88 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:20 am

RetiredSeabee wrote:Love the crow target. Sure wish I could have that much fun in my backyard. Gotta wait for the next house.
Hey RS, all seriousness aside, do you live in Brooklyn? :D
Brooklyn_Heights_Brownstone07.jpg


I mean it's hard for me to imagine a yard too small for an airgun, and they are QUIET

Edit to add > After walking my dog, it occurred to me RS mentioning living in a Condo. I was trying my hand at humor, and in any case I've no doubt his is a gorgeous home as are the brownstones pictured. My appologies to anyone who may have been offended.

Funny, but at Bay Hill you can play golf, and at Ocean Reef you can look out your living room and see your boat, but break out that Umarex Legends MP-40 and you'll be surrounded by golf carts with stars :D

Patrick
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1 x

User avatar
North Country Gal
Firearms Advisor
Posts: 6054
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:46 pm
Location: northern Wisconsin
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by North Country Gal » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:55 am

Thanks, folks. Where there's a will, there's a way if you want to shoot airguns at home, but, yeah, I know it's a tough call in some living situations.

As for shooting springers, the more the the fps, the more the recoil, the greater the cocking effort and the more the challenge to shoot with accuracy. Two things that help are gun weight and a quality trigger. Gun weight helps to reduce the recoil a bit and all the highest fpe springers are heavy by necessity of construction, but if I had to rate the most important feature on a springer for good shooting, it would be the trigger. A good trigger is an automatic on a quality spring like an HW, AA or Diana. By the same token, a lousy trigger is an automatic on Wal-mart level magnum springers. When you combine high velocity/magnum power with a lousy trigger, you have a prescription to fail on getting a springer or gas piston gun to shoot, consistently.

If you are on a budget, going with other types of airguns, such as a classic pump up or even a budget level PCP is a good idea. They can be remarkably accurate, right out of the box. Going cheap on a springer or gas ram, though, is usually a bad idea. Cheap "magnum" springers/gas rams have probably ruined air gun shooting for more people than any other typeof air gun.
1 x

Henry88
Cowboy
Posts: 1872
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:12 am
Location: Osteen FL
United States of America

Re: Air guns to the rescue

Post by Henry88 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:00 pm

I think I shot two 500 tins of premiers with my Walmart springer (Umarex Surge) before I had a clue. Even then I had to hold it in the most uncomfortable area of the stock. What did I expect for $75 which included a scope, which is still good. :D
0 x

Post Reply