Cost of Competition and Pracitce

B

BobZ

Guest
Just curious,

As a competitor for a bunch of years in many disciplines I found that the cost of ammunition was limiting the pleasure of firing sub MOA targets and groups. I have to say that after I found air rifle bench rest competition, I can come close to purchase of a really competitive Rifle every few years on an approximate min of .18 cents savings per shot fired with extreme accuracy at 25 meters and 50 yards.
10000 x .18 cents= 1800.00

I fire a couple of hundred rounds a week. If I have the rifle paid for the savings can pay a trip to a major match. Air Rifle Bench Rest is growing. Adding shooters to NRA silhouette and Field Target competition.
USBR targets and the World Air Rifle targets are a approx. 2mm 10 ring at 25 meters. Match grade pellets are around .02 cents.

The Bayou Rifles Club jn Houston is allowing me to attend their Rimfire matches and shoot the USBR target at 25 meters. I recently purchased a 30 ft lb 22 cal shooting a 15.9 pellet at 917 fps with some of my savings.

Check out the Air Rifle section on this forum for Match results and clubs. This post was prompted by a High power and Rim Fire shooter looking to cut cost and shoot more who visited the Air rifle forum.

Not your daddy's Red Ryder.

Bob Zimmerman
 
A good air rifle, and pellets will give a .22 rim fire with good amunition a hard way to go at 50' gallery.
 
alinwa,

Your question Any quarter MOA.... I am sure some one has fired such groups. My best are probably in the half MOA. My post said sub MOA.

I have bragging groups with my .177 at 50 yards that were probably about a pellet and a half round hole I would say less than 1/4 inch. I have fired one.22 cal bragging group that is .11 ctc at 25 meters with my new Custom Theoben MFR. The Air arms EV-2 at a recent World Championship fired a perfect 250 on a target with a 2mm 10 ring, I own one but did not fire that one. Indoors on the same target a tricked out FX made in Sweden fired a perfect 750.

Like any Bench competition the shooter does the deed with good equipment one without the other does not work. Those little pellets do move around in the wind.
 
B.Johnson,

I think that once some curious rim fire shooters try the challenge of air rifle from the bench 25 meters they might add one to the stable and shoot as a second gun at some matches In USBR competition Rim Fire and airguns shoot the same target. The rim fire at 50 yds and the air rifle at 25 yards. The air rifles are a great way to bring the family in for some fun competition at a very low cost per shot. You do need a Scuba tank and guage.
 
Geramo,

www.theobenusa.com The basic rifle is 1795.00 is a good start. One of the dealers listed is Alan Zazadny. He is also an well know air smith and you can add several hundred dollars for a few more 10's. There are many good rifles out of the box. Many start as 10 meter match rifles and are boosted in power and regulators are added. Watch the air rifle forum here and see the winning equipment listed. There are several international classes starting with 12 ft lbs. energy then 16 ft lbs, 20 ft lbs. There are US classes for high power that are 35 ft lbs and under or 50 ft lbs and under.

Bob
 
Bob, although they are getting old, I still have two match air rifles. The first is a Feinwerkbau marked L.G. mod. 150. These rifles were first imported to this country by the Daisy air rifle co., and marked as such. The other is a Anshutz. Both are recoiless, side cocking in cal. .177. They can be a lot of fun to shoot with good pellets. I had the best luck with H&N's. They can still give our hart barreled rim fire a good run at 50' gallery. At today's cost, air rifles may be the best game in town.
 
I agree!

I saw a lad shootinga Benchrest Airgun target this summer and was interested enough to buy a "Starter" rifle. I also believe Airgun Benchrest will grow BIG. Many folks will be able to have a renge in their back yard for practice and there are many, many Pistol ranges that are 50 yds and or meters. Personally, I see very little difference in the mechanics of shooting Airgun Benchrest vs Rimfire VS Centerfire. Good rifles are no or not much less expensive than RF or CF rifles but the Ammo is a heck of a lot less. I find it to be just as satisfying and as much fun as RF or CF.

Something lacking right now is good Benchrest Stocks for Air Rifles or at least I haven't seen any advertised. Lots of custom stocks with huge Perch Belly lumps on them with tons of drop but no Benchrest cuts.

Travel now is a huge item with regard to any shooting events so the $0.03( $15. per 500 by the time they get shipped to me ) pellet should help a lot. I seem to go through about $60 or $70 worth of ammo every time I shoot a RF match it seems like and with $3.50 gas and another $125 a day for found, one has to consider alternatives at some point. Never mind wearing out a $35K auromobile!


Pete
 
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Pete, It seem's more and more of my shooting friends' are of the same mind that shooting is getting way to costly. With air rifles you can have a friendly match most any time, any where. You can pass the rifles around to those who as yet don't have one. After all, your not wearing the barrel out. Most people have to see a fine air rifle in action to truly understand how accurate they are. My Feinwerkbau was bought back in about the mid 60's, and has never been touched as far as repair goes. The quality is something else on these rifles'. That idea of a benchrest stock. I think I know where 2 wood blank's may go. I wonder how you would bed a air rifle. May have to go over to the air gun forum, and pick some minds. My other thought is a .30 BR with cast bullets for some fun shooting, and a real challenge.
 
alinwa said:
Bob, are you implying that there are now quarter minute air rifles?
Click to expand...

I don't know if such accuracy exists but I think it does. One thing for sure, if it doesn't exist it will when air rifle benchrest catches on a bit more.
 
Pete,

Benchrest Stocks. I have a Mcmillan on my 21 year old Air Arms NJR. I did well with this old guy at the 1995 BR50 Nationals some time back. I am ordering tomorrow a candy apple red bench stock for my Theoben MFR. It is used, but the owner fired a very high
Qualifying score for the U.S team to go to the Worlds held in S. Carolina.

Bob.
 
admin said:
I don't know if such accuracy exists but I think it does. One thing for sure, if it doesn't exist it will when air rifle benchrest catches on a bit more.
Click to expand...

At the Range today with my new Theoben MFR .22 cal. Shooting a 15.9 JSB pellet at 917 fps. I can now answer with conviction about alinwa's question of 1/4 MOA groups. Yes !
My bragging group today measured with digital caliper was .25 inch group edge to edge, I think that the ctc measurement of .03 would qualify at 25 meters (about 28 yards). My past shooting was mostly fall when hit targets which was always fun.
I read years ago about mini-sniping at 9mm shell cassings not sure of the distance. I placed 5 .22 cal. pellets on the top of the frame to get that jump in the air thrill. Five in a row!

I fired about 250 shots today and did not break the bank.

Bob Z
 
I really hope 1/4moa aggregates DO become achievable......I'll be all over that.

I think the answer lies in projectile design.

al
 
Bob, can you post a picture of your rifles with more detail on the rifles themselves?
 
1/4 MOA means 1/4" at 100 yards. Now, the math says that should mean 1/8" at 50 yards and 1/16" at 25 yards.

Pellets are light and are much more subject to conditions, so the numbers above are a challenge. 5 shots groups seem to be standard fare and while it cannot be done consistently, there have been groups shot under .100 at 25 meters. To explain this group measurement, that's worst edge to worst edge minus .216, which is a typical pellet head dimension. Based on this, we are close.
 
This does sound like it will catch on sooner rather than later with Eley Red Box pushing $20./box and rising rapidly....... so if you "fill" your rifle with air from a scuba tank how many shots can you fire before you need a re-fill?
 
cris said:
1/4 MOA means 1/4" at 100 yards. Now, the math says that should mean 1/8" at 50 yards and 1/16" at 25 yards.

Pellets are light and are much more subject to conditions, so the numbers above are a challenge. 5 shots groups seem to be standard fare and while it cannot be done consistently, there have been groups shot under .100 at 25 meters. To explain this group measurement, that's worst edge to worst edge minus .216, which is a typical pellet head dimension. Based on this, we are close.
Click to expand...



"We are close".... Yep, looks like a ton-a-fun..! Been lurking on the Air Rifle Benchrest forum and am saving my pennys..!

The Theoben .22 air charge like what Bobz has a blast with, is look'n like a winner...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...563l37563l0l41406l1l1l0l0l0l0l765l765l6-1l1l0

http://www.theoben.co.uk/product.php?productid=16

Factory stock is "serviceable" but a Benchrest profile design would be THE TICKIT..!
Saving my penny's...

cale
 
alinwa said:
I really hope 1/4moa aggregates DO become achievable......I'll be all over that.

I think the answer lies in projectile design.

al
Click to expand...
I had to re read your post to understand that this post of hoping for aggregates was different from your first question ..... Which was If I was saying the there are 1/4 minute air rifles with no mention of multiple or aggregate groupsl I answered first I did not know and then reported the .03 ctc group which says it can be done and has been done by other air gunners. I think that most bench rest shooting, Air Gun shooting for certain, has moved from the original group shootN' matches to multiple bulls with inward scoring. The 10 rings are reduced in size to provide a near equal challenge for the distance and the equipment used. I would take bets that some our top shooters can produce a 3 group aggregate measuring .0625 ctc or less at 25 yards.

My only point in all of this was with my original post that "Air Rifle Bench rest is a growing sport attracting shooters who want fun shooting and a real challenge and save a many hundreds of dollars each year in ammunition cost. It is the hope of many air gun competitors that bench rest shooters from rim fire or center fire, will add an air rifle for another opportunity to test their skills and enjoy more days at the range with friends. There is no way to compare these three games except they all present a challenge and lost of fun.

Join the fun buy an air gun. He he

Bob
 
With any competition,

it becomes whatever the equipment is capable of doing. So it is with Air Guns. It seems some of them are capable of delivering some incredible accuracy when one considers what one is working with.

I am aware of at least one maker of "Custom" action and triggers and I'm sure more will come along. I believe this promises to become very big. There are so many advantages to it vs "Conventional" firearms. Perhaps if the market for $20. ammo falls off it too will decline in price. In my view, RF ammo is such a crap shoot and there being so few Great lots of ammo, the pellets offer a wonderful alternatve.

Question: Who will become the Friend BC of Air Rifles?
 
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