shooting

[ak47]

today i went out with my BSA spitfire, went to this feild got out a peice of paper ops i forgot to draw a target on it so i got a stick and stuck it in some cow poo then dotted a mark on it

i stuck the target 3ft up of the ground and shot from about 20-30m away i used an old bucket as a rest it was about 30cm tall i then procceded

zero my scope.

i have been a bit confused as to wether guns shoot low or high when you shot high so i shot up a tree aimed for a scuffled bit it shot lower then i aimed so i guess it shoots low when u aim high is that correct?

anyway after i went out shooting rabbits,

spotted about 8 i took my 1st shot it missed WHAT!!!!

i was leaning on a fence it couldnt have been me maybe it was a flyer i thought a few went back ,the rest raised there head up i reloaded and took another shot PPppsss the pellet went and hit the nettle behind it DOH!! it hit high so i lowered the scope a little took another shot at the last rabbit i aimed directly just below its ears PPsss follow buy a shard riping sound ouch!!!, it sounded like it hit its ear all the rabbits were about 15-20 M away what could it have been did i zero it wrong? did i hit it in the wrong place in the head.

i went for a little walk and saw another rabbit it was about 7 ft away i took a shot it missed again at 7ft WHAT i think it went high but cant be sure it was in a dark area , it was a standing shot i put it down to me being a **** shot but still decided i should give it a few clicks to make it lower.

i saw another this time it was about 25m away i rested my gun on the fence and took a shot at this beutiful bunny this time it made a thud.....YES!!! the bunny was having spasyms(spell*)i started to feel bad i thought maybe it wasnt a clean kill anyway after about 5 sec it stopped and then i look through the scope again and its little head popped up but it was still laying on the ground i took another shot and it went thud i AIM for the head it did hit but the ****** managed to make it to the headge about 2 ft away from were i shot it after i felt so bad i thought ****** this iant shooting another one until its sorted.

 

 

 

WHAT AM i doing wrong!

 

did i zero it wrong???

 

ill re zero it on monday when i get some more pells i only have about 20 left. then ill go shooting again

 

 

 

if i shoot a rabbit at 7ft how much lower should i aim if im standing :blink:

[Hammergun]

When you zero your scope do you fire at least 8 pellets in succession before making adjustments?

 

You need this to be able to work out the average grouping, else you will just end up "chasing your tail".

 

Zero your scope at about the same distance you will be normally shooting at.

 

Is a BSA Spitfire a spring-loaded gun? If so, if it is loose, each recoil may displace the hairline inside the scope, causing duff shightings each time (that happened to me with my last spring-gun).

 

When the sight is correctly zeroed, you should be able to put pellet after pellet in more or less the same place on the target.

[ak47]

its a pcp and has no recoil well maybe it has a teeny weeny bit of reoil but you cant notice and no i didnt shoot 8 x before adjusting it i did about 3 and the last 3 pellets went in the same hole almost. it wa the 1st time i ever went bunny hunting i it wasnt pleasant seeing it suffer for the 1st time but im sure it#ll be alright ill zero it again tomorrow if i can find enough pellets

 

 

 

 

all n all it took about 10 -15 pellets to zero it

[rarms]

when you zero it at 30 metres it will only be zeroed at 30 metres, this means if u see a rabbit at 7ft and put the crosshairs on it then u will miss.

 

if you put the crosshairs on it at 30 metres then u should hit it

 

aim between the eye and the ear, only take side profile shots, and only start shooting quarry species when you are capable.

 

No offense but why not join a club or something and learn the basics?

 

What sort of group sizes were you getting at 30yrds, and what make of pellets are you using, a pcp should easily get ragged one hole groups at that range of a rest

[Hammergun]

AK47 - As has been repeatedly discussed previously, can members fill in their profiles so we know a little about what age, location and background they are coming from, and as such can respond accordingly. It's not as if we are asking for names, addresses and credit card details!

 

:blink:

[neil]

The above advice is good advice, it does sound as if you arnt holding under or over for shots that are closer or further away than your 30m zero, if not and as this is really a pretty fundamental point in airgun shooting it may be wise to get that sussed on paper before firing at anything else thats living. To just keep winding the turrets around if you miss will just make a bad situation even worse to be frank, what sort of groups are you producing with the gun at different ranges? do you practice shooting in different positions? if so what groups do you produce then?

[ak47]

yesterday i was able to shoot 5 holes in a 1.5 inch circle on a bucket at 20 m standing and i could shoot the same holes on a rest at 25m.im 19 year old and i live in Dorset in Bridport.

i have own airguns for 3-4 years ive shot about ive shot about ive shot about 6 or 7 dirrent air rifles killed about 5-7 pigeons 4-5 crows and 2 pheasants that was with a springer ive never used to know about aiming high or low didnt even know you needed to when i was usig my old guns i just though i were missing becuase i were a **** shot fortunatly i ddint make any animals suffer like the rabbit all the birds i shot were clean kills

[ak47]

i took my air rifle out to zero today and it was shooting about 2-3 inches to the left and 1 inch low i only zero it a few hours before i went shooting yesterday how cold it have messed up that much do you reckon it could be becuase the gunbag i carry it around in is a bit tight for it you see

 

 

 

 

 

dont worry im not going to go shotin bunnys until its sorted

[Teal]

Sounds like your scope is not attached to the gun tight enough. I suggest you do more targets before doing live quarry.

[rarms]

As teal says it would suggest the scope is not properly attached, try changing the mounts, or maybe borrow a different scope as it may be the reticle is damaged

 

If you want to learn above hold over/under with regard to range then why not join a local club? If there isnt one then just practise shooting targets at different ranges and see where the pellets fall in relation the the zero and point of aim

[roblade]

hi ak,

 

firstly it sound like you need top get to a bit more priactice before you start tp wander the fields, not knowing the trajectory of your pellts will just case the animals too much suffering.

 

there are many of us out there who use airrifles to hunt very sucsesfully BUT we all put in the time at the range/quiet area and learnt the hold over under for the variouse distances.

 

if your zereod at 35 yards anything cloiser to you is going to need hold under and anything further from you is going to need hold over! PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE! what more can i say?:blink:? its not hard and its not rocket science all you have to do is simple target shooting

 

1. get 10 targets

 

2. pace off 5 big paces place target....repeat untill all targets set out

 

3. mark targets as 1 (closest 5yrds ish) through to 10 (furthest 50 yards ish)

 

4. return to start

 

5.zero in on your chosen distance target (minimum 5-10 shots)

 

6. shoot each target in turn always aiming for dead centre as if it where you chosen zero range (minimum 5-10 shots)

 

7. study where pellets are hitting target, look at where the x hairs are and look where pellets are striking in relation to the post/mildots

 

8. using newly aquired knoledge use the scope givign it holdover/under to hit the centre of the tagets the same way as your zero distance would be hitting.

 

9. make notes about how much hold over/under each distance needed

 

10. place clean targets at variouse ranges and see if you can rember where to point to hit centre

 

if you cant do the above would like to think you will no longer go to the fields, as we are in enough trouble for shooting animals as it is without givign other amunition to throw at us e.g. " saw this **** in field yesterday, rabbit was only 2 yards in front of him and he took 4 shots to kill the poor thing, made my blood boil to see little fluffy in so much pain!"

 

following the above points will stop you missing i can garantee! if your woried about the rifle running out of air on you take your pump with you wrapped up in a bin bag, find a nice safe spot to leave it and cover with leaves

 

but please PRACTISE!!!!!!!!!

[The Sniper]

Roblade,

 

May I commend you on your last post.

 

The advice you gave was very comprehensive and practical. You saved me the trouble of typing it all out

 

This advice works just as well when you move up to the 22lr and centerfires.

 

:blink:

[roblade]

cheers sniper

 

was either that or get a post almost completly filled with *********! ********!!!! LOL

and relax :)but i have calmed down now and much better :(

[gamebag]

whoa roblade looks like you got some serious aggression problems m8 :( lol!!!

but i have got to admit thats sound advice you have given mr ak47 thats the way i was tought how to zero and practice hold over & under with a rifle & scope but we used carboard box's and used enlargend (is that how you spell it :*) ) targets so you could guestimate and then measure drop for consistancey in practice

[ak47]

lol dude chill out i wouldnt have shot if i didnt think it would hit.

im not gonna make the same mistake again

 

 

anyway it was 3 inches(scope) to the left that explains why i didnt kill that rabbit musta hit in the body and then the 2nd in the neck or body!erm starting to feel bad now

 

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[ak47]

i got some more pellets and went out for a bit of target shooting i'd already zeroed it again from the last time i went shooting,i shot a leaf at 25m it didnt move so i shot anther 2x and nothing happend so i put up a paper target and guess what this time it was going 3 inches to the left after about 10 shots it seem to be getting good but i didnt have arest so it wasnt perfect i was still able to get4 shot in a 1 inch well maybe it was 1 inche group at 20 then i saw a pagpie and couldnt resist shooting it ,it was about 30m away down it went like a sack of **** ,it landed in a bunch of stingers n branbles sod that i couldnt be ***** to hack through just to eat it there were about 4 m to hack through and it was getting dark so i left it out for the foxes/maggets an other animals.on the way home i screwed up a peice of paper and put it on the ground about 20m away to my surprise it actualy hit then i took 5 more steps and it hit again when i got to about 30-40m i couldnt hit it after about 20 shoot i decided start heading come i put the bug in the bag and crossed a load of feild and there was an old bucket i'd left i shot it and it miss about 2 or 3 inches to the right again.

 

whats going on .

im sure my scopes tight enough i dont want to force the screw to much ,i just screwed it until i felt some resistance and then screwed it about 5 more times without using and straighning pressure the pellest i used today were BSA Elite and crossman accupell.

 

 

do i need to buy a new scope this one is a brand new 3-9x40 hawke scope

[ak47]

when i put the mounts of i put them on so the screws were facing different ways i doubt this could be a problem but what do you reckon.

[squintshot]

If the scope is moving try packing it with slim peices of very dense foam rubber, this will give a better grip on the scope body.

 

Also check you haven't been a total plank and have got 30mm mounts for an inch bodied scope, the clue here is your scope will rattle about more than you **** up a tart!!

[ak47]

nah it snot that everything mount n stuff fine it doesnt move atall

[gamebag]

ak just out of curiosity what hawk 3-9x40 scope is it?

Does it have parralex adjustment on it?

Are you altering the magnification each time you get further & further away?.

when you get back to me with the anwsers i can form some conclusions I have one or two going around in my head but just need you to confirm one or two things

[ak47]

when i get further away i zoom in more yes.

 

 

its the sport scope https://secweb1.pipemedia.net/uttings/ thatw ere i got it

[gamebag]

Ok right their are 2 3-9x40 scopes in that section so im going to put forward my thoughts for both

1) If its the sport hd 3-9x40 when you zeroed the scope in im guessing you started on a low magnification like mabey 6x mag on some scopes once you zero on a whatever magnification from your initial zero (6x mag) the you zoom in more the picture becomes closer on some scopes this throws the cross hairs out & causes the shot to go high or low depending on your inital zero more expensive scopes are modified to cancel this effect out how they do this i dont know (i think its something to do with either the focus ring or paralex) so my advice for this is once you zero your scope at what ever magnification you want stay at this magnification & you should do fine.

2) If its the sport hd 3-9x40AO then when you zoom your scope in you should adjust the front adjective paralex bell on the sight till your picture is clear. (this is also a crude form of range finding since the range should be marked on the adjective bell) This will have a marked affect on your zero when its adjusted it should cancel out the magnification zero problem that I mentiond with the normal 3-9x40 sport hd

 

Have you secured your base mounts of your scope firmly enough? If not you may be getting whats termed as scope creep where the mounts gradualy creep backwards along the reciever of the gun this is not often seen by your self but will have a marked effect on your guns zero but only slightly over time this can lead to your zero going completly out the window. another way to combat mount creep is to get scope mounts that have an arrestor stud in the base most air rifles have little holes in the back of the reciever thats where you should place the mounts arrestor stud this will eliminate the scope creep.

sorry its a little long winded but i hope it helps you out.

 

If some one can explain the scope thing better or add more on the subject please do it would be of great help to me as well as to help or any one else understand the problem better CHEERS!!!!

[ak47]

sorry to sound dumb but i didnt understand this

 

 

"when you zoom your scope in you should adjust the front adjective bell on the sight till your picture is clear (this is also a crude form of range finding since the range should be marked on the adjective bell) this will have a marked affect on your zero when its adjusted "

 

 

if i zero my scope at 6 x and its zero'd when i go out hunting should i just leave it and not zoom in and out.

[gamebag]

It might be a good idear at first not to mess once you have zeroed your scope in but over time teach your self how to read the scopes point of impact when its zoomed in to greater magnification to do this just get your self a big card board box set out to your initial zeroing distance fire 5 pellets on the zoom you first zeroed your scope to then zoom up to the next number up from your original magnification 6-7 then fire another 5 pellets you should see a slight if not greater differance in your group it should be higher thatn your first group work your way up each zoom setting firing 5 pellet groups. The out come should be each group will be higher than the last take a standerd 12inch ruler & measure the distance between your zero group and your final group this is much roughly you sould aim under practice on another carboard box at the same distance but this time in stead of aiming for the center of the box aim about what your measurment was between you first zeroed group & your last group these should then hit roughly center.

Right on most scopes that have AO if you zoom in your picture it will be out of foucus the AO ring will bring the picture in to foucus for you.

[the last engineer]

dont feel to bad ak ,keep practicing with the info posted here it wont take you long,we all started off at the bottom,good luck and good shooting

martin