New Arrivals

After several months, one interview and a couple of emails I received my firearms certificate and my shotgun certificate.

I had lined up a possible purchase and made the deal a day after receiving the cert.

It's a Sako Varmint Finnfire .22 rimfire rifle.

Once again I began the task of selecting the correct ammo for the rifle. I wanted to choose subsonic hollow point ammunition so that it was more suited to hunting.


After grouping trials and the CCI's almost not fitting in the rifle I decided on the RWS ammo.

It produced this little group on the right at 50m.


My son and I went lamping that night and took an unfortunate bunny at our zero range 50m.



I also managed a crow at 104m !



Two weeks later I acted on an advert at the local club and bought two second hand guns, another .22 rimfire in the shape of a BSA Sportsman 5, and a Francais d' Armes 12 gauge shotgun.



More about them in my next post :)

More Bad Knee News

The last few weeks I have been suffering from pain in my other knee. Seems to be the medial meniscus with no apparent cause.
Looks like degenerative damage again!  My running and hillwalking days may be done.
:(

Fac and SGC

I started doing the forms in the middle of May, got everything filled out and sent off at the start of June and eventually got the accepted certificates back at the end of September.

I had to choose my proposed weapons on the forms and chose .22lt cor the club competition and also vermin control, and a .17 HMR for vermin.
I also applied for a shotgun for rabbits and especially the flying vermin and tasty Woodpigeon.

Rifle Club

Of course, my son and I also joined the local gun club which is Tain Rifle and Pistol Club.
They have a25m indoor range and a 50m outdoor. We went along for a few weeks to see if we liked it and we did. The members are a nice bunch and we've both learned a lot.

We have also had the opportunity to shoot lots of types of weapons. Here's a wee example of the range of calibres. I hope it also conveys the fun aspect of shooting.

After a few months I decided that I would like to take things more seriously and maybe shoot a competition. For this I needed a rifle, and so began some forward thinking, some pretty far forward thinking as I discovered that it's a long process.

Zero

Had no luck with the first scope I bought, it originally went on the rifle we found in the garage but whilst zeroing the rifle fell off the rest and landed on the scope disabling the vertical adjustmnent.

Another one was purchased and the zeroing took place.

As you can see, I went with the AA Diablo Field pellets after trying two other types.

Happy with the accuracy it was time to venture out. When I eventually found where the rabbits live I managed to get one with a 25m standing shot.

You can see that I've 'camo taped' the moderator and some of the barrel, this is to hide it from the pigeon and it helps to soften the report.

Yes the sound moderator or silencer does make a huge difference on this rifle.

Other helpful accesories have to include a pair of homemade shooting sticks.

Now to Regulation

The Ultra us a very good and accurate rifle, nut what if you could improve it ?
There is a way of increasing the shot count and consistency.
The air from each shot is released when the hammer strikes a non return valve on the air cylinder which releases roughly the same amount of air every time. This varies mostly at each end of the cylinder being empty or full. You can have a regulator fitted so as to more accurately regulate this quota of air given to discharging the pellet.
Of course I got one fitted :)

Here is a video showing the sort of consistency and shot count you can expect from a regulator.

If you are interested then visit XTX Air's site for full details.
XTX Air

Getting up and running. Shooting.

Had no lucvk with the first scope I bought, it originally went on the rifle we found in the garage but whilst zeroing the rifle fell off the rest and landed on the scope disabling the vertical adjustmnent.

Another one was purchased and the zeroing took place.

As you can see, I went with the AA Diablo Field pellets after trying two other types.

Happy with the accuracy it was time to venture out. When I eventually found where the rabbits live I managed to get one with a 25m standing shot.

You can see that I've 'camo taped' the moderator and some of the barrel, this is to hide it from the pigeon and it helps to soften the report.

Yes the sound moderator or silencer does make a huge difference on this rifle.

Other helpful accessories have to include a pair of homemade shooting sticks.

Full instructions on how to make them HERE.

The hits just keep on coming with this very useful little .177 rifle.

 I will discuss firing at different distances using the mil dot reticle in another post, but 45m kills are easily achievable and on one occasion under special circumstances a 63m one !
My current vermin totals so far...
 31 Feral Pigeon 5 Wood Pigeon 47 Rabbits 1 Corvids

After The Knee

So, I had severe knee pain last November after a run. Over several months and following two visits to two different Physiotherapists the verdict was degenerative cartilage damage. In other words, I'm old at 44 !

So I stopped running, hill walking and climbing and eased right off on the cycling which was also painful.

More or less sat out the first part of winter and to get me out and about in February, fate stepped in.

I have done a fair amount of shooting over the years, owned several air rifles or pistols and was in the Army Cadets and TA shooting everything from rimfire to 81mm Mortar. I got rid of the air rifles when the kids arrived.
At the start of 2011 my son found an air rifle in my sister in laws garage, one I had forgotten about. We put a service kit on it and played with it for a few weeks before returning it to my brother !
Then I purchased this:

BSA Ultra Multishot

Its the first PCP air rifle I have owned and I can highly recommend it, the beautiful stock isn't really bipod friendly though so I only use it on rare occasions and zeroing.

At the same time my son and I enrolled at the local Rifle and Pistol club, Tain RPC.

There's more pictures, videos and experiences to come, maybe even some helpful advice so stay tuned. Right now I have a bathroom to decorate :(

Spotted At Moy

Spotted some activity today at Moy, don't know who it was but well done.



The corner route being bolted looks really nice.