This is the new chassis system RAW HM-1000X.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
This report covers:
- The test
- JSB Jumbo Monster
- JSB Jumbo Monster Redesigned
- Finally!
- Summary
Today we return to the 50-yard range with the RAW HM-1000X. As you recall, when BB went to the 50-yard range in Part 7, he messed up in every possible way. He left his sandbag rest at home. So he rested the rifle on a crushed cardboard tissue box. And he didn’t even bring the most accurate pellets. So today is redemption day.
I shot the rifle at AirForce Airguns on their outdoor range that’s somewhat protected from the wind. Reader Cloud9 shot next to me, though he wasn’t shooting for accuracy. He had just had a RAW tuned up and he was testing shot stability and shot count. He wasn’t even shooting at a target.
The test
I shot from a shooting bench at 50 yards with the rifle resting directly on a sandbag. I used the only two most accurate pellets — the ones I had forgotten to use in Part 7. Every group was a 10-shot group.
JSB Jumbo Monster
First up was the JSB Jumbo Monster pellet. I used the same sight setting as was used in Part 7 after one scope adjustment. The first group landed about an inch below and 1.5 inches to the right of the aim point. And the group was horrible. I put ten pellets into 2.248-inches between centers at 50 yards. There are two wide shots that landed off to the right and below the main group. They were not called pulls. The other 8 shots are in 1.088-inches. That still isn’t a good 50-yard group for a RAW, but it’s a lot better than all 10 shots.
The first group of JSB Jumbo Monsters was disappointing. It measures 2.248-inches between the centers of the two holes farthest apart.
What was happening? I was doing everything right this time and still the groups were large. Yes, This is just the first group. Let’s hope they get better.
JSB Jumbo Monster Redesigned
The second group I shot was with 10 JSB Jumbo Monster Redesigned pellets. Surely this group would be better!
It was better, but only a little — and don’t call me Shirley. This time ten pellets went into 1.817-inches between centers at 50 yards. Was I blowing it?
Ten JSB Monster Jumbo Redesigned pellets went into a 1.817-inch group at 50 yards.
Then I felt it. The wind had picked up since I started shooting this morning, but I was in a valley that seemed protected. Only down at the target the wind was swirling.
My first test on this day had been the Benjamin .457 Bulldog, and I had spent about an hour with that one. I only shot it at 25 yards, so I didn’t pay attention to the wind, but now I needed to.
I adjusted the scope up and to the left a little and shot a third group. This one was with the regular Jumbo Monsters again. I waited out the wind this time and ten pellets went into 1.702-inches. I was getting better but still not that good. WHAT WAS GOING ON?
Ten JSB Monster Jumbo pellets went into 1.702-inches at 50 yards.
Finally!
The last group I shot was with the Monster Redesigned pellets once again and this time I got it right. When the first two pellets went into the same hole I relaxed because I knew I was on the right track. Then the breeze picked up and never stopped. So I shot the remaining 8 shots into a second group next to the first one. The 8 shots are in 0.572-inches at 50 yards, with the first two pellets opening it to 1.059-inches.
When I finally got my act together the RAW put 10 JSB Monster Jumbo pellets into 1.059-inches at 50 yards, with 8 in 0.572-inches.
Yes, the wind carried those 8 pellets over to the larger group on the right when it picked up after the first two shots were fired, but I didn’t try to compensate. I wanted to see the potential to put them in the same place. I didn’t really care where that place was — at least not at this time.
Summary
I think we are now ready to shoot the RAW at 100 yards. I haven’t spent the time refining the hammer strike or the airflow, but that would make a very boring report. I’m trying to expose you to the rifle — not make this one a competition winner.
BB,
No windicators along the firing line? Not even some grass to give a hint?
Siraniko
B.B,
In my RAW I have found the Redesigned pellets to out perform the JSB jumbo monster pellets every time.. I hope you try the H&N slugs in a weight similar to the Redesigned pellets. I have not tried the JSB knock out slugs yet but they may also be good at 100 yards. I did not have good luck with the FX slugs for some reason.
Don
Don,
As I am sure that you are aware, FX pellets and “slugs” are made by JSB. As for your RAW, your barrel is probably not made for “slugs”. If you want to shoot “slugs”, I would suggest you talk to Martin Rutterford.
https://airguns-usa.com/index.php
RR,
I have been getting 1 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yards with my .22 RAW using H&N slugs. I think they were with the 25 gr and .218 head size. I will have to check that out. My groups with the Redesigned pellets were larger than with the slugs. I was shooting at 6000 feet elevation that may make a difference. The H&N slugs come in a large range of weights and in either .217 or .218 caliber. I think the gun B.B. is testing may like the H&N slugs that are 23, 25 or 27 grains if he only tries one caliber I would go with the .218.
The FX slugs come in 22 grains and 5.51 mm the JSB slugs come in 25.39 grains and .217 or .216 caliber. I have not tried the JSB slugs yet. There may be other FX/JSB .22 cal slugs I am not aware of.
Of course two similar guns may have different appetites.
Don
Mine shoots the hybrids fairly well, the Knockouts in .216 very well, and it shoots some of the H&N slugs extremely well, in particular, the 25gr in .218 and 27gr in .217.
Rambler
My RAW also did ok with the 27 grain .218 H&N slugs I don’t know if I tried the. 217 caliber in that weight.
Sounds like our guns have similar appetites.
Don
B.B. going to be a Nubhy shooter! Great, just wait for a calm day please?
-Y
PS Has the font of your blog changed? I find it harder to read.
Yogi,
A day without wind in Texas is a rare thing.
As for the font, that’s not all that has changed. Do you notice that all the pictures except the first are on the left side?
WordPress and Pyramyd AIR IT are making changes without checking them is all I can figure. I stopped complaining because they will eventually sort things out by making other changes.
BB
BB,
I was going, “Wait a minute. That’s a RAW?!” If mine shot like that I would have been very upset. Mine is boring to shoot. My first 100 yard group was smaller than your best 50 yard group. You must have had some pretty good wind out there.
Mine is boring to shoot too. When I pick up some of my other guns, I wonder what they are going to do today, but not my RAW. It is extremely consistent.
Rambler,
I am giving serious consideration to selling mine. I actually want less power than it puts out. That, or more power than it puts out. It is great for long distance target shooting, but not serious hunting. It is also too nice to be banging around in the woods with.
Yikes. The RAW should shoot far better than what you initially got. I don’t understand what changed. Last group of RDs was shot in windy conditions as was the earlier group. Scope was adjusted a bit between the bad and not-so-bad groups. Did the wind level, direction, or consistency change? Was the scope not securely attached? Did your hold or shooting technique change in some way? What do you think caused the terrible spread early on, and what enabled the improvement?
R Scott,
Yeah, yikes. I don’t know what happened. All I know is the wind was light and variable and this is what happened.
This is why I shoot and show 10-shot groups.
BB
BB, you mentioned being in a somewhat wind protected place. As bad as the wind has been for the last week, I still think you were affected by the wind. I found at my previous house that being wind protected is not always good. I found that if the wind was stronger it would swirl and pull the pellet towards the wind block. Slower winds would push the pellet away. I have read some long distance shooters prefer to shoot in the wind and just watch and try to take each shot with similar wind.
David Enoch
David,
It’s odd that you say that, because that is what happened with the last target. I let the wind do what it wanted. I just waited until it was the same.
BB
To be honest, as bad as the wind was blowing your groups are pretty good. I shot Sunday at 35 yards and my groups were all at least twice what they should have been. For you guys not in North Texas, we have been having 20 to 25 mph winds with gust to 45 mph for the last week.
BB, you need to beg AirForce for a place to shoot in the warehouse that is out of the wind.
David Enoch
David,
They wish they had even 50 yards indoors, but with all the new CNC machines and racks for storage the best they can do is 25 yards. I have 50+ yards at my church, but I haven’t asked the pastor for permission yet. Don’t know what he would say.
BB
BB,
Who knows? Your pastor might welcome the company you bring.
Siraniko
B.B. and Readership,
I read today’s blog right after it posted but decided to sleep on my reaction before posting.
First given the described conditions and location I’m not surprised at the groups. If you remember my discussion about shooting the SIG SSG ASP20 in.22 caliber on the indoor 100 range and getting the RSO (Range Safety Officer) to shut off the ventilation system for a comparison. Certainly not enough data points to have more than an anecdotal impression it made at least a 1/2 MOA difference. That is just the turbulence reduction by shutting off a ventilation system!
So your semi sheltered location groups don’t surprise me at all. I would also suspect that you had minor MIRAGE effect if it was late morning and all of the shooting lane was NOT in the shade; any Sun would have changed the MIRAGE to moderate or more and easily increased your group size at 50 by 50 percent or more!.
David is totally correct in pointing to this: ” I have read some long distance shooters prefer to shoot in the wind and just watch and try to take each shot with similar wind.
David Enoch”
With our projectile’s TOF (Time Of Flight) we are long range shooters.
Without knowing any of your actual conditions or sitting next to you with a spotting scope I will go out on a limb and analyze your groups:. First notice all the doubles, triples and starts of grouping those are indicators of the WIND and MIRAGE in my opinion; especially if you were at or over 15X on that . 8-32X56 scope!
Since you were going for groups and not really evaluating POI vs POA might I suggest a technique for outdoor shooting. Shoot when the wind is steadily blowing or increasing in speed (never when the wind is decreasing or STILL) the first shot to the aimpoint on the target and shoot the subsequent 9 shots CORRECT aiming based on the first POI (Point Of Impact) for the rest of the group with NO further changes to the KNOBS!. The idea is that steady or increasing wind gives a horizontal aim off (windage click) solution in one direction if the variable wind (and the MIRAGE) goes STILL ( MIRAGE Boils) there is no way to easily predict the next hold off (Windage click) direction which can dramatically increase group size if an improper hold off DIRECTION (windage click DIRECTION) guess is made. Take note I didn’t even discuss quantity of clicks or hold off just the DIRECTION.
“And the group was horrible. I put ten pellets into 2.248-inches between centers at 50 yards. There are two wide shots that landed off to the right and below the main group. They were not called pulls. The other 8 shots are in 1.088-inches. That still isn’t a good 50-yard group for a RAW, but it’s a lot better than all 10 shots.”
Don’t want to write a blog today but just get those of you that don’t, or don’t often, shoot beyond 40-50 thinking about shooting at 50 and beyond.
B.B. get somebody with some skills to spot and take notes for you when you go out to 100 with the RAW or other airgun.
shootski
Shootski,
I agree with you on the wind even a 2 mph side wind can make a difference. In my back yard I get very turbulent wind conditions the change to the group pattern is not always horizontal. At the cabin it is almost always windy with a tail wind that is not good either. Luckily at both locations if I get moving early enough it can be dead calm. The old ChairGun program makes it easy to see what wind can do to your pellets. Your shooting indoors with and without the ventilation is a great example, I remember your mention of it before.
I used to do some surveying in the desert, talk about mirages. Most of the time they are not too bad at home or at the cabin but I usually blame my old eyes instead. I should pay more attention to them.
Benji-Don,
Just remember that 15X plus is the minimum for seeing The MIRAGE in the scope and for us Vintage Folks the better the glass the easier it is to see. Interestingly too much power makes MIRAGE harder to see as well since the FOV (Field Of View) is severely reduced. I always look for a straight vertical or horizontal to get my eye on the waves or boils; it also helps to come in on the AO/Parallax sometimes as much as 1/3 the distance.
Typically scope MIRAGE is washed out by any wind over 12 MPH (19.3 kph) from any direction.
shootski
Shootski
When it’s windy and I’m shooting for group size I always aim at my target bullseye. I never try to adjust windage hold. But if I want to hit bullseye I then look at where my group landed and do my windage hold according to where the grup landed and shoot two or three shots and see if I hit the bullseye. That’s how I do it. I never adjust my scope clicks once I have a gun sighted in preferably that was done on a calm day. I just use Kentucky windage for the day I’m shooting.
GF1,
When I was pesting for squirrels with .22 LR and it was windy sometimes if I was shooting in generally the same direction and distance I would dial in the windage on the scope. It did make it easy to be on target, but that is the only time. If I changed direction or position I had to remember to set it back.
Don
Don
Yep with the squirrel pesting and clicks. That’s exactly why I don’t use clicks.
I just did a quick look with ChairGun using a JSB ,177 pellet at 50 yards. With a 2 mph side wind the drift was 1,1 inches at sea level. It was 0.8 inches at 6000 feet. So shooting at the cabin could give me an advantage. I think there are other variables that may negate that advantage.
Benji-Don,
Most folks can’t even feel a two MPH (3.2 kph) Light Air which is ONLY 2.9 ft/s (0.9m/s on their cheek; no, no, the ones on your face!
As far as most wind flags they will hang straight down only the first few fingers of the tip may curl from time to time.
shootski
Don
I would like to see some test results with shooting at the cabin at that elevation compared to same gun and wind at the lower elevation.
I have always thought about velocity if it changes at different elevations but never really gave it any thought if wind affects the pellet at different elevations. Interesting.
BB
It looks like the RAW wants to shoot. But I have to say the wind was getting you.
Even my .22 caliber pellets get blown in the wind. I will usually shoot my .25 caliber guns if there is more wind than normal. And we have been having some strong wind also for about the last week or so. I think if you get a truly calm day you will get some good results with the RAW.
GF1,
Yep!
Don
Yep for sure. The wind will play some tricks on you.
Last two backyard target sessions have been in windy conditions; first windy day used the Maximus .177. Wind was from NW, 10-14 MPH – the “firing range” runs E-W and FM shoots to the E because in addition to a sturdy wood slat fence, there is vegetation in front to help catch stray pellets. The heaviest pellet was the JSB Exact Heavy Diabolo 10.34 gr; best group was 1.5″ at 25 yards. Next session was with the HW95 .22 – that day the wind was from W @ 14 MPH and the best group with the heaviest pellet, H&N Baracuda 18 18.13 gr was 2″ also at 25 yards; did 5-shot groups both times. Maybe this should be upped to 10 next time, based on the comments.
No blame assigned to the “tools of the trade here.” Yep, wind does make a difference, but FM ain’t complaining about his shooting prowess or lack thereof. The only complaint is not enough opportunities to enjoy a fun shoot more often. If it is any consolation – not that B.B. needs any – the best day’s shooting for FM at 25 yards is way worse than the worst day’s shooting by B.B. at 50 – or even 100 – yards.
FM
I have shot in wind and figured for the worse and actually got good groups. So now if it’s windy I shoot anyway and just see what happens. The wind definitely can play some tricks.
The last redesigned monster group looks nice! Do you zero at 50, and use chairgun and dial in the fall amount and drift.? It will be fun to see if the shots cross over too. Or will you be using holdover/windage, no scope adjustment? I dont shoot 100yds almost ever, so it would be a long day for me at the range. Good luck, looking forward to it.
Interesting about the mirage stuff, would slightly out of focus help? oh yea, its pellet gauge time too, and I subscribe to the you need to season the bore with your amunition when you change over to another type or brand.
Your groups didnt change much from test 7, except for the last redesigned monster group, just warming up I guess.
Rob
Rob
Same for me if I change pellets. A 10 shot group is just not enough from what I have seen. I say at least 20 to even 30 shots to get the gun shooting a paticular pellet good.