This report covers:
- You relax—not the airgun!
- Tighten the screws
- Check that silencer
- Learn your airgun—lawyer triggers and stocks with odd shapes
- Rear bag
- You can’t cant!
- Things affecting cant
- What canting does
- Summary
Today we look at more tips to improve your accuracy. I was pleased to see your comments to the first report. Many of you reminded me of things that needed to be discussed, so we’ll start there.
You relax—not the airgun!
Reader Bob Ryan was first to comment to Part 1 and he said that when BB said “relax” he was speaking of small movements of your body—not the airgun you are shooting. If YOU relax the AIRGUN will relax, too. If the gun needs to move, make it move by repositioning your body and not by pointing it in a different direction. That wasn’t said clearly enough in Part 1, so I hope I’m clarifying it here.
Tighten the screws
Reader Yogi then reminded us that for the best accuracy the stock screws all need to be tight. He said he was referring to spring guns, and they are the ones whose screws get loose most often, but ALL air rifles need tight stock screws. They may not loosen as fast, but the stock screws on pneumatics and CO2 airguns are just as important.
Check that silencer
Call it a moderator or whatever you want—but check it. If a pellet is hitting anything inside it, accuracy will suffer. Remember my recent test of the Umarex Komplete. You may not need to enlarge the hole through the device; switching to a different pellet may take care of the problem.
Learn your airgun—lawyer triggers and stocks with odd shapes
This one is hard. It almost always happens on an inexpensive spring gun. A “lawyer” trigger has a hard pull, but it also does not release at the same place every time. Couple that with a “tac-ti-kool” stock that’s shaped for looks alone and you have an almost insurmountable problem.
My advice for this one is to spend time with the airgun to learn all its ways. Before Crosman stopped importing the Fire breakbarrel I wrote a 7-part series on how to learn that rifle and how to shoot it well.
That one had all the issues I just mentioned, plus an inexpensive scope that did nothing to help the accuracy. I wrote that series as a new shooter who was following accuracy advice he learned on this blog.
By Part 7 I had learned the rifle, the pellet it liked and I rescoped it with an inexpensive UTG Bug Buster scope that had a chance to do good work.
Rear bag
Reader Elmer Fudd reminded us all about the usefulness of a rear sandbag when shooting an air rifle off a sandbag rest. How ironic that just a couple weeks later I was shooting the Umarex Komplete for accuracy at 21 yards and a rear bag was sorely needed! With the bag it’s possible to hold the rifled completely steady on the target. Without it you have to use a lot of technique.
You can’t cant!
Canting, or tipping the rifle is another place for an accuracy tip—pun intended. Reader shootski suggested that one. Canting refers to tilting the rifle to one side or the other. The pellet doesn’t go where you expect it to. Here is a graphic that illustrates what canting does.
The heavy curved line represents where pellet will impact if the rifle is canted from its sight-in position. The farther the distance, the greater the curve.
Things affecting cant
Distance—The farther you go, the greater the effect.
Height of the scope—The higher the scope is (farther from the bore axis) the more effect cant has.
Rifles with open sights and target sights can also be canted. Canting is easier to see through a scope but just as possible with non-optical sights. And the same things happen.
What canting does
When it is extreme, canting throws the pellets far away from and lower than the target. But when it is subtle all it does is make the group larger. And you don’t know why, unless you consider the rifle is canted—on some shots! This is how canting destroys accuracy and everything else will be blamed!
Summary
Is there more to this? You tell me.
B.B.
I check my bubble level before every shot!
-Yogi
Yogi,
That will keep the canting down.
BB
You haven’t even “scratched” the surface yet.
Damaged crowns, over or undersized bores.
Damaged bores from improper or over zealous cleaning
Poorly made barrels. Leaks around the bolt probe or between the barrel and transfer port.
How far down the rabbit hole can we go?
It depends on how much you want to spend.
Like speed, accuracy usually cost money.
Ian.
Ian,
Great! I hope others give me more to discuss.
BB
Reminds FM of a sign that hung on the wall of a shop where he used to take his MGB for repair – it read “Speed Costs Money – How Fast Do You Want To Go?”
“You can’t cant!”
B.B.
Well said! That was my favorite part of this particular report.
I suppose the extreme case of canting would be when gang bangers hold their pistols sideways (as seen in way too many movies) because they think it makes them look cool, when actually, it makes them look like idiots…LOL! 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Blessings to you,
dave
Dave,
Yeah, that bugs me, too. It doesn’t even look cool.
It’s like the guy who has his ball cap on backwards and is squinting because of the sun. I understand doing it for a reason, like shooting with a scope, but that bill is designed for eyeshade.
BB
Exactly B.B.!
Some younguns think our generation is out-of-touch…
…but they’re wrong! Baby Boomers know stuff!!! 😉
And they can stand up to stuff, unlike members of what FM refers to as the Porcelain Generation.
For me, the gun’s sights are one of the most important factors for accuracy. There are a lot of various sights that are placed on guns. Knowing which sights work best for different situations and how to use the sights properly both seem to me to be critical. I am still amazed at how accurate I can shoot at 10-meters without a scope (if I use the competition style sights that come on the Crosman Challenger and other similar rifles).
And the cataract surgery I had about a year ago has helped me see much better. But my tired old eyes still need corrective lenses in order to focus properly on the front sights. There are a lot of different factors that can affect accuracy. It seems to pay off to address each of them and try to get everything as close to perfect as is possible under the circumstances.
BB,
As you well know, canting can be a big problem. As you have pointed out, it does not take much to throw a pellet off, most especially at longer distances. You also point out that it is a problem with not only scopes, but with other types of sights also.
When using a scope, which most of us with old, tired eyes do, it is nice to have a bubble level of some sort to use. There are even bubble levels which are used with open sights. If you should lack such, hang a string near your target with a weight on the end. The string will hang vertically, giving you a reference for your scope. It can also be used with open sights. Once you learn how that particular gun “feels” to be held properly, you will have less of a problem with cant.
A couple of oopsies
In your first “paragraph”, you repeat your second and third sentences.
You can’t cant!
The pellet doesn’t go when (where) you expect it to. Here is a graphic that illustrates when (what) canting does.
RR,
Wow! That’s pretty bad. I fixed them, so thanks.
I almost think Word Press might have had a hand in it.
BB
BB,
That would not surprise me.
You have still not fixed your first paragraph in which you repeat your second and third sentences.
I no longer get email alerts either.
RR,
Fixed.
BB
B.B.,
Some things warrant being repeated ;^)
shootski
That didn’t though.
RR,
Yes, it did. The problem is on your end.
BB
BB
It almost goes without saying that using a rear support bag is meant for pneumatics, not springers. I say almost because some may have found a springer or two that likes a rear bag.
This report is so useful. You can’t spend too much time exploring it. As Ian said you haven’t even scratched the surface.
Deck
BB
“If the gun needs to move, make it move by repositioning your body and not by pointing it in a different direction. That wasn’t said clearly enough in Part 1, so I hope I’m clarifying it here.”
Your reminder above is one I need to give more attention to. While I have ingrained the habit of reducing cant via of bubble levels on nearly everything I shoot, I do find myself sometimes being too lazy to reposition my body.
Deck
BB,
I suppose it’s obvious, but the clothing I wear while shooting affects accuracy. Beyond the shooting jackets worn in competition, just the thickness of a jacket makes a big difference in my springers’ accuracy. In fact, when cold weather comes and coats are comfortable, my groups always grow. Probably related to the firmness with which I am able to hold against my shoulder.
jumpin
jumpin,
Wow! That’s a new one for me.
BB
BB,
These discussions on accuracy and tracing down possible reasons for why we are not hitting the bull are always interesting. I usually write this down by hand in my airgun book, or as a computer document, to keep important information like this handy.
Something to add to 45Bravo’s list of failures is a leaky piston seal on a springer. My IZH MP61 has a leaky seal and I can’t get a new one, unless I go visit Russia. The pellets start out on target at ten meters, then velocity drops off and they land below the bull.
This question is for 45Bravo: do you think a parachute-style piston seal that is commercially unavailable can be made on a 3D printer, using an elastic material that can stand up to the task?
Will
Will S
Your comment has me wondering about my Izzy 61 that has an all steel receiver. I am especially fond of it except that accuracy falls off at anything beyond 20 yards. When this heat dies down I will get out the chrony.
Deck
Since Air Venturi replicated this airgun, might P.A. be able to repair it?
My other thought is that when replacing a piston seal, sometimes a new seal is too big to fit the cylinder, so the piston with the seal can be chucked into a drill press or lathe and the seal can be gently sanded down to size. Perhaps a seal can be 3D printed tool fit on the piston and then sanded down to size to fit the gun’s cylinder?
Roamin G.,
I never thought of trying Air Venturi and their Embark. I should ask them if the piston seal for the Embark is compatible with the MP61! What an idea RG! Thank you, it’s worth a try.
i’m not sure if the izh 61 and izh mp61 are the same, but i do see a piston seal for the 61 available. not cheap and it’s international. hopefully someone can confirm or deny their compatibility for you.
Hi Springman3K,
Thanks for the info, I’d bet the IZH 61 and the MP61 are the same gun. Where did you see a seal for sale?
There is a green one that a fellow from Poland sells/sold on eBay and I bought one. It is made of a material that is far too stiff. It won’t pop onto the end of the piston, even fresh out of boiling water. I doubt that the parachute feature would work. The original seal is almost gummy bear soft.
Best,
Will
Curious hypothetical question from an indoor plinker – are the effects resulting from cant absolute – regardless of sight-in positioning? Will a canted hold at sight-in offset the effects of a canted hold on subsequent shots on target? Takeaway for me – proper scope installation is an imperative (even if tedious) along with proper hold.
Remarq,
If you cant during sight-in you must continue to cant to keep the group as small as it can be. Some 10-meter target shooters cant their rifles, but they do it the same for every shot—hence no problem.
BB
Remarq,
I have never understood what is so tedious about scope mounting. it usually takes me only a few minutes to do such.
Remarq,
Start here if you haven’t already:
https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2020/10/how-to-mount-a-scope-part-5/
hth avoid some of the tediousness,
shootski
Remarq
Scope installation is quick and easy if you do lots of it, even with my old shaky fingers. Use a small torque sensitive screwdriver shaped Allen wrench (at any hardware store) to tighten scope ring machine screws. Much faster than typical Allen wrenches. I like doing it and switch back and forth between peep sights and scopes frequently.
If it’s easy for me it’s easy for anybody.
Deck