American Airguns Blog
The Random Ramblings Of An Airgun Addict

I have been shooting for years and I was taught, like most new shooters, that when aiming with iron sights you should focus on the front sight with the target and rear sight out of focus. I learned this early on in my life and practiced it pretty well, at least until I came into adulthood.

Like many airgunners and shooters, I got away from airgunning and shooting during my college years. It wasn't until after getting a job and living life that I renewed my interest in shooting. I got back into firearms first and it wasn't until after my divorce that I really restarted my airgunning life. After the divorce I was dirt poor from lawyer fees and other debt so I couldn’t afford to do a lot of firearm shooting. My dad had a wonderful FWB124 that I really enjoyed and thought I would get one for shooting in the backyard. My plan changed when I found an ad in the Gun List or Shotgun News, I don't remember which now, for and HW97 brand new. I called Bob Koschler in Tampa and he convinced me to go with the newer technology in the HW97 and that I wouldn't be sorry. I got it and things haven't been the same since.

Since the HW97 didn't have iron sights I had to get a scope. I got a Bushnell 3-9x scope and shot lots for rounds through that rifle. I didn't remember much about my rifle training tended to look at the target when aiming with a scope rather than the crosshairs. Even after acquiring other airguns over the years, I forgot about focusing on the front sight and still tended to focus on the target. It wasn't until recently that I started shooting with my FWB300 in the garage and reading my book "Ways of the Rifle" (recommended reading for any competitive rifle shooting) that I realized I needed to refocus my aiming on the front sight. That did improve my scores.

Recently I was talking about shooting stuff with Wade Sutherland and he mentioned that he focuses on the crosshairs in his scope instead of the target when shooting, just like with iron sights. I had never thought of this and thought I would give it a try. After all these years of focusing on the target I found it very difficult to change my ways. I am still working on this new technique but it does seem to help reduce the wobble area a bit. I don't seem to focus on how much the crosshairs move and I tend to follow through better. I am going to continue to work on this style of sighting as I rework my shooting position, perhaps it will help me to improve my overall shooting consistency.

I am getting old; there is no way to avoid it. I am finding that when I get hurt, it takes longer to heal. I don't have the stamina I once had and my eyes continue to deteriorate. I have been noticing that things just didn't look as clear at distance as they used to. I first noticed it at last month's club shoot when all of my longer distance targets ranged about 5 yards longer than the actual distance. Of course then I thought it was something with my scope. The day after the match I tested my scope markings and found that the scope was still measuring accurately but the zero mark just moved left a 1/4" from the original mark. I shot the Good Ole Boys match with using my new mark and it worked fine, at least a good as it could in the rain!

I finally got the eye doctor last night and found that my eyes had indeed changed. However the surprise is that they actually have gotten a little bit better! Over all my vision was 20/100 but now it is 20/80. Go figure. My Optometrist told me that this sometimes happens with people in the early 40s and it could be a result of my swearing off caffeine and sweets. Either way I hope that this trend continues to the point where I don't have to wear glasses anymore. Fat chance of that really happening but weirder things have happened!

I have also noticed over the past year or two that I am finding it more difficult to contort my body into my over the arm position for field target. I get fatigued faster than I used to and can’t hold near as steady. I have heard from some of my senior shooting friends that this trend only gets worse. Boo hoo. I am thinking of trying a whole new shooting position, perhaps standing on my head. Maybe not. I do think I will try shooting off my knee again for a while. I used to shoot my Falcon FN19 off my knee and did pretty well with it. However I think I would like to try the Tom Price method and actually rest my hand on my knee and then rest the gun on my hand. I shot a lane at the GOB match this way and cleaned the lane. I found it to be a much more comfortable position but I move a lot more. With some practice I may be able to get it to work.

I doubt I will go the route of the straight jacket or straps just yet. I don’t care enough about winning to go there yet. I just enjoy the challenge of shooting the targets as is and if I don’t win, well that’s ok. I expect that as time rolls on my scores will drop but the fun won’t so I will keep shooting and keep having fun, no matter how old I get!