Saturday, July 10, 2010
Shooting My ProTarget/Hawke Sidewinder30 Combo
We had a local FT match today and I shot my ProTarget with the Hawke Sidewinder30 8-32x scope. This combination has seemed to work out quite well. As mentioned in a recent blog, I found out that the ProTarget shoots the JSB Exacts 8.44 pellets very well. At 17 ft. lbs., it shoots them around 950 fps which means a very flat trajectory. How flat? Well, using the Hawke scope with 1/4 minute clicks, there is only 5 click between 50 and 55 yards. I was very satisfied with my score of 58/60. I only dropped a kneeling shot that I just flinched a bit as I released the shot and the other was my last shot on a 54 yard target that the pellet just didn't go where I was aiming. I was talking with Roz and some others and forgot to check the head of the pellet before loading it and a little scratch or mark on the head will make it fly off.
The ProTarget, or PT, has a great trigger and I have it setup with a single stage with enough pull weight to allow me to comfortably rest my finger on the trigger but light enough that applying just a bit of pressure will release the shot. I am really liking the single stage trigger setup and there isn't the worry of pulling through the second stage as you take up the first stage travel. For match shooting it is the way to go.
I am getting used to the Hawk scope. I really like the 1/4 minute clicks on this scope. The Sidewinder30 has 60 click per revolution so shooting the JSBs at 950 fps I can shoot from 10 to 100 yards within one revolution of the scope. With this PT rig I am able to easily hit a 2.5"x3" target at 100 yards. I haven't shot groups at 100 yet but I am going to try that in the near future.
I didn't much care for the original sidewheel the Hawke came with. The sidewheel is just under 1/2" wide but half of the width is consumed by a ridge intended as a grip. I decided to modify it a bit. The first thing I did was to file down the grip area and then I used a belt sander to sand down the entire face flat. I then used progressively finer grit sandpaper to polish the face smooth. This gave me a nice wide area that allowed placement of my own numbers.
This worked very well. The sidewheel is still easy to grip and now I can make my own charts for the sidewheel. Since the original sidewheel was only 100mm, measured from the outside of the grip area, the sanded down sidewheel only measures 3.80" which doesn't give much room between the distances past 40 yards. However, with the very flat trajectory if I was able to get within one yard on any target past 40 yards, I was able to hit the target. The setup seems to work pretty well and I think I will continue shooting and testing this rig.
The ProTarget, or PT, has a great trigger and I have it setup with a single stage with enough pull weight to allow me to comfortably rest my finger on the trigger but light enough that applying just a bit of pressure will release the shot. I am really liking the single stage trigger setup and there isn't the worry of pulling through the second stage as you take up the first stage travel. For match shooting it is the way to go.
I am getting used to the Hawk scope. I really like the 1/4 minute clicks on this scope. The Sidewinder30 has 60 click per revolution so shooting the JSBs at 950 fps I can shoot from 10 to 100 yards within one revolution of the scope. With this PT rig I am able to easily hit a 2.5"x3" target at 100 yards. I haven't shot groups at 100 yet but I am going to try that in the near future.
I didn't much care for the original sidewheel the Hawke came with. The sidewheel is just under 1/2" wide but half of the width is consumed by a ridge intended as a grip. I decided to modify it a bit. The first thing I did was to file down the grip area and then I used a belt sander to sand down the entire face flat. I then used progressively finer grit sandpaper to polish the face smooth. This gave me a nice wide area that allowed placement of my own numbers.
Original Hawke Sidewinder30 100mm Sidewheel
Sidewheel with grip area and face sanded down and polished
Sidewheel with range tape installed
This worked very well. The sidewheel is still easy to grip and now I can make my own charts for the sidewheel. Since the original sidewheel was only 100mm, measured from the outside of the grip area, the sanded down sidewheel only measures 3.80" which doesn't give much room between the distances past 40 yards. However, with the very flat trajectory if I was able to get within one yard on any target past 40 yards, I was able to hit the target. The setup seems to work pretty well and I think I will continue shooting and testing this rig.
