This report covers:
- The problem
- One possible solution
- I try to report it
- Some history
- And again
- Handguns too
- Crosman Fire
- Summary
I had a different report ready to write today but a comment made by reader RidgeRunner in answer to a problem reader AirGunnerAmeteur recently reported sent me off in a different direction. Today’s topic is a big deal that newer shooters may not appreciate. How an airgun is held controls a LOT about where the shot lands!
The problem
RidgeRunner made a long comment to AirGunnerAmeteur in an attempt to help him resolve his problem. Here is that problem in AirGunnerAmeteur’s own words, “Has anyone noticed there can be a POI shift with the same gun and pellet tin even when choosing another location on the same target? I recently shot three groups of 10 shots of a given pellet in a given gun (PCP in this case) and all three groups were 3/4″ or less but the average POI varied by as much as 1/2″ from group to group (@ 25 yds.)”
One possible solution
RidgeRunner suggested many things for AGA to check. Among them was the topic of today’s report—how the airgun is held. This is what he said, “There is another possibility that vexed me personally when I first started with airguns. This issue is more with sproingers, but can affect any airgun or firearm. This has to do with the way the airgun is held. I learned by shifting the position of my trigger hand thumb, I was able to move my grouping over an inch at twenty-five yards.”
I try to report it
How a gun is held or rested is critical to where it impacts. It’s so critical that I try always to report how I hold an airgun—both rifles and pistols— in my reports on accuracy. I do this for two reasons. First because I want you to know how I held the airgun so you can try it that way to see if it helps. Second I report how I hold a gun because if I ever want to shoot that gun for accuracy again I’m leaving myself a note on what seemed to work best.
There have been times when I had to re-run an accuracy test months and even years later when I did not report the hold the first time and had to go through everything again to learn what works.
Some history
RidgeRunner said the holding issue is most prevalent with spring-piston airguns and I would agree with that. But don’t think it is only limited to springers because it’s not. I remember once grouping a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle at 100 yards at a rifle range in El Paso. I was putting ten rounds into one inch that day.
And then I wasn’t anymore. Nothing changed that I could see but I was no longer able to put all my shots in the same place.
I said nothing changed, but of course something did change—how I was holding the rifle. I was so focused on the powder charge and the bullet seating depth that I completely overlooked where I rested the stock on my off hand that was resting on the rifle rest. I never solved that problem and eventually sold the rifle, thinking that the barrel was shot out.
What I’m saying is that if I held the rifle in different ways the bullets went to slightly different places on the target. There weren’t several distinct groups; there was just a larger group that made it impossible to see what was being done wrong!
And again
At a different rifle range here in Texas I saw this again. A young man was sighting in his AR-15 and he had the scope’s elevation adjusted so high that the erector tube was floating. The rifle wouldn’t zero. I saw that and helped him shim the scope but then I saw that he wasn’t holding the rifle the same way for every shot.
Fixing the scope issue got the rifle down from 12-inch groups at 100 yards to 6-inch groups, but the changing hold was causing the shots to disperse. The young man had all the help he wanted from the old guy and decided he needed to sell his rifle that wasn’t accurate. Hey, I did the same thing with the .458 Winchester!
Handguns too
I just reported on the accuracy of the Umarex Markpoint pistol. If you read that report you’ll see I reported on how the pistol was rested for every shot. Guys—the hold matters
Crosman Fire
I’ll close with a reminder of the seven-part report I did on the Crosman Fire breakbarrel air rifle back in 2022. In that report series I pretended to be a brand new airgunner who had purchased a Fire breakbarrel rifle and was learning to shoot it by following a guy named BB Pelletier who had a blog on the internet.
There is too much in that series for me to quote here, so AirGunnerAmeteur and all guys and gals who are new to shooting or to airguns, I’ll just recommend reading that entire series. There is good stuff to learn besides the hold, but I discuss the hold in all of the accuracy tests.
Summary
I didn’t anticipate writing today’s report, but I see now that it is needed. I’ll wait to hear from those who try it to learn how effective it has been.
The post How an airgun is held first appeared on Pyramyd AIR.
