How to Become a Better Field Target Shooter
TEXAS TIPS — Credit the Kermit Texas Airgun Club for these practical tips on FT training and how to set up your optics.
1. Shoot your air rifle a lot. It can take as many as 1500 shots or more to get it broken in properly.
2. Practice your positions: sitting (most popular), off knee sitting or standing, while holding your air rifle every night on the living room floor until it becomes natural and comfortable.
3. For practicing shooting off-hand, put a piece of tape on the wall at the furthest distance you can in your house and practice holding on that mark. Start with something pretty big and work your way down till you can hold on something the size of a quarter. Use as much bone on bone as you can to reduce fatigue.
4. Find the right pellet. Shoot many domed head varieties until you find the one that groups the tightest.
5. If you’re shaky when you shoot, have physical problems, or just need more stability, try a shooting harness. It will make it more comfortable for you and keep you steady.
6. To keep from canting use a level to keep your crosshairs lined up straight.
7. Start with a good air gun rated scope that gathers good light and is reliable in holding zero, and a get a solid mount that won’t creep or slide on the receiver.
8. Don’t rely on the yardage marks on the scope, they may be inaccurate. Record your own true yardages, and mark these on white tape placed on the side-focus parallax wheel or adjustable front objective.
9. For elevation adjustment, you can use mil-dots with a hold-over chart, or place tape on your scope elevation knob and mark your true yardages on it. You can also make a drop chart and note the amount of elevation clicks from a 10-yard zero.
10. CLICK HERE for dozens of Field Target Info Pages and Web Resources.
TEXAS TIPS — Credit the Kermit Texas Airgun Club for these practical tips on FT training and how to set up your optics.
1. Shoot your air rifle a lot. It can take as many as 1500 shots or more to get it broken in properly.
2. Practice your positions: sitting (most popular), off knee sitting or standing, while holding your air rifle every night on the living room floor until it becomes natural and comfortable.
3. For practicing shooting off-hand, put a piece of tape on the wall at the furthest distance you can in your house and practice holding on that mark. Start with something pretty big and work your way down till you can hold on something the size of a quarter. Use as much bone on bone as you can to reduce fatigue.
4. Find the right pellet. Shoot many domed head varieties until you find the one that groups the tightest.
5. If you’re shaky when you shoot, have physical problems, or just need more stability, try a shooting harness. It will make it more comfortable for you and keep you steady.
6. To keep from canting use a level to keep your crosshairs lined up straight.
7. Start with a good air gun rated scope that gathers good light and is reliable in holding zero, and a get a solid mount that won’t creep or slide on the receiver.
8. Don’t rely on the yardage marks on the scope, they may be inaccurate. Record your own true yardages, and mark these on white tape placed on the side-focus parallax wheel or adjustable front objective.
9. For elevation adjustment, you can use mil-dots with a hold-over chart, or place tape on your scope elevation knob and mark your true yardages on it. You can also make a drop chart and note the amount of elevation clicks from a 10-yard zero.
10. CLICK HERE for dozens of Field Target Info Pages and Web Resources.