Yesterday I got my Diana (RWS) 46 apart and went through it. Basic cleaning, nothing really important to report. Neat rifle. But when I tried to get it back together the trigger unit wouldn't allow me to get the pins back in. I tried everything and finally called my friend Gary of B&B Supply in Minneapolis. (612) 724-5230 He and I talked a bit and he decided I should bring it down, which I did. After much futzing he got the thing back in order and its home and shooting very accurately. So after a bit I switched to my Diana 75. A dedicated ten meter olympic rifle vintage 1978.
The Diana is in its own class. The dual opposed piston design is amazing. That rifle reminds and teaches [me] that nothing determines where that pellet is going to end up as much as follow through. If you're not seeing the exact same image you hade when pulling the trigger, you may be close to your mark but the chances are very high you won't be exactly on your mark.
I put anywhere from forty pellets to probably seventy through this rifle almost daily. Over the winter holidays I hardly had the chance to use it. Man, what a difference those off weeks made in my shooting ability. I'm in the process of relearning everything I was on to before the Christmas and New Year's break.
So if you really want to get spot on, I strongly recommend you shoot your favored rifle as much as possible. Whether you prefer rested or off hand in the standing position, ya gotta do it. Even with a sporter rifle, its essential rehearsal to properly react to its recoil. And you'll know when you're starting to get the hang of it because you'll fire a shot and know where that pellet is going to be on the paper. The ten meter dedicated shooters have a phrase they use when referring to it. They call it "calling the shot" meaning that without actually moving from the just fired position, they know what they did and without actually seeing it at ten meters through their open sights, they know where the pellet ended up.
"Calling the shot."
I think follow through is so important I'd like to get a discussion going about in home pellet traps and in home ranges.
Thanks all for reading,
Harv
|