HA, HA,HA,HA. i got my clock cleaned. i used my diana 52 with iron sights. first competative target match in 40 years. i will NEVER divulge my score but it was pretty pathetic. at least i have establised a baseline and can only get better. what was interesting was the number of very close misses.
if i can settle down and get my position working i will improve.
it took me about three quarters of the match to get half way stable in my
harness. i still have to work on position and i am afraid i have to do some
serious stretching to get my knees close enoght to my chest to get a decent
position.
all in all it was great fun and the guys (and gal) were all very friendly and
supportive.
FWIW - I shot my first match in May - after I bought a used RWS 52. Mounted it with a BSA 3-12x on sale at Sportsman's Warehouse. I didn't do very well either. It took me several months to learn how to shoot it, but in September at the state championship, I came in second - beat out a couple of other folk who have been doing this for a while. Still not up to the level of the winner, but I'm getting there.
don't let up, practice makes perfect.
I too get howls of protestations from 47 year old joints and eyes that are er...a bit past their prime, but its good fun!
Personally I get more satisfaction knowing that my equipment and tinkering is performing well rather than competing with others, but that's just me.
All the best and happy shooting!
David
starting a new sport at age 63 is life renewing. about every five years i have to try something new. it keeps me young. fortunately i have had pretty good health so far. just a little coronary bypass about 7 years ago. i have bagged 70 mountain peaks since then. i stay in pretty good shape for my age and that helps. i am a little sore this morning from over stretching of some of my muscles and i forgot my sit pad and had to sit on cement. my sit bones are sore.
even though i took last place i still felt like i had fun out there. no one was snickering at my iron sights and i outshot my partner on the offhand lane.
one thing that was happening was i was getting some dieseling and spring bounce. some molly got forward of my piston because of my own error on re assembly. i was zeroed at 25 yards and hitting point of aim even at 55. too much velocity. i took it apart and corrected it last night. no more spring bounce. it was an extra surge from spring bounce after the initial cycle. i knew it felt funny. not an excuse at all but it was a strange feeling when i fired it. if it had been the stock spring it probably would be in pieces.
If you get a chance, shoot your HW50 in FT position. Be interesting to see some paper accuracy comparison between your RWS 52 and HW50 in the FT position.
I'm a whimp when it comes to FT. I gotta have the high power scope. We had one guy who shot with open sights. Beeman R9 and he brings a binocular with him to see the tiny kill zone at long distances (just to get an idea of where to aim). That guy was scary accurate off hand. I saw him knocked down a 1 inch target at 40 yrds with this set up, TWICE!!!
That guy inspired me to try my R9 in FT (but I cheated and put a Leapers 8-32X on mine...lol). You guys are an inspiration Larry.
Soon as my buddy get my metal brackets build so that I can mount my scope onto the stock of my RWS 54, I'll mount another leapers on that scope eater RWS 54 and I'll shoot some paper and do an accuracy side by side comparison between my RWS 54 and my R9 in the field target position.
I'am from Arizona and the Pelletgun club here pretty much shoots PCP's. Will retire soon and would like to show them boys how to shoot a real pelletgun. John is currently tuning my 54.
Some additional links: aafta.org and our web site at www.pomona-airguns.com/IdahoFT.htm. The yegua airgun club has a nice site too. Lots of us use the readily available field targets from Gamo - you can see them on their web site and there are a couple of other sources as well - you'll find lots of good stuff at the FT forum.