OLD DOWNS PURSUITS HFT and Clay

Got a voucher for four free sessions at Old Down Pursuits rifle club off the Wifey Christmas just gone, so due to the fact that sessions are every second sunday and crap weather in general, i finally got to go. Its the other side of Cirencester from where i live, so 1st sunny sunday found me being dropped off by the wifey.(Two weeks later it's pissing down with rain again)

There is a lot of clay shooting going on which i ignored, but the 30 lane HFT course did take my fancy.

Some one with a HW100 using the HFT course at Old Downs Pursuits.

Though i didn't take advantage of this i did of the sighting and plinking range, with it's many spinning targets, knockdown targets out to 45 yards , and a large board for sighting with a couple of once used Shoot N C targets on it.

Two lanes and four spaces at the sighting and practice range.

Having brought a selection of rifles, a Hills pump and a small bag with some tools and pellets in it i was content to sit at the double bench and seats and plink away, next time i'll take less rifles and some target paper for fine tuning of sighting.

All set up and ready to rock and roll.

I started off using the Air Arms Shamal in .177 with 4.52 AA field diablo pellets, this rifle is heavy, incredibly accurate, but accuracy goes tits up if it's canted.

I get a boner just thinking about my Shamal.

I could not top up on air as i forgot to bring a 14 mm spanner to remove the forster fitting on the pump as the rifle dates from 1989 when diver's bottles where a screw fit, so i had no idea how much air i had in it.

It's a good job the air cylinder is this big on the .177 Air Arms Shamal,it's annoying if you forget the spanner to attach the refill hose.

Fair enough i must of got over 80 shots out of the Shamal so i could of used it, however i had topped it up on air over a year ago so it's nice to know the old girl is still air tight.

The .22 Air Arms s410 for which i did have an adaptor fitting for shot very accurately as well using H&N field target trophy pellets, I did have trouble hitting accurately past 40 yards as i had forgotten how much hold over i needed. I used clip after clip on the s410 and refilled the resevior twice, as i did have the adaptor fitted to the pump for this one.

.22 Air Arms s410 is also a bloody cool bunny basher

Later in the session i did use the ASI Sniper which has proven to be an accurate little springer shooting AA diablo's at around 7 ft/lb, annoyingly this one didn't hit a dickie bird as the sighting was out.

The ASI Sniper is not too bad for an old Gamo.

I met about three pairs using the HFT course who were very affable and friendly, they had rifles such as a BSA Ultra, a HW 100, and one of those Evanix tactical jobs. Also a father and son with a under lever and one of those 715 Dan Wesson rifled barrel co2 pistols which they kindly let me have a go with, i really was impressed with the pistol even if the trigger pull in double action was a little on the heavy side.

I was having so much fun i didn't even notice the clay shooters banging around and was saddened when the wifey informed me by phone she was on her way to pick me up, after all i would look a trifle dodgey walking through Cirencester with three gun baps on my shoulders. Any way that's it for now.

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.   

Practical Pistol Shooting kit and Other Unprofessional Bodged Bits and Bobs.

I own two .177 steel BB pistols at present, both are blowback and field strippable. One is the Swiss Arms G92 which is a pretty good copy of the real steel Taurus G92, which is itself a copy of the Baretta 92, except for the safety being on the frame and not the slide.

A pretty good copy of the Taurus G92, except for the mag extention which allows space for the CO2 bulb.

The other is a licenced copy of the Sig Sauer P226 X Five, the basic P226 has a shorter barrel and no beaver tail. This is an extremely comfortable pistol to hold and fire.

The Sig P226 X5 fits my hand a treat

Since I bought the Sig P226 X Five BB pistol i've been getting into a bit of speed shooting or pratical pistol, and it is a real hoot i can tell you.

There is a high feeling of realism with this pistol.

I bought a spare magazine when I found one in stock because they are not that common.

Spare mag for the X Five, grab them when you can.

 I decided on a leg holster which I got off E bay for about a tenner, it velcros around any pistol and has a mag pouch as well. What I didn't notice until too late however was that there were no locking buckles for the two leg straps,  however I found an old bum bag with the right size buckles on it, so off they came and the holster was fixed.

Drop thigh holster would work loose around my leg with no retaining buckles.

Easily fixed after salvaging a couple of buckles off an old bum bag.

I like the pistol on my thigh for a quick draw as I can have my arm relaxed down the side of my body with the pistol grip easy to grasp,

Hand ready to draw, spare mag pouch at the front of the holster.

this gives me time to draw, 

With the restraining strap released, the gun lifts smoothly from the holster.

rack the slide as it comes up my body, 

Finger of the trigger till you're ready to fire, after this you can use your own one or two handed grip.

then perfect a two handed grip  as I push the pistol forward while aiming by focusing on the front post sight.

Next, I knocked up a load of metal target plates that angle down slightly so BB's rebound downwards and not at me, 

The steel plate rings out louder because it is suspended by wire.

well not at my face at least! They tend to be 3 by 4 inches and either made from aluminium from old DVD player casings and the like, 

Aluminium makes more of a thud when hit by steel BB's.

or steel from old heater covers which ring out when hit unlike the ali which makes more of a thud.

Different metals and quality allow for different range of sound when hit.

I really like the Three Gun style of competition shooting where you shoot set targets with either a pistol, a shotgun or an automatic rifle in whatever order the course demands. I have a shotgun, MP5 and H&K G36 in 6 mm airsoft, ideally I would like an airsoft M4 gas blowback and use my Crosman 1077 as the automatic shotgun as it is a smooth bore afterall.

The Airsoft G36 is the orange and black one at the end, it's the only pic I have of it at present.

The Crosman 1077 makes an excellent stand in for an automatic shotgun, but at over 5 ft/lb you have to be extra careful about your backdrop.

The fun is in the doing rather than showing on this blog, and it really is a lot of fun. I have a small woods I have permission to shoot in, so I set up different courses by hanging the metal plates from branches and seeing how quick I can run through them. Well, it keeps me happy.

TTFN

All the best, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe