Scope set-up for 10m air rifle

Zero your rifle at 20 m/yards. Shoot a five shot group with the same zero at 45 m/yds. The pellet drop will tell you if you need any drop compensating mounts for the scope of your choice. Scoped Olympic air rifles make great practice tools in the winter.

I

mefizto said:

The air-rifle is for 10m Olympic discipline, which implies low muzzle velocity. But, I intend to shoot it at the regular air-rifle silhouette distances, i.e., 20, 30, 36, and 45 m/yards. Hence my question.

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I also shoot air rifle silhouette and we compete with all three rifles, including Target rifles. Mine is an Anschutz SuperAir 2002 SSP and it shoots a 7.3 grain pellet at about 575 fps. FWB300's are another popular choice for Target rifle.

Zero: Set your scope zero for chickens (20 yds) and you'll go up from there.

Settings: Most Target rifles will need about 8 to 10 MOA elevation to get to rams. My scope settings are 0, 3, 5, 9 (in MOA). Environmental conditions might shift those numbers one or two clicks (+/- half an MOA) on any given day.

Pellets: as mentioned before, you'll want to try some light domed pellets versus the wadcutters typically used for 10m paper. I suggest JSB 7.3's as a good starting point as that is what works best in my 2002. Don't be afraid to try the 7.87's or even the 8.4's, just know that it's going to take more elevation on the scope to get those heavier pellets out to rams. In the end, use whatever works best.

Knock-down: You don't need to worry about "knock-down power" for rams, even with a light pellet like the 7.3's. As long as you hit the ram it will go down assuming you have correctly-made targets. If you're using extra heavy targets then that may be an issue, but that's not the fault of the rifle/pellet choice.

Lastly, be prepared to pay close attention to the wind and to lean into it with the alignment of the shot. It's not uncommon to have to aim half-way to the next ram to hook it back in to a body shot. Also, pellets don't necessarily act like bullets when it comes to lift or drop based on left or right wind direction, so don't rely on those bullet-based "wind rose" charts.

I love air rifle silhouette and I'm glad we've got a good group of us that shoot it down here in the Texas and Louisiana region. We've got two big air rifle matches coming up in the beginning of the year... the North Louisiana Indoor Air Rifle Regional (a.k.a. the Coop Shoot) in late February and the Shamrock Silhouette Shootout (outdoor regional) in mid-March. If you're anywhere within travel distance then I highly recommend either or both of them!

Good luck.

Greetings all,

first, thank you all very much for your answers.

Second, some clarifications and follow-up questions based on your comments. My 10m target rifle is Walther LG300-XT. I also have a barrelled action for Walther Dominator, but I need to make a stock for it.

I am aware of the limitation(s) of the wad-cutter pellets for longer distances; therefore, I have acquired domed pellet in all the weights that acorneau mentioned. How do I test them to "use whatever works best"?

Regarding the zero settings. What is the logic to set the zero at the chickens? Is it for ease - lack of confusion - when going from one animal to another? As I have no experience with scopes, I was thinking about setting the zero "in the middle", that is that there would be the same numbetr of clicks up and down to be close to the optical center. Or is it a non-issue?

Regarding the shooing in the wind, it will not be a problem, form the practice point of view, but rather from a frustration one. I have an east-ward wind in the mornings, west-ward wind in the afternoon.

Hi acorneau,

I am nowhere close, but there is a monthly Small bore silhouette match on a range about 45 minutes drive.

Kindest regards,

M

Hi acorneau,

thank you for your reply.

acorneau said:

Put it on the bench on a non-windy day and shoot groups at 45 yards. The one with the smallest groups wins.

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Excellent, thank you.

acorneau said:

The messiness comes if your scope needs more than one full rotation to get up to rams, then you have to remember to go a full rotation backwards when going down to chickens.

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That is part of my motivation to set the zero about the middle, thus using your numbers by means of an example at turkeys. Then I have about the same amount of adjustments up and down. Sorry to be so insistent, 10m shooting taught me to be as consistent as possible. So, I would like to start correctly and not re-learn after finding that I starter wrong.

Kindest regards,

M




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