What could be causing this?

Yeah, that's what my dad said. For sixty dollars a five hundred, it's a lot cheaper than any center fire am I've seen. Also, it says your Inbox is full, so I can't reply directly, but those shots that missed went low. I didn't get a a measurement of how low. Maybe 1 or 1 1/2 depending on the target.
 
Hey Mo,

BB gun. Seriously.

I shoot Mosin, Gewehr 88, rimfire, pistol, slingshot, bow, sling (David and Goliath), and probably other stuff I'm just not thinking of right now.

I regularly break out the Red Ryder, myself, in addition to dry firing the centerfire rifles.

Take up slack, breathe in, out, in, out, NRP, press the trigger, breathe in, work action, repeat.

It's the same with a BB gun as it is with a Mosin as it is with a bow as it is with an old German gun.

NPOA and NRP are where it's at. You might try Appleseed.

Prone, you should sort of build your skeletal support system so that you do not have to have muscles holding you in place. Sort of build up and relax all tension in muscles you don't need.

Josh
 
He has tried Appleseed, didn't help.
Hasn't entirely figured out a bench position consistently yet, not ready for prone.

Those who keep telling him to try field positions at this stage are not helping.
Denis
 
Hey Denis,
I couldn't gt the Ammo today. I'll see if I can get it sometime soon, maybe friday or saturday. I have Marksmanship Team practice after school for my NJROTC platoon tomorrow, and was wondering if that would be okay to do? It's field positions with air rifles, from what I understand.

Thanks,
-Mo.
 
If it's some sort of standardized, supervised, structured session, go for it.
See what they have you do.

Hopefully their guns will be zeroed & it's likely you'll be doing very close range.
Hopefully they'll have one or more instructors there to coach you.
You can benefit from live personal instruction, if the guy's competent.

Close-range prone & so on with a recoil-less airgun that's sighted in correctly will have more value for familiarization purposes now than trying to shoot field positions at longer distances with a hard-kicking Mosin that's not zeroed for you. :)

Denis
 
Due to the "Great Panic," I'm shooting smallbore air rifle in a standing position, at 100 yards, while shooting at my metallic cowbell target.

I set the cowbell atop two 5 foot long 1/2" metal pipes, {pinch the bottom of the pipes so they'll won't collect dirt}, up near the dry dirt backstop berm, so I can see my .177 misses with my rear shimed air rifle scope zeroed at 100 yards; while set at 9x.

I use a RWS Diana Model 54 recoilless {1,100 fps in .177 caliber JSB Diablo heavy pellets}. While using the scope...the iron sight rear adjuster screw should be almost nearly tightened down, so it won't work lose. The rear stock screw has to be constantly retightened. Use plenty of wind flags, and constant monitoring of the temperature, air pressure and humidity.

If the vertical turret knob is set nearly at the 2/3's top {up} turret range {bottom range --- down --- of turret is okay}...any vertical adjustment will become fruitless.

The Model 54 has an approx. 10 fps velocity deviation, every 4th or 5th shot, which drops 100 yard hits around four or five inches. It's hard too see misses while the backstop is muddy --- and audible pings --- while the range is loud from surrounding gunfire.

PS: Amplified hearing protection muffs will let you hear the ping of the spinner. I use a set of camo Howard Leights.
 
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DPris,

I've never mastered shooting bench. Hell, I didn't even try it until last year. I'm 36.

The way I learned to hit things was prone, as close to the ground as I could get. All bipods I've tried are too tall. I'm talking head-resting-on-arm high.

Now, firing a .30 caliber like that is brutal. I do think though, that a .22 from this position would help.

He's in NC. If I had time, I could be there in about a day. I just don't have that time, though.

Hey MO, you ever make it to Indiana?

Regards,

Josh
 
Josh,
At his age, with his size, and with his inexperience & lack of personalized on-site instruction, I'm emphasizing eliminating as many variables as possible and learning with the most stable & easy-to-hold-the-gun-still position possible.

Part of his lack of success until more recently has been that he had no real idea where his guns were zeroed, and not enough experience to be able to determine whether his inability to hit where he wanted consistently was because of him or because of his equipment.

Learning the basics in as easy a shooting position as possible will help him get to the point where he can have enough foundation & knowledge to both adequately zero his guns, and then to determine if the problem is him or them.

Shooting prone, especially with his .30-caliber steel-butted heavy military surplus rifles, will not be as efficient in working through that process.
He'd have the support issue, the weight issue, and the unpleasant recoil issue as diversions.
Those are lessened, to a degree, in a fully supported bench position.

Even with the .22, easier to focus on trigger & sights at the bench, when everything (including Mo) is fully supported.

After weeks of trying to get him to settle down & quit ping-ponging around with different guns, different distances, different positions, and different targets, last week he did settle down & follow the program, and for the first time we saw clearly definable & analytical progress, with his .22, off the bench.

Doing what I've been trying to get him to do, we now know that he CAN manage the basics, he CAN produce acceptable groups at 50 yards off the bench, he CAN put them where he wants them, and we CAN determine where that gun is zeroed.

With all the data that he's provided, we can clearly see measurable progress, at last.
That progress can be applied to improve his skill level with that gun, and it can be transferred later to his larger rifles.

The continual emphasis I place on removing variables, standardizing on the bench at one distance with one target & the same ammunition & hold is to let Mo see what works & build a foundation he can use elsewhere.

One he learns to shoot, I don't care what, where, or how he shoots.
That'll be up to him.

Denis
 
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