BCSA (Binghamton, NY) - May 11th, 2024 Match Report

Broome County Sportsmens Association (BCSA) Field Target Match Report

First match of 2024 is in the books! In typical fashion, which seems to be the norm for our matches, the forecast for this months match was all over the place. The early weather forecast was calling for a 70% chance of showers then down to 15% chance of rain then back up to 50% and on and on and on! We opted to setup on Thursday evening during one of our dry times for the week. That was definitely the correct decision since Friday turned into an all day light soaking rain! A gamble was taken and an email was sent saying that the match was a go!





We arrived just before sunrise on Saturday morning and started pulling strings and setting up the canopies in case of any more rain or showers. Just as we were finalizing setting up the course, Brian VanLiew arrived and gave us a hand setting up the sight-in range. Everything was set for the day.








We had 20 people on hand for the day which included 3 new competitors, a first timer to our range and a couple of returning visitors! Don Sherman, Shane Mahosky and Jason Cain made BCSA their first official FT matches, while Hector Medina and Todd Banks made returning visits to our range. Todd brought along Ken Javurek as his copilot. This was only Ken’s first visit and just his second match with his first being at Todd’s match in Salem, NY last week.





The rain and showers never materialized and the day consisted of overcast to blue skies. Temperatures ranged from the mid 40’s to upper 50’s with winds from 4 to 12 mph. The every switchy swirling winds definitely added a challenge to the day and the scores showed that. At times the wind was light at the muzzle yet had over an inch or so of movement at the target. Other times it could be moderate to heavy at the muzzle with almost zero movement at the target. A very interesting day for sure.

The course of fire was 10 lanes with 3 targets per lane. 2 shots per target with the shooting order being left, middle, right. There was also the usual 1 standing lane and 1 kneeling lane. The stats for the days 60 shot course are as follows:





I pre-warned everyone that the targets were all lubed BUT sat out in the all day rain so be prepared…………well, everything went well and no cold lines!



The wind took it’s toll on everyone and showed us all who was boss! Karen Reis was able to lock in high score for the day with a 43 out of 60 shooting. Second place was a 3 way tie. 6 points behind Karen was Trevor Davies, Rich Sarama and Rick Vaeth all with 37’s. Brian VanLiew, Open PCP, had a 38 out of 60. Paul Manktelow, Hunter Piston, had a 36 out of 60. And Hector Medina, WFTF Piston, had a 26 out of 60. The remaining scores can be seen below.

After the conclusion of the rifle match, everyone jumped in and helped pick up and pack away the rifle targets and pull the strings for the High Power targets. With everyone either pulling in the used targets, winding strings, pulling strings for the high power targets……..it looked like a well oiled efficient machine!! Thank You All, all the help is greatly appreciated!

Before the start of the High Power match, we had the drawing to determine our 50/50 winner. This time we enlisted the help of Janet Manktelow to be the official ticket puller! After mixing up the tickets in the bucket, the winning ticket was drawn. The winner this time around was Stephan!!! We also drew a second ticket for those that participated in the 50/50. This was for a Tyrannosaurus swinger target we named Sheba. Rick Vaeth was the winner and will have to explain to his wife why he came home with another woman…..

Concluded below in reply.....

Going to the range tomorrow for the first time with the Evol. I want to accuracy test and chrono about six diferent pellets and slugs. All in about the 25 or so grain range.

Hi All,

I am looking for a vendor who can ship me a breech seal with a reasonable cost for postage. I am located in the US. The domestic source I found with the part I needed was AoA and they wanted to charge me almost $19 for shipping a $7 dollar part... yea... should have ordered it when I brought pellets and other stuff from them... but needs were time and use driven... and my current source is Utah Arms.

Found no one in the classified section.

No local air gun supply stores or gunsmiths locally.

Club members unable to provide spare parts.

Seal "wanted" is for a 40 year old Weihrauch HW35.

I have no problem buying extras and keeping a backup supply. USPS first class postage in a small envelope should just be a few bucks.

Reading up, understand there is a common size for the HW line of break action gun... am I correct? Additionally, is this a part that require replacement frequently? What indicators when a new one is needed? Any lessons learned (best practices) on how to replace that part be appreciated.

Thanks

Bob H
Tacoma WA

Took a short break from life and chased some Northern Lights, back to airgunning in the morning.

Thanks to @Elis5173 i finally have a 79g, this completes the set of my Smith Wesson pellet guns. 78g, 79g and the 77a

First thanks everyone, I've been having such a blast in this new hobby!

I'm thinking of grabbing some new toys to enhance my enjoyment, but not sure if I'm going too far overboard.

Currently I have Leshiy 2 in .30, Huben in .25 and a Bushbuck. For compressor I have a cheap Yong Heng and it gets used about an hour a day to top up 4 scba tanks.


Firstly is upgrading to the Alkin W31 - just wondering if it's really worth it?
Next is the Corbin Press, was thinking about grabbing it because I've been spending over $1000 a month on slugs so this one I think is a no brainer, I would have paid for this long ago I think.

And I think last even though I'm pretty happy with my 3 guns I'm thinking about adding a couple more in like maybe the Western Rattler because it has more power as well as the new Skout EVO when it comes out.

Striking red laminate fully adjustable stock for the Daystate Huntsman Revere by FORM Rifle stocks in England. Brand new, mounted but never used.

$375 shipped in original box.
PayPal FF or +4% please.

Seriously:

What does .25cal do that .22cal can't?​

I wanted a gun that trashes the feral pigeons in a spectacular manner.
But no hollow point or slug I have tried — even at 60+ FPE — could accomplish that.


So, now I have a .25cal P2
Prophet II Compact Performance
with 500mm RPB [slug] barrel—
and I wonder what I should use this gun for....
What does my .25cal do that my .22cal P1
Prophet I Compact Performance
with 400mm CZ barrel
does not...?


Help me out — am I missing something?

Maybe I AM missing something — because I have noted a lot of airgunners that buy
compact .25cal PCPs.

➊
Pigeons out to 100y:
Both P1 and P2 shoot with precision, and they shoot slugs. Dead is dead.

➋
Bigger game:
In Peru we don't get to shoot much bigger game than ducks, hares, and vizcachas:
Both P1 and P2 would kill them fine. Dead is dead.

➌
Long range shooting — say 200y:
The P1 will do OK out to 100y.
On my first try the P2 did a pretty good group with ATP Smooth slugs.
But the 500 compact barrel seems a limitation....

➍
Better BC:
What surprised me is that .25cal pellets usually don't have a better BC than .22cal pellets (the .25 Heavy dome at 33.95gr being the exception).
So, no big advantage there....

➎
What am I forgetting?



What does my .25cal do that my .22cal does not...?

Thanks,

Matthias

I put this kit together to shoot Field Target. It looks and shoots exceptionally. This is an S500, not 510. So, this has the wider breech like an HFT500 but can shoot .177 at 20fpe easily whereas the HFT version is limited to 12fpe. The sweet walnut stock was professionally oiled with 6 coats and really stands out. I had a walnut hamster custom made to complement the stock by a guy in England that specializes in them. Mounted on a ball joint, the cheek rest is the most adjustable out there. If you want to switch to benchrest over the winter, it's an easy change to the tactical stock. Two fill fittings, the original barrel tip, owners manual and original box are included. (A 4-16x50 scope is included if you buy the full package but it's not the one shown.)


$800 for rifle and walnut stock !
$1000 shipped insured for rifle and both stocks and a 4-16x50 scope!
$250 for tactical stock only

PayPal FF or +4%, or postal /bank check

Buyers remorse!!!!
Never again shall I ever purchase another Gamo air rifle.
About ,6 months ago i bought a Gamo whisper wildcat in .22.
Since then it has been the most ridiculously inaccurate, lousy trigger piece of junk.. it wouldn't shoot a tight group at 25 yards if needed.

One would hope that it would at least shoot a 3" group..no such luck.
And the recoil is too much for the utg scope i put on it. I tried everything. Even put it in a lead sled that was bolted down.. never again.
Sorry gamo but this is one customer you shall not be getting back anytime soon..

My Huben K1 and GK1 both in 25 caliber. My Seneca double shot 50 caliber, my Hatsan Sortie that my daughter shoots and loves. And last but not least the crown of my collection the Western Rattler 357 with a Vortex Viper PST Gen II 1-6x24 scope mounted on it. I bought a lot of cheaper guns that I regretted buying and spent a lot of money but I finally have a collection that I'm truly happy with and I have no desire to really buy anything else. I feel like with these guns I can do anything I want to do from Target shooting all the way to big game hunting comfortably without having any doubts.

Recently changed some things around. Swapped scopes and put my 4-20x50 on my Vet instead of my Tikka T1X. I also got a nice cheek piece and mag holder.

Dropped my speed from 960fps with JTS 18gr to 915fps. Wanted to check it fully this morning while it was dead calm. Also tested loose hold and a tight hold. It likes a tighter hold. I clicked one click to the right between the loose and tight groups. When I went to reset my turrets the other day I forgot to lock my turret and spun it and guessed where it was and was 1 off. Adjusted alittle high to not blow out my aim point. This is why Taipans are great guns. Yes I did have some rare issues with this one but now that I fixed it it's becoming one of the best shooters I've owned. My Evol is the only one I can say has been as consistent as this one.

WTB: Kalibrgun Cricket 2 Tactical in 5.5mm

Yesterday, I began testing a new shape 22 caliber slug I made for my swage press.

I've been shooting around 8-10k slugs per month for a very long time, and paying 20c each is not doable for me. Buying lead wire from Nielsen... I can swage slugs in between other processes in my shop at around 2c each. That's manageable. The ability to make the dies, myself also allows me to tailor things to the barrels I have access to.

The slugs that I've been making for a long time have given me great accuracy and predictability in the wind, but are around .138 bc and .223 caliber. That's not bad, but not as good as it can be.

The goal for something new was to equal the accuracy and predictability while increasing the wind resistance. Also, I wanted to use typical airgun sizes instead of the .223" due to current world BR rules that limit slug size to .218.

These new slugs have a much more spherical nose and a longer rebated boat tail to allow them to be made in a single step swage operation.

After finding a barrel that shot them well and verifying they have the accuracy potential I was looking for...I set up 2 chronos 49y apart to get some near and far velocity numbers to calculate a bc.

I was able to get great accuracy at 900 or 960 so that's where I sampled them. At 900 fps I averaged a BC of .195. At 960 fps, the BC went down to .165. I used a 15 shot average.

I know that my 2 chronographs read slightly different and I couldn't recall which was which so I set up the gun to run the 40g altaros slugs as a reference at 900fps. The Altaros averaged a G1 BC of .198. BC claims from Alraros are .210, so that probably meant that my slightly faster reading chrono was near the muzzle.

All in all I was very happy. Great accuracy so far, and I'm not leaving anything on the table as far as wind resistance compared to other slugs.

Here's a few 25 shot groups at 50y. The wind was actually pretty strong and indecisive at around 7-15 mph.

I look forward to seeing how I progress with these over time. Over the next few months I'll be able to get a better picture of their real world performance and hopefully some customer feedback as well.

Mike

PCP guns are really cool and fun, and yes pallets and slugs are cheaper than "real bullets" but if you thinking that getting into this will save you money, you're most likely wrong.

When I first got into PCP guns, I went with cheap guns like Hatsan and AEA's. And while you can find some real gems with the cheaper brands that will do everything you want to do, once you start reading forms and hearing the experiences of more expensive guns, you're going to want to try them.

And here's where it gets expensive because once you've had a quality PCP gun in your hands, you really don't want to use cheap ones anymore. When I first started I put myself on a budget, that budget didn't last long. And it's not just the PCP gun that you have to factor in, you need an air compressor, air tanks, and most importantly scopes.

You're not going to buy a $1,500 PCP gun and put a $20 Amazon scope on it, well I mean I guess you could but that would kind of defeat the purpose.

I'm not trying to discourage anybody from getting into this hobby because it's really fun and rewarding, I just wanted to put a little warning out there for newcomers that it's not as cheap as you think it's going to be.

Haven’t use the scope in a while and came across this one. I had forgotten I had it recorded… 40 yards, sending CPHPs.

.

Why don't they make solid (non-HP) slugs in .25 and .30 calibers? I found a few but the calibers are just a hair larger (.257 & .308) than I can use.

Im Impressed with AEA pellets they seem to work well with all my springers , they shot really well In my HW98 one hole grp at 50 yrds , just used the 177 8.72 grain with my Air King pro at 50 yards not to shabby .
Next will be HW97 and TX 200 with the same ammo .
This Is where Im shooting from .
This Is the result about twelve shots . No wind with a bipod BSA 4-12x44 Outlook scope .

Well I finally went down the compressor rabbit hole and ordered some high pressure tanks. I’m sure they are aged out firefighter tanks. 30 minute SCBA units.

The plan is to borescope the internals and do a some remote pressure testing when they get here I have a steel pipe that’s capped on one end to put them in for pressure testing from a distance once I do my due diligence. Either it’ll be a great safety mechanism, or a pipe bomb….we’ll see which.

Hopefully it doesn’t end up being a decision I regret. But getting a year or five’s use out of these is what I’m hoping for.

I’ll be using the Yong Heng pump with a filter system…all the Chinese stuff makes me a bit nervous, but people seem to have good results.

This whole “saving money by shooting air rifles” instead of powder burners isn’t turning into quite the excuse I thought it’d be when I started lol…

Then I decided I “needed” a taipan veteran 2, so yeah. It’s no longer an inexpensive hobby. I’ll probably have more money into killing squirrels than they’ve ever cost me in damage…

New Handguard for the Umarex Notos designed by Bravo3d. 7 Mlok slots with one on the bottom. Quick and easy install. Its a one peace design so you just heat it up with a blow dryer and slide it over the tube.

$39 + shipping.
If you would like to learn more please check out

Moderator advice please!
Is there a way, and am I allowed to report a scammer?
And if I do, will the details be preserved for other members to take reference?

Here's the scoop
I ran into a seller on another forum.
I do not know if he is an AGN member
His ad was a nearly direct copy of text and the exact images used in an ad in 2018
I can provide email address, PayPal address, and the name used on the PayPal account and details of the item for sale
Hopefully no one will fall for this guy
FWIW
No!
I have not been scammed

Thanks
Edward

After weeks & weeks of the weirdest weather here in SoCal I finally got to hunt with my pal Mike Bricker (Centercut). We met up in Ramona where I have permission at a beautiful vineyard. Of all the days to NOT have used my Tactacam! We took out 37 Ground Squirrels total. 19 for Bricker, 18 for me. Days like this remind me of how grateful I am for having gotten into airguns. Mike was shooting his Kricket, I was shooting my .22 Bobcat. What a pleasure to shoot that LASER! Here's hoping the rest of Summer will be the same. Thanks for the fellowship & productive harvest Mike (the other stuff too).

Sorry, no pics or video. I won't make that mistake again!

Good even all, recommendation for pellet sizer wanted. Here's the problem, some of my pellets are slightly smaller than the magazines on my Huben K1s causing jams. Is it feasible to stretch the skirts a few thousands of an inch to smug them up in the magazine. I've pulled a search and watched videos on the subject. I'm looking for first hand knowledge from members that use them. Thanks for the help.