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Arizona State spring piston championship match report from Phoenix, AZ - March 16, 2024

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Mark.in.AZ said:
Kinda......? ya gotta get a springer.
Thanks for the kind words.
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Well I kinda want to wrap my springer around a tree after the match on Saturday.....j/k, kinda.

Jokes about the maddening reality that is shooting a springer aside, it was a fun match and I appreciate you guys putting it on and making it possible to have the most enjoyable yet frustrating couple of hours of shooting I've had in a while.

As frustrated as I was, I found myself checking out HW77s and HW97s and TX200s and custom stocks online in the last day or two since the match. And I thought I'd sworn these things off for good. Right now I'm standing firm and NOT buying a competitive gun. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For now.
 
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Franklink said:
Well I kinda want to wrap my springer around a tree after the match on Saturday.....j/k, kinda.

Jokes about the maddening reality that is shooting a springer aside, it was a fun match and I appreciate you guys putting it on and making it possible to have the most enjoyable yet frustrating couple of hours of shooting I've had in a while.

As frustrated as I was, I found myself checking out HW77s and HW97s and TX200s and custom stocks online in the last day or two since the match. And I thought I'd sworn these things off for good. Right now I'm standing firm and NOT buying a competitive gun. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For now.
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Famous last words! you can always pick up a used gun.....which is what I did with most of my guns. And there is usually nothing wrong with a used gun.....unless someone abused it. Both of my TX200's are shooters. So is my R9. I only have one puffer gun that I bought new, but all of them shoot well.

I am impressed with that stock you made from a 2x6. That is pretty nice and well made.
 
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Mark.in.AZ said:
Famous last words! you can always pick up a used gun.....which is what I did with most of my guns. And there is usually nothing wrong with a used gun.....unless someone abused it. Both of my TX200's are shooters. So is my R9. I only have one puffer gun that I bought new, but all of them shoot well.

I am impressed with that stock you made from a 2x6. That is pretty nice and well made.
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I had a pretty good run with a HW77k a few years ago. Shot thousands and thousands of pellets out of that thing. And the final conclusion was that I was DONE with powerful springers. Something about how I shoot just doesn't jive with springers.

Yet here we are.

The stock made from laminating two 2x6s together was an attempt at improving my springer shooting. The combination of 9.7fpe and the custom stock works pretty well, out to about 30-35 yards. I calculated my percentage on "near" and "far" before I turned in my card and it was 81% on nears and only 57 or 58% percent (don't remember exactly) on the fars. Was also 4/4 on the offhand/kneeling lane. So the fars got me. Early in the match when the paddles were clean I saw that I had a couple kz hits that didn't have enough poop to knock down the target but most of the far misses were me misreading the wind, and just not being very familiar with hold off for that energy level.

Interesting thing to note, that little HW50s is pretty reliably 700-710fps with JSB 7.87 (bout 8.7fpe) at my home elevation of 5600feet. I took a couple shots over the chrono at Ben Avery and they were all 746-749, for about 9.7fpe. Elevation really messes with the springer platform.
 
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Franklink said:
I had a pretty good run with a HW77k a few years ago. Shot thousands and thousands of pellets out of that thing. And the final conclusion was that I was DONE with powerful springers. Something about how I shoot just doesn't jive with springers.

Yet here we are.

The stock made from laminating two 2x6s together was an attempt at improving my springer shooting. The combination of 9.7fpe and the custom stock works pretty well, out to about 30-35 yards. I calculated my percentage on "near" and "far" before I turned in my card and it was 81% on nears and only 57 or 58% percent (don't remember exactly) on the fars. Was also 4/4 on the offhand/kneeling lane. So the fars got me. Early in the match when the paddles were clean I saw that I had a couple kz hits that didn't have enough poop to knock down the target but most of the far misses were me misreading the wind, and just not being very familiar with hold off for that energy level.

Interesting thing to note, that little HW50s is pretty reliably 700-710fps with JSB 7.87 (bout 8.7fpe) at my home elevation of 5600feet. I took a couple shots over the chrono at Ben Avery and they were all 746-749, for about 9.7fpe. Elevation really messes with the springer platform.
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I agree with you totally on elevation changes. That is why I don't shoot piston at Mormon Lake (7200 ft). I had to have my D54 rebuilt twice because of that. It is also the reason behind the suggestion to have the piston shoot at BASF (1200 ft) elevation. Much easier on the guns from that elevation down to sea level, from what I have experienced.

Regardless, you shot well. Nothing to be ashamed of at all. And as you can see, the winds, even the lighter velocity winds, play havoc at times with your shot. Lanes 1 and 2 did me in. I was only down 4 points up until then, and they were my last lanes. Aaaarrrrggghhh....agravating, but that is the fun of shooting piston. I had a ball.
 
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Mark.in.AZ said:
I agree with you totally on elevation changes. That is why I don't shoot piston at Mormon Lake (7200 ft). I had to have my D54 rebuilt twice because of that. It is also the reason behind the suggestion to have the piston shoot at BASF (1200 ft) elevation. Much easier on the guns from that elevation down to sea level, from what I have experienced.

Regardless, you shot well. Nothing to be ashamed of at all. And as you can see, the winds, even the lighter velocity winds, play havoc at times with your shot. Lanes 1 and 2 did me in. I was only down 4 points up until then, and they were my last lanes. Aaaarrrrggghhh....agravating, but that is the fun of shooting piston. I had a ball.
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Lane 1 was a SERIOUS head scratcher. The 8-12feet high bushes right there to the left were shaking like crazy. The 6-12inch weeds right at the target were also dancing around in the wind. But holding up the string gave absolutely zero indication to which direction all of that wind was going. The string was a perfectly dipped parabola, downward, as if nothing but gravity was affecting it. It was crazy.
 
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Franklink said:
Lane 1 was a SERIOUS head scratcher. The 8-12feet high bushes right there to the left were shaking like crazy. The 6-12inch weeds right at the target were also dancing around in the wind. But holding up the string gave absolutely zero indication to which direction all of that wind was going. The string was a perfectly dipped parabola, downward, as if nothing but gravity was affecting it. It was crazy.
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Hahahahahaha........! Oh, yes! Welcome to BASF and the squirrely winds that seem to never let up. And to think, we shoot in those conditions every Tuesday morning, year round, with our TRAC matches. Last week, we had 17 shooters, for a weekday match! You should see what it is like when the wind really blows. A great exercise in wind reading, with some pretty darn good scores being shot, as well. It is more like a test tube, not a flat parking lot.
 
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