While "social distancing" since March 17th at home, one of the projects I undertook was a complete performance check-up of all of the air rifles currently in my vault. I shoot my rifles nearly every day of the year, made possible by two indoor ranges and a nice outdoor set-up, all of which I never take for granted as being fortunate to have. My springers get the most use, probably averaging fifteen to 20 shots per day, nearly every day of the year, each. One would expect spring, seal, and other component wear with this kind of use.
Attached in the following photos are the results of the performance tests. For the most part, a one to three click scope adjustment was all that was needed. The big discovery came with my Motorhead tuned Weihrauch 97K .22, as though even the indoor 18 yard groups continue to be very good, from the time it was tuned approximately one year ago, the velocity has dropped off 100 FPS, to less than 11FPE. As a result, I will strip it down and address the velocity issue sometime in the very near future (maybe even today).
I use the 18 yard indoor range as the baseline for all of my rifles, and document trajectory points in 5 yard increments out to what ever point the rifle will no longer group within 2", what I deem to be a maximum effective kill range. This allows me to easily check the rifles at any point in time, in any weather, knowing that if they are on target at 18, exactly where they will shoot at any distance.
This was a fun exercise to complete and something I would encourage every one to do every six months or so, because sometimes the change can be so subtle over a long period of time, one doesn't really notice, until a critical shot is missed with no seeming explanation. There isn't much of a substitute in world for good chronograph data. The results indicated below are all over 20 shots, which I find to be a great sample size.
Attached in the following photos are the results of the performance tests. For the most part, a one to three click scope adjustment was all that was needed. The big discovery came with my Motorhead tuned Weihrauch 97K .22, as though even the indoor 18 yard groups continue to be very good, from the time it was tuned approximately one year ago, the velocity has dropped off 100 FPS, to less than 11FPE. As a result, I will strip it down and address the velocity issue sometime in the very near future (maybe even today).
I use the 18 yard indoor range as the baseline for all of my rifles, and document trajectory points in 5 yard increments out to what ever point the rifle will no longer group within 2", what I deem to be a maximum effective kill range. This allows me to easily check the rifles at any point in time, in any weather, knowing that if they are on target at 18, exactly where they will shoot at any distance.
This was a fun exercise to complete and something I would encourage every one to do every six months or so, because sometimes the change can be so subtle over a long period of time, one doesn't really notice, until a critical shot is missed with no seeming explanation. There isn't much of a substitute in world for good chronograph data. The results indicated below are all over 20 shots, which I find to be a great sample size.
