How Do You Cock Your Air Rifle?

[Ezana4CE]

Sounds like a stupid question, right? But when sighting in a scope or testing ammo and trying to figure out bullet drops at various pressure levels or scope adjustments for DOPE, how do you cock your rifle between shots to ensure that it does not move? Ideally, you want a perfectly level table placed on a perfectly level surface and a rest that can securely lock down and hold the rifle so that it does not move. Sometimes we have to work with what is available at the moment. So in instances when you are at the range and all you have are sandbags or a Lead Sled, which techniques do you employ to reduce moving your gun when cocking it? I'm speaking more to the members shooting big bores with stiffer hammer springs. Obviously if you're shooting a semi-auto rifle this question doesn't apply to you.

 

[pan60]

fast.
dint give it chance to move if your fast enough your safe.
no just kidding on the EVOLs i shoot i dont think theres much i have found so i am interested in this topic as well.
the new EVOL guns dont reqiure as much cocking force as the older ones but shooting to set up ( djustments for DOPE ) i can see where keeping thing solid matters?
maybe some kind of gun vice?

 

[Nordic Norm]

Bullet drop is a function of gravitational acceleration of a falling mass and time of flight to termination. The mass of the bullet is of no consequence as gravitational acceleration is the same regardless of mass (weight). A 40gr .22lr at 1000fps during a .25 second flight will drop the same as a 100gr 243 at 3000fps during a .25 second flight (the 243 will go much further).The bullets rate of fall starts slowly and increases exponentially as flight time increases due to the rate of gravitational acceleration. A pellet rifle shoots between 700fps to 1000fps. Over a 50yd course the 700fps round will take .2143 seconds, the 1000fps round will take .15 seconds to termination. The slower round takes only .0643 seconds longer. Not much difference. At 100yds the time gap is greater and the amount of drop per time is much more as the falling mass is accelerating.
This doesn't answer your question, but it may help to more clearly understand that bullet mass does not affect drop, only velocity or time of flight affects drop. The height of the sight line above the boar can be more of a factor than bullet drop within 50yds. You are on the path to understanding ballistics.
Also you mention a level table. Shooting at an incline will decrease bullet drop significantly. When shooting uphill or downhill hold low, this is why most misses are over the target.
Cheers

 

[Hateful McNasty]

Here just lock it down more + this comes with a trigger puller ..lol

Hyskore Professional Shooting Accessories | #30013 Dangerous Game® Machine Rest

Wow..

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Nordic Norm You completely lost me. That all looks like a detailed explanation of a totally different concept. I didn't mention the mass of a projectile, nor was I trying to calculate the rate of drop from a given distance or set of distances. I'm simply asking big bore airgun shooters to share how they may routinely cock their guns to minimize movement of the gun. It's really a question of maintaining a POA under less than ideal circumstances. For instance, a bench rest shooter may cock his/her gun with the their trigger hand with out ever breaking their cheek weld. With big bores you may be shooting a single-shot or a bull pup. Both would likely require you to removed your face from the stock's comb. Also when cocking a big bore rifle, the hammer spring will likely require a significant amount of force which greatly increases the likelihood of moving the gun in the process. Once that happens the shooter is no longer shooting from close to the exact same position that the previous shot was taken from. This makes the results of a shot string questionable because now movement of the gun becomes and additional factor affecting the POI. My question is centered upon how a rifle is cocked.

 

[Nordic Norm]

@Nordic Norm You completely lost me. That all looks like a detailed explanation of a totally different concept. I didn't mention the mass of a projectile, nor was I trying to calculate the rate of drop from a given distance or set of distances. I'm simply asking big bore airgun shooters to share how they may routinely cock their guns to minimize movement of the gun. It's really a question of maintaining a POA under less than ideal circumstances. For instance, a bench rest shooter may cock his/her gun with the their trigger hand with out ever breaking their cheek weld. With big bores you may be shooting a single-shot or a bull pup. Both would likely require you to removed your face from the stock's comb. Also when cocking a big bore rifle, the hammer spring will likely require a significant amount of force which greatly increases the likelihood of moving the gun in the process. Once that happens the shooter is no longer shooting from close to the exact same position that the previous shot was taken from. This makes the results of a shot string questionable because now movement of the gun becomes and additional factor affecting the POI. My question is centered upon how a rifle is cocked.

Sorry, I have no answer to your question. The information can be helpful in understanding trajectory, that is essentially what you are investigating. PS I did state at the outset that this is not an answer to your question. It isn't a different concept, just more facts regarding the physics of bullet trajectory.

 

[Miles_M]

When testing firearms, we always used complex fixed gun mounts to hold the gun securely, but still allow recoil. We could not use a human to hold or fire the gun, as they would have been fried by the large radar just behind them. The problem for most people using fixed clamps is that they do not allow for any recoil, which may affect the POI. The gun needs to be clamped to some form of sled which allows for repeatable recoil and which can be returned to the same position for each firing. Unfortunately, holding the gun and placing your sights on the same spot every time will introduce human based errors, which for normal people, may be larger than the gun based errors. For most of us though, the errors will be more relevant to our own shooting abilities with the gun and thus possibly of more value, as a pellet or slug fired from a fixed gun may not behave the same as when fired by a gun held by a human. Remember, you are part of a gun/projectile/carriage system where you are the carriage. If you change any one component, you may change the flight characteristics of the projectile.

As for projectile drop being solely due to gravity, this is not quite correct where air is present. This is because as the trajectory turns down an element of the drag force acts vertically producing a small vertical acceleration which will reduce the effect of gravity.

 

[Nordic Norm]

When testing firearms, we always used complex fixed gun mounts to hold the gun securely, but still allow recoil. We could not use a human to hold or fire the gun, as they would have been fried by the large radar just behind them. The problem for most people using fixed clamps is that they do not allow for any recoil, which may affect the POI. The gun needs to be clamped to some form of sled which allows for repeatable recoil and which can be returned to the same position for each firing. Unfortunately, holding the gun and placing your sights on the same spot every time will introduce human based errors, which for normal people, may be larger than the gun based errors. For most of us though, the errors will be more relevant to our own shooting abilities with the gun and thus possibly of more value, as a pellet or slug fired from a fixed gun may not behave the same as when fired by a gun held by a human. Remember, you are part of a gun/projectile/carriage system where you are the carriage. If you change any one component, you may change the flight characteristics of the projectile.

As for projectile drop being solely due to gravity, this is not quite correct where air is present. This is because as the trajectory turns down an element of the drag force acts vertically producing a small vertical acceleration which will reduce the effect of gravity.

I especially like the last paragraph

 

[Dogowski]

Here just lock it down more + this comes with a trigger puller ..lol

Hyskore Professional Shooting Accessories | #30013 Dangerous Game® Machine Rest

Wow..

Man, that's a real fancy and expensive contraption!

 

[Moose]

When testing firearms, we always used complex fixed gun mounts to hold the gun securely, but still allow recoil. We could not use a human to hold or fire the gun, as they would have been fried by the large radar just behind them. The problem for most people using fixed clamps is that they do not allow for any recoil, which may affect the POI. The gun needs to be clamped to some form of sled which allows for repeatable recoil and which can be returned to the same position for each firing. Unfortunately, holding the gun and placing your sights on the same spot every time will introduce human based errors, which for normal people, may be larger than the gun based errors. For most of us though, the errors will be more relevant to our own shooting abilities with the gun and thus possibly of more value, as a pellet or slug fired from a fixed gun may not behave the same as when fired by a gun held by a human. Remember, you are part of a gun/projectile/carriage system where you are the carriage. If you change any one component, you may change the flight characteristics of the projectile.

As for projectile drop being solely due to gravity, this is not quite correct where air is present. This is because as the trajectory turns down an element of the drag force acts vertically producing a small vertical acceleration which will reduce the effect of gravity.

This raises a number of questions for me. (1) How does recoil and muzzle lift impact your test results, and wouldn't that have a negative impact on test results? (2) Do you limit muzzle lift? I treat muzzle lift and recoil 2 separate issues. Bench rest shooting for me requires a different tune versus "offhand" shooting.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

Man, that's a real fancy and expensive contraption!

Ain't that the PCP way ?

 

[Ezana4CE]

This raises a number of questions for me. (1) How does recoil and muzzle lift impact your test results, and wouldn't that have a negative impact on test results? (2) Do you limit muzzle lift? I treat muzzle lift and recoil 2 separate issues. Bench rest shooting for me requires a different tune versus "offhand" shooting.

@Moose These are good questions.

@Miles_M Thank you for your input.

@Nordic Norm Don’t worry about it. It seems like good info on bullet drop. Speaking of bullet drop, I just watch the impacts and compare them in my notes so I know what to expect when I hunt. For me it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. On an animal’s lungs I can spare an inch or two and still be lethal most often, a medium to large animal that is.

 

[PasadenaMike]

Click click. Sorry couldn’t help myself. I didn’t even know that was a dilemma for shooting but I guess every detail counts.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@PasadenaMike I don't have a great setup for ammo testing, so for me it's an issue. Also when shooting some bullpups, cocking is an issue. It's especially an issue with some big bores because it takes significant force to cock those heavier springs. That amount of force can often make you move the gun if it is not secured within a rest. So starting from the same POA becomes problematic.

 

[PasadenaMike]

@PasadenaMike I don't have a great setup for ammo testing, so for me it's an issue. Also when shooting some bullpups, cocking is an issue. It's especially an issue with some big bores because it takes significant force to cock those heavier springs. That amount of force can often make you move the gun if it is not secured within a rest. So starting from the same POA becomes problematic.

Makes sense I’ve never done precision bench shooting so thanks for explaining it. I just literally pull a wobbly card table from the van, use a bucket as a seat and just shoot at a box and call it good enough once zeroed for ground squirrels. If I have 2 hours to shoot id rather hunt.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Makes sense I’ve never done precision bench shooting so thanks for explaining it. I just literally pull a wobbly card table from the van, use a bucket as a seat and just shoot at a box and call it good enough once zeroed for ground squirrels.

@Pasadena Mike I sometimes shoot larger animals that can run across property lines swiftly when shot. The goal is to prevent that and to put them down within a reasonable amount of time while keeping safety in mind.

 

[PasadenaMike]

@Pasadena Mike I sometimes shoot larger animals that can run across property lines swiftly when shot. The goal is to prevent that and to put them down within a reasonable amount of time.

Now we’re on the same page, that makes a lot of sense. Now I just imagined theoretically Pasadena allowed shooting and some how a squirrel committed suicide by Mike but decided to go to my hippie neighbors front door and bleed out

 

[Moose]

Now we’re on the same page, that makes a lot of sense. Now I just imagined theoretically Pasadena allowed shooting and some how a squirrel committed suicide by Mike but decided to go to my hippie neighbors front door and bleed out

Theoretically, if the carcass ended up at the end of your neighbor's driveway alongside of the road, it would be classified as a roadkill. It may happen often, and I never question the neighbor.

 

[PasadenaMike]

Theoretically, if the carcass ended up at the end of your neighbor's driveway alongside of the road, it would be classified as a roadkill. It may happen often, and I never question the neighbor.

lol with my luck it’ll go on their welcome mat

 

[Hateful McNasty]

lol with my luck it’ll go on their welcome mat

Don't forget screeming in pain and the Guy a amimal cruelty activist and on the police dept also his wife is a lawyer.

How my luck runs