James Osbourne's Hints and Tips for your Air Arms
What to do?! No chance of FT competition in your life for a while? Still need an airgun fix?
No doubt we’ll be spending more than a healthy amount of time on the internet. Plenty of airgun-related content to browse and forums to suit all tastes, so there are opportunities to educate yourself on airgun techniques and maintenance, as well as keep in touch with fellow shooters. Finding good content might rapidly become difficult, though!
Browsing the internet is no substitute for a more hands on approach so what can we do to keep our airgun related urges satisfied…Everyone needs a little TLC now and again, and our shooting equipment is no different. So, depending on your confidence and ability, why not give your kit a bit of a once-over?
Clean your barrel
When was the last time you cleaned your barrel? Some shooters have a very strict regime when it comes to barrel cleaning in order to maintain peak accuracy, while others have a more relaxed approach. So if it’s been a while, buy or make yourself a pull-through and, using a suitable cleaning product, give your barrel a treat. It's probably best to fire a few pellets through the gun afterwards to ensure any oils left from the cleaning don’t contaminate parts of the rifle they shouldn’t.
Time for a deep clean
I believe in car circles, where there's something known as ‘detailing’- basically, an expensive wash. Many well-used airguns could probably benefit from a bit of a deep clean. Small paint brushes are ideal for removing dust from all the hard-to-reach spots around scope mounts and accessories. Just remember to do this before removing the stock and giving the action a wipe down with a nice oily rag to restore a factory fresh appearance.
Rifle stocks tend to take their fair share of knocks and scrapes. Take this opportunity to refresh the finish with a little gun stock oil if the stock has an oil finish. If more significant wear and tear is present, well, it looks like there will be time to completely strip back, repair, and refinish any rifle stock. Not much in the way of materials is required, but it can take a lot of patience and time. The results however can be most rewarding and if done properly a finish superior to the original can be achieved.
Show your Air Arms some love with a full service
If you have access to the correct equipment and tools, this might be the time for a full service. Strip down the rifle, remembering that springs, springs, and compressed air can give you a nasty surprise if not properly decompressed. So, if you’re unsure about what you are doing, don’t worry; remember, just because someone posts a ‘how-to’ video on the internet, it doesn’t mean they know what they are doing. After any tinkering like this, make sure you test the rifle, ideally and adequately, and check the power and consistency on a chronograph. With a rifle that is beautifully presented and performing perfectly after a service, it’s a real shame not to use it, and this is where many of us will struggle over the coming weeks and months as clubs close.
Do some structured shooting
If possible, get out in the back garden to do some shooting. Some people will have more options in this regard than others, but try to add some structure to these sessions. For example, if you’re shooting at paper targets, set yourself a score as a goal to achieve. I find shooting in the back garden very limiting, but setting a challenge helps motivate me to do it. A word of warning, don’t upset your neighbours, you might need them to fetch you some food in a few weeks' time!
If you’re serious about the competitive aspect of your shooting, you could even try dry firing while in the comfort of your own home. If you’re an FT shooter, get all your favourite gear on, sit on your bean bag in front of the telly, and make sure everything feels right. Then, try some adjustments to assess if they might help. Probably best to make some notes on what you’ve done, though, as it might not be quite right when you get back out in the field; ensure anything you do is easily reversible.
Read a book
There are many shooting-related titles. You could read something on sports psychology (it might help your competition shooting), or perhaps something a little lighter on the maintenance or history of airguns. Maybe just go for some popular fiction and escape for a while.
Weighing and sorting pellets?
Now here’s one for when times become really desperate. Try weighing and sorting some pellets. Weighing pellets is a very tedious and time consuming pastime but you can check the differences between different batches and when we’re allowed out to play again you’ll have some pellets ready for testing so that you can decide for yourself that it truly was a waste of your time!
Tidy out your gun cabinet
There may be all sorts of forgotten treasures in there. It might be possible to sell some old and unwanted items, which could then fund something new and shiny?
