How to accurately shoot your air gun: Part one

They say a bad workman blames his tools, and a lot of us are guilty of this when it comes to shooting. The majority of us would more than likely want to improve shooting accuracy when it comes to firing an air gun, which is why we have taken a look at a few ways you can improve your shooting accuracy. Due to the risk of information overload, we have decided to break this feature up into two parts, allowing you to become comfortable with the first lot of tips, before we introduce the second lot. Pellets First up, your pellet choice is important. There is little point in investing in an air gun just to fill it with cheap ammunition, and then complain that you are not hitting your target! Different air guns will prefer different pellet types, made by different manufactures. High quality ammunition does not cost the earth, and it is worth using as the cheaper stuff can cause problems for your gun. You should follow the advice of the manufacturer, but also give a few different types a try for yourself, meaning there will be a bit of trial and error involved. In terms of accuracy, the domed or roundhead pellets generally produce the best results. You may have heard that hollow-points increase the knockdown power of your shot, but that’s no good if you miss the target! As we said, try a few different types to find out which suits you and your gun best, but don’t shop cheap! Stance Your stance will make all the difference when it comes to shooting, and it is worth thinking of your air gun as an extension of your body. When you think of it like this, you start to consider the number of different facts that will result in your shots being less accurate. Your breathing and how your muscles are reacting to the weight of the gun are a couple of examples. It is for reasons such as those that standing shots are probably the most difficult of them all. You are readjusting all of your weight to stay upright, as well as holding something quite heavy out in front of you. Outdoor shooting means that weather conditions may be affecting you, like taking a battering from the wind! The more experienced air gun shooter usually takes their shots from a kneeling stance, especially those who use their air gun for hunting purposes. The kneeling stance gives you a more solid base, is easy to assume and provides decent clearance of ground obstacles. If you are taking a shot from a kneeling position, one of the key things to remember is to tuck the elbow of your leading hand over your knee, or behind it if it placed on the flat surface of your knee. This stops the point of your elbow rolling around on your leg, which can make it very difficult to keep a steady aim. The sitting stance provides even more stability than kneeling, which is why it is popular amongst target shooters. In a similar way to the kneeling stance, you should keep your elbows just behind or just in front of your knees to keep your aim true. The most stable and therefore most accurate stance you can achieve is lying flat on your stomach. Of course this is best adopted when the ground is dry and you have a clear, unobstructed view. So there we have a few tips to help you get increased accuracy in your air gun shooting. In part two, we will look at your air gun grip, as well as the importance of good trigger control! If you are looking at picking yourself up a new air gun, why not take a look at the range on our website, or come and visit us in store today?   Photo courtesy of bk1bennett on Flickr, under Creative Commons