BSA Hornet versus rimfires at 50 metre benchrest group shoot

[Yrrah]

The occasion last Saturday afternoon was a Rimfire Benchrest 50 metre group shoot at the Armidale Branch of The Sporting Shooters of Australia Association (SSAA) weekly competition. The range is only 45 minutes drive from our farm "Pinelea"..

The shoot required five of 5 shot groups and I was there by invitation and welcomed to shoot my air rifle in the competition. There was a light but quite inconsistent breeze making the wind indicators switch and spin in many different directions.

My aggregate average of 0.4756 inches was not remarkable for the five groups but the fifth group was the smallest of the comp. CTC = 0.141 inches (3.58mm) … Isn’t it nice when everything comes together and you actually have other shooters with whom to share it?



…. Shot at 50 metres ( 55 yards )….BSA .22 Hornet blueprinted by John Bowkett, the legendary airgunsmith in the UK; 15.9 gr JSB Exact pellets 5.50 mm head size; 880 fps, 27.25 fpe; Leupold 4-12 X AO Vari X 11 scope, fine cross hair reticule.

There was a lull in the breeze down my lane with all three ribbon tails on the borrowed Club wind indicators hanging a little to the left in parallel. The first 4 shots were rattled off in quick succession and then the breeze changed. There was plenty of time left so I waited…….. Maybe two minutes later I thought that I recognized the same precise indicator pattern and made the last shot and watched it curve just a tad and go through the same hole! Edit: a fresh pellet sticks in the hole:



Joy Harrison ( who won gold in the Ladies Divisions at the World Champs in Italy last year and finished 12th outright against the men ) was the first to congratulate me on the best group of the day! ….. I basically “floated” rather than drove back home down the highway to the farm ……………..

They are a great mob of riflemen and women up Armidale way and I thank them again for their friendly hospitality as I share this with you folk …………
Kind regards …… Yrrah.

[Glen C]

Harry, you Ray G, Ogre, etc are waking me up to how impressive air rifles are these days. Congratulations Harry that is a very impressive group (doesn't seem big enough to call a group!)

[Hilly]

Harry, you have done it again! You have also proved my theory that an air rifle can be just as accurate as a rimfire under reasonable conditions. A few years ago I would have doubted that an air rifle would be remotely capable of this sort of accuracy at that range but since I started hanging around here and had a couple of quality air guns I have changed my mind. All I have to do now it to shoot a group that is remotely as good as yours.
You just lifted the bar a little bit higher.
Congratulations!
Dennis.

[RayG]

As usual Harry I am in awe of the man and his air rifle! That group is an excellent example of the
much sought after "One Holer",especially when you can prove
it with a pellet sitting in it.
I think I might e-mail Mr Bowkett myself. You and your "Beezas" are just too good.
Cheers Ray.

[native hunter]

Nice shootin Harry.!!
Thats one damn fine Group(hole).
I always said AR are more accurate than rimfires at 25mtrs and its only the wind that makes the difference at 50.
What were the rest of the groups like.??
Regards

[Yrrah]

Nice shootin Harry.!!
Thats one damn fine Group(hole).
I always said AR are more accurate than rimfires at 25mtrs and its only the wind that makes the difference at 50.
What were the rest of the groups like.??
Regards

Yes, the wind is the difference, but it still takes a very well set up hunting Brno rimfire and the best of bullets to equal these top air rifles in good conditions up to this range. The dedicated bench rifles and Olympic 50 m rifles are superior but not all that much and we haven't really seen what these air rifles can do with a dedicated bench rest stock and sitting on $ 500 to $ 1000 dollars of bench rest hardware like I see at these shoots. My $50 stand and home made bags are really not top class;and I have to lift the BSA up to cock the MMC button in the front end of the forestock and replace the rifle after every shot!

The next best were 0.417 and 0.388 from memory. I kept the best one to photograph !!!!!

Kind regards, Harry.

[native hunter]

That's one to think about harry,A dedicated BR AR.???
I know what you mean about front and rear rests,there's a few dollars in them alone.
The top quality AR on a windless day would nearly always out shoot a rimfire to 50mtrs,I suppose theres no powder or rim thickness to disadvantage us.
When will the 100 thou @50 mark be broken.???
Regards

[stinkitup]

WOW! once again Harry thats awesome, now would't it be funny to start a dedicated AirRifle BR comp

Does that qualify for a screamer?

[curan]

I have to lift the BSA up to cock the MMC button

Harry, do you have any recommendations on how to lighten up that button? Or do you think Mr Bowkett would?
I sometimes find it a bit heavy and distracting on mine, but if it was lighter, it would not be an issue.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

regards, Curan.

[Yrrah]

I have to lift the BSA up to cock the MMC button

Harry, do you have any recommendations on how to lighten up that button? Or do you think Mr Bowkett would?
I sometimes find it a bit heavy and distracting on mine, but if it was lighter, it would not be an issue.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

regards, Curan.

Curan the only way to lighten it is to reduce the pre-load on the hammer spring and that lowers the power of the rifle. My JB OZ 1 has an even stronger hammer spring and so a stronger button resistance for cocking. Strengthening your two fingers helps too. After I have been shooting JB OZ 1 for a few days the other Hornet seems much easier to cock. I love the cocking MMC action for hunting. There is so little movement involved and it is so easy to uncock it if the shot isn't taken........
As with everything in life, there's an upside and sometimes a downside ......... Take care. Kind regards, Harry.

[stillair1]

Nice one Harry.

Neil

[daisy]

I guess that would open a lot of eyes to what a good air gun and great shooter can do.

Daisy

[hornetboy]

Beautiful shooting,Harry. You make us proud to know you!

[Tasco]

Guys there is now a dedicated air rifle BR comp. It is not a group score but point scoring. It is shot at 25meters and is shot one shot at each target, there are 25 targets. The 10 ring is only 2mm and you need to hit dead centre to get an "X". It was shot at the last Rimfire benchrest world titles in Italy. It is now going to be a regular event at the world titles and will be shot over two days. I will get a copy of the target and put it up for everyone to look at.
It must be shot outdoors and is harder than you think. I am using a FWBP70FT and have only shot a 243 with 8X so far.

[stinkitup]

sounds like fun, let us know when its up.