TargetTalk

Hi all, I'm just thinking about TRYING Olympic Air Rifle for fun.

What are say 3 or 4 guns that are decent entry level?

You know, guns that are at least somewhat nice, but maybe not top end?

I've looked at the TAU-200, Baikal's offering, etc. All seem nice enough... I guess???


Thanks a lot for your advice,



John

Best bet to "Try" olympic style shooting is to look for a club in your area.

Besides a rifle there is a lot of other equipment you will need such as shooting jacket, glove, off hand stand, spotting scope, ect.... Most clubs have suitable gear for you to start out with.

The Sporter air rifle program run my CMP, 4H, Scouts, NRA, American Legion, VFW, and others is probably a better bet for starters. And again, a club is your best starting point.

USA Shootings web site lists 7 clubs in Michigan.

http://www.usashooting.com/index.php?mo ... 448&page=6

One of them may be near you. It would also pay to check your local 4H clubs and VFW or American Legion posts in your area to see if they support a shooting program.

I got this link to the 4H coordinators from jmartin in another thread.

http://www.4-hshootingsports.org/state_contacts.html

If you can afford a little more, take a look at the Buy, Sell forum here at Target Talk. There are two older match air rifles for sale. Both were excellent guns in their time, and would be an affordable start.

Visit a club if you can. Don't get hung up over what gear you NEED. You really need just a glove (ski/winter glove is ok) and a fuzzy sweatshirt or two, for starters. The important point is that you shoot at your own pace, and make it enjoyable. Accessories can be added later, or improvised (something the young upstarts seem to have no knowledge of :^) Try a camera tripod for your offhand stand, etc. Have fun with it!

Visit a club as others have mentioned. See what they have to try and then take it from there. You don't need all the clothing, to start with, it's the sort of thing you can add in once you've made your mind up that you want to improve and decided you are prepared to spend lots more money ;)

Rob.

I am used to shooting pistols, and usually you don't need too much other apparel.

Why do you need a shooting coat, glove and shoes?

What is the rest for? I thought most shooting was done from a standing position?

Spotting scope? Shooting is done from 10 meters right? Does the scope help a lot?


Thanks,


John

To be fully competetive yes you do need the jacket trousers and shoes. The jacket and trousers provide support, especially for the lower back; their use will allow you to shoot for much longer before tiring.

A glove will provide padding, and grip, for the supporting hand. Letting an eleven pound weight sit on your naked hand is not terribly comfortable!

As for the shoes, these provide a nice flat sole; mostly they will be acceptable to the equipment control if you shoot in an ISSF-rule match.

The rest looks like a tall camera tripod. You use it to rest the rifle on while loading, so that you move as little as possible from the shooting position.

The 'scope allows you to see exactly where your shot went, remember the 10-ring is only 0.5 mm across.

The glove and jacket are the first items that you might think of buying. A good shooting glove is relatively inexpensive, and a new one will not have been on someone else's sweaty hand. The jacket will help support the rifle and your upper body. These can be very expensive, but cheaper jackets are readily available. Do note that the jackets frequently used by US high-power rifle shooters with adjustable closing straps, are NOT legal in Olympic-style matches.

Hope this helps

Tim Slater

Exeter UK

Oh yeah, I had forgotten all about how very tiny that target is! Spotting scope makes total sense!


Thanks for all the good replies!


I will have to see what everyone is shooting at a match sometime soon...



Thank you!


John

Anonymous wrote:
The 'scope allows you to see exactly where your shot went, remember the 10-ring is only 0.5 mm across.

The glove and jacket are the first items that you might think of buying. A good shooting glove is relatively inexpensive, and a new one will not have been on someone else's sweaty hand. The jacket will help support the rifle and your upper body. These can be very expensive, but cheaper jackets are readily available. Do note that the jackets frequently used by US high-power rifle shooters with adjustable closing straps, are NOT legal in Olympic-style matches.

Hope this helps

Tim Slater

Exeter UK

Scopes are however illegal in all (ISSF) 10M shooting events. You have target changers that allow you to see where your shots went when you pull the targets back.

Rob.

In the US many ranges don't have carriers. In this case USA shooting permits spotting scopes.

You don't need all that crap at first. Just get a good used rifle and start building your skill. You will need a glove but they are cheap. A cheapie BSA or bushnell spotter off ebay will suit you for air rifle. A camera tripod will do for an offhand stand. Once you start shooting against more accomplished shooters and get beaten then you will start to buy from the above laundry list. Too many shooters are scared away from our sport because the first thing perspective shooters are told about all the money they will need to spend. If you just want to play at it in the basement you may stop at the rifle.

I have tinkered extensively with the Tau's. They are good. If you are buying a new one though I would pass the Tau and move to an older FWB or Anschutz. The new Taus I think are near $500 and older FWB's and anschutz's can be had for a few hundred more and are quite a bit better quality.

Thanks for your reply, I was kind of thinking along the lines of what you said, with just trying it with the gun in the basement first.

Saw a used Tau-200 for $300ish, might think about that one.


John

A Tau for that price is a very good choice. If you get it email me. I have one and our club has one and I have done quite a lot of fooling with them. I have a simple modification that I have found for the trigger that makes it much better. Also, one of my main complaints with the taus we had were the front sights. I made some barrel bands to allow the old style anschutz front sights or lyman front sights to work. I have a few spare of the bands and will give you one. I have pictures of both and can email them to you.

RobStubbs wrote:Scopes are however illegal in all (ISSF) 10M shooting events.

Wow. Another ISSF rule that makes absolutely no sense.

Jose Rossy wrote: Wow. Another ISSF rule that makes absolutely no sense.

To be honest it only affects ISSF comps and they will be shot on electronic (or perhaps mechanical) target changers or fully electronic targets. So they are not needed. Non ISSF comps can do what they want or whatever their own rules state.

Rob.

I shoot with Daisy 888 and welther.
They are prefect for Compotitions.
Lera