TargetTalk

Can any one explain the theory behind all the extra weight air rifle shooters put at the butt.

Thanks
JSB

The obvious answer is to make the rifle more butt heavy, but I don't think that's the answer you wanted. Do you mean to ask why some air rifle shooters want to make their rifles more butt heavy? I'm not a regular (or very good) air shooter, but I'd say to alter the balance, and even up a nose-heavy rifle, or maybe to make the balance more like a smallbore.

I'll be interested to hear from the more experienced.

I can understand changing the balance point, and I also heard it was to make the rifle sit heavier in the shoulder, but as you say it would be good to hear from more experienced off hand shooters.

Well, back in the day of wooden ships and iron men...

oops, wrong discussion. : )

Back in the day of wooden stocked rifles the wood of choice was often walnut or some other quite heavy wood. I don't know exactly what kind of trees lost their life to make the laminate FWB stocks but between the wood and glue those stocks were quite heavy.

Next if you examine the old wooden stocks, there was a fair chunk of wood between the pistol grip and the butt plate. With the heavy wood you would also typically find the butt had been hollowed out some. It was also not hard to get the wooden rifles up near the old 5kg weight limit and even today's 5.5kg weight limit is pretty much a snap.

The result was the wooden rifles typically had a center of balance just a little ahead of the typical support point for the non-trigger hand. It was easy to build a position where you did not feel like you had to fight to keep from toppling over forward.

Enter the aluminum stock, overall there is not much to the aluminum stocked rifle as the stock itself is closer to a set of girders to hold all the necessary parts in proper relation than a full stock. The result is a rifle that is both quite light (my FWB 800 came out of the box at 4.5kg) and because the butt is quite hollow the rifle had a balance point well in front of the non trigger hand.

Most shooters, (adults anyway) like a heavier rifle, so weight goes on, just about automatically, typically to the rear for balance issues. Then even the smaller juniors seem to like the balance point moved back, so even if the rifle does not go all the way to the weight limit, what weight that is added usually ends up to the rear to better balance the rifle.

So those are my thoughts on the subject.

Cheers,
'Dude

Thanks dude and every one, I have a FWB 700 Basic which has a one piece Beech stock and was 3.9kg out of the box, I have since fitted some stock and barrel weights to it and now it is 4.6kg, feels about right for me just fine tuning the balance point which is why I asked the question.

JSB

I think justadude got it right on the head. I personally have 840 grams of tec-hro stock weights on my P700 universal to bring the balance point back and closer to my support hand. The total weight of my rifle is 5.432kg, although feels a lot lighter than that because of how balanced it is. Out of the box, the rifle was extremely muzzle heavy, uncomfortable to handle, and it was extremely stressful on my lower spine. Since switching to a more balanced rifle, I had virtually no strain on my lower back, and could practice longer and more efficiently than before; not to mention my 10a0 on SCATT rose from 65% to 90% and my L factor also decreased.

When adding weights to any point on the rifle, remember to ask yourself, "why am I adding weights?" or "how will doing this benefit my performance, stamina, etc.?" Every shooter has a different build, position, etc. so it is up to you to find a configuration that suits you best.

My FWB 700 balanced well for my position out of the box but my small bore has a LOT of weight at the rear. Both of my rifles balance perfectly in my hand for off hand shooting.

FWBs are great rifles, but very front heavy compared to any other brand.

Back in the day when men were iron and ships were wood... uh ok Dude already used that one.

Bank in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I shot air rifle the theory was to add weight to the front. Now, I think because of the heaver coats and pants, the theory is to get the weight to balance between the feet. That is, getting the center of mass of the shooter and rifle together between the feet allows less back bend that we had to do in the Dark Ages. So if you add weight to the back of the stock it will allow a better balance.

My other rifle which is an early Walther LG300 Alu tec is not muzzle heavy out of the box, its slightly butt heavy, so I added a couple of barrel weights and the balance point is about 2 inches in front of the support hand, it seems to work. I have just checked Ways Of The Rifle and Air Rifle shooting books, and they have a section on rifle balance.