TargetTalk

I know it's a long shot (no pun intended) but I'm hoping that someone here might know how to adjust the velocity on my 609. It shoots well but the wadcutters aren't really leaving clean holes so I think I need to turn it up just a touch. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Hopefully someone can help you with the pistol, but the quality of the pellet holes is also a big function of the quality of the target paper. If you are using US made targets, it's hard to get really good holes with ANY air pistol. Kruger, Edelmann or Cibles target are stiffer, with special short fiber paper that makes MUCH nicer holes.

It's the quality of the targets
FAS 609 has a velocity of about 500 fps
It's plenty for an air pistol
I get the Kruger brand
Nice clean holes!

That's interesting. I have just started shooing air pistol. Age and physical problems have forced me to stop rifle shooting. I have a used Walther that cuts these strange holes that are round on the bottom and tear away on the top. I am using National Target Co. targets

I thought this might be a seal problem since the gun is older, but it looks like there might be an issue with the targets, right?

National Targets are definitely a major part of your problem. They work OK for .22 velocities, but as you've discovered, they don't work well at all for air guns. While you wait for some proper targets to arrive, you can improve matters a bit by putting a thin cardboard backer behind the target. Some people have found that baking or microwaving the targets helps as well. It makes the paper more brittle.

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 9&p=122931

National are crap targets. If you put a fresh target over your fired one, you'll find the back target tears, but the front one will cut an OK hole. If I were actually firing a match, I would do this with the issued sighter target(s).

After you've fired 20 or 30 shots this way you can look at the back target for a decent idea of any sight adjustments you may want to make.

Thanks to all who responded and you all gave good advice. The targets are Edleman/Rika and with backers the holes are somewhat better. Now if only I could learn to shoot better....

Only "somewhat" better? The difference should be like night and day!

massrog wrote:Thanks to all who responded and you all gave good advice. The targets are Edleman/Rika and with backers the holes are somewhat better. Now if only I could learn to shoot better....

Edelmann targets should produce pretty clean holes without a backer. They won't be perfect, but an isolated shot hole shouldn't show tearing outside the diameter of the pellet.

There are lots of pictures people have posted of their targets. You might want to look for some of those for comparison, or post a photo or two of yours. You could actually have a velocity problem, or something else is going on. If the holes look good with a backer, at least it's unlikely that your pellets are tumbling.

Gwhite wrote:

massrog wrote:Thanks to all who responded and you all gave good advice. The targets are Edleman/Rika and with backers the holes are somewhat better. Now if only I could learn to shoot better....

Edelmann targets should produce pretty clean holes without a backer. They won't be perfect, but an isolated shot hole shouldn't show tearing outside the diameter of the pellet.

There are lots of pictures people have posted of their targets. You might want to look for some of those for comparison, or post a photo or two of yours. You could actually have a velocity problem, or something else is going on. If the holes look good with a backer, at least it's unlikely that your pellets are tumbling.

Thanks to you and Rover. I am reluctant to show my scores lest he comment but I will tomorrow

BTW One of the guys I shoot with is having this problem with his PCP. After examining his gun, I recommended a new striker spring after attempting to increase the tension on it by screwing it in clockwise (experiment...you can't hurt anything). I'm not at all familiar with the FAS 609, but every other gun I've used/examined has the ability to tension/replace the spring. It is located in line with the barrel at the rear of the gun (take off the grips). Another shooter needed to increase tension on this screw on his SSP.

I'm not going to comment on your scores; I have enough trouble with my own.

Here are my first two targets of the day #1 without backer, #2 with backer and #3 is a friend's target on same brand. Please excuse the photography.
d

Your friend's target is telling you that you need to increase your velocity. The other targets are unacceptable.

which brings me back to my op...
read somewhere that the Kite is a similar design and it has an adjustment at the rear of the gun and I saw a large brass screw head in the same position. Does anyone know what it is?

After looking at the pictures I see what you mean
Did your friend used the same pellets?
If so maybe some wrong with your FAS?
Again,after reading the specs of the FAS
It does says ~ 500fps and that should be plenty to leave a nice hole

I am actually playing with a 609 at the moment. The brass screw at the rear is to access the hammer spring. It is however a fixed length arrangement...it screws home which pre-sets the spring tension.

The only way to increase the tension is to change springs or put a rear shim inside the brass screw to increase the pre-load.

The only way to increase the tension is to change springs or put a rear shim inside the brass screw to increase the pre-load.

Try one or both.

Thanks for posting those pictures massrog. I didn't even realize that I was using national targets until I realized that my holes looked a lot like yours. Which should NOT be happening with a Steyr. I'm getting edelmanns asap.

I can't believe that a company that produces competitive targets would make such a piece of crap.

National is OK for .22 targets, and has been in the business for many decades before air guns came along. They use the same paper for air gun targets, and they don't work very well at those low velocities. It isn't a big enough market in the US to make it worthwhile to invest in more expensive paper.