TargetTalk

Is there a good article on how to go about adjusting a brand new air rifle that has many stock/fit adjustments? I am thinking rifles like the Anschutz 9015 One, Feinwerkbau 800X, etc.

I only have experience with a much simpler wooden stock type rifle with just an adjustable cheekpiece and up/down butt plate.

There is probably a much simpler way to begin, but when I have a shooter get a new gun, we usually overlay the new gun on the old and begin by matching the LOP, buttplate depth, cheekpiece height, forend depth and sights ... rear sight to eye and sight radius & riser heights.

Then proceed from there. With the new rules (120mm foreend allowance), if I have a gal who is touching or close to touching, the first thing we are doing now is raising the foreend, dropping the buttplate depth and possibly removing a sight riser. i.e. moving the gun, parallel to the floor, higher and away from the chest area.

I am actually a newbie really. Not a formal competitor so I don't have an existing "high end" rifle now. My RWS Diana is ~15 years old and since the stock length cannot be adjusted I never had to consider the adjustments that a new rifle would have.

I could just but a simpler rifle, but I can afford one of the more adjustable ones and would expect whatever I buy to be used for a long time so why not spend a little more now.

An amateur's view on standing position... (can't help with 3P youth program)
You have presumably developed a close left hand position that gives you a good left arm body support, either open palm, top of fist or maybe thumb and knuckles. So holding the new rifle in that way without sights and without any adjustment just see first how it balances on the hand, If obviously front heavy or rear heavy consider adjusting length of pull with the butt plate. Also consider weights in the final adjustment.
Adjust the butt plate vertically to keep the stock level. Usually they are set quite low down. New rules allow even lower butt plate.
How is the sight height relative to the eye? You should be able to comfortably see through it with only minimal head forward tilt if any. Should you employ sight raisers or should you adjust the fore-end depth if available? Your choice but there are some massive raisers out there!
When you have the sights and length of pull set, adjust the cheek piece to support the head repeatably in the achieved position.
Once you have started, you can make minor adjustments and see how it affects your performance.

Balance can be a tricky decision.

I was taught and use a muzzle heavy balance.
The added weight up at the muzzle helps to dampen my wobbles.
As a casual 10m shooter, I don't use a shooting outfit, only a back belt, so I don't have the jacket and pants to stabilize my body.

GaryN wrote:Balance can be a tricky decision.

I was taught and use a muzzle heavy balance.
The added weight up at the muzzle helps to dampen my wobbles.
As a casual 10m shooter, I don't use a shooting outfit, only a back belt, so I don't have the jacket and pants to stabilize my body.

Yes indeed and I wasn't suggesting it should balance (although it is my preference), just to get the lengths of pull sorted out before glueing on the old tyre weights!
If you pick up a Diana/Original 75 or a Walther LGR from the 1980's it's like you're dangling a sack of potatoes off the end and precious little left of your 5.5Kg to balance it out, but I think fashions have changed a little judging by the amount of metal people glue to the butt stock.

I very recently moved up from a Feinwerkbau 602 (with rather limited adjustment) to a brand new FWB 800 Evolution Top with lots of adjustments. I first of all adjusted everything to the way I was used to (trying to mimic my position on the 602) and started shooting. Not realizing that those adjustments were not the best...

Then one night at a local club I was lucky enough to get some fitting (and general shooting) advice from an experienced coach. With his help, I found out the adjustments I'd made were all wrong.

First of all, my neck was bent over much too much and my head wasn't straight up (but that's how it was on the 602). First we raised the sights higher and then moved both front and rear sights more to the left, so that my head was straighter. Then he had me close my eyes and shoulder the rifle (not even worrying about aiming at a target) to see if the front and rear sights were aligned with each other when I opened my eyes. And they weren't. He said the gun needed to first be adjusted so that when held in a natural position the sights would be aligned and I wouldn't have to make any forced (unnatural) head/neck position changes. He helped me do that. Now when I do this exercise, and open my eyes, the sights are perfectly aligned.

Hope this of of some help.