Upgrades for LG400 (Sights and Buttplate)

[Chris.Will.10.9]

I've been shooting 10m 3p air rifle for 3 years and 10m 6x10 Standing for 2 years. I started on a Anschutz 2002, but upgraded to a Walther Lg400 Competition last year. I love my new gun a lot, but I have been getting much more serious in my shooting and I am just not happy with my rear sights or buttplate. Currently I have a MEC Contact III for the buttplate and the sport-match sights that came with the rifle. I like the looks of the Centra Spy Rear Sights and the MEC Contact 4 or the Optimus 10.9 buttplates. Any suggestions for upgrades in those two areas would be great, I'm on a limited budget, but with time I can get just about any part if it'll make me a better shooter.
Thanks
-Christian W.

[Tim S]

Christian,

since I'm a prone shooter, I'll focus on the rearsight. Could you elaborate on how you are unhappy with the rearsight? Are the clicks too coarse? Are the clicks not accurate? Is there not enough click adjustment? Will it not move far enough backwards or forwards? The Centra Spy is certainly popular, and it is very slim which might be an advantage if the Walther blocks too much of your view down-range, but unless the Walther is faulty it may not be any more accurate. They Spy does look good, but that alone won't increase your score.

[Chris.Will.10.9]

Tim S,

I am unhappy with the sights because of how course they are and I'm not happy with the accuracy. I'm at the point where in 3p I'm almost shooting 580/600 and 570/600 for standing, and somedays I'll be able to get sighted in no problem but other days I just can't seem to get on with my sights. I'll take shots and know they are tens just to look and see that they're so close but not close enough and so as I'm noticing these trends over my shots, I'll adjust my sights but it never gets good and sighted in on those days. And its not my NPA cause thats always my first thing I check before each shot. I hope that is enough elaboration.
Thanks
-Christian W.

[cmj]

Have you pellet tested and shooting the right pellets, or just shooting anything. They can make a big difference. A really big difference. The Contact 3 buttplate and the Walther match sight have been around for years and changing them is probably not going to gain anything.

[Chris.Will.10.9]

I have done pellet testing for my rifle and it made a huge difference, but I've hit a plateau and I'm trying to break through it and i figured maybe some upgrades could possibly help. Living in Alaska doesn't help much for knowing the right information and having to do all this on my own doesn't help either.

[Andre]

The Contact III is currently the general standard for air rifle buttplates. Yes, there is a contact IV but even the III is a very good plate.

Make sure your aluminum sight extension is set to the foremost position, most shooters don't realize they can adjust it.

[peashooter]

Suggest you actually measure how well your sight is performing - relatively straightforward to set up a (digital) dial gauge on the sight and move it 10 clicks and back in all the directions, checking the size of each step and whether you return to zero. I was appalled when I tested my sight.

[Andre]

Suggest you actually measure how well your sight is performing - relatively straightforward to set up a (digital) dial gauge on the sight and move it 10 clicks and back in all the directions, checking the size of each step and whether you return to zero. I was appalled when I tested my sight.

This^

Please be aware however that sights generally never come back to absolute zero because of backlash in the screw. A few thousandths of backlash shouldn't be anything to worry about.

[Ryan Anderson]

Hey Chris,

I would say that unless there is something specific about the contact III that you don't like, stick with it. If you're not experiencing any problems that you can specifically point out then by getting the contact IV you're probably not going to see any improvement in score and the only thing you will have done is spend a few hundred bucks for a new buttplate. I use a contact III and have no problem.

The centra spy is a very good rear sight and I use it myself on my airgun. One reason I like it is because it has very fine clicks (something like 8-10 clicks per ring) which is very nice in a sport like air rifle where the matches are now scored in decimal and every tenth of a point counts. The other reason is that it does not stick up very high like the walther one you're currently using or those stock Anschutz or Feinwerkbau rear sights. The top screw is just above where you look through which makes it very easy to line up on the target while looking over the top of the sights and getting your balance, then moving your head down just a little bit to see through the sight and take the shot. While these two things are nice, they aren't necessary. I shot with a stock Feinwerkbau sight on my airgun (~4-5 clicks per ring and quite a bit bulkier) for years and went as high as winning the USA Shooting nationals with it (I don't say that to brag, just to state the fact that the stock sights are generally fine).

Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that the clicks on your sight could be somewhat inconsistent, which is a possibility. I'm not sure where you live in Alaska but if you're near Fairbanks or plan to shoot a match up there at UAF anytime in the near future, ask the coach Dan Jordan that Ryan Anderson said you should ask him to help you check your sights. He's got a nice little setup for doing that with a micrometer and everything if you don't have a way to do it on your own. It takes about two minutes to do.

I would say that at the 570 level that you're saying you're at, seeing that inconsistency from day to day and not being able to call shots perfectly is mostly likely just a function of your current skill level and probably not related to your equipment. I wouldn't be surprised if it's something that will become less and less frequent the more you train, develop, and perfect the fundamental skills like trigger control, hold, and followthrough. That being said the only other thing I can think of besides pellet testing (which you say you've done) is watching the cant on the gun. Differences in the rifle cant angle will have an impact on ultimate shot placement downrange, so if you're slightly inconsistent in the way you're canting your rifle, that could account for some unexpected shots and occasional shots that are off call from what you expect.

Ryan