Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns dealing with vertical stringing.....

Older Beeman R7

Now have a Hawke 2-7 scope securely mounted.

Went to the range today and sighted it in at 25 yards. Was shooting with the forearm rested atop sandbags about in the middle and I kept my front hand off of it. The buttstock was supported at the toe of the buttstock. The trigger on this rifle is decent. I was trying not to grip the rifle too firmly and made an effort to 'follow through' as best I could.

Got the rifle quickly sighted in and the scope adjustments seemed to track well. But soon noticed a lot of vertical stringing and the POI seemed to shift vertically. We're talking three inch differences vertically from shot to shot with no pattern to the frequency. Sometimes I'd end up with two or three shots nearly touching..and two or three more shots up and down from that. Left-Right never varied a 1/2" during the session.

Where is the recommended position on the forearm atop a rest? Middle? Or closer to the triggerguard?

Any other suggestions?

In these rifles do they tend to like lighter or heavier pellets?

Different guns like different pellets and sometimes the quality control on the pellet manufacturing is not great.

I'm a far cry from an expert but wonder if variation in pellet weight and/or diameter could be involved?

What pellets were you shooting? Did they all fit the same?

Was shooting 'Copperhead' 7.9 gr pointed pellets. When I purchased this (used) rifle from a local gunshop a partial box of these were the only .177 pellets they had on hand so they gave them to me.

Was going to try some JSB Exact Diablo pellets.

I've checked the stock screws on the rifle and snugged them up. I think the scope is securely mounted.

Besides trying different pellets I hope to get advice on how to bench rest the rifle (recommended positioning on the forearm).

I've never been able to get consistent groups with my springer rifles unless the forearm was resting in palm of my hand, usually near the front of the stock. Resting the back of my forehand on something (sandbag, etc) works fine. My "go to" .177 pellet is the Crossman Premier Hollow Point. It may not be the best for every rifle but it is usually pretty darned good.

It is called the Rifleman's hold. Should hold steady but not firm "deathgrip".
Do you like that Hawke scope? I'm looking into them for a Weihrauch HW30s

Sponxx, it's too soon for me to render much of an opinion on the Hawke 2-7 scope I got; I've only been to the range once with it. I'm a little bit more wait-and-see before I endorse something.

The consensus seems to be that I was resting the gun on too hard of a front rest and that produced the vertical stringing (gun bouncing as pellet still traveling the bore). I'm going out to the range this weekend equipped with some softer material to rest under the forearm closer to the trigger guard. Also have some different pellets to try out.

Hopefully I will get to report back that I got minute-of-rodent-'noggin accuracy.

Pleased to report considerable progress. Utilized some foam rubber pads between the forearm and the rest and that took care of 90% of the vertical stringing. Settled on using pellets that my R7 favored; H&N Sport Field Target Trophy 8.64 grain. I understand that Beeman markets the same pellet under their brand name.

At the range today I consistently got dime sized groups at 25 yards...almost. Seems that I'd still get some 1/2" flyers if I wasn't real consistent placing the rifle on the rest. Also noticed some POI shifts in the 1/2" range too.

I don't think it's the scope or mounts. I think I have to refine my 'springer' shooting technique and in particular be more consistent with forearm hold/rest placement.

I believe the term used for shooting springer's is artillery hold.
Been in PCP mode for quite a few years now.
A front rest is hard to shoot consistently off.
Might be best to have your thumb and fore finger as a spacer between the rest and fore end

Springers generally like light medium weight pellets. Not the heavies for PCP's.
Not the super light that are all about maximum muzzle velocity.
Best cut to the chase and get JSB Exacts in a weight appropriate for your rifle/caliber.