First of all, and to let everyone down from the start, I am NOT going to post MV's for the time being, neither am I going to mention which pellets I am using, just be assured they are "mid-weights".
There is little sense in chronoing and defining a pellet in a gun that has not been "run-in". 

In part 1 we looked into the history of the rifle; and in part 2 we looked into the gun itself.
​
On this part 3 we'll go into those first crucial shots.

The first shots of ANY barrel are crucial to the accurate life of the barrel. In SOME guns, this accurate life may be as short as a few hundred to a thousand rounds (Wildcats, like the 0.22" / 338 Wby Mag), in some other guns, that accurate life may have the potential to be as long as hundreds of thousands of rounds (airguns in general).
BUT, unless you want to find yourself in the need of some heroic measures, like fire-lapping the barrel, then your best bet is to simply do it right from the beginning.

It does require patience and perseverance, but it can be done, and as long as you keep the final goal in mind it is not THAT bothersome. It just takes time.

What you see here is the first target shot with the 430L

There are 70 shots in this card, 65 in the group at the bottom, and then 5, one at each little chicken on top.
The shots were taken indoors at 15 yards (though the target was designed for offhand shooting at 6 yards, the small size of the animals makes it a fun target to shoot from the FT position).

The ruler is set to 12 mm's (a tad less than ½") and the process to create the group (and to start the run-in of the barrel) was as follows:

1 shot, clean
another shot, clean
repeat for 10 shots (so far, 10 shots)
Now take 5 shots, clean
another 5 shots, clean
repeat till you accumulate 10 cleans (so far, 60 shots)
Now take 10 shots (5 into the group and then one at each chicken), clean
So in this card we accumulated 70 shots.

Time came to get serious and to go to the Monday night airgun practice at DIFTA.
The range there is 10 meters, so I took some targets that are designed for 10 meters, and used one target from those supplied by the club to do some more "running-in"" 

Each group is comprised of 10 shots, after every 10 shots, the gun got cleaned.
All groups were shot offhand at 10 meters, as required by the rules of the range.

At the same time that the groups were being shot, the scope was being sighted in, after group 4 I reduced the magnification from 9X to 4X (which is about the same as using match iron sights) and proceeded to shoot groups 5 and 6.

It is clear that the gun is starting to settle, groups are becoming rounder, and more controllable.

The fact that group 6 is a "doughnut" speaks more about the shooter's limitations (fatigue and lack of practice)  than about the gun's performance.

So, by this time, the rifle has gone through 130 shots and it has been on a regimen of shoot 10/clean for 7 times.

Because the range session was coming to an end, I decided to shoot a silhouette half course (20 shots), and I would say that the result (14 out 20) is about what could be expected from a new gun and the lack of practice of this winter (there has been no Zimmer-Silhouetten shoot this year, too busy). 

I did notice, though, one peculiarity of the ZR Mounts provided: Every time I loaded the gun (standing) , my body pushed against the mounts a little, and that was enough to alter the POI.
On the last row (the rams), I took the precaution of resetting the ZR Mounts for every shot (by pushing it forward and letting it go), and that improved the repeatability of the POI.

So, there you have it, the first 150 shots of the new 430L

All in all, I would say that, based on past experience, this gun can/should yield groups of about ½" at 30 yards when properly setup and using the pellets that the barrel will settle into best.
The shot cycle is very nice and completely vibration free. It is quick and authoritative. Nothing "mushy" about the gun, the lockup or the shot cycle.

It DOES take a special technique to cock for extended sessions, as the effort is concentrated on just about 5/8ths-3/4rs of the possible cocking stroke. So a good, sudden, pull that can JUST get the gun cocked is the best way to deal with this.

The 430, the 430L and the 460 share the same lock-up, and so, I will be attentive to detect if this particular model suffers from the same "weaknesses" as those other models. Luckily, those "weaknesses", are well documented and easy to solve.

Am I happy with my purchase? YES!, most of the friends at the shoot complimented the stock, and the looks of the gun, and some even complimented the shooting, LOL! But then they are good friends.

At this price level ($300 + Sh) it is clearly one of the most accurate 0.177" cal springers in this power range.

With this, we're halfway to the 300 shots minimum that I would consider essential to be made under absolutely controlled conditions, once we reach the 300 number, we can open the gun (to do some "looksee" and decide whether it would be wise to get it tuned and to what extent); work on the mounts and on finding the magic pellet; and ,hopefully, add a better scope worthy of the long range capabilities of this little gun.

Keep well and shoot straight!






HM

Sometimes in life, there are certain events that have the "smell" of poetic justice.
And this one just might be the case of one.
Let's start with some history:

Back in the days of the "Old DIANA" there were two projects that were supposed to launch DIANA into the world's circuits by making guns specific to a niche market that was, for historical reasons, a very vociferous one: the British market.

Of course the main limitation there is that rifles cannot exceed 12 ft-lbs, and most of DIANA's offerings were easily over that.
Do note the wording of the law: "Rifles cannot exceed 12 ft-lbs."
This, under proper English means that you can have a gun you THINK is legal because you have tested it with all the medium weight pellets that shoot reasonably good and it does not exceed 12 ft-lbs, but then some smart cop that "has your number" comes at you with light pellets.
¿The result?  you guessed it: You have an appointment with Her Majesty's magistrates and a long, hard battle to demonstrate that you are not intent on mass destruction of the Empire's Subjects nor Institutions.

At some point in time, the UK industry, and some companies that export to that market, agreed to self-police and some PCP makers even installed Anti-Tamper devices so that they could not be blamed for "making it easy" on perps to break the law.
DIANA never agreed to that. Studies were conducted using anti-tamper shoulder screws instead of the pins that close the rear of the action and it was found to be prohibitive. Besides, the market for DIANA was (and still is, up to a point), outside the Britannic Majesty's Royal Domains.

So the next solution was to create a short version of some of the actions that could, in most honest cases, limit themselves to about 12 ft-lbs.

And so was born the 430 (as a short version of the 460); and the 280, a short version of the 34.
In essence they share the same piston body length, so you could say that the 430 is the underlever version of the 280, or that the 280 is the breakbarrel version of the 430. Historically speaking the 430 prototype was prior to the 280, though the 280 was commercially  launched before. So, you take your pick.

We came across the 430 when the Stutzen model came into being.

We have always liked the Bergstutzen guns. Light and medium powered, they are ideal for mountain hunting. And so we supported the model.

Even though we warned all the users that the action was limited to about 12 ft-lbs, some decided to ignore the fact and then complain about the cocking effort needed. Yes it was a stout effort, but the guns were never designed to be all day plinking guns.

Fast forward a few years and we come to the present, where the model had been almost relegated because it was a fairly universal complaint that it took too much effort to get only 12 ft-lb back.

BUT, a few of the people at the plant, decided to do something about it, and they installed a long barrel with the 440 muzzle piece, and that allowed a longer lever.
The 430L was born out of the experience and knowledge of the working man. The guy at the plant that tests hundreds if, not thousands of rifles. The guy that puts those guns together.

No engineering degrees, no "Herr Doktor" titles. Just plain common sense trying to make something better.

And so we come to the current state of affairs.

Some were sold in Europe to good success, and at IWA 2018, Airguns of Arizona decided to place an order.

This is the run that we will be discussing here.

I ordered one under (almost) a pseudonym. Why? I didn't want to risk getting a "selected" model. Too often writers and reviewers are given, even without their knowledge, specially selected guns. I wanted to make sure that I got the run of the mill.
I placed the order on the last days of November, and it arrived today, December 5th. Yes, UPS ground is not the the fastest route, LOL!
I am not a fan of unboxing reviews, but this one merits it because it could explain why some shipments of this particular gun are being delayed.
Gun came "double boxed" but double boxed to a TIGHT degree. It took pushing with the legs another smaller box and pulling with all my strength on the outer box to get one box out of the other.

Inside the inner box there was a generous layer of eggcrate foam and spacers made out of pellet tin shipping material:

Scope was mounted and gun was tested (of all things with Baracuda 10.6 grs.pellets) at 20 yards. Why that choice, I really don't know. Odd choice anyway and not representative of the gun's performance potential.
The ONLY reason I can think of is to protect the gun by preventing the dieseling that COULD occur using lighter pellets.
I have not checked zero, that will come at a later date. But it does point out to the fact the AoA is not shipping out boxes. It is actually doing some work to the guns, and possibly the packaging was provided by AoA because it is not the DIANA standard box, nor the new cases that will come online soon.
Another tell-tale aspect is that the serial number is not part of the box

Someone took the time and patience to cut it out of a "Generic" box, maybe a case of 10 guns (normal size for DIANA).
​
Anyway

The gun is a little longer than the "normal" 430:

And indeed, this length is dedicated to increase the possible leverage.
Compare the length of the levers in the Stutzen (bottom) and the 430 L (top):

There is about 2" more lever in the 430L
A different view possibly tells a better story:

With the fulcrum points fairly aligned, you can see that the 430L has a slightly "beefier" stock (that is fully ambidextrous, BTW), and somewhat more length of handle to grip from.

Now, the measured difference in the lever lengths is of relatively little importance unless we get a meaningful result.
The fulcrum point of the levers is about ½" back from where the action screws are.
In this way, the leverage ratio of the original 430 is approximately : 13" : 3½" that is 3.7
In the case of the 430L the ratio is 15" : 3½" (the cast fulcrum piece has not changed), so that returns a ratio of 4.3
Assuming a compressed spring force of around 170 lbs, then the cocking force of the 430 would be about 45 lbs.
The cocking force needed for the 430L should be about 39½ lbs.
MEASURED values for the 430L can be seen here:

Fishing scales might not be lab-accurate, but for the purpose, they are good enough and, above all, they establish a reasonable comparison level.

So, cocking force is reduced by 10%, will this be enough? I don't know. It all depends on the shooters.
For many, the underlever presents a more "ergonomic" way to cock a gun because they can use both arms pulling away and down from the body.

For me, there is still room for improvement, and that may come later in a special edition, but for now this is the offering.

Gun is not a lightweight (DIANA's never are, LOL!), weighing in at 9 # 13 oz with the scope and mounts provided in the combo.
My FT gun weighs in at around 16#, so to ME it is a lightweight gun, but better to let know our friends the weight and let them decide for themselves.
The "Premium" STYLE stock bears some analysis. In this picture the 430L is on top and it is compared to a 34k Premium.
As you can see, the 34k P​remium has a much more "American Classic" flavour to it, straight MonteCarlo, and toe line, slender pistol grip, specially towards the front end, white spacer and slenderer forearm.
On the top, the 430L shows a more "Teutonic" appearance, with the "Ebern" (Boar) back that blends the Monte Carlo to the general curves of the stock, there is also a slight curve on the toe line.
The checkering is also more "restrained", being shorter and less "dynamic".

What it does have, is a fully ambidextrous cheekpiece, and that is, IMHO, progress.
Minelli definitely knows what they are doing.
In the next picture, the 430 L Is on the bottom, and the 34k Premium is on top:

Which would be the correct (not to say "right") side for a lefty to look from.

All in all I think it is an agreeable gun to hold, to cock and to shoot.

The fact that the prototype was cobbled together at the plant from existing parts, and then that prototype was refined to what we are seeing today is the most interesting aspect of the whole thing.

How will it shoot? Dunno.

The process of cleaning and shooting and cleaning and cleaning and shooting will start next week, and it is a long, tedious, and serious process.
Only after about 300 shots, and some serious work to the mounts, can we expect to get any reasonable indication of the performance potential of this carbine.

Stay tuned . . . ;-)

Keep well and shoot straight!






​HM

This will be a completely OFF-TOPIC Blog Entry. So, if you are expecting something related to airgunning just skip it, LOL!

First of all I would like to share with all of you, my esteemed readers, that this blog reached an important milestone a few weeks ago. I am told by people in the know about these things that it is important in such a narrow interest field as ours:
For the first time in 6 years, this blog has achieved over 40,000 readers in the last 12 months.
Of these, 60% are new readers and 40% are returning friends.
So, I have to give thanks for that.
Thanks to all of you that read me, and those that comment about the blog, and those that recommend others to read the blog.
Thanks!

We also "went green" and for the first time our electric energy bill came in at almost zero! You can never get rid of the connection fee ($8.00) but seeing the bill drop to that level was greatly gratifying. Perhaps in this item a little more explanation is in order because it is a rather technical thing that MIGHT interest some of you.
When we moved from Connecticut to Maryland, part of the search for the house centered in a place that would have good solar potential. As much as I would like a cabin in the deep woods, it's not the best place to raise a family of 4, so we looked for a house with sufficient land to shoot, and run, and play, without too many trees,with lots of sun on the south facing roofs. We found what we wanted and after one year of settling in, we decided to install solar panels.
The obvious is that solar panels convert sunlight to electricity, what is not so obvious is that the electricity produced by the solar panels is DC, while the electricity you use in your household is AC (remember the Tesla vs. Edison controversy?), and so you need a special piece of equipment that's called an inverter. You may have, or seen those that are designed to run AC loads from your car's connections and, yes, they are more or less the same stuff, with one difference: Those that are made to run individual loads have no need to synchronize to a frequency or a power angle. Those that are installed in solar panel systems need to synchronize to the AC side of the power net.
And, mostly, this is the weak link in most solar power system designs. The cells are passive and quite resistant to weather and other stuff, the cables are simple, but the idea of concentrating all the DC power in one unit to invert it into AC was somewhat  disturbing for this Power Systems Engineer.
After some research, we found a local contractor company that utilized a distributed inverter technology. This means that every panel has an inverter, and that they are connected in a "daisy-chain" style with the last/first entry point that is the meter.
In essence, then, what you have is a group of small generating units, all "AC", all linked, synchronized, and in phase. If one fails, it simply does not provide power, but all the other elements of the array can keep on working.
An added advantage is that since every panel/inverter pair is "intelligent", they can be monitored / controlled / serviced remotely.
Lastly, and this is something that you would have to research in YOUR area, houses that are equipped with solar systems are now selling at a premium over houses that aren't. It may or may not be a factor in your decision, but it is something to know.
My wife, Veronika has a cousin that is a true "property shark", he is a very successful real estate person and when he came to visit recently, we had to tell him that the house had a solar system because this one is so unobtrusive.
Installation took two half days, we were not cut from the power net, and it was really "painless".
It was a good thing that our contractor understood that they were dealing with special customers and adapted to the requirements and conditions of dealing with professionals in the construction and power systems field.
If you are interested in a solar system, by all means, do not procrastinate. Incentives (reduced taxes and rebates) will disappear as the systems become more popular and the installations more prevalent.
Look for a LOCAL contractor to YOU. But always keep an eye on the quality of the system offered.
Service and support are also very important. SO, DO YOUR HOMEWORK and everything will turn out real well.

If you live in Maryland or Texas, you may want to contact the company that installed ours, otherwise, look locally and get several offers. Study them and then negotiate. Hard, LOL!

Another thing we have to be thankful for is that we are all healthy. NOTHING is enjoyable if you are sick. Not even sick leave, LOL!

I am thankful that my children have a lovely set of grandparents (Oma and Opa) on Veronika's side

I am thankful that I have good friends and business partners in DIANA, a long time dream of mine that this year came true.

I am thankful for the world of airgunning and Field Target that has allowed me to meet so many nice people.

Yes, there are tons of things to be thankful about. SO, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

And thanks to you again.

Keep well and shoot straight!





​HM

It has been called to my attention that some users have complained about the loading of the Stormrider Magazine:

https://www.airgundepot.com/diana-stormrider-magazine.html

and

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/Diana_Stormrider_177_cal_Magazine/7897

To put things in perspective, there are  more than 2,000 Stormriders now in circulation worldwide. Getting 8 complaints out of 4,000 magazines isn't bad, but DIANA wants to address the main issue and come clean with a rather silly aspect of it:

WE (DIANA) are the ones to blame.

¿WHY?

Well, because we gave the instructions in the manual!

Yes we followed the designer's / maker's method, but we should have been smarter than that and printed the manual with an improved method.

When I first started loading the Stormrider magazines I didn't even look at the manual, the process was so simple to "guess" that I made the mistake of not checking what the manual said and intervene.

It was only when some friends pointed out the "clumsiness" of having to load the pellets into the magazines backwards (Skirt first), that I asked ¿WHAAAAAAAT?
And went searching for the manual (packed in the OEM boxes in the warehouse) to see for myself.

So, first of all, apologies to all our customers. There IS a BETTER method that is not the one that was printed in the manual. We/I should have identified that, but it simply slipped under the radar.

I cannot post a video so I will post here a step by step procedure, please be patient and try following it with magazine and pellets in hand.

​You locate the transparent plate UPWARDS:

​Now you turn the transparent plate COUNTERCLOCKWISE to its stop (here we are JUST starting the rotation):

​Then, holding the magazine plates (that will be under tension) you flip over the whole magazine and insert that pellet, and ONLY THAT PELLET, BACKWARDS:

​Rotate the transparent plate to the next empty chamber and then load the second pellet:

​It really is much simpler to do than to explain.

So, there you have it, an improved loading procedure for the Stormrider magazines where you can load the pellets forwards.
The ONLY tricky part is holding the plates in tension while you flip the magazine to insert the LAST pellet to be fired, FIRST, AND BACKWARDS.
From that point on all is smooth sailing.

Again, I want to apologize on behalf of DIANA and myself.

Hope this procedure will be useful, especially to those shooters that load HP's or other hybrid pellets (like the Baracuda Hunter Extreme of this pictorial) where loading them forwards is a great advantage.​

Keep well and shoot straight!



​HM

Those of you that have read the last part of the blog entry on the 2018 Pyramyd Air Cup, will have noticed that  the gun I had taken (a "backup" gun in WFTF configuration), was giving me some headaches. Some truly  unexplainable misses, some unexplainable hits. And I mentioned that the gun finally failed completely at the Nationals. Well, that was just the start, LOL! 
But let's take it one step at a time:

I had not planned to go to the Nationals.
Too many things to do and too many demands on my time between family, company, DIANA, and the rest of the world.
I did want to go to Crosman because it is a super-fun weekend where I get to meet all the friends in the NorthEast and sometimes well beyond. My friends Sean and Eric actually prepare the course and organize the whole thing, and this time they got some well-seasoned help from Crosman and Sean could relax a little and shoot. Eric had had a domestic accident that was very scary and harmful a few weeks before, so he was on the recovery path, but he couldn't shoot. Still, we managed to meet at Sean's house for dinner and it was very nice to see him and the wonderful Peggy.

It was while discussing arrangements  for Crosman, that I got into going to the Nationals, LOL!

At that point in time. I was still trying to prepare for World's, so I did not register to the Nationals.

We settled on a plan that contemplated Eric and Sean arriving home (Maryland) on Wednesday night and preparing to go out next morning so as to travel Thursday, if possible get some lead downrange, register, and be ready for Friday's proceedings (Eric and Sean were shooting Pistol FT). Having Eric and Sean at home is always a ball, for the kids and Veronika as well.

Then, a week and a half before I was to go to the World's, Mark Kaufmann called about which class I was going to shoot in the Nationals, and a posting was done in the Forum about the Open Piston Class having only 3 registrants,
Precious little time and lots of things to do, but I have always considered Open Piston to be the closest Division/Class to what FT SHOULD be, how it started, and how it should have remained. I also think that it is the most capable division to act as an "Entry class" Class.
Yes there are some sophisticated airguns in the Open Piston ranks, but most are pretty much run of the mill rifles, and you CAN do creditably well with true hunting guns in the Class, so after some discussions that included the BoG, the Host Club, DIANA Airguns and Pyramyd Air, I managed to put together a package that would offer an "enticement" to those shooters that perhaps had some interest but needed a little "extra encouragement". You can read the original invitation to all airgunners to come out of the nooks and crannies here, this invitation was posted on August 15th, on August 19th I was already on a flight to Copenhagen and from there to Krakow for the WFTC's, where I would not only be shooting, but also writing a series of reports for  Hard Air Magazine.

Luckily, the experiences afforded by organizing the Minutemen FT League GP's, allowed me to call on previous partners and suppliers and get all the ducks in a row in just a few days. By the time I came back from Europe, awards would be done and shipped, and prizes funded.

And  so the DIANA Open Piston Match idea became the driving force for me to go the Nationals.

My REAL FT gun (a DIANA 54 fully converted to WFTF parameters and lodged in a beautiful and practical "Culbertson" stock modified by my friend Art Deuel was still lost in the Polish limbo. I now had friends in the industry helping me out, one in Poland and one in Germany. People that represent many, many thousands of $ of business to UPS. And so I was fairly confident that the gun would be:
 
-found
-taken out of the "Lost and Found"/to be auctioned category
-sent to a friendly party in Poland
-sent to a friendly party in Germany
and THEN sent home.

UPDATE:  Gun arrived to the USA in time for me to shoot the DIFTA Nov 3rd shoot. Results showed that the gun arrived well!

So, out to the Nationals I went with the "Backup" gun. In light of the unexplainable misses and hits at Pyramyd, I gave the gun a good look-over.
And I sensed some play in the closing of the action. I immediately suspected the pin that links the cocking lever to the linkage bar that connects to the compression chamber. It is not untypical for this pin to erode at the points where the cocking lever touches it because the cocking lever is finished in a parkerizing that is hard as ceramic, and so, it tends to erode some pins. 
I changed the pin to a hardened steel dowel pin and thought nothing more of it.

My friends Sean and Eric arrived on Wednesday on cue, and after a jolly dinner we adjourned for the night.
Next morning we started by removing the child car seats of our VW Passat.
We had a ton of gear and we needed to get more space.
The drive to NC would take about 3 1/2 hrs of actual driving time. The car is equipped with a diesel engine and it had been fueled up day before. Our "autonomy" on one tank of fuel was about 700 miles of all highway or about 600 miles of mixed highway/city driving.

So, we didn't have to worry about fueling up mid-way and when some friends of Sean and Eric from the Bayou Airgun Club called on the phone we were only about an hour away from Roanoake Rapids, our base of operations in North Carolina and we decided to drive through without stops in order to do lunch with the BAC guys.
Lunch turned out to be a blast, and we were informed that we could register in advance. The directions we got to the Range were less than precise and the sign that warned about live rifle fire in the area was only visible going BACK towards Roanoake Rapids. LOL!
Luckily, we found the place and also Ginger Piatt doing marvelously the ingrate job of registering all the kids, I mean  . . .  shooters.
​
​So, after a few back and forth's we finally found the entrance to the range.
Next day a large flag would be there, but we were "pre-registering" to call it something as, officially, registrations would not be open till Friday morning.

One cannot thank enough such volunteer work done with such wonderful smiles and always a positive attitude. Ginger's and Scott's relentless work were truly admirable all along the weekend.

At the hotel we met the ever smiling Lauren Parsons and we extended the invitation that John Eroh had sent.
Between John, Leo, Ray, and Basil they had rented this HUGE Plantation Mansion, and they had invited everyone for a "get together".
We stopped by a gas station to pick up some "Adult beverages" and went to the address we had been given.

All in all, 20 airgunners congregated there and to say that all talk was about shooting, WFTF, Poland, Portugal, Wales and all the ancillary subjects would be a mild statement; it was HEATED, LOL!

By the time the arguments about Springer vs. PCP had been exhausted, out came the rifles and some targets were set up.

After the shots, of course we still did not agree, but it was a ton of fun!

And so, we adjourned to the hotel, to get some sleep and start Friday with a clear mind.

Friday saw us arriving to an excellently laid out sighting-in range:

Actually, there were TWO sight-in ranges, and having read the weather forecast and measured the inclination of the covered sight-in range, I decided to stay there. Some other shooters preferred the "flat" (and shadeless) sight-in range:

I went also to the "flat" sight-in range to chrono my gun. It was a simplification process where guns would be chronoed only once. Piston guns just got the yellow sticker, but PCP's were to receive a "no-tamper" seal also.
I think it was a smart decision. Piston shooters cannot alter easily the ME, and PCP shooters can, so the difference makes sense.
It also saved THAGC of sacrificing one person to the chrono marshalling duties for each day.

Right out of the bat, THAGC had stressed that the main focus of the Championships would be "Sportsmanship" with all that this implies, from safety in the courses to basic etiquette.
Scott Allen had sent excellently worded Emails (4 in total) to all competitors telling everyone in no uncertain terms what would be expected of each and every one of us.
For the most part, I would say we all behaved.

These aspects, laid out from the start, told us that this was going to be an excellently run match.

I shot almost all morning and a good part of the afternoon, but I did take a little time off to go see the "Pistoleros".
The array of "things" you see on the firing line is quite impressive.
My interest, so far is more academic and scientific than practical. Perhaps that will change some day, when I can see a way to "holster" one of the PFT possible rigs. You see? to ME a pistol is a sidearm. If it cannot be holstered, then it is not a pistol.
Many years ago when I hunted with a S&W 29 I liked the fact that the gun was "there" without actually making an effort at it being there. Of course open sights would be completely out of the question in PFT, or ¿Would they?

Of course this is not the way to hunt with a 0.44" Mag, LOL! But the "hands only" class does present itself as an option. Sad part is that it is very scarcely attended and not recognized by AAFTA. Still . . .  who knows?
To have a "looksee" at some of the Pifles (or is it "Ristols" ???) that you can see  in PFT:

If you think this is just a "PRod" look again. You're missing what seems to be an extra air tube, or some extra weight/support. Or is it just a holder for the sleeve that links the pifle to the bipod?
​You wonder ¿no?

And this? Rear focusing scope, modified loading lever, "silvered" parts to battle heat gain inside the scope . . .
as Yoda would have said: mostly scientific,  . . . is my interest.

​It was clear, though, that everyone WAS having fun, even with some bottlenecks in the course:

After all the shooting was done, shootoff's were called, and IMHO, it was a tribute to the "evenness" of the course designed by Paul Porch that there were so many shooters tied so close together:

Mr. Ebersole on the left, Mr. Walker on the right, and the result can be clearly surmised from this picture:

That shot put Randy on 6th and Paul on 5th.
Then came the shootoffs for 3rd & 4th:

After several rounds where excitement grew and grew, Ray Barnett took 3rd and Paul Porch 4th

And then came the clash of the Titans:

By the time the day was over, we were all tired and hungry and so, we adjourned to the Texas Roadhouse where we all had our fill and chatted till we were too tired.

After a night's rest, we were all back at it again next morning. A short session in the sight-in range confirmed zero and trajectory, but still something I couldn't quite place was off, and yet the show had to go on.

I was squadded with Amon and Noah Piatt, which would make the shoot very interesting.

We addressed our first lane and unexplainable misses started.

We then went to our next lane, and these are, possibly the only TWO pictures of me with a DIANA in this Nationals. At this very lane, the linkage between the cocking lever and the compression chamber broke and it was impossible to fix, but just for the record: I did start the Nationals with my "Backup gun"

It's a nice gun, but I just cannot get truly comfortable with it.

After the breakage, I took some time off to try to gather myself. Amon and Noah went on without me and I went to the registration/score desk to hand in my score card. I was decided to not shoot.
BUT, that is what good friends are for. Ginger Piatt immediately suggested I "borrowed" one of the prize/auction rifles.
Indeed some of them were VERY tempting:

But I was not totally convinced.

I handed in my scorecard and started walking to the car.
On the way to the car I had en "epiphany": IF I didn't finish the match, there would NOT be 5 shooters in Open Piston, and AAFTA awards would not be given. That kind of felt like a 1-2 punch to the stomach! All the things we had gone through to get the 5 shooters and now I was the one defaulting? NOT on MY watch!

I went back and requested my score card and tried to put my scope onto the HW97, but the ZRMounts would not clear the large objective from the  mechanisms tube without a riser block, so I abandoned the idea because all guns with the dovetail rails milled directly on the tube would present the same problem.

So, I decided to borrow one of Eric's LGU's. I located him, asked permission, located the range card that seemed to fit and off I went to get my score card.
I had to wait for two 4 man squads to go by, by the third, I decided to suggest that the 4+1 be split into 3 + 2  squads and Cliff Smith was kind enough to allow me to shoot with him.

Needless to say that I didn't hit much. I didn't know the trajectory and the zero was completely different from what I normally use, also I would not change the settings of the scope on a gun that is not mine, and would be shooting with hold-offs on hold-offs; but, ¡Hey! I was shooting!

Shooting with Cliff is always a good experience, it is worthy of note that Cliff was the AAFTA Meritorious Achievement Award winner for the year 2008. He is a true gentleman and friend.

By the time we had gone almost completely through the course I started connecting, out of the last 3 lanes, I think I missed just 2 targets.
Still, ending with 16 hits was not too bad, after all it could only get better the next day, ¿right?

​As we finished and handed in the scorecards and got ready for the evening proceedings, I saw Eric and he was not happy. His gun had been acting on him and he wanted to try the "loaner" gun next day.
So, we agreed to install my scope onto his gun that night so that I could shoot with a scope I could change.
Gunsmithing was done and I felt as ready as I could be for the second day.

Next day dawned foggy and dark. I would be shooting the "White Course" laid out in the right of way of a gas pipeline, it presented NO cover from the sun, so the organizers had setup gazebos. In the early morning hours, it didn't seem to be necessary:

Of course, as the sun "burned off" the fog, it started to  heat up everything. In the end, it would be one of the hottest shoots I have ever been in, and I was glad to have carried my gel-filled neckerchief that could be soaked in water to keep my head cool.

As Eric has put it in his excellent reports for Hard Air Magazine: "everyone was melting", LOL!

The gasline right of way ran roughly North-South, while the targets were set to the right and left alternately, in the early morning some targets presented a backlit condition with the attending glare problem in the glass etched reticles, an interesting test for the sunshades and louvers; to the shooters, it also presented the condition that you felt like a chicken in a rotisserie being "turned over to well done", the shadow of the gazebos was sought out by everyone, and not always completely out of the way of the shooters; it was, probably, the only situation where proper etiquette gave way to survival instincts.

It was, let's say, an "interesting" experience.
​
Still, I had a ton of fun!

As the day wore on, I was doing better than the day before, but the POI kept going more, and more, and more to the right. I will admit to at least part of it, clearly I am not a good enough shooter to shoot a recoiling spring gun with perfect consistency, but I do think some of it had to do with the architecture of the LGU.

Shooting under such punishing conditions is always a good test of character.

In the end, I posted a 24 that improved on the previous day by 50%, so I was quite happy.

I have to publicly thank Eric for lending me his guns, it was a great gesture that will be remembered and appreciated. I also have to thank Ginger Piatt for allowing me to test the raffle/prize guns to see if my scope would fit, to Cliff Smith for shooting with me the first day, and Scott Allen for allowing me to jump into the match again.

Final results were quite good with an AMAZING performance put up by Steve English in the WFTF Piston Class. Wish he was registering for England 2019!

As I explained above, the intention of the DIANA Open Piston Match is to promote the class that seems best suited as "entry class" into FT.
And that thought is shared by the sponsors (DIANA Airguns, Pyramyd Air, and Connecticut Custom Airguns). ¿Why?  because we see it at the local level. EVERY FT shooter starts somewhere. And most start with what they feel is an accurate airgun, usually bought from a large department store, a sports outlet, or on the net, always with a view towards price.
And here is where the new management at DIANA has seen fit to listen to the customers, there are now several options to get reasonably accurate and good quality airguns starting at UNDER $300, whether spring gun or PCP's, the new range of offerings is marking the way in the industry.
And there will be more changes to come, but that is another story.
For this entry, let's just say that we would LOVE to make the DIANA Open Piston Match a yearly thing, but that also means that the shooters need to respond. We do not plan on making it a "brand only" competition, we understand the value of getting new shooters into the sport, and we understand that not everyone can spend upwards of $2,500 in a fully set-up-to-go FT rig. Nor would everyone choose to. Some shooters will feel that FT is good enough practice for their other airgunning pursuits and keep to it ,whether steadily or occasionally, but we do need a living class to allow them company. There is little interest and fun in shooting by oneself, and if you are going to shoot by yourself, then why bother driving to the FT Match?

And so, with all these thoughts in mind was that, when prompted by Scott Allen, I took the floor to thank THAGC for hosting the Match, Pyramyd Air, for being a pillar in the promotion of FT, and  DIANA Airguns for having supported my idea of creating the DIANA Open Piston Match

It was with great pleasure that, in the name of the sponsors, I was able to bestow award plates and prizes to the winners:

Scott Hull took a commanding lead on the first day and ratified it on the second to take first place, his score of 81 would have placed him 4th in WFTF Piston and I do hope he has a good showing in England 2019

Lonnie Smith shot well, his score of 71 would have put him in 3rd in Hunter Piston, or 6th in WFTF Piston (his more usual Classes)

Clifton Montgomery, while not a beginner, was a good find, hopefully he will continue shooting Open.
And I hope he was happy with this award and prize.

One of the things that I like about Open Piston is that it allows a number of different styles of shooting:

This is Scott Hull's "Pretzel" position (technically called  the "SouthAfrican"  or "DeadMan's"  position.
While it allows great stability, it does present problems when the targets are elevated or declined, and sometimes it presents visibility problems when there are low lying obstacles between shooter and target.

This is Lonnie Smith's position, closer to the DeadMan's than to the more traditional position. Lonnie uses a really hard bumbag and that would solve a few problems with targets with moderate inclination; and his usage of part of his buttstock to create his riser has always been cause of fascination to me.

Clifton uses a more traditional position and uses the "Price Harness" as well as a small "sandbag" to attain proper target elevation.

My point in these pictures is to show that more than reasonable scores can be attained with relatively little expense: a quality gun a quality scope, some ingenuity and a good knowledge of what works for EACH of US; even counting custom/self-customized stocks and scopes, the rigs here do not exceed the $1,300 to $1,800 range, and, perhaps more importantly, they are eminently practical rifles that no one would hesitate taking to the woods after squirrels. They are rifles to which the non-FT shooter can relate. 

I believe firmly that the more rarefied we allow FT to become, and this is my MAIN "beef" with current WFTF leadership (from the Presidency to all the WFTF Reps of the RGB's), the harder it will be to get into a sport that is ALREADY extremely technical and demanding.
​
To ME (again, a strictly personal POV),  it seems that is precisely what the current leadership of WFTF wants, and if my perception is correct, then FT will never grow beyond a mediocre level of participation (not more than 30-50,000 sportspersons worldwide); and  marksmanship, because more and more the advantage will come in the expensive gear you can buy because there seems to be an intention of barring/forbidding $15 industrial kneepads, or $6 apps., while allowing $300 jackets and $4,000 scopes.​

To ME (and I emphasize this as being purely personal), shooting the Nationals in the Open Division of Piston is a great cost. It means one important score that I cannot make count for the World's Team classification, but it is a cost I am willing to bear because I think that part of the future of FT lies there.

The First Edition of the DIANA Open Piston Match is now history.
It was truly a pleasure and a privilege to be part of this event.
Let's hope we can make it a yearly thing, as long as the shooters respond, we will.

The rest of the shoot and the awards ceremony has been better reviewed  by Scott A in his Official report, and there are tons of photos all over; here I would only like to emphasize the large smiles and brotherhood feeling that permeates all FT events,  but moreso this, the National FT "Schützenfest".

Officially, the 2018 AAFTA Nationals closes the 2017-2018 season. All shoots after the Nat's are part of the NEXT season (2018-2019).

Tons of work to do for next season, not the least, get prepared for what will be, for sure, the MOST hotly contested WFTC's ever.

Let's face it: we ARE going into the Lion's Den

But more than become afraid, or cautious, this should steel our determination to practice more, practice better, go to all the shoots we can, try new things between now and May, but beyond May, stick to whatever we have decided to be the best possible combination for each of us.
And, IF we find that magic batch of pellets that seem to not be able to miss, save at least  two tins (1,000) for the WFTC's 2019.

Spring-Piston Team USA will be going as defending champions. England will be shooting at "home", and Hungary will go as well prepared as they can, they always do.

I am starting to see some initiatives that tell me that, at least the Springer shooters, are beginning to think as a Team.
​
​I am sure we will all give it our best!

Best regards to all from Maryland!



​HM