Connecticut Custom Airguns
  • Welcome!
  • Hector's Airgun Blog
  • Products and Products Blog
    • One-Off's
    • The "Héctors Special'" scope by Sightron
    • K1050i FT
    • The Hex Louver or "Secret Sunshade"
    • Pellet Path Calculator >
      • Questions, Answers and Comments on P-P Calc
      • Privacy Policy for PP-Calc
    • The Nautilus SideWheel
    • The X-10 TiltMeter
  • Zimmer-Silhouetten
    • Results 2017-2018
    • Results 2016-2017
    • Results 2015-2016
    • Results 2014-2015
    • Results 2013-2014
  • References and Links
  • Contact us
  • Store

Hector's Airgun Blog

Where we discuss, CIVIILY,  anything airgun.

Return Home

Exploring the DIANA Stormrider, Part 3.- The Mid-Power Region, 800 fps. and above in 0.177" and 20 ft-lbs 0.22" under real-world conditions at the 2018 Pyramyd Air Cup

9/28/2018

10 Comments

 

Part 1.- The guns

Our friendly counsel takes the floor by storm and advices:
The modifications and operations performed in these tests, and described in this article, were safe for the gun in question. No warranty is given nor implied that these modifications will work or are even safe in other guns of the same style, marketed under different brands.
Working with High Pressure Air has its own risks. If the reader is not fully cognizant and familiar with these, he/she should have the work performed by an established and reputable professional.
 

Thank you Esquire!

Phew!

Anyway.- To say that this article was long overdue would be the understatement of the year, but truly, there had been no opportunity to do it.
Too many projects and not enough time.
So, when I received an EMail from Tobías Schmidt, Export Sales Manager for DIANA about wanting to shoot the Pyramyd Air Cup with a Stormrider, or two, I thought to myself:  "NOW"  LOL!

And so it was that we started bouncing ideas back and forth about the consistency of the powerplant, the possibilities of using it in one of the more common division/class in American FT, and it was clear that the challenge was there.

Basically, we had to put together two guns:

1.-  FT
0.177" cal.
800 to 850 fps with a 10.X grs. pellet
Useful shot count of 35-40 shots (at LEAST HALF an FT Match that is usually between 50 and 70 shots).
Stable and capable from a bi-pod.

2.- Gunslynger
0.22" cal.
650 fps with a Kodiak/Baracuda Match pelllet
Useful shot count of at least 30 shots, even though the Gunslynger is a competition to 16 targets, at certain stages of the competition, you may be allowed some misses and still be in the competition, so we needed to allow for that,

Tobias is a left handed shooter, and he had NEVER shot FT before, so good thought had to be given to all aspects: from scope and bipod to folding stool and technique.

From previous tests and trials, we knew that the little carbine was more than capable of delivering UNIFORM and CONSISTENT shots, but we really did not want to risk Tobias' performance on an OEM barrel. And we didn't have too much time, besides, the idea was also to test an aftermarket "accessory" barrel that DIANA plans to manufacture for those that see or feel the need.
Specs for the barrel were drawn and sent to the barrel making facility, and the barrels arrived from Germany already mounted in the test specimens (untouched otherwise than the barrel change) for me to do the final work.

Probably some of you have already seen the excellent pictures posted by Stephen Archer in Hard Air Magazine
So I will not re-post them here. Suffice to say that the barrel is a dual diameter all steel barrel that is a "drop-in" into the Stormrider action.
The air-stripper, however is slightly different. That was made expressly for this exercise and it has a moveable element that allows the shooter to tune the harmonics of different pellets when shooting at different power levels.

That part may be offered in the future, and may be "one half" of a more complete solution that also incorporates the euphemistically called "Lead Dust Collection" function.

As is customary with our Stormriders, we left all the mechanisms alone and concentrated on two aspects:
a) Installing an Altaros regulator, which is a part that will soon be available under the DIANA brand
b) Optimizing the Transfer Port for the pellet and energy level we would be using in each rifle.
Additionally, we needed to change the action to a left hand bolt.

Most of you expect this article to be technical, and I will not disappoint you, at least on this first part.

Here are the specs:
FT carbine:
Low pressure side of regulator set to 110 BAR's (remember our custom Stormriders have TWO pressure gauges, one for fill pressure, the other for regulator pressure).
Fill Pressure: 230 BAR's
Transfer port optimized to 2.6 mm's
40 shot JSB 10.3 gr.s Exact string yielded:
Max MV.- 830
min MV.- 819
Average MV.- 822
ES.- 11 fps
SD (sample).- 4
Total Energy delivered at Muzzle: 620 ft-lbs

Gunslynger carbine:
Low pressure side of regulator set to 150 BAR's
Fill Pressure 250 BAR's (this created some problems we will be discussing later)
Transfer port optimized to 2.7 mm's
40 shot JSB 15.9 grs, Jumbo string yielded:
Max MV.- 678 fps
min MV.- 660 fps
Average MV.- 669
ES.- 18 fps
SD (sample).- 6
Total Energy Delivered at Muzzle: 630 ft-lbs

It is worthy of note that our transfer ports have a very special geometry, you may want to start the process at 0.2 mm's below the numbers given and work from there, re-drilling the TP with numbered drills till you just reach the energy you wan to settle at.

Also note that the total energy delivered is pretty consistent with other experiments we have conducted with this platform:

​https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/exploring-the-diana-stormrider-part-1-the-trigger-and-the-power-plant-in-017745-mms-cal

Accuracy was quite good, this is the FT gun with some wind:
Picture
This group was shot byTobias as he was sighting-in the 0.22" gun:
Picture
As usual, the black bullseye is a little under ½", distance was 35 yards, and there was some wind.

So, the conclusion of the first part of this entry is that the Stormrider is a very capable platform, stable and consistent.

When analyzed rationally, the truth is that the Stormrider is in a class of its own. Other rifles may offer more shots, or more power with a bigger shot count, but when you compare them side by side, the comparisons fade.
Weight, length, efficiency, ease of use (and this includes the DIANA Improved Trigger available in the 2nd and 3rd generation models), etc. most items will go to the Stormrider.

Moreover, when you are being efficient, the sound signature is reduced at the ORIGIN. There is no "spare air" to create noise. Moat of the energy in the air is being used to propel the pellet and guns are pretty quiet without the need for further devices.

Apart from the fact that these little carbines CAN reach the 20 ft-lbs region in real terms, they are the PCP equivalent of the much vaunted HW50 or even then HW30
AND they offer endless possibilities.

As we have always said about these carbines, the most fascinating​ of the characteristics is the potential they hold.

Perhaps some day in the future we will get into the really high power tunes possible with these little guns, but since those require a bit more than just regulation and optimization of transfer ports, we will need to put our thinking caps on.

Part 2.- Shooting the PAC

Pyramyd Air Cup is one of the most FUN events in FT in the USA.
You need to start with the fact that it is one of the biggest.
If you need a picture, this is how 104 shooters at a Shooters Meeting look like:
Picture
Picture
Yup! That's a whole lot of shooters.

For obvious reasons I was squadded  the first day with Tobias.
We had a session of practice at home, where in less than 3 hours, he learned how to bracket, how to aim off for wind, and how to use his reticle for holdovers.

As many of you know, shooting a first FT event is, most of the times, a humbling experience.
It is not easy.
Scores in the single digits are common for first timers and I was somewhat wary of getting Tobias hopes too high.
Add to that the complexities of the shoot itself at Tusco that has some "peculiar marshalling" practices and you  are in the region of high uncertainty.

As we started the FT course, he started connecting with paddles, targets started to fall, and  it was clear that he was having a great performance (again, remember this was his first time and he had NEVER shot FT before).

Picture
By the end of the day he was comfortable in the role.
And not only did he have a good first day, he improved substantially on the second day to close with a total of 53 points. 60% of the High Score in his Division/Class (88 points for Hunter PCP's 1st place Sean McDaniel).

So, I would say it was a successful shoot for the Stormriders.

Talking about the Gunslynger, the fill pressure selected for the 0.22" cal. gun proved a little too much for the check valve, and the gun developed a leak. Still, Tobias shot the Gunslynger with his FT gun and though he was setup on the first round against Greg Sauve (several times previous winner), he did manage to get quite a few silhouettes down in the short time that the Greg took to clean the field.

We're now in discussions with the maker to see what would be a truly sustainable fill pressure. We are confident that the air tube, valves and the rest of the mechanism are perfectly safe to much higher pressures, but the small items (like ORings) are what determine the reliability of the system, and we do want to keep that as high as possible.

As for me, personally, the PAC was somewhat a repeat of the one a year ago. This time my gun was still stuck in Poland, and I was shooting with a "Backup" gun put together with parts I had around that was showing some erratic behaviors. At the Nationals it was to completely fail and demonstrate why it is better to be a "one gun man". But that is another story.
​
To cut to the chase: I shot poorly in the FT section, trailing the leader by almost 10 points.
Not good. I need to step up the practice and get used to this gun, because I may never recover mine from the Polish black hole of regulations and crossed responsibilities.
Picture
Picture
 I did manage to place second in the piston Gunslynger, which is more a testament to the reliability and accuracy of my N-Tec'ed D34k Premium in 0.20" cal than to the proficiency of this shooter.
Picture
Picture
All in all a very fun weekend with friends from the NorthEast
Picture
That put on a jolly good show, LOL!
Picture
As is usual, there cannot be enough "Thanks" given to all the crew at Pyramyd Air that worked so hard to allow us to have a weekend of fun in the sun.
Their dedication to the sport is remarkable and I do hope that we will keep on being good partners for many years to come.

As a final note to the Stormrider: We will conduct some tests comparing the OEM barrels to the DIANA barrels, and some serious thought and consideration will be given to either offer the DIANA barrel as an aftermarket part, or to have it included from the start in the gun.

Stay tuned, some pretty exciting things are yet to come.

Keep well and shoot straight!




​HM
10 Comments

Chronicles of the Road to Poland 2018.- Chapter II and final, some personal comments.

9/27/2018

0 Comments

 
As I explained above, I had invited each and every shooter in FT Team USA to write a short entry. Alas, it seems everyone is very busy prepping for the Nationals, among other stuff. So I will close this with some personal comments that go above and beyond the real-time reports that were written for Hard Air Magazine.

An interesting aside is that my gun is still stuck in Poland!

After the WFTC's I had to travel to Germany on business and I decided to ship the rifle (action+stock) to the USA via UPS.
I called UPS and they accepted the shipment over the phone, I packed the gun, made the waybill, paid with my CC and left the package to be shipped from the hotel I was staying.
Went to Germany and then went home. It was then that I received a note from UPS (Poland) letting me know that the gun had been declared a "Weapon" and therefore they were unable to ship it.

As much as I had declared the goods under a Harmonized Tariff System number that is SPECIFIC to spring-piston airguns, they just would not listen to reason.
To cut a very long story short, more than 30 EMails have gone back and forth and still the gun is stuck in Poland.
Hopefully with the help of some friends in the industry (Poland and Germany), we can get it unstuck.
What is frustrating is that UPS does not truly answers Emails, and when you send an Email, you do not get a confirmation of receipt.

But, life has to go on, and I managed to put together a gun from parts I had around and I am slowly getting used to the "new" gun.
I feel for my stock, that had been made by a very dear friend whose health is failing at the moment and that had proven to be very stable. But we'll learn and live on.
Let me start by saying that it has been a long road.
Back in 2011 when I first started shooting Piston, there were a total of 16 piston shooters out of 79 at the Nationals held in Tennessee.​
And that included 8 in Open and 8 in WFTF.
Then in 2012 that I shot the season in WFTF Piston, there were 19 Shooters in Piston classes at the Nationals of that year. Out of 67 total shooters. It was also the first year that we went to the World's; held in Norway that year.
By 2013, the Nationals in Texas, there were 13 piston shooters, out of  87 Shooters.
The 2014 numbers were 9 piston shooters out of 77, but it was the first year that we had a major player switch over from PCP to Piston.
By 2015, the Piston shooters had grown to 21 out of 88, but the WFTF Piston shooters had grown to 11
2016 saw again 11 shooters in WFTF Piston out of 106 shooters
​By 2017, there were 10 WFTF Piston shooters out of 103 total.

The names you see in the WFTF Piston roster have also changed, Matt Brackett should be regarded as a "seminal" shooter in the sense that he has always shot WFTF Piston. Ray switched over from PCP to WFTF Piston when he realized that there was an architecture that allowed him to shoot piston without too much strain on his shoulders.
We'll see how things go this 2018 Nationals, hopefully, we can attract more shooters into the Piston categories. Eventually, some of those will find a way to WFTF Piston and that is the way a Team gets stronger.

Parallel to all this, I have to say that becoming an American Citizen late in 2011, and being able to shoot for the USA Team has also been a dream come true.

So, it has been a long road, but one that has been worthwhile every day of the way.

About the 2018 WFTC's:

Perhaps the picture that best describes the 2018 WFTC's in Poland is this one:​
Picture
As is customary, for every day of competition, when you get your rifle choronoed, you get a third of the overall logo of the event.

This "2/3 rds"  logo will be a permanent reminder of the fact that the competition was not a full competition.

Please understand that nothing in this blog entry must be construed as criticism. As someone who has organized large events and been a project manager (including some projects that have run into the hundreds of millions of $), most of his professional life, I understand that "things happen".
So, let's try to take a constructive point of view and analyze those things that were truly outstanding:

TARGETS:
Most of the targets used in the Match were locally made.
They worked perfectly well at the practice range, the system is well made, simple and reliable.
Picture
Picture
Picture
For sub 12 ft-lbs. it is ample enough, portable, and as long as no one thinks he is reeling in that world-prize Marlin, the resets work perfectly well and the target does not move.

Sadly, when placed in the courses, the psychological factors overtook rationality and a few overzealous PCP shooters derailed the whole shoot.

The VENUE

The place where the shoot was held and the courses prepared were absolutely amazing:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Yes there are a few targets there, you can see the white speckles, and some of the strings.

The hard work and unfailing efforts from the Polish Marshalls was always welcome!
Picture
Picture


The courtesies and attentions by our hosts were worthy of note!

The Host hotel was good and they did every possible effort to cater to our needs, from allowing a practice course:
Picture
And a sight-in range:
Picture
To allowing us an extra 5 mins at the pool
Picture
That the shoot did not go completely as planned, is an unfortunate event, but it is in part the unintended consequence of a no-cost to the shooter protest procedure ensconced in the WFTF Comprehensive Rules.
As the Rules stand, anyone can protest a target and it has to be addressed immediately. While that is an OK procedure for a "Bowling Green" style of course, it was completely inappropriate to this setting and this course.
Getting an officer/Marshall up the Cliff to check a target was an exercise that took at least 5 minutes per protest, if you count the 21 protests that were lodged, it all adds to more than 1½ HOURS of delay.

That is enough to derail ANY event.
Add to that the very strong weather we had on the second day that impeded even further the catching up of time, and you get, literally, the unfortunate results of a series of unintended consequences.

While it is true that no one can control the weather. It is a known factor that there are some areas of the earth that are more prone to thunder and lightning.
Picture
HOPEFULLY, organizers in the future will take advantage of this information that exists for all the world on a per month basis to choose the location and the month when the WFTC's will be held.
​
Probably, and most importantly, this shows that WFTF needs to be present at several points in the course of the year it takes to prepare all this. It is very hard for someone who has been working real hard all year to suddenly receive comments that would have changed substantially some things if those comments had been issued opportunely

All in all, I really enjoyed my visit to Poland, it is a great country, with great people, the Polish FT RGB did its best to provide us with a great experience.And they stuck at it to the end. I am sure Pawel and all his crew would have gladly chucked everything out at some point in time, but they didn't.
They carried out their end of the bargain to the last consequences and this is admirable.

To me, Poland will always elicit a bittersweet memory​. It was a great place, the shoot was run by great people, and it is a historical date for FT in the USA because it is the FIRST time that a Team wins the Championship.
As an airgunsmith, three of the four highest scores in Team USA were guns made here or had parts made here.
​
Yes, it's been a long road. And there is still so much more we can do!
Picture
0 Comments

Chronicles of the Road to Poland 2018 (Chapter I)

9/19/2018

0 Comments

 
I have invited each and every springer shooter that was part of Team USA to write an entry for this Blog.
Why? Because I think that EVERY story is worth hearing, because I think that ALL shooters in TEAM USA are worthy individuals, and because I truly believe their voices deserve to be heard.
So, for the first time, I am only providing the "Soap Box".

Matt is not only a great shooter, he is an outstanding individual whom I have the pleasure to know and the privilege to call my friend.
He is one of the persons that keeps me shooting FT.
Besides having placed 2nd in Lithuania's WFTC's, he has placed well in almost all matches he enters, and has beat me several times, LOL!
In Poland, he performed well, and I am sure he will perform better in the future. He is one of the "young values" of Springer FT shooting in the USA.

It is with great pleasure that I write this introduction to Matt Brackett's story.

Matt Brackett's Story

​My Worlds account begins with a major reckoning inspired by my performance at the Crosman All-American Field Target Championship a month earlier. With a busy family and professional life, I don't get to put much money or time into my field target passion. But over two previous winters I had made slow headway on re-fitting an old Maccari CS1000-style stock for my TX200 Mk3. I had carefully re-inlet it by hand, re-carved the pistol grip area, mended a hairline crack at the wrist, mortised the forend to fit an inlet rail and adjustable hamster, and coated it with hand-rubbed oil and wax finish. The Crosman shoot was when I felt the Maccari stock was ready for a debut.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
​Other elements of the rifle remained unchanged from my competition set-up from last year's Worlds: I use a three-year-old V-mach spring with guides, and a Vortek o-ring piston seal in a custom-honed compression tube that Hector machined for me. I have been using Krytox lubes on the spring and o-ring and Air Arms 8.4gn pellets. Last year I inspected and sorted pellets with the Pellet Gage, but when I experimented with lubing pellets this past winter, I got inconclusive results among sorted, lubed and untouched pellets. With such a toss-up, I packed virgin tins of pellets to bring to Crosman.

Crosman is an event that for me seems to test endurance in heat, wind and humidity. During sight-in in the open field, I saw that my rifle was shooting straight and true to my expected trajectory. But even though the range showed strong winds from 10 and 9 o'clock, the pellets didn't seem to be drifting out among the field's grassy channels as much as I anticipated at the more exposed firing line. Somehow this valuable data didn't sink in, however, and paved the way for what I think was my downfall for the weekend's performance: inflexibility. On Saturday's session in the field, I stubbornly refused to account for the reduced wind's effect, and missed many shots holding too much into the wind. And in Sunday's rain and humidity, I stubbornly refused to remember that my TX action tends to shoot a little high when wet. I wanted to think that my freshly-prepared Macarri stock would solve this quirk, and so instead I kept holding center, while struggling to spot my misses through annoying scope condensation in that day's dark lanes.

Dejected with my performance in the competition, I retired once again to the sight-in field with my wet rifle to discover where it was shooting. Sure enough, it was grouping very nicely, BUT ABOUT TWELVE CLICKS HIGH at all distances! I failed to act on the weekend's lessons in time.

I was disappointed in placing so far down in the WFTF piston class, but when your competitors are some of the most accomplished in the country, it lessens the sting. I spoke to some of them about my complaints with my rifle's inconsistency, and they had some good advice. Ray Apelles, Nathan Thomas and Jerry LaRocca commented that they seal rifle stocks with urethane, and not oil. Since I knew that Ray's and Nathan's rifles were remarkably repeatable, that seemed like good intel. Hector suggested looking again at my rifle's lubrication, and since Nathan swears by SuperLube and I've had to fuss a bit with Krytox, I thought I'd look into that, too.

Precision air rifle shooting is a messy mix of physics, engineering, and psychology. With one month to go before the Worlds in Poland, I reluctantly decided to overhaul my rifle between family vacations and work due dates, in part to address all three topics. After much effort, I managed to:

• harvest the fore end bracket and trigger safety pin off my alternate TX200 to replace the stripped and snapped ones I found after Crosman

• strip, re-inlet, re-bed, dry, and seal the Macarri stock with urethane

• remove, deep clean, and lubricate internals with SuperLube

• install a sunshade on the Sightron scope to aid in rain protection

• fit new foam for the rifle and Macarri stock for my airline travel case

• verify all holds and zeroes for the refurbished stock
Picture
​The stock, stripped
​
Then, when I was getting close to being done, my precious stock slipped off my workbench and hit butt-first on the cement floor. The wrist area was snapped in a NEW place! So, after all that work I had to glue the joint as best I could, and install two dowel pins across the grain to try to reinforce the area.
Picture
​cross-grain dowels with drying glue

Traveling to the Worlds has become a rare chance to build more adventure into my life, and this year it was a pleasure to share the airline slog component with John Eroh and Matt Sawyer. Somehow I managed to sleep nearly all of the 8-hour, cross-Atlantic flight, and all three of us and our luggage made it safely through Frankfurt to Krakow. Given than many of our teammates weren't so lucky, we didn't know how good we had it! From there, it was an uneventful drive north to the sponsored hotel near the town of Zawiercie.
Picture
​The Villa Verde turned out to be a fine place to stay for competitors, and one of the nicest features was a fine sight-in range and a wonderfully-varied practice course to use in the days prior to competition. That, a large water park and a sauna complex met most of our recreation needs for the week!
Picture
Picture
Picture
​This section of the practice range looked uphill for some long, exposed shots
Picture
​The Villa’s zero range
Picture
​Team USA!
​
With the rifle re-assembled after travel, I was very pleased to see that I only needed a few clicks to re-zero even after all the changes, and that it was just shooting low at perhaps 750-760 fps. I've learned this doesn't matter much and accounted for the trajectory. In subsequent days, the rifle needed NO adjustment clicks in maintaining zero, which was unprecedented for me. As someone who had a reputation for disassembling rifles at every previous Worlds, I began to hope that this year would be different!

The first day of competition arrived, Thursday, and it was HOT. Those of us in the springer class had all morning and early afternoon at the sight-in range, and I noticed my rifle-mounted thermometer rose to 110 degrees! As we waited for the delayed PCPs to finally leave the course, most of us collapsed in the shade like desert dwellers.
Picture
​Springer shooters meeting
​
You've heard about the course, and seeing it was like walking into an amusement park. Everywhere you looked there were interesting features, angles and sight lines. I was really happy with it. I was squadded with Fredrik Mäkeläinen from Sweden, and it became quite a pleasure to shoot with him. Reminded of Crosman, I tried to neutrally observe wind in the quarry, and I felt I made some progress as we moved from lane to lane. Shortly, however, everyone noticed the failing light until it became clear we could not continue the shoot. Henrik and I had only shot fifteen out of 25 lanes, while we learned other squads had managed many more.
Picture
​shooting into the bowl
Picture
​Fredrik contemplates ‘the cliff'
Picture
​Me and Fredrik
Picture
Shooters heading home in twilight

Later that night over beer, we heard the decision from the powers that be that we would have to shoot our remaining lanes the next morning before proceeding immediately to shoot that day's scheduled course. I sometimes struggle with sleep in normal life, and I've noticed that travel and competition nerves amplifies it a bit at Worlds. But Thursday night I just couldn't fall asleep. I lay peacefully in bed, almost meditating, and only really got between three or four hours of sleep. Still, I woke feeling prepared for the day.

When we got to the range, my rifle was still shooting dead on, and I thanked the air rifle gods and those friends at Crosman who gave me their sound gunsmithing advice. Fredrik and I set up to begin on the next lane from yesterday's course, but then marshals marched in and informed us we had to separate! They wanted to speed up our progress by making us shoot individually, and to each be scored by a marshal. I saw a few other squads being directed the same way, but it wasn't everyone. This meant I had to shoot 20 consecutive shots with no break in the heat. I tried to keep my breathing down and to stay mellow, but it was very difficult. I missed the highest ratio of my shots during this session than any other, and I was sweaty and beat when the scorecard was finally filled.
Picture
​After that ordeal, it was time to shoot a fresh course! Fredrik and I reunited, and we got on with the day. I noticed my positionals were pretty wobbly, and I wondered if my poor night of sleep was to blame. I did feel like I had a good bead on the wind, however. I found that I was picking up more information about its action, and choosing my points of aim well both when the wind was swirling or more gathered from one direction.

Finally we springers finished our session, and with enough time for the waiting PCPs to swap places. I was happy with a combined 36 for Thursday's complete score, and a 38 for Friday's. However, as we recovered at the Villa's bar, the sky opened up in a pretty intense lightning storm. We knew the PCP's were in danger of not finishing their day's shoot, and that meant the competition was in danger of not being completed. That had never happened before.

Still, it made for a kind of giddy atmosphere, and many of us spent the afternoon and evening comparing theories of how it would all be decided. We welcomed the soggy PCP's back to the hotel as light fell, and confirmed they didn't finish. I was pretty certain the springers wouldn't shoot a third course and would be judged on 100 shots. Sure enough, late into the night we were informed that the PCPs would complete their 100 shots on Saturday morning, and that the championship would end there. Hearing scores by word of mouth, I was pretty sure that I was somewhere in the midst of the top ten, and that most likely Brit John Farbrother was the springer champion. He and I hung out that night with John Eroh, Matt Sawyer, Tyler Patner, Hector and Canadian springer teammates Zach, Jeff and Joel. Some beers later, I had the silly pleasure of defeating John Farbrother in a similar game of sharpshooting, 8-ball!
Picture
venturing out for late-night, delicious kebabs!

Before going to bed however, I received word that I was scheduled to perform Saturday morning in a shoot off for fifth place with last year's Springer Champion, Jan Homann from Germany. I wasn't concerned much. After failures at Crosman, my goal was to reach the top ten. At either 6th or 5th I was going to get a medal to bring home!

After the heat and stress of the week, I was a little depleted Saturday morning. This isn't uncommon after the marathon of the Worlds experience. But once again on the sight-in range, my rifle shot center of the target out of the case. That was confidence-boosting. However, my positionals were still unsteady. I just swayed all over the kill zone. I knew that since shoot offs at the Worlds proceed quickly to kneeling and offhand shots, that I'd be lucky to make it far against Jan.

I was really grateful to the teammates and friends who came out to the two lanes at the sight in range to spectate, and Jan and I took our positions beside each other. We each faced two targets, a 1" kill zone at around 21 yds, and a 1.5" kill zone at around 39. 'Relatively easy shots for sitting, even in the slight wind, and so both of us advanced to the next round, which would be to shoot both targets kneeling. Jan sped through his shot quickly and felled the near target before I had really lined up. My crosshairs wobbled around the hole as they had for three days, and my shot smacked the edge at 9 o'clock. Of course, Jan had to hit is next shot at the far target to seal his win, and he did so very quickly after my miss.

Short and sweet, folks! I was a little sorry I didn't give a better show, but I was grateful for my finish.
Picture
Jan and I
​
The awards dinner that evening was yet another noisy and cheerful affair. Some of us had peeked at scores posted online, and we were thrilled to learn that the scores of Ray, me and Cameron had earned the U.S. Springer Team a historical first place for combined scores! I travel to Worlds mostly for the adventure, but also for the distant hope to try to actually win the class. But it never really occurred to me that a whole team of us could become World Champions together! That was the best surprise of the week, and it was a fantastic way to end. Assembled together on the podium, we belted out the national anthem when it was played in our honor. I felt really proud to stand with those guys.

And hey, TWO medals!
Picture


​Matt Brackett

Photos by MB, JH and some taken from published photos in social media.
0 Comments

    Hector Medina

    2012 US National WFTF Spring Piston Champion
    2012 WFTF Spring Piston Grand Prix Winner
    2013 World's WFTF Spring Piston 7th place
    2014 Texas State WFTF Piston Champion
    2014 World's WFTF Spring Piston 5th place.
    2015 Maine State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 Massachusetts State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 New York State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 US National WFTF Piston 2nd Place
    2016 Canadian WFTF Piston Champion
    2016 Pyramyd Air Cup WFTF Piston 1st Place
    2017 US Nationals Open Piston 3rd Place
    2018 WFTC's Member of Team USA Champion Springers
    2018 WFTC's 4th place Veteran Springer
    2020 Puerto Rico GP Piston First Place
    2020 NC State Championships 1st Place Piston
    2022 Maryland State Champion WFTF 
    2022 WFTC's Italy Member of TEAM USA 2nd place Springers
    2022 WFTC's Italy
    2nd Place Veteran Springers

    Archives

    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Events
    Gear
    Hunting
    Tests

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly