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FTRPA's 10/18/2020.- Some pictures

10/21/2020

With CoViD upending most of our lives, it was good to go to the venue of some of the best laid matches in the USA.

FTRPA matches are not "hard" per se, they try not to exceed the 28 T rating at the average level, so it's not a "Highly Technical Match". They are neither all long shots, nor all tiny kill zones. Each extreme favours a division/class.

What FTRPA's matches have is balance and charm.

I know those two words are outdated and "passé". But so am I. And I am glad to accept it, LOL! To ME, Honour is still a value. And gauging people for what they ARE more than by what they HAVE is a good standard.

In our modern world of "Extreme-whatever you care to do", and over-aggressive competition/consumption, we have lost some of the values of the 20th Century.
Values that derived from one tough recession, two VERY hard fought wars (some really good historians would say that it was one single war with a long armistice in the middle), and decades of re-building countries, economies and lives.

Coming back to the FT shoot: thanks need to go to the FTRPA Club and the Archery group that allows us, crazy airgunners, to take over the range for a weekend (between setup and shoot). Without mutual tolerance and cooperation many things in this life are almost impossible.

So, having said all that, I hereby salute FTRPA's team (Rick Bassett, Larry Bowne and Jim Wilcox), they are gentlemen after my own heart.

What a "Group Picture" looks like in the times of CoViD-19

In this "New Normal", the shooters' meeting does not only include the usual gun-shooting safety points, but also a review of the CDC guidelines.

FTRPA is one of the few clubs that truly attracts and keeps new shooters. In this occasion we had two new shooters that performed very creditably, so I hope they will continue to attend.

I was squadded with Brian Van Liew (Match High score). I enjoy shooting with him because we are both rather technically oriented guys.

Let's get into detailed views of the targets:

Sorry! Brian beat me to it, LOL!

A rather "close shave" ¿huh?

Two targets on the same tree, so be aware of which target you should be shooting at.

At the end of the wooded alley, a long shot to a target in a tree that is near to the lake. Want to guess the wind direction there? Hint: it depends on the time of day.

Let's look now at another lane:

In the old days, this used to be the dreaded lane 1, usually the longest shot in the match.

Beyond the two "Pistol Only" targets the three rifle targets are out there. But as you can see, the KZ's are not small, so they are very "doable" targets.

A lane where you can appreciate the Light/Shadow setting and the challenges you face.

The "near" target

The "Mid" target

And the "Far" one.

Ha ha!, Can you find the targets?

Here is the short one

Mid and Far are here

Another lane, this is the last one (10 lanes X 6 shots = 60 shots course)

And here are the targets:

The experiment this time was to leave the rifle in the car overnight, hoping that a "cold start" would be better than taking a room-temperature rifle out into the cold, and then seeing the POI's change as the rifle cooled down and then stabilized.
I did have time on the sighting in range to try to get everything up to "running" status, but after seeing the POI's change as it started from cold, I think it is not a good idea.
By the time, the gun was again at "operating conditions" most of the Match had gone and it was only at the last two lanes (lane 10 and 1 for us) that I really began connecting.
Ah, well, one more experience.

We were halfway in taking down the course when we were called to the awards presentation

Greg Shirhall took 1st in Hunter Piston

And Pat Shirhall came back for a "bonus"

Ed Carter placed second in Hunter PCP

Tom Ryan got First in Hunter PCP

Leo Gonzales placed First in WFTF Piston

And Mike Harris placed First in WFTF PCP

The results bear out what I was saying at the beginning:

Top scores were pretty close in all classes and divisions. THAT is what makes a "Balanced" match, where all the challenges in FT are balanced and offered to all shooters of all Divisions and Classes.

And so, after finishing the taking out of the course, I drove home having spent a beautiful day outdoors, with friends, having fun; and THAT is what FT is all about.

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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The 2020 N. Carolina State Championship.- An Educational Experience

10/13/2020

4 Comments

I usually wait for the "official" report to come out, but since CoViD 19 has driven everything into a "limbo" (and not precisely of the dancing kind), there is precious little information about results, classes , equipment, etc.
In fact, there have been precious little matches going on.
SOME clubs, like Rochester Brooks, or Connecticut Airgunners never lost pace, except for the absolute lock-down phases, but others, like DIFTA, have been forced by range rulings to only re-open the season fairly recently, when "Stage 2" of the opening up had been achieved.
All this to say that few shooters have kept pace with activity, training, or match participation.

When the news came that the North Carolina State Match was going to be held at Will & Ginger Piatt's place at Ennice (right at the heart of the Blue Ridge Parkway), I told my wife and we decided to make a road trip out of it. It would not be the dream road trip we had imagined in 2015, but now we would have a lot more company, LOL!

Besides, my niece is now in the last stages of her driving practice, she'll be taking her final in-car exam soon, so what better opportunity to have her drive the highway and night time requirements?

We set out on Friday and arrived late night, as we got stuck in traffic in two spots.

After a good night's sleep, I was packed and ready to go! Everything I needed was in the range bag, and with the appropriate rain gear (remember 2015? LOL!)

As is often the case, when you are best prepared, things are not too bad, or at least they do not LOOK too bad!

After an early morning breakfast (we were staying in Elkin, about 45 mins from the range), we got there on time, I got setup and started the process of shooting some pellets downrange to see how he trajectory had changed (notice it is NOT a question -if the trajectory had changed-, that is a given when you go from 500 FASL to 2825 FASL), as my MV had probably gone down from 780 to about 745 fps.
It didn't occur to me to check a chrono, I thought there would be a chrono station, but there wasn't. Should have checked. Now I am dying of curiosity! LOL!
As the match developed and as the rain came and went, it was obvious there was something not quite right. Inexplicable misses, POI changing all over the place . . . not the usual quirky behaviour of a springer, more like a schizophrenia.

But, never argue with reality.

I had been testing reverting to the DIANA OEM style of bedding for my 54 and it was clearly not as stable as the CCA designed one. At home in the backyard, it had proven accurate, but once different inclinations and positions where thrown in, the POI changes proved too much for the OEM bedding.
Anyway, I have reverted to my own design and hopefully, this will cure some of that.

The Match, as all matches sponsored by THAGC, was a hard one. 40 T would barely start to describe the deviousness of the MD, LOL!
But still, if you do not shoot hard matches you never learn anything worthwhile, so after all was said and done, we did have a ball, we learned a lot, and I think we will convert those learnings into experiences.

Rain gear performed like it should, pellets performed as they should. The gunsmith . . . hmm so-so. And the shooter did its best to keep a stiff upper lip and go through lane after lane of complete surprises.

Apologies are in order on the quality of the pictures, but I had taken my waterproof camera and it is not as good a camera as the normal one. So that, added to my limited skills as photographer, will make you think that the things were rougher than they really were.
Now, Let's see some pictures!

Will Piatt delivered a succinct and precise shooters meeting:

There was a wooded section, an open section, and transitional lanes. This lane is peculiar because the lane is in the open, but the wooded section is right next to it, so any wind will "bounce" and create very interesting challenges to the WFTF shooter

Targets are to the left of the picture.

Here is a close-up view of the targets, radically different positioning, the upper target wide open in the wind, the lower target more sheltered from direct wind, but subject to eddies and swirls.

Another example of the MD's crooked mind ;-) :

Shooting from the dark, sheltered, woods into the open is one of the more challenging shots, you have no information of what is happening out there!

A close up of the targets reveals how different the distances really were. As you can imagine, the slope of the land also creates an interesting challenge.

And there were several of these. LOL!

Out in the open, wind gusts of up to 15 mph moved the shooters, let alone the pellets. See how the water ripples in the pond at the back and notice how there is a tranquil area to the right of the pond, while the left side is rippling. This gives you an idea how the wind "rolls".

Most of the shots were long shots, and under these conditions, you can imagine what the wind was doing when it came over the trees on the left.

A close up of the targets reveals how different the shots were.

Bet you cannot find the targets!

But,. there they are! Or, are they? the blocks on the right are NOT one of the targets.

Even what seemed to be a wide open, long lane

Posed severe difficulty when taking into account the target color, the very dark background, the "flying" location, and the dark day.

By the end of the day, my score of 35 exceeded the 50% and bettered my performance of 5 years ago by a full 10 percentage points, LOL!

High score was something like 63/68, so that gives you an idea that the course was designed more with the 20 ft-lbs PCP shooter in mind.
It would be interesting to see the difficulty rating of the course.

In true FT fashion, and in the tradition of all "Southern Belles", Ginger Piatt served us a bountiful dinner with Shepherds' Pie, home baked rolls and an absolutely fantastic "Eclair pie".

My family arrived in time for desert (you can bet the 3 and 4 year olds were happy about that, LOL!

What happens with children, when one is paying attention to the camera, the other is distracted, and by the time the older starts to pay attention, the youngest gets distracted, LOL!

Brian Van Lieuw took first in Open PCP

Gary Palinkas took second in Open PCP

Gerald Long took First in WFTF PCP

Lukas Richter took Second in WFTF PCP

Miguel Sanchez too First in Hunter PCP

Amon Piatt took Second in Hunter PCP

Phil Hepler took 3rd in Hunter PCP (and by the way, designed and made the awards!)

A very Happy Piston shooter!

I love shooting with the THAGC crowd, they challenge you and they feed you well. LOL!

Hopefully, we'll meet again along some lanes.

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

4 Comments

A SHORT Note on tuning the DIANA 280

10/12/2020

0 Comments

A friend says that I CANNOT write a short note, ROFL!

So, in part this is an acceptance of that challenge, and in another sense it is just the result of the reality that I am extremely busy and I have two other projects in the pipe and I cannot devote much time.
Anyway, the usual disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER.- The operations performed in this rifle void all warranties. Nor I, nor anybody else, has control over what each individual decides to do, so no warranties are given, or implied. It's up to each tinkerer to be safe in his/her endeavours.
The modifications performed were safe within the objectives and the context of the gun in question.
Which may not be exactly the same as yours.
All machining operations carry some risk, be safe, be careful and always err on the side of caution.
When working with open flames, specially the high temperatures one, extra care needs to be taken with all liquids and gases present in the area. Do NOT risk it.

Having added that, let's tackle the "little" 280:

The 280 is a gun that is not popular at all in the USA. In part, it is the traditionally American drive towards "more is better", and partly the result of a mismanaged marketing strategy by the former exclusive importer of DIANA airguns into the USA.
Now, with DIANA looking at more options and even doing some small direct shipments to pre-qualified individuals, there is an opportunity for savvy airgunners to enjoy the petite airgun that is available in two models:
There is a Classic version that is the "no-frills" one, and there is an elegant version called the "Premium" (as most upper-scale models in the DIANA lineup are.

We'll work here on a "Classic" version.

One of the reasons why this entry will be short is because we are basing the whole "re-tune" of this gun on the work performed for the "12 ft-lbs gunsmith's tune of the LGV" , and which will also be the base for our final approach to the 430L, to be done in the near future.

We started by testing what the gun can do off the shelf, and pretty sure, it IS a "12 ft-lbs gun". in OoB / OEM form, the gun yields between 11 and 12 ft-lbs depending on the pellet.
For sure, with proper running-in and proper lubing these guns could yield a foot-pound more, but we are not going to go there, this is a special job undertaken as a "light tune" to see how much a gun can be improved within a limited budget.

So, WHAT IS a "limited budget"?
Basically the gun is a $350 gun, landed in the USA, which essentially puts it into the HW-50 "region" though the gun itself is about a lb heavier and yields a couple of ft-lbs more at the muzzle, it is a "medium gun" region by all measurements.
Customer desired a "lightly tuned" one to 10 ft-lbs or thereabouts, because he basically shoots in his garden; and we setled on: basic trigger work, change of powerplant, and overall smoothing which, we agreed, would put the budget at $500
During the course of the project, he decided to add a SIGHTRON Si FT scope, and that drove the total "ready to shoot" cost to $685 plus Sh&Ins (and pellets, ;-) )

So, we started with this (catalogue photo):

Removed the unnecessary hardware, and tested the gun:

As received the gun needed close to 38 # of Peak Cocking Force (PCF), and we did start the "running in" procedure of shooting and cleaning till we felt there were less fliers than proper shots, and then we decided to test a well made guide with the OEM spring.
We disassembled the gun, having established a benchmark, de-burred and smoothed everything in there, changed the piston seal and lubed.

Atop is a CCA guide, at the bottom is the OEM guide. Not bad, but definitely not what the gun COULD profit greatly from.

With better guide the gun jumped in performance almost ½ ft-lb, while the cocking effort did not change (nor did we expect it to), but it was still twangy and the shot cycle clearly reflected the place in the "price ladder". I felt the gun could be much more refined.

So we brought in a Titan #1 spring and started the process. We will not go into the detail, as it has been written in the abovementioned entry.

By the time the little rifle was doing 10¾ ft-lbs. we stopped, and measured the cocking effort:

Yup! It takes only 26 # PCF to yield 10¾ ft-lbs. Quite an efficient arrangement for a break barrel with a traditional piston.

When we removed the "unnecessary hardware" the obvious muzzle piece missing looked real bad, so I decided to make a Harmonics tuner with a new design that fits into smooth barrels and is adjustable by ½ mm's.

In the end, the gun looks like this:

I added a Zip Tie at the rear of the HT to be able to read the wind in the tests, but that has been removed.

And how does it shoot? Like this:

At 10 meters offhand, it is a real joy to shoot! Easy to put pellets where you want to (if you concentrate, LOL!)

At longer ranges:

It can easily group 10 shots with the right pellets into ¼"-½" groups from the seated position.

I was surprised at the good results offered by the GTO (non-lead pellets); in the lead class, the 8.44/4.52/Pledged pellets perform the best.

Do note that about 1 in 10 shots is still a "flyer". The gun still is settling down and the Harmonics Tuner will have to be re-tuned once it does. The HT's final position, will also depend on how the gun is shot, whether sitting off a silicone knee-pad, or off the bench, things will be different.

For those of you that like numbers: the JSB Express were coming out of the muzzle at 770 ± 2 fps and the JSB Exacts were coming out at 758 ± 1 fps, so the consistency of the engine/machine is already there.

More seasoning to the barrel is needed (more shooting), some tests and then the final decision about the pellet of choice and the final adjustment of the HT and that should be a nice little gun, with power to spare for most things inside 35 yards. At 8# 14 Oz, "all in" it is a lightweight gun, somewhat "whippy".
LOP is short, that is why I added a temporary recoil pad to take it to 14½", otherwise I "scrunch" into the gun.
That has also been removed.

;-)

For ME, personally, it is not a gun I would HAVE to have. But it is an interesting class of airgun that could have a lot of success in some markets. Sadly, it is not slated to be kept in the lineup.

Though the project took a lot more time than expected, I learned a lot and I loved the end result.

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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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

Hector's Airgun Blog

FTRPA's 10/18/2020.- Some pictures

The 2020 N. Carolina State Championship.- An Educational Experience

A SHORT Note on tuning the DIANA 280

Hector Medina

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