Airgun World – Summer 2019

76 AIRGUN WORLD http://www.airgunshooting.co.uk

TECHNICAL AIRGUN

convinced me that there was more to hold
sensitivity than mere recoil travel.

OFF THE DECK
The majority of people who compete in HFT
use PCPs, and the barely perceptible recoil of
these, which the late Mike Wright and I
independently tested as in the region of 0.2mm
to 0.25mm, allows many to rest the toe of the
recoil pad directly on the ground, rather than
shooting from the shoulder, on prone shots.
Coupled with the fore end being supported by
a leading hand that is rested against a sturdy
ground peg, shooting with the butt on the
ground is every bit as accurate as bench rest,
because it can remove all rifle movement as it
is trained on the target. Some HFT shooters
who switch from PCPs to spring airguns seek
to reduce the recoil of the springer in the hope
that they can shoot from the deck just like they
do with their PCPs, and this is where things
can go badly pear-shaped for them.

UNEVEN GROUND
If the ground on which the butt of a spring
airgun is level and smooth, then the butt is free
to slide back during the compression stroke,
and a high degree of accuracy is achievable,
but if the ground is uneven, the butt can
sometimes fail to slide, which has two
consequences. First, the recoil pad

compresses as the rifle recoils back, which
slightly reduces recoil travel and stores up
potential energy in the pad, and second, when
the recoil turns to surge, the potential energy in
the recoil pad becomes kinetic energy which
adds to the acceleration of the forward surge,

and the upshot is a big shift in POI.

On uneven ground it would be perfectly

feasible for the course setters to place two

targets in adjacent lanes at exactly the same

range and elevation, but with one shooting

position on fairly level ground, the other on

ground that sloped slightly toward the target,

and anyone who shot both targets from the

deck could have two different POIs, and knock

down just one target. Exactly the same thing

can happen if the ground is broadly level but

uneven, or if there is a stone or tree root

sticking proud of the surrounding ground to

snag the toe of the recoil pad. Uneven land,

half buried stones and tree roots – Nomads

has got the lot in abundance!

IN THE SHOULDER

It is perfectly permissible under UKAHFT

course setting rules to have lanes that cannot

be shot with the recoil pad touching the

ground, and these are known as ‘In the

shoulder’ targets. For the championship course

we incorporated rather a lot of in the shoulder

targets, were probably roundly cursed for it by

on the deck shooters, even though we were

actually helping them avoid the POI shift

problems with shooting from the deck.

Human muscle, though, is elastic; push it,

and it springs back so, as the rifle recoils, the

muscle of the shoulder or bicep can absorb

recoil and store it as potential energy, to

become kinetic energy to add to the surge, and

the way to mitigate this is to relax the muscle

against which the recoil pad bears. That’s

easier said than done at Nomads, again, due to

the uneven ground forcing minute variations in

muscle tension.

As with on the deck shots, it seems widely

accepted that with in the shoulder shots, less

recoil equates to less hold sensitivity, and

again, I’m not so convinced.

RECOIL TRAVEL

So, how much do HFT springers recoil? The

answer is surprisingly little; the two most

popular HFT springers are the HW97 and

TX200, which will recoil, in factory trim and

with a 500g scope, in the region of 5mm to

6mm. That’s not much movement, and both

rifles are capable of clearing any HFT course in

factory trim.

Suppose you added some weight to the

“the muscle of the shoulder or bicep can absorb

recoil and store it as potential energy”

Perry’s TX200 was the first we converted to the same specification as mine – it just works.

I’m pretty sure that’s Danny Roff under that cap; if so, he steered his Prosport to a very creditable 5th place.