I started helping coach my son’s precision air rifle team a few years ago, and then I started shooting air rifles myself. Logan got his Distinguished Expert award last year from Cheyenne Post 6, and now he’s shooting with the X-Caliber shooting team. His new coach, Phillip Dobkins, is a precision shooter himself, and he’s really helped Logan build on the great foundation he got from shooting with Post 6. But as an added bonus, Phillip is letting me shoot, too.
Precision shooting isn’t just for kids. Phillip and his wife both compete, and they’ve gotten me to shoot in competitions, too. I think Phillip mainly has me shoot so I’ll stay out of his way while he’s coaching Logan, but he’s also genuinely interested in seeing me improve, too.
And I have been improving. I’m still nowhere near the shooter Logan is, but I’m approaching respectable. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to make me a better shot with my hunting rifles, too.
It’s about time to test that out. Air rifles are shot from a much closer distance than anything you’d get in a hunting situation, but then again, the bullseye is barely bigger than the pellet itself. We shoot from 10 meters with air, but when I go out to my backyard range, I’m out there at anywhere from 50 to 400 yards.
I’ve also only been shooting offhand at Phillip’s, and I never hunt that way. I always shoot from some sort of a rest, or at least from kneeling, when I hunt. But I think I’m going to take one of the iron-sighted rifles out to the range this weekend and see if I’ve gotten any better since last fall. At the very least, it should have helped me get rid of any flinching I might have picked up. Air guns are really good for that – they certainly don’t cause any flinching.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
