The Importance of Air Rifle Maintenance & Target Practice

A good huntsman and enthusiast should never forget the importance of regular target practice and regular gun maintenance.

It is often said that once you learn how to shoot with an air rifle or a pellet gun, you will not forget it. If you pick up either of these after several years of gap, it will all come back to you like it happens when riding a bicycle. However, that level of skill and familiarity can only be achieved when you actually have had ample practice in aiming, shooting and using an air rifle or a pellet gun. Regular practice also helps you to master the skill in less favorable circumstances like shooting during horse-riding, running or having to make an aim in a short time. Basically, it is just how the saying goes; practice makes perfect.

So what are the benefits of spending hours at target practice? The first one is, as we mentioned above; you will not forget the art and technique of using an air rifle if you have had enough practice. Regularly doing target practice helps to curb down your reflexes and bad habits such as flinching, dropping the gun and eye blinking. Also, some people feel their heart beat to be racing, their sympathetic system to be in an overdrive every time they handle their pellet guns. These all get reduced to regular practice and even if they persist, no longer will they interfere with your aim and target.

As far as the maintenance is concerned, air rifles and pellet guns do not require high maintenance, but cleaning and oiling helps increase their life. Regular maintenance and cleaning of the gun helps increase its life, it will last for several years if you take good care of it. It also reduces the chances of malfunctioning that may occur due to the buildup of dust, rust because of the constant air exposure and the metal residue of the jacketed bullets. Furthermore, it is actually a great way to learn how your gun works. Often the huge size and numerous functions of the air rifle intimidate us and we are unable to become better shooters because of the uncertainty. As you maintain your gun, you get a clearer picture of how it works and that will help you become a better shooter.

Learning and mastering the use of an air rifle or a pellet gun is an art, a skill that only improves if you put in enough efforts. So pick up your rifle today and begin practicing and clean it afterwards, which is what will help you the most!

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4 Best Air Rifle Pellets You Should Know

Why pellets are important for airgun activities?

Choosing a good air rifle is not only about choosing the gun itself but also choosing the best air rifle pellets available. Remember, choosing good grade pellets mean you also protect your airgun. Low quality calibers only decrease your airguns performance and torn them apart, and even lead to users injuries. There are several types of pellets which have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some pellets are best for pest, others are good for rabbits while some are best for birds. You should know your job and choose the suitable one for each task to maximize the pellet gun performance.

Four Basic Pellet Gun’s Calibers

4 basic types of air rifle pellets

There are four basic types of pellets for your air rifle include: wadcutter, domed nosed, hollowpoint and pointed pellet.

 

Wadcutter Air Rifle Pellet

This type of pellet is excellent for target shooting. The the wadcutter pellet has a flat nose and it is widely known that it is exceptionally accurate at short distance shooting.

    Crossman wadcutter air rifle pellet is used extensively in competition shooting.

Crossman wadcutter air rifle pellet is used extensively in competition shooting.

Domed or Round Nosed Air Rifle Pellet

The domed or round nosed pellets, which have the best aerodynamics, are used extensively in field target and small game hunting. They are considered to be the best utility pellet which can handle any task that are thrown in. If you want a type of pellet that is good for both shooting practice and hunting, choose this one.

    RWS domed air rifle pellet is an all-rounder.

RWS domed air rifle pellet is an all-rounder.

RWS Domed Air Rifle Pellet 2

This type of pellet can be used in both hunting and competition shooting.

Hollowpoint Air Rifle Pellet

The hollowpoint air rifle pellet is mostly used for hunting since they have good features for this job. The pellet’s design offer maximum energy transfer to the animal that make the strongest impact and biggest wound when it penetrates the prey. Such features are good for taking down a game almost instantly. They perform best at distance under 25 yards.

 

    Haendler & Natermann hollowpoint air rifle pellet gives great impact power.

Haendler & Natermann hollowpoint air rifle pellet gives great impact power.

Pointed Air Rifle Pellet

The pointed tip of the pellet makes excellent penetration upon impact and these pointed pellets are accurate in long range shooting. This is one of the most popular type of airgun pellets on the market today.

 

RWS Pointed Air Rifle Pellet 1

Pointed pellet offers excellent penetration for long distance shooting.

RWS Pointed Air Rifle Pellet 2

The pointed tip will get the job done, even at long distance.

Conclusion

The description above offer a quick review on pellet gun’s projectiles. However the results vary from person to person. Some feel great with this type of pellet while others are not. You can buy a pellet sampler kit which contains a number of different types of pellets to try out. You can find out what is the best type (and size) of pellets for you and your air rifle.

Benjamin Pellet Sample Pack

Benjamin Pellet Sample Pack is a good choice to find out which type of caliber is the best for you.

Beside pellets, you should consider some more accessories for your pellet rifle such as air gun scopes, reticle point sights and tripods for better shooting. More important, you should also learn how to maintain your air rifle and accessories. Treat the tools well and they will serve you best.

–> Learn to capture video while hunting.

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Recipe For Air Rifle Hunters: Rabbit Sott’olio

Whenever you go out for rabbiting with your favorite airguns, a delicious meals from the game you catch are exceptionally great after a long tired day. This is a gift recipe for air rifle fanatics with rabbit: the old Italian way of processing meats and vegetables called sott’olio. The rabbits are submerged in oil and slowly cook until the meat becomes tender and rich. After that, the warm meat is dressed in a salad for a good balance. This method may require a lot of oil but it’s worth the trouble. Make sure to take the garlic out of the oil for later use. You can feast the portions on toasted bread for an excellent chow.

Learn how to hunt rabbits here.

rabbitsottolio for airgun hunters

Rabbit Sott’olio: delicious reward for airgun hunters

Ingredients

– 2 cleaned rabbits

– 4 quarts of vegetable oil

– 1 spoon plus 1⁄4 cup of olive oil

– Unpeeled cloves of garlic

– 6 sprigs fresh thyme

– Red wine vinegar

– 1 sliced red onion

– Carrots, chop down into small pieces

– 4 cups baby arugula

– 1⁄4 cup of lightly toasted pine nuts

– 1⁄4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shaved or grated

– Salt and ground pepper

How to make:

1. First, heat the oven up to 300 oF. Scrub the rabbits with salt and pepper, then place them in a Dutch oven. Mix vegetable with olive oil with a 3:1 ratio with the amount enough to submerge the whole rabbits. Add in garlic and thyme, and use aluminum foil to cover the Dutch oven. Cook the oiled rabbits in the oven for about 1.5 hours. Check if the meat become tender and fall apart the bone. Let them cool.

2. In the meantime, mix 1⁄3 cup of red wine vinegar with 1⁄3 cup of water, and boil the mixture. Pour this hot vinegar mixture over the sliced onions prepared in a bowl. Stir the bowl, add in salt and pepper, and let the onions to pickle naturally.

3. Lightly heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the carrots. In the next 6-8 minutes, cook and stir the span until the carrots are tender but not soppy. Add salt and pepper for move to the next step.

4. Make a vinaigrette: Put 1⁄4 cup of red wine vinegar in a bowl and gradually add in 1⁄4 cup of olive oil, until the oil and vinegar are thoroughly mixed together. Add salt and pepper to this mixture.

5. When the rabbits are cool down, take the meat out of the bones.

6. The meat can be served for 4 people. When serve, warm up the meat with some oil in the pan. In a big bowl, gradually toss the arugula with the drained red onions, cheese, carrots, pine nuts, and about 3 tablespoon of vinaigrette. Split the salad among four plates, and top with the rabbit, adding some cheese and salt and pepper if you like.

Let think of a dark and cold outside, meanwhile in your warm room, you are cleaning your beloved air rifle and telling your kids great hunting stories, with a full stomach after a delicious meal. There is nothing more relaxing than that! Keep calm and aim well.

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8 Great Solo Camping Tips You Should Know

It is a great time for your soul to relax when you are spending your time alone in the nature as a camper and/or a challenge seeking adventurer. That’s it, be a prepared mind, bring along your best air rifle, a fishing rod and camera with you if you are going to do a self-reliant solo trip. Of course camping is the primary purpose and other activities such as hunting or fishing should be considered opportunistic events. If you plan on taking video, read this article to know which gears you will need. You also can read this topic to pick some popular airguns at your interest.

There are some considerations that you need to bear in mind as you are going to camp alone. This article will present 8 excellent tips for an unforgettable perfect camping trip.

camping alone

Camping alone will bring you wonderful memories and experience.

 

1. Have Some Experience

Camping alone is only suitable for experienced campers. If you are new to outdoor activities, stick with other people several times before going on your own. No one suddenly wakes up and becomes an outdoorsman. Start with the basic, learn from experienced people and you will build up your necessary experience. When you are skilled enough, you can go camping alone.

camping alone tip

If you are new to outdoor activities, go in group or join some training course beforehand.

2. Share Your Camping Plan With Your Family

Before you are going on a solo camping trip, it is important to inform your family about it. Create a detailed schedule and stick to it when you are on the trails. If there is something unusual happens, your family will know what to do in that case.

3. Be Prepared

You should consider your plans carefully and bring only essential items for your trip. Bring things that help you survive in the wild, leave luxury comfort things at home to make sure that you can manage everything easily on your own.

4. Go For Attainable Plans

If you are new to solo camping, don’t be impatient and throw yourself in harsh trails. If you are injured or lost in a trails, things become worse since you can rely only on your own. You should begin with popular and marked trails to build up experience. In such populated areas, you have more change get help from passerby if anything bad happen.

popular trail

At first, go in marked trail in populated area for your own safe and build up your experience.

5. Hone Your Safety Skills

You should always bring a first aid kit and know basic medical treatments. You should learn to read weather to react according to the case, too. In some areas, be aware of wild animals there such as bears, mountain lions… and know what to do one you encounter them. It is best to prepare some sort of equipment such as bear spray, defensive tool..etc

6. Keep In Touch

You should bring along a communicating device that allow you to contact to the outside world in case of an emergency, such as handheld radios. Cell phone is not reliable as you think since they will fail on battery or connection cut off in remote area. You can invest in a good satellite phone or a personal locater beacon or another transceiver device. These devices will help you contact with emergency responders and people back home. If you are on a low budget, you can borrow or rent them.

7. Entertainment items

You should have some sort of entertainments to keep your spirit up. In the dark cold night, you can bring along a book, or your favorite instruments, like a flute or a harmonica or anything you feel comfortable with. Some campers love to do bushcraft work while sitting in front of a campfire.

Carving A Crooked Knife Handle

Bring something that can entertain you. Always keep your spirit high.

8. Plan on a multi-day trip

Spending a night outside the wild makes it different from a quick trip. You can experience more than your think. A 3 days and 2 nights will be ideal for your experience, when you can live in harmony with the nature as well as getting over the fear of being lonely in the great space. After getting back to your busy life, you will feel more confident and different. In a multi-day trip, you should plan activities beforehand, such as first day you will go all for setting up camp site, second day is for air rifle hunting and last day for fishing. It is important to distribute your time on each activities. Normally, the first day is the busiest day since you have to prepare your camp site, setting up tent, prepare camp pit, cooking table…etc The second day is the ace of the trip when most interesting activities should be done. The last day will be saved for light activities since you have to take time to pack the camp gear and go back home.

camping alone with your air rifle

Bring along your favorite air-gun or fishing rod if you plan on doing some hunting or fishing in the camp.

Sometime there may be some incidents that you are not expected but as long as you prepare well and come home safe, they will be part of your experience and fun memories. Be prepared and enjoy the nature.

–> Picking good CO2 for your favorite pellet gun.

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How To Build A 3 Layered Survival Kit

If you are an outdoor man, you must have some kind of survival packs for every time you go for a long air rifle hunting out in the wild. What if you lose your main pack by all chances such as dropping it while crossing a waterfall, or the pack is stolen by some sneaky animals? If you have arranged a layered construction to your survival kit, everything will not as bad as it can be. The 3 layered survival system below should always leave you with some gears no matter what happens.

Survival-BOB

Never put all eggs in one basket. Setup your survival gears in 3 layers for emergency cases.

Layer 1: The Main Pack

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The main survival backpack consists of all important gears to guarantee you a comfortable experience.

The first layer of gear is your main survival or hunting pack. This pack should content gear that will allow you to be self-reliant while being out on the wild. Take all the supplies you would use for a 3 days backpacking trip and you are well prepared. You can add in some items for self-defense against animals such as pepper spray, bear spray and some communication device just in case something bad happens. The Spec Ops T.H.E. Ultimate Assault Pack is a great choice. This battle tested is super tough with great design for outdoor activities including shooting involved sport. When placing flat on the ground, the front pouches create an ideal pad for your gun to rest in (which is an original idea of the designer).

–> Read more about the Spec Ops T.H.E. Ultimate Assault Pack

 

Layer 2: The Kit Bag

This second layer contains some essential items, that you can call it some kind of bug out bag (or BOB). Normally these items are just for backup but in case of necessary, they can be your life saver. You can use any sort of small pack as soon as they are comfortable and convenient to wear. You can use a modular medical pack, leg pouches, military-style belt pack or even chest rig.

Ideally, you can choose a kit bag or medium molle pouch which is rugged and reasonable sized for your survival items.

–> See more pre-set survival kits here

The kit bag is a backup setup, which provide you emergency items if the main pack is lost.

The kit bag is a backup setup, which provide you emergency items if the main pack is lost.

What will you want to put in this kit bag? In short, you should pack items that have similar functions like those of your main pack but with a space-saving scale. For example, you will get a survival blanket instead of a sleeping bag, an inflatable water bladder with some disinfection tablets instead of water-filters and canteen. Some utility items such as Bic lighters or fire starter rods, compasses, backup folding knives, cordage, first aid kit, thread and needle, fish hook, rubber band and a small metal cup for boiling are recommended, too. If possible, add some high-calorie snacks or candy, or MERE for your kit bag. This kit will be attached to your body, be it on the belt or on your thigh, or on your chest, which will be independent of your main pack.

Layer 3: Your EDC Set

 

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Your last ditch: your EDC!

The last survival layer is your everyday carry set. This set should have a pocket EDC knife, mini flashlight, multi-tool, lighter, and some other personal things that you can put in your pockets. These great EDC items will your boosting hope or even life saver in case you lost all other gears. In the worst scenario, you can survive with just a knife and a lighter with basic outdoor skills. Yes, you may be not a rampaging Bear Grylls, but at least you can make a shelter and a fire and hopefully, manage to gather some food to wait for rescue.

If you are into outdoor hunting (or a kind of prepper), get your best air rifle and pack your BOB in good arrangements before you go. You can read this article about choosing a good airgun. As the old saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”, be a little more cautious and everything will go smoothly in every situation. Always be prepared!

–> 8 Great Solo Camping Tips You Should Know

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