Air Gun Home :: View topic - Rifle shooting large groups at short range.

one shot · Member

How long will it take to break in my ruger air hawk where it will finally get settled in? It's been shot around 500 times. Some shots are in the kill zone but mostly I'm shooting 3-5" inconsistent groups at just 20yds despite using the artillery hold in a standing lean position and my scope being resighted.

If it's already broken in by now then could there be anything wrong with the rifle that's causing all the misses? I've never dropped or dry fired it. I'm missing pests at such short distances that I just shouldn't be missing with a scoped rifle and I'm frustrated with the rifle because of it.

The problem seems to be primarily due to the recoil moving the rifle off target during the shot and I'm just left wondering if and when I will ever be able to shoot consistent accurate groups with it. This ruger is supposed to be a good rifle so I don't understand this problem I'm having.

LDH® · Member

Just knowing how to do the artillery hold is only part of the equation. You have to experiment a little and find what works for you in a consistently repeatable fashion. Cheek Weld, finger placement at or near the balance point etc all directly affect the accuracy of the shot placement.

Equally if not more important is your choice of pellets. I don't have a huge amount of experience, but I have found that any brand of pellet made by GAMO is pretty much crap for accuracy.

Polymag Predators are precision made and deadly accurate and seem to be perfect in any brand of gun I have tried them in.

WhitleyStu · Veteran Member

I always bench sight a new firearm to eliminate any human error. I see where the firearm is shooting and don’t make any sight/scope adjustments till I am sure where it is grouping. Only then do I shoot the firearm standing. Usually the POI will be slightly different than where it hits from the bench rest. If your rifle will not group from a bench you'll know it is not you, but a mechanical issue.

one shot · Member

Over 500 shots and I haven't found any consistency with it is what is troubling. I use crosman destroyer hollow points. I also have daisy precision max hollow points(supposed premium grade) as my secondary pellets, however I can not tell a difference in shot patterns between the two.

I don't have a bench set up to use, nor would I know a good setup to make where the shot would not be affected since it requires the artillery hold.

I'm new to springers and it's aggravating having a rifle that is this temperamental to shoot accurately. I really would not have bought this if I'd known that beforehand but that's just me as I know there are many who don't mind it.

I'm doubting that the new scope I bought for it will do any good either since the recoil seems to be the primary cause of misses at this point. If I can't get this figured out I will sell the rifle and put the scope on another rifle I get.

Slavia · Moderator

Double check to be sure that all the mounting bolts and scope screws are tight. Then take a cotton swab and dab at the muzzle crown - if it snags any fibers then it could be a candidate for polishing.

mod90 · Veteran Member

one shot, you need to understand that .5 mm shift before, when and after you squeeze the trigger a springer can have some serious effects on accuracy depending on range. Wind can also affect shot groups. If I were you I'd try a 10 yd range with the gun resting on a sandbag then build up the distance. Also you need to be a bit relaxed when you squeeze the trigger, and control your breathing. Keep on keeping on. Rewards will be had in the end.

one shot · Member

The only time I get a small group around quarter sized is at 10yds. 15-20yds and it all goes downhill.

All screws are tight. I don't jerk the trigger or pull it hard. I keep my finger pulling slow smooth and soft. I shoot during a slow exhale and I hardly ever have significant wind where it's usually calm.

I have however been resting the rifle at the end of the stock instead of it's center of gravity which is about 8" closer to the trigger than my usual rest point. I've been doing so to minimize my swaying the rifle while aiming. I didn't realize that could cause the rifle's recoil to sway off target so I will start resting it on it's COG and see if the groups improve.

LDH® · Member

Something else that bears mentioning is the quality of the scope you are using. The crap scope that came on my gun was creeping with almost every shot and between the scope, the artillery hold & the pellets I was using my shots were about as inaccurate as you describe in fact probably more so as I was having problems at even 10 yards, but once I sorted out the hold & put a better scope (Leapers 4x32 mil dot with Ajustable Objective) on it I now routinely make 75+ yard kill shots on squirrels and anything in the 20-40 yard range is like shooting fish in a barrel.

The A.O. Leapers only cost about $50 shipped so it was money well spent

one shot · Member

Yah I'm awaiting my new Hammers 3-9x32AO scope that's on the way. That should help.

Nice rat photos. You must have more of an overpopulation than me. The most I killed in a day was 4.

LDH® · Member

You have no idea... There are thousands of those ground squirrels per acre at our horse stables. They leave these deep long burrows that the horses can step in and break their legs etc plus they steal the horse feed from the bins.

I leave 4 or 5 sometimes more piles like that in just an hour or two's time and sometimes even get to watch the turkey vultures come swooping in and start feasting just feet from me.

one shot · Member

I have the same yard problem here but with moles and gophers. Thankfully they are not in the thousands but I just have a 1 acre yard too though.

I used to leave dead squirrels in the yard and I would watch those turkey vultures come in and eat them. My cat loved watching them too. They usually feed on a squirrel for around 10-15 minutes then they fly off. Sometimes they fly off with a chunk of squirrel after they have eaten most of the weight off of it.

The dead bodies started making other squirrels leery so now I remove them and toss them in the woods away from my home for the critters there to eat.

LDH® · Member

hehe I am about to threadjack this all to hell, but you touched on a couple areas I am intimately familiar with.

The reason I recently got back into airguns was because of the pocket gopher that are destroying the vineyard I live on.

I ended up buying another air rifle because the one I used to shoot the gophers wasn't powerful enough to humanely take down the ground squirrels at the horse stables.

My wife's Manx cat is quite the huntress too between the gophers and the rabbits she is quite busy. She brought in a baby rabbit a couple weeks ago and dropped it in the middle of the damn living room floor so I had to chase that fast little fvcker down knocking over a speaker stand and pulling the wires out of my wii etc just so I could put it back outside

Then a couple of days ago she decided to eat an adult one. If you pay particular attention to the bottom of the mat you will see the a$$ end of ONE of TWO pocket gophers she had already dismembered earlier in the same day

and a couple nights ago when I was backing down the driveway there was a 5 point velvet antlered buck just staring at me while chewing...

Oh & she also enjoys Bombay Sapphire martini's with bleu cheese stuffed olives after a hard day of hunting

Slavia · Moderator

LDH® · Member

That's purrty good!

one shot · Member

That's a good cat. Mine is a black cat. He catches things every now and then like birds moles and geckos(I wish he wouldn't kill geckos since they eat bugs) but for the most part he is worthless. He has caught a couple of baby rabbits but he sliced them up real bad with skin hanging off all over then he just left them alone once he was bored with them where I had to kill them since there was no way they were going to heal.

I feel sorry for animals that cats catch because they get shredded and pulled apart for a long time if they even get killed finally. I had to stomp a bird he caught once because I found that he had just ripped it's wings and legs off and part of it's intestines out but then got bored with it. Shooting pests is so much more humane than the deaths they often suffer in the wild.