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Tom Holland, new to Airgun Nation, and avid Field Target competitor

My name is Tom Holland, and I'm a Field Target competitor. I am the assistant Match Director of Eastern Suffolk Competitive Airgunners Association (ESCAA) Long Island NY. I hope to share whatever knowledge and experience that I have gained over the years, and hope to gather more information from this forum.
I have been active in many different shooting disciplines over the years.
To learn more about my Field Target and shooting endeavors, check out the interview that Scott Allen did with me back in 2016, on the Field Target Podcast.
You can listen at www.ftpodcast.com, click on Episode 12, hope you enjoy.
 
Poo poo, huh? You know what my next question is going to be, being it's pellet related....... did you sort them and stuff? I found that with the Sniper Mediums, being that their shape is different than the typical JSB or Air Arms, one has to partake in a different regimen in sorting them, I'll post something in the pellet section in upcoming days/weeks. There is another step or two that I take, and I've learned an important thing in using that TR Robb pellet sizer. Keep your eyes open for that stuff in the future.... 
 
Yeah Tom, I sorted and the rest as you know I have followed your extensive regime before, including rolling. The Mediums are lights out in my competition 1720 T but in no other rifle. The HW97K , the Challenger, or the Styer. They have a place in my arsena.

l was referring to the Magnum snipers that are Poo Poo in all the guns! That design just does not work in my rifles.

I even tried lubing them.

It is just the Magnums that won't be digested by the rifles I tried them in. They are like the CHPs.. I have no rifle or pistol that likes them. They will shoot OK, but no where near the single hole, at 30 groups, I get with the AA's or JSBs of the same wgt. 

I have the TR Robb and used it. I sized some Med Snipers with it. I shot at Your Long Island GP and the sized pellet skirts cost me roughly 6-7 shots at the start of the pistol match with Bill Day. I realized that when I practiced before the match, at home and the sight in, I used the pellets direct from the tin. I never tried the sized pellets at all. Duh! So I took the pellets from the tin and started cleaning lanes! It cost me too much in the long run, but I caught up to Bill and his Thomas to tie for third. I lost the coin toss as we decided to do to avoid shooting off in the rain. lesson learned.

The Magnums might work better in a hunting rig that is above 20 FPE but in the sub 20 FPE rifles, I use for competitions, it is a no go for me...That is just me mind you. Each person should do their own testing to get the results.
 
Paul, there is a reason for the issue with that pellet sizer, as I have found.... I'll try to sum it up, although it is involved.
It's all about the initial set up of the die vs.head size. When you think the die is adjusted right, it truly might not be.
We get the proper head size of a pellet, and adjust the die to it. We drop the pellet in, and it resizes future pellets. THAT'S the problem.
To set the die up properly, this is what you have to do:.....
First, using a Pelletgage, or Air gauge, find the head diameter that you prefer. Get a few of them. Then, cut the skirt off. Yup, you heard that right. Cut it off. You then need to find a material (usually from a hobby store, plastic, brass, aluminum) the same diameter of the barrel that is left after the skirt is removed, to ensure the head of the pellet is aligned with the die bore. There are several reasons you need to do this.
The first is to insure the head of the pellet makes it to the point where all other pellets are properly sized. By removing the skirts of the setup pellets insures this. This is so a skirt does not falsely hold back the pellet in the taper during set up.
Your die is now set up for the proper head size/skirt ratio. BUT, you are not done yet.
. You still NEED to check ALL pellets for proper head size. If you place all pellets with the head size that you want, and larger as well, when you go an resize them, they will all be uniform. All other smaller ones need to be put in the plinker/non match use pile. The smaller head size will give a false "feel" of being resized, if this step is not taken. The skirts are the only thing that will be uniform, if measuring head size is not done first. You will never know if the head size is proper, just by the feel. This is why you need to measure head size for ALL pellets before you run them through the die. 
After that I roll tthem, to make sure the skirts do not wobble as well.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to post a U Tube video on the entire process.
Hope this helps.....
 
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Welcome Tom, 

Great first post.

I get the feeling that you've got a lot to share so I'm going to "Follow" you. For those of you that don't know how to follow someone, simply click on Tom's username which will take you to his profile. Then click "Follow". All of Tom's subsequent topics will appear in a new RSS feed located on the right side (laptop or horizontally oriented phone) or bottom (vertical oriented phone).

You can also "Subscribe" to a specific topic or "Bookmark" it for future reference. 

Thanks Tom!
 
Tom,

I missed you (and the hotel room mini-keg!) at this years Nationals.

As you, I found the Sniper 8.5gr to consistently buck the wind better than the AA/JSB 8.44gr. But usually not quite as accurate/consistent. Even so, I'll use them when I think wind is a bigger issue. I got a new spring gun that shoots the AA 8.44gr well. Interesting info you provided on head sizing. I might play with resizing the heads on some Snipers to see if I can get better results with them.