Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Western Shooting Journal March 2015




Western Shooting Journal ran my story about Extreme Benchrest in their March issue. The magazine is on the newsstands now, or, I think, you can find individual copies on Ebay or electronic subscriptions at the magazine’s web site.


The article has short interviews with Andrew Huggett, Fredric Axelson and Timm MacMurray.
I have worked with two editors at WSJ and both wanted stories as opposed to the airgun performance reviews we often see. For this article, they wanted people to be up front. I think there is an important lesson there.


Some of my friends get confused when I try to separate an article from a story. Think of it this way:  there is a human dimension to air guns that goes far beyond the data we use when we airgunners talk among ourselves. Many firearm shooters have a mindset of “I have heard that airguns are different, now”, and that’s all they know.  Airgunning has to be more than feet per second and foot pounds of energy if we are going get thru to others how important our sport is to us. Stories are people, shooting when the clouds are spitting snow, and watching your pal’s field target fall into the grass at 55 yards. I found this important for reaching out to readers, and to editors as well.


Brad Toyer, American Airguns web site, ran my piece on the Farco Air Shotgun. I met him at the Field Target Nationals a few years later and he said, “Most people send me an article, but you sent me a story”.


Hot Diggity Damn!


Ron

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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Armada and AR-15


Here is a photo of the Armada next to an AR. The rear sight is turned around so that the windage knob is on the right side of the rifle. Either way the rear sight has problems in the folded down position. The screw that tensiones the bolt stands proud above the picatinny rail and the sight doesn't have the clearance to be folded down. I think the best solution would be a shorter screw. If the sight is turned around and then folded down, the front edge on the sight interferes with the magazine. Right now the easiest thing to do is leave the rear sight up.


You can see that the sight radius is about the same on each rifles.


I have had no real problems shooting the Armada with these sights. Out of the box, I got sighted in at 30 yards with 12 shots. When I moved to 50 it took about 5 shots.

With Kodiak pellets, 50 yards is very near to the limit of elevation, so 100 yards on the NM target may not be possible, but we shoot a 50 yard version of that target and I can't wait to try the Armada on that target.   

Friday, March 13, 2015

Armada Iron ? sights



Polymer is a 21st century concept that this shooter is learning to embrace. I bought a set of Magpul polymer front and rear sights These are called “back up sights” on the packaging, and are designed to fold down when not in use.  Being relegated to the second string behind the scope made me wonder about these sights, but I am here to tell you that it ain’t that way.

It took me two clips, 20 shots, to get sighted in and shoot down my ⅕ scale pigs at 30 yards.
I shot from the sitting position without a sling or a shooting coat. The sight picture was clear. I used a 6:00 hold on the pigs. With the supplied scope, this Armada was good for head shots on the same pigs at 30 yards.

When I first saw the Armada I thought of iron sights, and they are a good combination. I’m still in the plinking stage with this rifle. I want to get it broken in and get me use to how it shoots, so the the final word on the Armada is in the future.

Ron

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

The Benjamin Armada Arrives

I saw it at the Shot Show, and now I have one to test and write about.



The Armada is big, heavy and not bashful about itself. The hadt rail is long with attachment points. It also has removable pads on the bottom and sides providing a smooth surface for your hand. That is more than some of the super slick ARs I have been handling.  

Besides ground squirrels, I think the Armada is a natural for a couple of matches we shoot here in Pocatello. One is a 50 yard version of Highpower sporting Rifle, and the other is the Silhouette Speed Shoot.

I’ll start shooting it tomorrow.

I can hardly wait.

Ron