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This photograph taken on a cold October day in
1983 at Hippencombe Farm where I was competing in the British
Championship for Field Target Shooting organised by the National Air
Rifle and Pistol Association Field Target Section It was published in
the 'Airgun World' magazine. The rifle I am
holding was originally a long-barrelled Webley 'Osprey' of .177 calibre.
I had the gun tuned to produce 12 foot pounds of muzzle energy (the
legal limit) and at the same time had the barrel cut down and threaded
for a silencer. The work was carried out by the renown air-gunsmith Ian
Bowkett.
Field target shooting is the 'practical' aspect of air rifle shooting.
Instead of shooting at paper targets, field target shooting involved
life size metal 'knock-down' targets of rabbits, rats, squirrels and
pigeons set out at various ranges in woodland. You first had
to find your target before you could shoot it!
Despite the increase in muzzle energy, the .177 calibre was not suited
to field target shooting and was replaced with a Diana 'Original 45' - a
.22 calibre break-barrel rifle which chronographed at a consistent 660fps
with Ely Wasp pellets. I calculated this as 14 foot pounds - 2
foot pounds over the legal limit!
Webley later produced the 'Tracker',
based on the 'Osprey' but with a short 'carbine' barrel. |