12 Tips on How to Improve Your Airgun Accuracy

Whether you want to be a serious competitive shooter or a casual target shooter, you'll need to put in the work to improve your airgun accuracy.

It certainly helps to have the best airguns and equipment, but that's not the end of the story. There are plenty of things you can practice to become a more consistent shooter and to improve your shooting accuracy.

1. Use Better Pellets

This is a tricky issue as not all pellets, brands, price points, or airguns are the same. Shooting accuracy can often rely on just the right combination of these things. Well-known brands and higher-priced pellets are likely to be more consistent, beyond that, you'll need to run some tests.

Your airgun will perform differently than any other gun. It will react poorly to some types and brands of pellets and well to others. The only way to know what works for you and your gun is to try them out. When you find a pellet that works, don't stray from it.

As an extra note here, if you align your sights with one type of pellet and move to a new pellet (even a new brand), you will need to resight your scope. Never expect different pellets to fire in exactly the same way.

2. Use a Better Scope

It is important to note that scopes built for regular firearms will not work for your airgun. They have different specs and are built for different purposes.

With that in mind, make sure you choose a good airgun scope. If you are going to stick to target shooting, get a target scope. Hunting scopes are not nearly as accurate. The finer the reticles and the higher the magnification on your target scope, the better.

Quality doesn't stop at your optics themselves. Make sure you buy a high-quality scope mount as well. When you ensure that all of your equipment meets a high standard, you can move on to improving your practice.

3. Less Power

When you shoot a rifle with a lower FPS, not only will the gun be lighter and easier to manipulate, the kick will be softer, as well.

Until you are an experienced airgun shooter, stick with the less powerful options to help hone in your accuracy without having to fight the gun along the way.

4. Tighten Everything

Over time and through lots of use, the screws on the sight mounts and on the gun itself can loosen. Even just a little wiggle due to these loose screws can throw everything out of whack.

Make sure every screw you can see is snug to ensure the equipment is working properly. Of course, don't overtighten as this can damage your gun, snug is enough to keep everything in place.

5. Slow and Steady

From your breath to your trigger finger, everything should move slowly and steadily. If you take a sharp inhale or a quick pull of the trigger, you will disrupt your mount and shift your aim. Even small shifts can throw aim off wildly over distance.

6. Stable Body Position

When you find the most stable-body shooting position possible, you increase the likelihood of accurate shooting. Stable positioning follows this order:

• Laying down
• Kneeling
• Standing against a wall (or tree)
• Freestanding

The more stable you are, the less movement your gun barrel will have as you fire.

7. Clean Your Gun

A clean gun will always operate better than one full of dust, dirt, and debris. You should regularly clean your gun to make sure it works properly and stays in working order for as long as possible.

It is worth noting that after you clean your barrel, the first few shots are likely to be inaccurate. This is to be expected, but it will pass. After cleaning, take a few shots before lining up your target again and you'll be fine.

8. Check Your Crown

The end of your barrel is called the crown. As it is the only part of the barrel exposed, it can sometimes get damaged. If you see any knicks, grooves, or scratches in your crown, it may be affecting your accuracy.

Be careful to keep from bumping or banging the end of your barrel against the ground, trees, or anything else while carrying it to avoid these problems in the future. Even if you're careful, it's worth a check every time you prepare to shoot.

9. BRASS

The U.S. military has long ascribed to the use of this acronym to teach the shooting process. If you create a habit out of these steps, you'll increase your accuracy shot after shot.

• B - Breathe - Take a few normal breaths before holding it for no more than 5 seconds.
• R - Relax
• A - Aim
• S - Slack - Squeeze the slack out of the trigger in preparation for the shot.
• S - Squeeze - Don't pull or jerk the trigger, but squeeze it to fire.

10. Contact Point Consistency

When you hold your gun at exactly the same contact point shot after shot, you not only build a good grip habit, but you take away another variable that could cause your shot to be unexpectedly inaccurate.

11. Hold Your Gun

Newer shooters are tempted to rest the barrel of their rifles on tree branches, windowsills, or other stationary platforms. Ignore this urge. Always use your non-trigger hand to steady your rifle.

If you must, you can rest your hand on a platform to steady your aim, but do not put the gun directly onto anything other than your open palm.

12. Break In Your Gun

Every airgun on the market, despite its price tag, has a breaking-in period. This is all the more true if your chosen gun uses springs. These springers often take thousands of rounds to break in before they find a level of consistency.

When the springs in your gun lose some of their initial tension, they'll settle into themselves. Only then can you start to count on your gun's aim to be true time and time again.

Work at Your Airgun Accuracy

As with any skill, the more you practice, the more you work at your accuracy, the better you'll get. Use these tips in your airgun target practice to start improving today and keep at it until you're ready to hit the bullseye every time.

If you're ready to start the serious work of improving your airgun accuracy, visit our website now to get the right gear.