TargetTalk

I am somewhat new to the 3-P Precision Air Game and am finding out that that there is a whole lot more to position shooting then what I taught in the Marines 20 years ago. The basics are much the same but after that,,, well I'm still learning!
Question, What is the recomended balance point (using barrel & stock weights) for a beginner to try to achieve with say an Anschutz 8002? or any rifle for that mater?
My first guess is that it would be just forward of the front support hand in the standing position. Does anyone have any advise or info on this subject? I understand that it becomes a matter of preferance as a shooter progresses their skills, I'm looking for a good starting point.
I've got some fine young shooters in our 4-H club and some who want to take it to the next level.
Thanks

I would recommend the balance point be either at the support hand or slightly further back. This helps the rifle stay in one's shoulder without much pressure from the trigger hand. This is strongly recommended for smaller kids. The gun being butt heavy makes it seem lighter.

In contrast I have a 2002. It is right at max weight, and I added all the weight at the muzzle in the form of a MEC bloop tube and barrel weights. Short of taking the little square weight from the butt stock and replacing the weight on the muzzle, you can't get much more barrel heavy than that. I prefer it this way because I feel the gun holds better in position. It acts like it's heavier than it is.

At the same time, most of the people that pick up my gun hate it because it falls out of their shoulder.

I agree with Soupy44

The trend over recent years is to bring the balance point further back to around where your support hand is. If you look at some of the U Tube on air rifle shooting you will see many of the shooters have fitted extra weights on the butt.

I like my balance point just forward of the support hand to give the muzzle some damping effect. Its a very personal thing where you have your balance point.
Be careful you don't exceed the 5.5-kg top weight allowed for air rifle.

Peeps

Thanks,
That gives me a good start point. My son is also shooting some smallbore with a CM-2, he does OK with it but I have noticed that it is very barrel heavy since starting this thread, it balances about 8 inches in front of the trigger guard, this may explain why his smallbore scores are so much lower then his air.

My $0.02 on the CM-2

Depends on the version of the rifle ... cadet or adult.

I have cadet versions and:
1) Length of pull is quite short .... use spacers to get the same LOP as the air rifle
2) The trigger of the CM-2 is nothing like a precision airgun. You can get the CM-2 trigger working as a pretty darned good 2-stage, but you're almost comparing apples to oranges here.
3) I recommend calling Scott Medesha and get a sight extension tube if you have the cadet versions. ... knock off the CM-2 front sight and put one out a bit farther .... I use a Daisy 887 front sight as it takes standard 18mm apertures.

Again .... my $0.02 here too:
There's a lot at play when moving from air to .22, any errors in form/position/technique can be magnified ... it takes a while

Personally, with my shooters, I expect a 565-580 3-P air shooter to take 6-12 mo to be within the 540-570 3-P smallbore rifle scores. That's with 3 air practices per week and 1 SBR practice/week.