Southampton Buccaneers Field Target Club

Although the rules permit almost any rifle and scope for FT, as in any other precision sport the right equipment makes an enormous difference to your performance. 

Don't rely on the advice of gun shops who, with a few exceptions, do not really cater for the serious FT air gunner.  Most of the equipment on sale is aimed at pest control or plinking and many retailers don't fully understand what field target or hunter field target is about and may inadvertently give you bad advice.  This also applies to magazine reviews (often the terms 'review' and 'advert' are confused) and especially on line forums which are not reliable sources of comparative data.  Whilst there are some really good online threads that make informative reading, many contributors clearly have a very limited grasp of the sport and make wild and exaggerated claims regarding both their abilities and the quality of their equipment.  Few people will admit to being a poor shot or having made a bad purchase.

If you are contemplating making a purchase, please wait until after you've visited the club.  It could save you from spending money on the wrong equipment. 

Most modern rifles are capable of devastating accuracy, but don't buy something on the basis of 'it's accurate' there's more to it than that.  In fairness, you can shoot FT with pretty much any modern air rifle, but you won't win the World Championships with it.  The differences are subtle but make the difference between an average and a spectacular score.  Scopes however are a different matter and it's critical you get the right one, or be prepared to miss more targets than you hit.  The entry point into FT for many is to use an existing rifle fitted with a FT style scope.  A good used one can be obtained for under £250 and if you decide FT's not for you it's relatively easy to sell on for about the same price you paid for it.

Once you've acquired the basic equipment, the running costs are negligible. Pellets cost less than 1p each and getting a divers tank refilled with compressed air is less than £5, even for a big 300 bar one.  Roughly speaking, every pellet you shoot will cost you less than 1.25p so you'll probably spend more on petrol driving to the club than you do on consumables!

We're not sponsored by or associated with any manufacturer or retailer and can give impartial advice that will help you to decide on what's best for you across all types of equipment.  Most of us have other more general rifles (including spring rifles), so we won't try to convince you that you need to re-mortgage your house or sell your children.  You'll also have a chance to try out a variety of members rifles to get some first hand comparisons.  The Links page has some useful online retailers that will let you see what's available and the kind of costs involved although the VCR bill now prohibits the sale of mail order on rifles, pistols and some accessories so you'll need to go to the shop to conduct a purchase or arrange to have it delivered to a registered fire arms dealer (RFD).

Send mail to Robert at webmaster@sbftc.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 08-Oct-2007 09:30