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HollowPoint
11-30-2013, 05:15 PM
It turns out that this new Umarex Octane air rifle I just bought is generally a pretty good pellet rifle.

Using the scope It came with I'm able to shoot some pretty tight clusters as long as I'm shooting from a sturdy shooting bench.

I bought this air rifle hoping to be able to take it out to the desert to hunt rabbits with but, for some reason I'm unable to get the same accuracy off-hand that I'm getting off the bench. I think it has alot to do with the massive forward recoil impulse that this air rifle produces.

Funny thing is, with the factory iron sights I can get pretty darn good accuracy when shooting off hand. It's with the scope in place that things go hay-wire pretty quickly.

The bad thing about the existing iron sights was the fact that with my eye-sight they're basically a blur. With the iron sights I can see well enough to get good accuracy for shooting out to about 40 yards but any closer or farther than that and it's a kraapp shoot.

To that end, I spent all of yesterday fabricating a mount onto which I mounted an old set of Redfield receiver mounted Peep-Sights to my new Umarex Octane air rifle. I'm happy to report that my problem with blurry sight pictures is solved.

I can now get solid hits on feral pigeons roosting on top of a telephone pole thirty yards away and at an upward angle of about 30 or 40 degrees.

I was thinking about getting a new scope but now I don't need to. And since for hunting purposes this is basically a close range shooter, (50 or 60 yards max for me) I'm tickled pink that I was able to cobble together a usable Peep-Sight setup like this.

I'm seriously thinking of putting together a Globe-Front-Sight to enhance the rear Peep-Sight I now have.

My reason for posting this is because I know I'm not the only shooter with eye-sight issues that keeps them from getting the kind of accuracy they'd like from iron sights. Also; I kind of wanted to show off a bit. I hope you all will pardon me for the latter reason.

Here are a few pics of what I'm taking about. I believe the same type of thing could be installed on virtually any type of air rifle.

HollowPoint

melloairman
11-30-2013, 06:16 PM
I set my condor up with front and rear peepers as well from time to time for a change . If you really want to help the old eyes like I have . Try and add a 530 Gehmann iris-diopter to the rear . Throws in a little magnification as well . Marvin
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn55/melloroadman/IMG_4532A.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/melloroadman/media/IMG_4532A.jpg.html)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn55/melloroadman/IMG_5894A.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/melloroadman/media/IMG_5894A.jpg.html)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn55/melloroadman/IMG_4536A.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/melloroadman/media/IMG_4536A.jpg.html)

HollowPoint
11-30-2013, 06:41 PM
That 530 Gehmman iris-diopter looks pretty cool. I can see how the slight magnification would be beneficial without creating the same problems I had with my scope while shooting off hand.

I did a price check on them and the lowest price on this particular model is about what I paid for my air rifle.

I thought about adapting the Iris off of another Peep-Sight I have. It's the kind that you can open up or close down to a smaller diameter depending on ambient light levels. There's no magnification to it but I still think it may enhance what I have now under certain circumstances.

I'll keep an eye out for one of these 530's. You never know when something like this might turn up at a great bargain price. I bought my Redfield Peep-Sight at a local gun show several years ago. I think I paid something like ten-bucks for it.

I have a home made mount on both my Enfield No.4 and my K31 just in case the scopes on either one of them ever goes bad while I'm in the field with them. I can install this same rear peep sight on either one of them. Now I can have it installed on my Umarex Octane as well.

Thanks for the heads up on that Gehmman Peep-Sight. It really would be nice to upgrade my rear Peep with something like that.

HollowPoint

melloairman
11-30-2013, 10:38 PM
The iris allows you to correct your eye weakness as well .With it I can see both sights and the target clearly . Which I could never do with a standard peep or open sight . Have not used it for about two years . Might be time to use it again for a change . If you have a surplus of lead that your not into deep and want to trade pm me if you have a interest .Marvin

HollowPoint
12-01-2013, 12:50 PM
Hi Marvin:

I have just a couple of five gallon buckets full of Stick-On-Wheel weights left; plus the various different alloys I have set aside for shooting out of my two milsurps.

I'm not sure what amount would equal a fair trade but, I'm kind of reluctant to get rid of what I got right now.

Just out of curiosity, from your perspective, what amount of lead would you consider a fair trade? I ask because I have no clue what the price of lead is now days. I got what I got for free from the place I used to work. They used to just throw it out until I started taking it home with me.

HollowPoint

melloairman
12-01-2013, 10:29 PM
If that is all you have you better keep it for your self .I thought you might have a big stash and it would not hurt you to let loose of some . It looks like reclaimed lead is around $1.00 - $1.25 a pound now . Marvin

HollowPoint
12-02-2013, 11:09 AM
I used my newly mounted Peep-Sights to take a shot at a pigeon roosted on a telephone poll at a lasered 60 yards away. It was a miss. Because of a slight cross-wind and the distance I was shooting at I wasn't able to see which directions my pellets were missing at to make the needed adjustments.

Shortly after that I took another shot at another pigeon at the same distance. The wind was directly at my back and I heard my pellet hit the telephone pole that this pigeon was silhouetted against. My vertical sight adjustment was spot on but again, my horizontal was off. I couldn't tell if I hit high or low.

Without a spotter or a scope mounted it's hard for me to make out where my pellets are hitting at that distance. It may be that the 1.5 percent of magnification power that such an iris-diopter like the one you use may have helped but it certainly wouldn't have hurt.

These elevation adjustments can be resolved with a trip to the shooting range but for shooting out of my back yard it's a little harder. My air rifle is sighed in at 30 yards and at that distance,shooting at a pigeon sitting directly on top of a telephone pole I have to aim at the six-0-clock position to get a hit. The upward angle is about 30 or 40 degree.

If I were shooting horizontally at thirty yards I could put the front sight right on the pigeon to get the hit. At 60 yards? I haven't figured that out yet.

Right now I've established a 30 yard perimeter No-Fly-Zone for the feral pigeons that poop on mine and my customers cars. I'd like to extend that No-Fly-Zone out to 60 yards if I can do it safely. Once I get that ironed out then I can turn my attention to the feral cats that all these damn pigeons seem to attract. I've even had a couple of little falcons (birds of prey) start patrolling our neighborhood in search of feral pigeons. I leave them alone since they're on my side of this battle.

Just the sight of these falcons sends the pigeons scattering. Just about every other kind of bird runs for their life as well.

HollowPoint

HollowPoint
12-05-2013, 08:29 PM
I'm gearing up to fabricate a modified trigger part that I hope will safely give me just a little more velocity. To pre-empt this mod I decided to post a video to document my velocities before I change any of the internal components of my air rifle.

I'm hoping for the best but if it doesn't pan out it's easy enough to revert back to factory components.

There are already several Umarex Octane velocity videos posted on youtube so in that sense my video may be a little redundant. About the only difference with my video is that I'm doing my shooting with Peep-Sights rather than having the factory scope mounted; that and the fact that my footage is wavy enough to give some viewers motion sickness.

You might want to take a Dramamine Pill before viewing.

HollowPoint

http://youtu.be/lZXJZtVBBT4