From Pellets to Bullets: Adding Smallbore Back In!

Walther Arms KK500 Expert Light, photo credit Watlher Arms

Way back in 2005 I was also training to compete in 50 meter smallbore rifle events, but upon returning to compete at this level I told the coaches I was only interested in being an air rifle athlete this time around. Precision air rifles are lighter, although not by much (the smallbore can weight up to almost 17.5 lbs per the international rules). Competing in both calibers would mean one more heavy and large rifle case to travel with. High-end competition .22 bullets are much more expensive than the top .177 pellets. And while some smallbore matches are held indoors, some may be outdoors.

Outdoors, even if the range is partially covered, there's that dreaded wind to adjust for that I never enjoyed. Air rifle matches are exclusively indoors, as even the air circulating in the room may slightly alter the pellet's trajectory. And every millimeter counts... a lot.

Every millimeter also counts (a lot) in smallbore events, but not having predictable airflow make this even more challenging. Even in air rifle, athletes at this level adjust their rifle sights for wind and elevation with almost every shot-- even in what seems to be still room. This need is extremely amplified and much less predictable when there's actual wind, varying lighting throughout a match, and other issues nature brings into play on an outdoor range. (I think I'd gotten spoiled only competing indoors since 2006.)

I've almost exclusively been shooting semi-automatic handguns at the range for decades, so the caliber change was easy. The more I watched and studied the other athletes and looked closely at the MQSs (minimum qualifying scores) for smallbore, the more I knew I needed to fully jump back in and be competing with both rifles: air and smallbore.

Although I still have a multitude of upgrades and adjustments I'm working on, my first day at a range with my new Walther KK500 Expert Light rifle, once sighted in, yielded all 10s on paper, which means my digital score would have been nicely over a 600. I can't wait to try this on the electronic targets we use for competition that calculate our digital scores in tenths. A perfect smallbore shot score is 10.9, the same as air rifle-- just five times the distance to the target.

I received a generous grant from Operation Rebound/Challenged Athletes Foundation that helped to make this additional purchase possible. If you read my blog article on The $10,000 Question about my air rifle equipment, this ends up even pricier. Although fortunately, my jacket, glove, and sling from my air rifle can be used for smallbore also.

It's much more difficult to find a 50 meter range to train on, but I'm excited to see where these added smallbore events will take me!

First day out-of-the-box, upgrades pending.