[Katsunami]

Must... not... strangle... dad...

Well, after 30 years, my dad wanted to pick up and old hobby again: air rifle shooting. As I have a lot of experience taking tack-sharp pictures, out of hand, using 400-500mm lenses, I thought it'd be fun to go along. I thought, keeping a rifle aimed and pulling the trigger won't be that different to pointing a camera and pushing the shutter button.

You know what? I was right. It isn't. Techniques to keep a camera steady for taking long telephoto shots and the ones to shoot a rifle are essentially the same.

So, for about two weeks, I've read and re-read everything I could find about airguns and scopes, on forums and sites such as PyramydAir.com. Eventually, I decided on an air gun, and a scope; a 3-9x for my dad, and 3-12x for me (as he found the 3-12 too big).

This weekend, I've zero'd one of the rifles (which is making sure that it actually shoots at the point the crosshair marks; at the distance at which the zeroing was done). It turns out that the rifle/scope-combo is too heavy for my dad to use. I can accept that. So the other rifle will be sent back and swapped for a (much) lighter version.

However, he keeps bugging me about the fact that this first rifle didn't have any iron sights on the barrel. It doesn't need to; it's designed to be fitted with a scope.

"A scope is too difficult to use."
"I had iron sights on the barrel 30 years ago."
"A scope can never be as precise as iron sights."

Well, dad... you have a son who never seriously shot an air rifle before, who only has two weeks of theoretical knowledge, and who has an eyesight of up to 33% in his right eye, and 7% in his left eye, *when wearing glasses*.

Mentioned son (= me) is now able, after an hour of practice on day one, to hit a 1x2 inch (2,5x5cm) target at 20 yards (18m) 80% of the time, shooting out of hand.

Although he knows I can't even SEE the target clearly without a scope, and he has to squint to do so, he still keeps pestering me about wanting to shoot using iron sights because they are 'more precise in the long run.'

Fine, dad. The next rifle will have iron sights. Please zero it yourself, because I can't see the target I use for that. (I used a dime / 1 eurocent-sized circle, which is about 17mm, printed on thick paper, and shot using a rifle support). As a matter of fact dad, you can't see that target with your naked eye either, from 20 yards away.

After you're done zeroing in, we'll have a little competition. See who wins, iron sights or a 12x scope. My photography past of shooting tack-sharp pictures using 500mm+ lenses out of hand, and the result of the practice session of today, should give you a hunch...

Probably he'll be headstrong and zero the rifle using a 10x10 inch target or something, and then wondering why he misses any targets smaller than that. Fortunately, the backstop is something like 1x1 yards (a huge 1 inch thick wooden board), and behind that is the barn wall.

Parents. They can't even believe shit when you show them the facts. A more than half-blind guy, shooting 1x2 inch targets at 20 yards apparently isn't proof enough to show the merits of using a rifle scope... even then, they always know better.