Glossary
This is a short glossary of terms you might hear around the club and the airgun community in general. Mainly intended for new members so they can get up to speed with all the jargon.
There's nothing worse than listening to a veteran shooter ramble on about airguns for half an hour, and you have no idea what he's just said. Hopefully this will help fill in the blanks.
If you can think of any terms that we've overlooked and that maybe has not been immediately obvious to you, please make suggestions to webmaster@etl-ftc.co.uk
| Terminology | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0.177 | Commonly articulated as "point-one-seven-seven" or simply "one-seven-seven" Refers to the size of the bore of an airgun's barrel measured in inches. 0.177 inches is 4.5mm. This is the most common size used in field target. |
| 0.20 | Commonly articulated as "point-two-zero". Refers to the size of the bore of an airgun's barrel measured in inches. Note, it is important to emphasise the "zero" part so as not to cause confusion with "point-two-two". |
| 0.22 | Commonly articulated as "point-two-two" or simply "two-two". Refers to the size of the bore of an airgun's barrel measured in inches. 0.22 inches is 5.5mm. |
| 10-50x60, 3-9x20 etc. | This notation describes a scope's magnification and objective lens size. 10-50x60 would be articulated as "ten to fifty by sixty" and implies that a scope has an adjustable magnification from 10 times to 50 times and has an objective lens size of 60 millimetres. |
| 451, 452, 453 | These numbers are often articulated as "four-five-two's" or "four-five-three's" and refers to the calibre of pellets (measured in hundredths of a millimetre). A .177 barrel is bored to 0.177 inches (which is equal to 4.5mm) during manufacture. Rifling (helical grooves) are then cut into the bore causing it to be slightly oversized in the helical pattern throughout the length of the barrel. In order to obtain maximum efficiency of the barrel, the ammunition is manufactured to be a couple of hundredths of a millimetre greater than the original bore size. E.g. a 453 pellet is 4.53mm so that it can be pushed snugly into the bore and achieve greater seal around the pellet. |
| Action | The working mechanism of a gun is commonly called the action. It includes the trigger mechanism, spring or pre-charging cylinder and the barrel. |
| Ballistics | Is the study of the motion and behaviour of projectiles. Commonly subdivided in to the following categories: Internal Ballistics (what happens inside the gun), Transitional Ballistics (what happens as the projectile leaves the barrel), External Ballistics (the flight of the projectile), Terminal Ballistics (the interaction with the target) and Forensic Ballistics (the study of gun usage in crime). |
| BFTA | Acronym for British Field Target Association. |
| Break barrel | A break barrel rifle is one whereby the barrel is pivoted at the base of the barrel. The pivoting barrel is used to cock the rifles action. |
| Bullpup | A Bullpup is the name of a type of modification that may be done to a rifle. It involves mounting the barrel and action further back in the stock that it would normally be. This is so that the overall rifle length may be shortened whilst keeping the original full length barrel. |
| Butler Creek | Butler Creek is a manufacturer of scope flip-up end caps. Commonly the name is used to describe the flip-up caps themselves, rather than the manfacturer. |
| Butt hook | A common accessory in Field Target is to attach a hook type appendage to the butt of the stock, such that the shooter can support the gun better and hold it steadier by tucking the hook under their armpit. |
| Carbine | The name given to a gun that has been modified to have a shorter barrel than the standard for a particular model. |
| Cheek piece | Is the part of the stock that the shooter would rest their cheek on whilst taking a shot. |
| Dovetails | Are the name given to the grooves cut into the top of a gun's action that allow accessories (such as a scope) to be mounted. |
| Eye Relief | Is the distance between the eye and the scope. Some shooters use a Maximiser or rubber eye piece in order to ensure the optimum eye relief for the best possible field of view. |
| Field target (FT) | Field Target is the name of an airgun sport. See the articles section for a description of the origins, the equipment used and the general concepts of the sport. |
| Foot Pounds (ft.lbs) | Foot Pounds is an imperial measurement for energy. It is commonly used to describe the muzzle energy of an airgun. |
| Grains (gr) | Grains is the measurement unit commonly used to measure the weight of pellets. E.g. A JSB Exact pellet may have a weight of 8.44gr. 1 Gram = 15.432 grains and 1 Ounce = 437.5 grains. |
| Grand Prix | A nationally orgainised series of competitions organised by the BFTA. Usually takes place during the summer months. A series of competition dates are "Open" events (in that anyone can participate) followed up by a "Showdown" (whereby only qualifiers of previous events can participate). Competitions are held at different club locations throughout the country. |
| Hunter Field Target (HFT) | Hunter Field Target is the name of an airgun sport similar to (but not the same as) Field Target. |
| JSB | Is an acroynm for Josef Schulz Bohumin and is the name of a manufacturer of pellets. Although it should be noted that commonly the name is used to refer the pellets themselves rather than the manufacturer. |
| Kill zone | The part of the target that, when struck, causes it to fall over or (in the case of knock-up/knock-down targets) reset. |
| Knock-up, Knock-down | Is a term used to describe a type of metal target commonly used for Field Target practise. It is as opposed to "knock-over" targets, and is given due to the mechanical design of the target. The targets are constructed with two kill zones. The first, when struck, will cause a part of target to be knocked over. The second, when struck, will cause the knocked over part to reset. |
| Lamping | Lamping is the name given to a style of hunting whereby the hunter uses a bright lamp/torch in order to hunt at night. |
| Lube | Simply an abbreviation for lubrication. Some shooters prefer to lubricate their pellets before use. Pellet Lube is available from most airgun shops. |
| Magazine | A device used to hold and feed pellets into the gun. Useful for hunting as they typically allow rapid loading, and therefore a reduced time between shots. |
| Maximiser or Eye piece | An eye piece is simply a short rubber tube, fitted over the eye end of a scope so that the shooter can get maximum field of view through the scope by simply putting their eye up against the eye piece. This also gives the advantage of eliminating most of the ambient light that may distract the shooter if they held the scope a few inches from their eye. There are many different designs, each attempting to eliminate the most ambient light. Maximiser is the brand name of one of the manufacturers of these devices. |
| Mil dots | A style of scope reticule whereby a series of dots (the mil dots) are positioned precisely (at milliradian intervals) such that they mark positions 10cm apart at 100 metres. Knowing this, a skilled shooter may use this to aid their judgement in allowances for wind. Mil dots can also be used to give a guide to the range of a particular target. E.g. by comparing the size of a target or kill zone to the mil dots, an experienced shooter may be able to estimate the distance of the target with a good degree of accuracy. |
| Mini-kill | A "mini kill" is an abbreviation of "miniature kill zone". By BFTA rules this would be a target with a 25mm diameter kill zone. This is, as opposed to a standard size kill zone which has a diameter of 40mm. |
| Minutes of Angle (MOA) | An angle measured in degrees can be further divided into minutes and seconds of angle. Typically a rilfe scope will have adjustable turrets allowing an adjustment of elevation and windage. It is most common that the devisions of the turrents will be in either 1/4 or 1/8 of a minute of angle. |
| Mounts | Are small purpose made brackets for mounting a scope to an airgun. Things to be aware of: Mounts come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, so that a shooter can match their own specific preference. E.g. scopes may have different diameters, also, rifles may have different styles of dovetails. The heights of the mounts vary, and some are made so that a scope can be mounted further forward than the airgun's dovetails would allow. These are called "reach-forward" mounts. |
| Objective lens | The objective lens is the lens in a scope that receives the first light rays from the object being observed. In a rifle scope, this is the lens furthest away from the eye, as you look though the scope. (Typically the large end of the scope) |
| Open | An open competition is one whereby anyone is welcome to participate as a competitor. This is as opposed to a competition that is held only for members of a particular club ("club shoot"), or whereby competitors need to qualify at previously held events (e.g. "A Showdown"). |
| Plink or Plinking | The term plinking comes from the sound that a pellet makes when it hits a metal target ("Plink"). Plinking is simply a description given to the act of practising shooting on the range. |
| Precharged Pneumatic | A rifle that is filled with and stores compressed air in order to provide its working function is said to be precharged. Typically, a shooter will use a separate compressed air cylinder to 'charge' their airgun. This is as opposed to a spring gun, whereby the working function is provided by a compressed spring. |
| Prone | Prone is the name given to a shooting position whereby the shooter lays flat whilst taking a shot. |
| Raiser blocks, Arrestor Blocks | Are small devices that can be clamped to the dovetails of an airgun that have dovetails of their own built into the top. They can be used (typically in pairs) as extensions to the scope mounts so that the scope is mounted physically higher off of the airgun's action than it would be had the action's dovetails been used. When used this way they are commonly referred to as raiser blocks. In addition they can be used (singularly) mounted on the action's dovetails behind, and butted up to, the scope mounts in order to provide additional resistance against scope-creep for airguns with a large amount of recoil. |
| Rangefinder | Rangerfinder is the term given to a device that can be used to estimate the range of a target. |
| Reducer | A slang term to describe a target that has a miniature kill zone. See mini kill. |
| Regulator/Regulated | A regulator is a device that may be fitted to pneumatic airguns. It's function is to ensure a consistent amount of pressure release (and therefore muzzle energy) for each shot. An airgun fitted with a regulator is said to be Regulated. |
| Rimmed | Is a term commonly used to describe when a pellet has hit the rim of the kill zone of a target. Sometimes, when a pellet lands so close to the kill zone,it will fragment and part of the pellet will strike within the kill zone. Although the fragment may not have enough energy to cause the target to fall. This is also commonly known as a splitter. |
| SEFTA | Acronym for South East Field Target Association. |
| Slug | There are two meanings of the term "slug" that may be used when discussing airguns and ballistics in general. The first (and most obvious) is simply a slang term for pellet. The second is a physics term and is a unit of mass, such that, a force of one pound acting on a mass of one slug will cause it to accelerate at a rate of one foot per second per second (i.e. per second squared). This unit was commonly used by ballisticians for measuring powder for shotgun cartridges. |
| Splitter | See Rimmed. |
| Stock | A name given to the part of a gun that the shooter holds. |
| Trajectory | Is the name given to the path of a projectile (e.g. a pellet). |
| Under-lever | An under-lever rifle is similar to that of a break barrel rifle. Both types have spring powered actions. The difference is that an under-lever rifle quite simply has a lever that lays underneath the barrel that is used to cock the rifle. This allows the barrel to remain in a fixed position at all times. Some would argue that when using a sighting mechanism that is not fixed to the barrel itself, a fixed barrel rifle is typically more accurate than a break barrel rifle because the barrel isn't moved in relation to the rest of the gun. |
| Windicator | Is a rather technical name given to something that is usually no more that a short piece of string tied somewhere to the muzzle end of an airgun (within view of the non-shooting eye). The purpose is to give the shooter some information about the wind direction and speed allowing them to make allowances in their shot. |
| Winter League | Usually a regionally organised series of events organised by a regional committee. Usually takes place during the winter months. Similar to a Grand Prix series, most competition dates are "Open" events (in that anyone can participate) followed up by a "Showdown" (whereby only qualifiers of previous events can participate). Competitions are usually held alternately at different clubs within a locallised region. |
| Worlds | Abbreviation for the Field Target World Championship competition (held annually) |
| Zeroing | Is the act of adjusting the elevation and windage on a scope or sight such that it lines up with the point of impact of the pellet. Typically this will be done at a variety of different distances over the expected range at which the shooter expects to shoot. The elevation and windage settings should be noted for future use. |