Operation Manual

Introduction to
Winchester®
®
Air Rie Shooting
A MESSAGE TO PARENTS
Included in the material accompanying each new Winchester®® Air
Rie is a checklist covering the most important aspects of proper gun
handling. We urge you to use the checklist in assuring that anyone
operating a Winchester® Air Rie has a thorough understanding of
these rules and is diligent in their practice. Although not a rearm, a
Winchester® Air Rie is a gun and not a toy. Like a rearm, when mis-
used or carelessly used, your Winchester® Air Rie can kill or seriously
injure the shooter or other persons. Properly used and maintained,
it will provide many hours of safe, trouble free recreational shooting.
Misused, it can be dangerous. Therefore, it should only be used by
someone sixteen years of age or older.
Safe gun handling depends upon proper safety training, and the
right attitude toward gun ownership. To help you, we have designed
this booklet to cover the basic facts everyone should understand
before shooting a gun. Take time to study it thoroughly. A proper
understanding of these basics will greatly increase your enjoyment
of the lifetime sport of recreational air rie shooting and, at the same
time, give you the satisfaction of knowing you are properly prepared
to handle an air rie.
If you, or your son or daughter (age 16 or older), becomes the
owner of a Winchester® Air Rie, we strongly urge you to enroll your-
self and them in a formal course of instruction in shooting education.
Winchester® Air Ries are age graded to help you select the right prod-
uct for your son or daughter. This Model 77XS is appropriate for use by
those 16 years of age or older with adult supervision. There are a num-
ber of youth and civic organizations which oer a complete 10-lesson
course based on guidelines developed by the training experts at
Daisy, and they are listed in the section on CLUBS AND COMPETITION
near the back of this book. A quick check with them will let you know
when the next course will be starting in your area. If you would like
more detailed information, write: Special Market Programs, Daisy, Box
220, Rogers, Arkansas 72757.
WHAT IS A WINCHESTER® AIR RIFLE?
The design and craftsmanship of Winchester® Air Ries and Pistols
oer a high level of shooting performance. With signicantly more
power that a youth BB gun, their sophistication in performance and
operation have brought them to the attention of even the most seri-
ous sport shooter.
In recent years, sport shooters have begun to feel the squeeze of
limited space and money for rearm shooting. The Winchester® Air
Ries remove these limits for both the enthusiast who wants low
cost shooting for year-round training, indoors or out, and dedicated
shooters interested in shoulder-to-shoulder competition. With a
Winchester® Air Rie, looks, heft and performance add up to adult size
shooting right at your doorstep, and at a fraction of the cost of rearm
shooting.
PROPER GUN HANDLING
You may be familiar with the responsibilities of proper gun han-
dling, but the fact that your new Winchester® Air Rie has up to ten
times the power of the traditional air rie means extra care is needed.
In reviewing the basic rules of proper gun handling, keep in mind that
“handling” means every time you touch your gun.
• Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
• Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
• Only load or cock a gun when you are shooting.
• Anyone shooting or observing a shooter should wear shooting
glasses and should be standing behind the shooter.
• Never climb or jump with a gun loaded.
• Avoid ricochet.
• Keep the muzzle clear.
• Guns not in use should always be unloaded.
• Respect other people’s property.
• Check your target and beyond your target.
Ninety percent of the air rie related accidents occurring in this
country are caused by: (1) careless handling of the gun, (2) believ-
ing the gun to be empty when it is not, or (3) shooting at improper
targets. All three causes can be eliminated if the shooter handles the
gun properly.
YOUR WINCHESTER® AIR RIFLE IS A TARGET GUN
Your Winchester® Air Rie has been designed for target shooting
and is suited for use both indoors and out to help you develop your
marksmanship skills. However, your Winchester® Air Rie means greatly
increased velocity and energy, so take care to prepare your target.
Target traps designed for use with low-velocity (less than 350 feet per
second) BB and pellet guns should not be used with a Winchester® Air
Rie. Always use a target trap designed to prevent ricochet, and put
extra reinforcement behind your target to compensate for the added
power. (See HOW TO MAKE AN INDOOR-OUTDOOR TARGET, page 14.)
TIPS ON MARKSMANSHIP
Many people become procient at gun handling without learning
the basics of proper marksmanship. Yet, these basics are intended for
one purpose–to increase your skills. If you haven’t learned them, now
is the time to start. If you have, this may serve as a timely review.
TRIGGER AND BREATH CONTROL
When you get right down to it, trigger control is simply knowing
your gun. Get your sights in line. The moment you have the proper
sight picture, squeeze the trigger. Never jerk the trigger or you will
ruin your aim. To do this, you must know your gun well enough to ex-
ert enough pressure on the trigger to where it’s just short of ring the
gun. Then at the exact instant you wish, the trigger can be squeezed
with as little disturbance to the sight picture as possible. Trigger con-
trol comes only with practice. Keep trying, you’ll get it down to an art.
Breathing at the wrong moment can cause your body to move and
your aim to go astray. So breathe properly. Prior to raising the gun to
the shooting position, inhale deeply, then exhale partially with arm in
shooting position. Hold the remaining breath until shot is red.
If after about 7 or 8 seconds you haven’t got the shot o, cock your
arm back 90 degrees (muzzle up), relax and breathe normally for a few
seconds. Then take your “aiming breath” and try again.
STANDING
• From a position directly facing the target, face to the right of the line
of re. The knees should be straight but not locked.
• Grasp the forearm of the gun in the left hand and place the butt of
your gun in the shoulder pocket with the muzzle pointed upward.
• With the right hand, grasp the stock at the pistol grip, then press
your cheek gently against the stock as far forward as possible without
straining.
• Thrust the left hip forward, lower the gun to shoulder height, and
with the left elbow directly under the gun, let the left upper arm rest
against your body.
• The forearm of the gun should be supported in the palm of the left
hand. (Thumb and ngertips, if using the NRA standing position.)
SITTING
(LOW)
N.R.A.
STANDING
PRONE
KNEELING
(LOW)
Winchester®® is a registered trademark used under a license by Daisy®.
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