Learn › Track 02 · Equipment & physics

Accessories & maintenance

A match starts long before the first shot: it starts at home, with a bag. Forget the fill adapter and you may not shoot at all. Pack something banned and you carry it for nothing. Start with what stays home.

Think first: You’re packing for your first big 10 m match. Which item can stay at home?

  • Your own 500 g test weight
  • A spotting scope
  • A spare air cylinder
  • Chalk

The kit bag

Here is a match kit list. Tick it off as you pack:

A few items need a word:

  • Stand. The bench plus your stand may be at most 1.00 m tall. Your transport box may serve as a stand in qualification, but not in a final.

  • Test weight. Equipment control has its own, but your own weight lets you check the trigger before you're tested. See the trigger & the 500 g test.

  • Spare cylinder. One fill lasts roughly 110–200 shots depending on the pistol. A match is 60 shots plus unlimited sighters, and a final adds 24. Top up or swap before a final.

Training tech

Electronic trainers such as SCATT clip a small optical sensor to the barrel or cylinder. It tracks where you aim on an infrared target, and a microphone picks up the trigger click, so you get a trace of your hold before, during and after the shot. They are covered properly in SCATT & electronic trainers. For your bag, the point is: they are training tools, not match kit.

Grease, O-rings and a light touch

A PCP pistol holds its air with rubber O-rings. They need a little care, and it is easy to give them too much.

Think first: A cylinder O-ring looks dry. What should go on it?

  • A few drops of gun oil
  • A thin film of silicone grease
  • Plenty of grease, so it won’t dry out again

The routine is short:

  • O-rings: a thin film of silicone grease.
  • Cylinder threads: a trace of silicone grease, which stops the threads galling (seizing and tearing).
  • Keep grease out of the valve.
  • Before each use: look for cracks, and check the date stamped on the cylinder.

Cylinders have a life too: many aluminium cylinders expire 10 years after their stamped date. That has its own lesson: cylinders: lifespan & safety.

No petroleum products on seals or in the air system. If you are not sure what a lubricant is made of, don't use it.

Check speed, not just feel

You can't feel a few metres per second in your hand. A chronograph, which measures pellet speed, turns that change into a number.

Think first: Last season your pistol shot 150 m/s with your pellet lot. Today, with a full cylinder and the same lot, it shoots 143 m/s. What’s the sensible next step?

  • Raise the rear sight and keep shooting
  • Re-check with a full cylinder, look for leaks, and send it for service if the drop is real
  • Switch to a lighter pellet to get the speed back

A quick leak check needs no tools: fill the cylinder and see if the gauge still reads the same the next day.

No universal service interval was found in maker sources. A sensible routine: check velocity regularly with a chronograph and your match pellets, and send it to the factory or an authorised service when you see leaks or velocity drift. Ask your maker or dealer what they recommend for your model.

  • Pack a 500 g test weight, spare cylinder, fill adapter, tested pellets and tools. No spotting scope at 10 m.
  • Bench plus stand at most 1.00 m; the transport box may be a stand in qualification, not in a final.
  • Thin film of silicone grease on O-rings, a trace on threads, none in the valve. No petroleum products.
  • Too much lubricant does more harm than too little.
  • Use a chronograph and an overnight gauge check. Leaks or velocity drift → authorised service.

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