ATEO Airgun Accessories

Dave Mills certainly has many strings to his bow! As well as running the Airgun Training and Education Organisation (ATEO) he runs pest control courses, airgun roadshows at game and county fairs, imports Tesro Match air rifles and pistols, Shilba scopes and now Rifle brand pellets! He recently sent a selection of the last two.

Shilba Scope Mounts

A decent, well-made set of mounts is vital if the scope is to remain firmly attached to the rifle it is used on and Shilba have done a great job if the examples sent are anything to go by and I’m sure they are.

The range includes the ‘Aluminum’ 22/22 Mag style, which is split vertically and attaches to a conventional airgun/rimfire dovetail using Torx screws top and bottom – a tool is supplied. They are finished in a matt black anodised coating and are available in low, medium and high for 1-inch and 30mm scopes.

Then there is the ‘Acero- Steel’ style, made obviously from steel and are designed to fit Weaver and Picatinny rails. The top clamps are held securely with Torx screws but there is a quick release thumb clamp to fix the rings to the rifle. Available in the same range of heights and scope tube diameters as the previous mounts, they look like they will last a lifetime. These mounts are high quality but won’t break the bank at £15 a set.

Rifle Airgun Pellets

The thing that allows us to reach out and touch our targets isn’t the rifle or scope, or any other accessory, it’s the actual airgun pellet. Without a pellet, we just have a handful of expensive metal, wood and glass! The quality of the pellet is vital, as no matter how good the gun’s barrel is, or how precisely the air is metered by a pre-charge pneumatic etc., if the projectile isn’t up to scratch we will miss our target; which is annoying in competition but it’s even more important when hunting for the pot or carrying out pest control, as it can be the difference between a clean kill or a wounded animal.

The ‘Rifle Airgun Ammunition’ brand is made in Brazil and they have been used by 10m air pistol shooter Felipe A. Wu to take silver and gold medals, so they have a great pedigree! The range is split in two and the ‘Premium’ series have smooth bodies and the flat heads weigh 8.18gr in .177 and 16.82gr in .22. The roundheads are 8.33gr in .177 and 18.67gr in .22. The pointed versions are 9.72gr in .177 and 19.90gr in .22.

The ‘Sport & Field’ pellets have ribbed bodies and the ‘Cutter’ (flatheads) weigh 7.87gr in .177 and 16.51gr in .22. The round-headed ‘Field’ pellets are 8.02gr in .177 and 16.36gr in .22. Lastly, the pointed Fields are 9.41gr in .177 and 19.59gr in .22. The pellets come in tins of 125 and 250 and have worked very well in a variety of spring and PCP air rifles. Weights are very consistent and accuracy is very good and I can see them being very popular in the future.