VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

AA 410CRBSL - .22 cal Carbine - Power Turned Down To 20 FPE - Shooting The Baracuda Green - 12.6 Grain Tin Pellets Over The Chrongraph

VarmintAir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:23:55 -0700

The first thing that I had to do, was to remove the barreled action from the stock, so that I could access the set screw that locks the power control knob down. That's an easy task, because the barreled action is held into the stock with one allen head screw, located just ahead of the trigger guard.

Allen screw loosened, to allow the barreled action to be removed from stock.

With the stock removed, I was able to access the setscrew that is located directly below the power control knob. I had the power control set to maximum, and had it locked down so that I wouldn't accidentally move it while hunting. To turn the power down, I had to loosen the setscrew so the power knob would again turn freely.

Location of setscrew, with allen wrench inserted.

Once I had the setscrew loosened, I put the gun back into the stock, and got ready to do some chrony testing of the Baracuda Green, 12.6 grain tin pellets.

As a starting point, I set the power control to the half way point. I aired the gun up to 3000 psi, loaded a mag with ten Baracuda Greens, and started to shoot.

When hunting in an area where I must use non-lead pellets, I shoot the DYNAMIC PCP-2, 14.5 grain tin pellets in this gun. They give me 20 good shots, with an ES of 29 fps at 27 fpe, before I need to refill with air. Turning the power down, looking for about 20 fpe, I expected to pick up a few more shots, but as we'll see, when also switching to a lighter weight pellet, at the same time the power is turned down, doesn't necessarily mean an increase in shot count.

What actually happened, when shooting the lighter weight Baracuda Green pellets is, I was barely able to keep the original 20 shots with an ES of 31 fps. By the time I got to 25 shots, which was my original goal, the ES was 75 fps. Even though the power was turned down, shot count didn't improve with the lighter pellet, and ES had more than doubled by shot 25.

I have seen this phenomenon before, when testing light weight lead pellets in a gun, compared to it's performance when shooting heavier pellets. A heavier pellet seems to cause the gun to be more efficient in the use of air. I think it probably has something to do with a higher back pressure on the valve when heavier pellets are used.

Next, I again aired the gun up to 3000 psi, and switched to the heavier DYNAMIC PCP-2, tin pellets. I left the power adjuster at the previous half point setting, and started to chrony the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets.

Now this was more like what I was looking for. The 25 shot string started at 777 fps, peaked at 791 fps, and ended at 762 fps. The ES is 29 fps, and the fpe is 19.7 at the muzzle.

I wanted to try the BARACUDA GREEN tin pellets, as a possible alternative to the hard to get DYNAMIC PCP-2's, and they could certainly still be used, but seem to be a bit light in this gun.

I wonder if a regulated gun would maybe overcome this problem of inefficient use of air? I don't have a regulated gun, so until I get one at some point, this question will remain unanswered.

I still have about 10,000 PCP-2's left, and will continue to use them in the AA 410 carbine. I tried the Baracuda Green pellets in my FX Whisper, with similar results. I'll get that information posted at a later date.

I could certainly use the Baracudas in my AA 410 carbine, but would obviously need to refill more often, and that wasn't my goal. But, if at some point they are the only choice in a quality non-lead pellet, I'll certainly do whatever I need to, to keep on hunting in a lead free area.

I've again locked the power control down, except this time it's at the mid setting on the power scale. We are now ready to get after some California Ground Squirrels here in about four or five weeks.

How Do I Clean My Airgun Barrels? - With A, J. Dewey Coated Rod - Pro-Shot Spear Tip Brass Jag - Pro-Shot Cotton Patches - and Beeman MP 5 - Rust Inhibiting Oil

VarmintAir — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:27:08 -0700

Every once in awhile, somebody asks how I clean the barrels on my various airguns. Nothing particularly magic about it.

I've been using a J. Dewey, one piece nylon coated rod, with a Pro-Shot spear tip brass jag on it for many, many decades. The J. Dewey rods are superb quality. Ball bearings in the handle let the rod easily rotate as it pushes a brush or patch through the bore, and the nylon coating is first rate.

I was a Dealer of theirs for many, many years, and sold thousands of their cleaning rods. I never had a single rod returned for any reason whatsoever. Really good stuff.

For cleaning PCP barrels with shrouds, I prefer the Pro-Shot spear tip jag, to the one that Dewey supplies with their rods. When I am going through several baffles before coming to the barrel muzzle, the spear tip jag holds the patch better than the original jag, which has a tapered tip without the straight portion, that the Pro-Shot spear tip jag has. There is a short female to female adapter that is required to allow the use of the spear tip jag on a Dewey rod. The adapter is also made by Pro-Shot.

Pro-Shot spear tip jag, with adapter for use with the Dewey rod.

I clean from the muzzle, because when cleaning with a rod, that is typically the only option on most PCP's. Once I start the patch into the end of the shroud, I do not change direction. Not even a little bit. That will knock the patch off in the baffles. Once I start, I just keep the forward motion going, and I haven't found hitting the bore to be difficult at all. I haven't knocked a patch off in the baffles in years.

I use Beeman MP5 as a cleaning solution, and put a couple of drops on a proper size Pro-Shot cotton patch. I run the patch down the barrel in a short back and forth scrubbing action, until it exits at the chamber end of the barrel.

I will typically use four or five patches with MP5 on them, and then switch to clean dry patches, until one comes out clean enough that I'm satisfied.

Some barrels clean up really fast, and others take more scrubbing with MP5. I just eyeball the patches, and decide by their appearance when the bore is clean.

Pro-Shot spear tip brass jag with patch.

I always laugh when I see the internet gurus telling folks that they will ruin their airgun's barrel if they use a cleaning rod on it. Like these barrels are made from the same stuff that drinking straws are made of. I've checked all of mine with a magnet, and they are all made of some type of steel. Much harder than the pellets I shoot in them, much harder than the brass jag I clean them with, and no, the barrel won't bend if you lean the gun against it in the corner.

Use a quality one piece coated rod, with a brass jag, using quality patches, and the idea that you are somehow going to damage the barrel is total nonsense. Myself, and several friends have been cleaning our airguns this way for decades. Never an issue of any kind, and some of our guns are close to 40 years old, and shoot as good today as when they were new.

To hear the gurus tell it, these barrels are very delicate, and you have to pull the cleaning patch through from the chamber to muzzle, and you must use patches made from a 15 year old virgins belly button lint soaked in extra, extra virgin cleaning solution.

They seem to imply that just leaving your gun in the same room with a cleaning rod could do serious harm to your barrel. Where do these guys come up with this stuff?

Anyway, I've been using this method successfully for many decades, on a lot of expensive and very accurate airguns, and don't see any reason to change, and not only that, but 15 year old virgins are getting harder, and harder to find.

FX Whisper .22 - Prepped For 2012 - California Ground Squirrel Adventures

VarmintAir — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:29:49 -0700

Ground squirrel hunting, in my corner of the world, kicks off in about five weeks. This year, I'm going to campaign several different rifles, including my FX Whisper. I haven't shot this rifle in about three years.

I've owned her for about five or six years, and she was one of the main players in the production of my DVD, "Airgun Hunting the California Ground Squirrel." The way I have her currently set, she generates about 24 fpe, shooting the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets, and the accuracy is excellent.

If you happen to have a copy of my DVD, the last half of the video was shot using this rifle and the PCP-2 pellets. There are kills out to just under 100 yards using that pellet. She drives the PCP-2's at an average of 871 fps.

The FX Whisper is a fairly light weight rifle. I wanted to add some weight, so I mounted a Simmons 6.5-20x50mm scope on her. With the camera mounted, she tips the scale at just under 8.5 pounds. Light enough to carry all day, yet heavy enough to hold steady in my Stoney Point bipod, when taking a shot.

I'm also going to try the H&N Baracuda Green tin pellets in her, and see how they perform. The DYNAMIC tin pellets have become very scarce, so it would be nice to have a readily available alternative.

The next thing that I need to do, is clean the barrel, and get her sighted in. I'm also going to set up the chronograph, and see what she is doing, velocity wise, with the Baracuda Green pellets. The DYNAMIC PCP-2's are 14.5 grains, and the Baracudas are 12.6 grains, so I'm thinking the velocity will probably be over 900 fps with the Baracudas.

I get 36 shots on a 2900 psi fill. That's three mags, and that is typically more than enough for a two or three hour hunt.

I'm also going to campaign with my AA 410 CRBSL .22 carbine, and my Marauder .22 cal rifle this year. This should spread the load a bit, and make for some very fun squirrel hunting. I can hardly wait to get started. H-minus five weeks and counting.

As in the past, I'll be posting the hunting stories, with embedded videos, here on the blog.

More to come in February.

AA 410CRBSL - .22 cal Carbine - Going To Turn The Power Down To 20 FPE - To Use With The Baracuda Green - 12.6 Grain Tin Pellets

VarmintAir — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:10:39 -0700

Man, the past few months have just been crazy busy, and because of that, there hasn't been much time for airguns, or the blog. It's looking like January is going to be more of the same, so I thought I would take a little bit of the down time available between Christmas and New Years, to adjust my AA 410CRBSL carbine down to about 20 fpe at the muzzle.

I plan to hunt it with the relatively new, H&N 12.6 grain, Baracuda non-lead tin, .22 cal pellets on California ground squirrels next year.

For all practical purposes, I'm out of serious hunting with springers, and have made the complete switch to PCP's. Just a better tool for what I do.

Last spring and summer, I hunted exclusively with my new Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol/carbine. The gun, shooting 12.8 grain, DYNAMIC Sn-2 tin pellets, generates 13 fpe at the muzzle. That was essentially the same power as my R9, or HW97 .20 cals, and doing it in a PCP repeater carbine, that is recoilless, accurate, quiet, and weighs 4+ pounds less than either of those guns. I was loving it.

I was hunting very steep terrain, at elevations that at times were close to 6,000 feet, and humping a heavy rifle around in those conditions gets old real fast. The Marauder pistol/carbine was awesome to hunt with in those areas.

There were some situations however, where the terrain was to steep and rugged, to allow me to get close enough to take some nice shots on squirrels in the 70/75 yard range. With my P-Rod doing 13 fpe, my self imposed range limit, is just a little over 60 yards. So I had to pass on those 70/75 yard shots, but it got me to thinking about a carbine doing about 20 fpe, that would reach out there, in that inaccessible terrain, and roll those furballs with ease.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I already owned the solution. My AA 410CRBSL .22 cal carbine, turned down to 20 fpe, would be just about ideal. It currently does 27 fpe for 20 shots, with the 14.5 grain DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets, so using the power adjuster to cut it back to 20 fpe, shooting the 12.6 grain Baracuda Green pellets was a no brainer.

So why not just shoot it as is? Well, because I don't need 27 fpe at the muzzle to cleanly kill ground squirrels at 75 yards, and dropping it back to 20 fpe will increase the shot count by some number, as yet not known.

Also, in my experience, most light pellets do not do real well accuracy wise when driven ultra fast.

I also want to test the H&N non-lead offering, just in case the DYNAMICS become unobtainium in the future.

Using one of the online calculators, I determined that I need an average muzzle velocity of 845 fps, to produce 20 fpe at the muzzle, with the 12.6 grain pellet.

According to my past notes, this rifle is launching the 14.5 grain DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets at an average of 911 fps, for an average of 27 fpe at the muzzle. That's with the power control set wide open. At that setting, I'm sure it will be launching the 12.6 grain Baracudas at close to 1000 fps, or maybe a bit more. I don't need that kind of velocity, and that's one of the reasons why I'll be adjusting the power down to give me about 20 fpe at the muzzle.

I'll get the chronograph set up here soon, and report back with my findings. It will be interesting to see what happens to the shot count, when the power is dropped from 27 fpe, to 20 fpe. Probably nothing major, but I should pick up a few more shots.

More to come.

Category - "Hunting Video Library" - Updated

VarmintAir — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:36:10 -0700

Marauder .25 cal, with camera and Abert's tree squirrel.

I've finally had a chance to add the new videos I shot on hunts this past spring and summer, to the "Hunting Video Library" category of the blog. For those who don't know, the "Hunting Video Library" is where I post all of the videos I shoot during hunts. They are posted without the associated stories that would normally go with them. It now includes most of the videos from various hunts over the past two and a half years.

This way, folks who just want to watch the hunting videos, have them all located in one place.

There are video clips located in the Library, that I shot while hunting with the following guns. AA 510TC .22......Marauder .25......Marauder pistol .22......AA 410 ERBSL .22......AA 410 CRBSL .22......FX 2000 .22......Discovery .177......FX Whisper .22......and my RWS Rapier .22.

To find the "Hunting Video Library" just scroll down the side bar, on the left of the main blog page here, to the "Categories" section. Scroll down it until you come to the "Hunting Video Library" heading, and click on it. That will take you to the Library section.

If you click on the "Hunting Videos" category, and not the "Hunting Video Library" category, it will take you to a section of the blog that has the hunting stories with their associated videos embedded.

The "Hunting Video Library" is made up of individual videos only. Scroll through the offerings, until you see something you would like to view, click on the arrow, and after loading, the video will play. I hope you enjoy watching the clips.

RWS Rapier .22 cal, with video camera mounted.

PCP - Vs - Springer .... Snow blower - Vs - Snow Shovel .... Power Steering - Vs - Manual Steering .... No Contest

VarmintAir — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:25:46 -0700

FX Monsoon, .22. Have yet to see a semi-auto springer.

FWB 124D, .177

AA 410ERBSL .22

HW97, .20 cal

Benjamin Marauder Pistol, .22

Beeman R9, .20 cal

Benjamin Discovery .177

Theoben Crusader .20 cal

I've been shooting springers for over four decades. It took awhile to learn to shoot them even halfway decent. It took even longer to learn to shoot them really well, but I did.

I shot them, because four decades ago, that's what was available to me. You either learned to master their weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, or you moved on to other things. SSP's, MSP's, and Co2 guns held no interest for me.

I primarily hunt with my airguns, and living in the windy, wide open spaces of the West, a lot of the shooting I do is at long range, as in 80 to 100+ yards in the wind. For years, I was frustrated with the lack of performance of my springers at long range, especially in the wind.

To try and get a gun that was capable, power wise, of doing what I needed, I purchased a Theoben Crusader .20 cal. The Dealer talked me out of the more powerful Eliminator, and I'm glad he did. The Crusader was beautifully made. The fit and finish were second to none. It was producing about 17/18 fpe at the muzzle. After one season in the field with it though, I moved it along. Why? Because the thing weighed a ton, took about 45 pounds of cocking effort, and the recoil was substantial. Cocking that thing 100 plus times on a ground squirrel hunt, the weight, and the substantial recoil, took the fun out of hunting with it, and in the end, hunting with airguns, for me, is about having fun.

I eventually bought two PCP's. The first was my Logun MK II in .20 cal, and the second was a Logun Solo, in .22. Man, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now we're talking. None of this hold sensitivity nonsense anymore. I put up with that kind of thing for decades. Not because it made me feel cool, or a cut above other shooters because I could shoot a springer really well. I put up with it because I basically had no choice.

When I decided to go PCP, a whole new world of long range varmint shooting opened up to me. Similar to when I went from shooting rimfires, and bought my first .22 hornet, and then a .22-250. Wow, what a difference in down range performance. Same with the difference between springers and PCP's.

I'm always hearing, "yeah, but there's more stuff to buy to be able to shoot a PCP." So what. There's more stuff involved to owning a car, compared to owning a bicycle. To me, the huge increase in down range performance I get from hunting with PCP's, makes it more than worthwhile to deal with the few extra things needed to use them.

I don't dislike my springers. If I did, I wouldn't own any, but I'm not so blind, that I believe they are in the same league as my PCP's. I hang onto most of them for nostalgic reasons. I've had a lot of fun with them over the decades. I used to have tube amps, turntables, and LP records too, but there are better choices today. Same with my airguns, there are better choices than springers for what I do today. Those choices are about PCP airguns of various types.

A common complaint is, "PCP's are easier to shoot than springers. It's harder to miss when shooting PCP's than it is with springers, and that's boring." I guess extreme accuracy can bore some folks, not me. Like a springer being difficult to shoot, is some sort of admirable attribute. Believe it or not, when I pick up a PCP to shoot something, not missing is actually my goal. I've spent four decades shooting springers, I've proven many times over to myself, that in spite of their issues, I've learned to shoot them quite well. I don't view that as some kind of merit badge. I view that as something that I had no real choice in. Learn to do it or move on. I've enjoyed all of the springer issues I can for one lifetime.

Another complaint about PCP's is, "they're boring, they have no personality." There is absolutely nothing boring about shooting a gun, that I know will put a pellet in a ground squirrel, or prairie dogs head at 100+ yards, in the wind, and do it on demand time after time. Boring? No way! Yeah, you do need a high level of shooting skill to do that time after time.

Springer shooters, when deriding PCP's, love to say, "but, but, they leak." Well they most certainly can, however I haven't personally found that to be an issue. The implication being, that springers are perfect little angels, that never cause any problems at all.

Except, if you've spent more than ten minutes on any of the airgun forums, you can't help but notice the never ending posts about broken springs and other parts, seals that are shot, barrels that are bent from letting them go when cocking, and they slam shut in the receiver. When that happens, in addition to bending the barrel, a good part of the time, they also break the stock at the pistol grip. Worst possible case, they take off a finger tip or worse. We really shouldn't skip the fact that the heavy recoil eats scopes. The fact that you have to practically weld the rings to the receiver to keep them from slipping is another fine attribute of springers. Another is, the action screws that are constantly vibrating loose, and the list goes on.

Another claim is, learning to shoot a springer well, will make you a better shooter with other types of guns. Not for me it didn't. What made me a better shooter overall, is decades of long range varmint shooting with powder burners. Decades of learning to shoot prairie dogs, and rock chucks at 400, and 500+ yards, in the wind, with lots of running mirage, is what made me the shooter I am today. Not shooting spring powered airguns.

Some of the guns I used were custom varmint rifles built to benchrest specs, in calibers like, .257 Ackley Improved, .264 Win Mag, .25-06, .22-250 Ackley Improved, and .220 swift. By the way, what we considered long range back in those days, is now considered to be medium range at best.

Shooting springers, just taught me to shoot springers well. All that I know about long range shooting in the wind and mirage, came from decades of shooting powder burners. What I learned there mapped over quite nicely to shooting PCP's today, at long range, in the wind with running mirage.

So like my snow shovel, (springer) has it's place in dealing with the winter snows, (small jobs like clearing the porch) my snow blower, (PCP) is what I reach for when I need a serious tool to deal with a foot or two of snow in the driveway, or a PCP, when shooting prairie dogs at 80 plus yards in the wind is the rule of the day.

I rarely shoot my springers anymore. There is just something addictive about shooting a powerful, recoilless rifle, where many times I can watch the pellet in flight, as it zeros in on a ground squirrel, or prairie dogs head at 80 plus yards.

I've used springers for years, I've learned to shoot them quite well inspite of the issues they bring to the party. Over the years, I've embraced power steering, power brakes, and automatic transmissions on my vehicles. I can still drive a stick, and manual steering and brakes wouldn't be an issue, but why, when there are much better choices for the kind of driving I do today. The same reason I've gone from hunting with springers to hunting with PCP's. The PCP is just a much better tool for what I do.

Another slam against PCP's you hear quite often is, when going hunting you have to take so much extra stuff. Assuming that you are hunting legally, that is nonsense. The daily bag limits are way less than the number of shots you're going to get from a PCP. My lowest shot count PCP, is my Discovery, and that's only because I have it set to give me 15 shots with a very low extreme spread.

I have never even come close to running out of air when hunting tree squirrels (limit 5) with that gun. The same when hunting cottontails. The limit is ten, but I never take more than two or three on a hunt. So claiming that there just aren't enough shots from a PCP, when hunting game legally, is a false statement, and just another lame excuse. Or, just maybe, some guys are such poor shots, that when shooting a springer, they need to shoot a pocket full of pellets to get their five squirrels.

When I do take air, it's actually only two or three extra pieces. The tank, a hose, and maybe a fill probe. What? Like that takes an extra hour to put in the truck? The reality is, 90 percent of the time I'm hunting, I'll never use even one fill of air. The same guys, that complain about extra gear to shoot PCP's, have no problem taking extra stuff so they can eat and stay warm. Like an ice chest, with ice, food and drink. Not to mention folding chairs, extra clothes, hats, and toilet paper. If they're camping over, there's a ton more stuff they take. The claim of too much additional gear needed to shoot PCP's is just another lame excuse.

Next week, weather permitting, I'm hoping to go tree squirrel hunting. The gun of choice is my AA 410CRBSL .22 carbine. What will go with me is, the gun, it gives me 20 shots on a fill, and one magazine holding 10 rounds. The squirrel limit is five. The chances that I will actually have a shot at five squirrels are very slim, and if I do, the chances that I will need ten shots to take five squirrels, are also very slim. These guys are well spread out around the forest, and two or three shots at squirrels is more typical. I'm not seeing any advantage to hunting with a springer. With my PCP, I've got 28 fpe of easily controlled, accurate, recoilless energy at my finger tips, and I don't have to think about any of the issues that come with shooting springers.

I can see the sport of plinking, as being where a springer could really shine, but I don't plink, so in my corner of the world, doing what I do with airguns, I've made the jump to PCP's and never look back.

Springers don't do well out here.

When the wind is doing this, and the shots are going to be long.

Benjamin Marauder, .25 cal PCP. Prairie dogs to 100+ yards, in the wind, is a non issue with this rig.

At the distances that I shoot varmints, when it comes to the power and accuracy needed to do the job, I'll take one of my PCP's over any springer, every time.

Are PCP's for everyone? Nope, but for what I do with airguns, I made the jump from springers to PCP's years ago, have never regretted it, and I won't be going back anytime soon.

AA 410CRBSL - A Real Quick Look - At the H&N Baracuda Green - Non-Lead Pellets - and Sighting-In - With the Beeman Kodiak - 21 Grain Lead Pellets

VarmintAir — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:05:40 -0700

Time constraints have required, that I change my original plans, about an in depth test of the Baracuda Green non-lead pellets until Spring. I won't need them until then anyway, so the test will have to wait.

I did shoot one 25 yard group with them, while sighting in my AA 410 CRBSL carbine, with 21 grain Kodiak lead pellets.

I got my wind flags set up, and since I had a fresh, newly cleaned barrel, I decided to shoot five of the Baracuda Green, 12.6 grain pellets, and see what they would do at 25 yards. This rifle shoots the 14.5 grain DYNAMIC tin pellets at an average of 911 fps, so I'm guessing that these 12.6 grain Baracuda's are probably close to, or maybe a bit over 1000 fps.

In my experience, light pellets don't generally do real well when driven overly fast, so my expectations weren't very high, but I had them with me, and a clean barrel, so thought what the heck, I'll put five down range and see what I get. I was actually surprised by the result.

Shooting stand and wind flag set up. Shooting off of bags front and rear.

The first shot out of the clean barrel, on the target below, is the one at 6 o'clock. Shots two, three, and four, followed each other, pretty much through the same hole, and shot five was just slightly low right at 4 0clock. The orange dot measures 3/4ths of an inch. I'm sure these are doing around 1000 fps. My plan is to start slowing them down using the power adjuster on the rifle, and try and see if there is maybe a sweet spot where they group exceptionally well. As in, through the same hole at 25 yards.

I would like to see if the AA 410 would shoot like that at around 20 fpe muzzle energy. This would make for a great light weight ground squirrel gun, and at 20 fpe, would be plenty of power to kill them out to 70+ yards or so. The clean barrel flyer, kind of screwed up the group, but the other four tell me they want to shoot. For sure, I'll be spending more time testing these H&N lead free pellets.

Five 12.6 grain Baracuda Green tin pellets shot at 25 yards.

Next, I put the target out at 40 yards, and sighted in the AA 410CRBSL with the 21 grain Beeman Kodiak lead pellets. The shot at 12 o'clock, was the first out of the barrel after shooting the tin. The next four clustered nice and tight just below it. The orange dot measures 3/16ths of an inch in diameter.

I'll see that first shot flyer quite often, when switching from tin to lead, or back, when I don't clean the barrel in between. Actually, I'll sometimes see the same thing, where the first shot or two are out of the rest of the group, even when switching between brands of lead pellets.

Sighting in with 21 grain lead, Beeman Kodiak pellets.

Next, holding at 6 o'clock on the eye, I fired a couple of shots at the head of a Prairie Chuck target. After that I decided that the gun was sighted in, and ready to hunt. The eye measures 5/16ths of an inch in diameter.

I spent a couple of hours putting the sneak on the resident tree squirrels. I saw three, but never got a shot at any of them, but still, it was great being out in the forest with an airgun, doing what I love to do.

Got Wind Flags?

VarmintAir — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:21:59 -0700

A few days ago, I finally had a chance to get out and do some shooting and accuracy testing, and once again, I was reminded of why it is so important to use wind flags when doing serious testing of guns and pellets.

As usual, the day was breezy, with the wind constantly shifting and swirling. Trying to test a gun and pellets for accuracy in these conditions, without a way to manage the wind, is a complete waste of time and ammo.

I often wonder how many guns and pellets have been condemned as being inaccurate, when the real issue is the lack of wind management while testing. Especially at longer ranges like 50 yards and beyond.

Anyone that has spent any time on the airgun forums, has seen the posts about the unexplained fliers, that inexplicably suddenly show up, and then disappear, or the unexplained reason for accuracy suddenly going away one day, but then returning the next.

One possible cause, is that the shooter is completely ignoring the effects of the wind on a pellet, or explains the wind away by stating that it really didn't amount to very much, maybe just a few miles per hour or less, you know, barely detectible. As though a few miles per hour of wind, or a barely detectible wind doesn't have any effect on airgun pellets. Believe me it does, and a lot more than the average guy would ever think.

Then throw in the fact that the wind isn't a constant velocity, nor is it always coming from the same direction, and it's no wonder so many guys have so much trouble shooting consistent groups with their guns.

Here's an example of what was going on the other day, when I was out to do some pellet testing, and re-sight-in my AA 410CRBSL carbine.

First thing I did, was to get my wind flags out, assemble them, and then just set them aside while I was getting out other gear. While doing that, I would watch the set of flags to see if the wind was coming from a prevailing direction, this would help me decide where I would place my target frame when I was ready to start shooting.

At one point, I took the above picture, waited a little bit, and then took the picture below.

The wind had shifted, and was coming from the opposite direction, and that was what was being indicated with the flags all grouped together in one place. I know from experience, that once I get the flags dispersed down range, they will, more often than not, show that the wind is coming from several different directions simultaneously, over a fifty yard distance, and it gets even more complex as you extend the range to longer distances.

You cannot ignore what the wind is doing, or pretend that it really isn't all that much of a factor at your place, and expect to get any useful information about pellet accuracy from a specific gun. There's a reason that benchrest shooters, and those boys are super serious about accuracy, have a sea of wind flags out when shooting matches, or practicing. They know, what even a very slight puff of air does to a pellet in flight.

You cannot see that, with any degree of accuracy, with just the naked eye. You need a way to see what the wind is doing along the pellets flight path, and wind flags will allow you to do that. You still have to learn to read them, and use the information they provide correctly, but they are an amazing tool, and an item that anyone serious about learning how their guns are shooting, and shooting specific pellets, should have in their gear bag.

The below photos show a couple of targets that I shot as examples, a couple of years ago, to show precisely what reading a set of wind flags can bring to the party. As I recall, the range was 50 yards.

On the first target, I used the flags to select the worst possible moment to fire the shot. My aim point, was the pellet hole in the middle of the head. As you can see, the wind was running left to right, and back again. I fired each shot during the shifts. Not pretty, but because I was reading the flags, I knew exactly what to expect, and I knew it wouldn't be pretty.

I could have just as easily been John Doe Shooter, pellet testing in those same conditions, without any flags, getting the same exact results, and then deciding that my gun is inaccurate, or the pellets stink, or both.

On the second target, I read the flags, and fired each shot during a lull that was repeating, just before the wind changed direction again. Same gun, same pellet, same conditions, completely different result. All of a sudden, a pellet that shot lousy out of this rifle, a .25 cal Marauder, was incredibly accurate, but to discover the accuracy of this pellet in this rifle, I had to manage the wind factor. A set of wind flags gave me the ability to do that.

You can still see some horizontal dispersion from the wind, but compared to the first target, it has all but been eliminated, and without the use of my flags, I wouldn't have come even close, to being able to see what this pellet, the Beeman Kodiak, was capable of out of this rifle.

Final sight-in target, shot on the same day at 65 yards. With the flags indicating zero wind.

If you are really serious about testing for accuracy, get yourself a set of wind flags and learn to use them, you'll be glad that you did.

Six Hunting Rifles In My Collection - That Are At the Top Of the Accuracy Pyramid.

VarmintAir — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:02:33 -0700

FWB 300S sporter .177

Over the fifty plus years that I have been hunting, and shooting, both powder burners and airguns, there have been some rifles that have stood well above their peers in the accuracy department. This FWB 300S is one of them. I call it my 300S sporter. It doesn't have the barrel sleeve, so that helps to keep the weight down, and the stock is some kind of hardwood that has been stained a dark brown. I bought the rifle new, from Beeman, back in the early seventies, but there are no Beeman markings on the gun anywhere. Interesting.

Accuracy wise, the gun is exceptional. I use it to take ground squirrels, with head shots, out to 45 yards. This rifle will shoot either the 7.9 grain JSB Exact Express, or the 8.4 grain JSB Exact pellets really well, with a slight edge going to the 8.4 grain Exact . The rifle generates just under 7 fpe at the muzzle.

With the race for more and more power in todays airguns, some folks miss out on just how effective, and efficient a gun like the FWB 300S can be, as a tool for controlling certain types of small vermin, such as ground squirrels.

I've killed literally thousands, and thousands, of California Ground Squirrels with it over the years. It's a keeper for sure.

FWB 300S Tyrolean .177

Another exceptional shooter is my FWB 300S Tyrolean. It's basically the same gun as my 300S sporter, just sitting in a Tyrolean style walnut stock. This rifle has the barrel weight/sleeve on it, and that adds some weight. Especially out front. Again, this rifle is death on ground squirrels out to 45 yards.

The pellet of choice here is the 8.4 grain JSB Exact. For some reason, the JSB Exact Express do not do well in this rifle. It's a bit on the heavy side, but I really enjoy getting her out for a ground squirrel, or chipmunk hunt a couple of times a year.

FX/RWS/Rapier .22

The folks at FX Airguns in Sweden, make some exceptional air rifles. Somewhere along the way, they private labeled their Timber Wolf model as the Rapier, for RWS to market under their brand name. The one that I own is one of the most accurate airguns in my collection. In good conditions, it will literally put 18 grain JSB's through the same hole at 50 yards. The sporter type turkish walnut stock, just adds to the classiness of this very accurate rifle.

Instead of a magazine, this rifle has a two shot shuttle. It works great, and I use it to hunt both ground squirrels in California, as well as tree squirrels and prairie dogs here in Arizona.

FX/RWS/Rapier .22

FX 2000 .22, in factory walnut stock.

My FX 2000 was the first FX built gun that I purchased. I acquired it used, and the fellow I got it from told me it was exceptionally accurate, and he wasn't wrong. Like the RWS Rapier, this rifle will also stack 18 grain JSB's at 50 yards.

I used this rifle while filming the first half of my DVD, "Airgun Hunting the California Ground Squirrel." The performance with both 15.9 grain JSB's, and 14.5 grain DYNAMIC tin pellets, has been exceptional. This is the rifle that truly got me hooked on PCP's, pretty much for ever.

No recoil, superb accuracy, that easily surpasses many of my high dollar .22 rimfires, with power to cleanly take ground squirrels, and prairie dogs out to 100+ yards. How can you not get hooked on that kind of performance.

FX 2000 .22, in custom Blackwidow laminate stock.

I have a Benjamin Marauder in .22, that I have been very, very, happy with, so when I heard that Crosman was going to bring the Marauder out in .25, I knew that I would have to add one to the collection, and I haven't been disappointed.

My .22 Marauder is very accurate. It hangs right with my AA 410 ERBSL, FX Whisper, and Logun MK II in that department.

My .25 Marauder however, is in that group I mentioned in the title of this story. She is definitely at the top of the accuracy pyramid.

While pellet testing, I was blown away by the accuracy of this particular rifle. The first year I hunted with her, I had her shooting the Beeman 31 grain Kodiaks. I remember, that on my final sight-in target, she stacked five Kodiaks into a group at 65 yards, that I could easily cover with a dime. I then went on to kill prairie dogs with her, out past 100 yards. Incredible accuracy and power, from a PCP that didn't cost a grand or two. This rifle is a keeper, and will remain in my collection for many years to come.

Marauder .25, in custom laminate stock.

Last, but not least, in my collection of super accurate rifles, is the latest addition, my .22 caliber AA 510 TC. I just added this rifle this past Spring.

The design of this gun kind of intrigued me. Instead of the usual big honkin bottle screwed into the end of the receiver, to increase shot count, the folks at AA went with twin cylinders mounted side by side. Much like with a side by side shotgun.

Having hunted quail with side by side 20's, and 12's, for many decades, I was curious about how this rifle would feel in my hands. I love it. It is a little bit muzzle heavy, and I like that in a long range varmint rifle. I shoot from a Stoney Point telescoping bipod, and this rig sits very nicely on the bipod's yoke, and really helps when going for those long range shots in the wind.

If you've followed any of my prairie dog hunt stories with this rifle, and watched any of the videos, then you've seen me take a bunch of dogs all of the way out to just shy of 100 yards with it.

The accuracy is definitely at the top of the accuracy pyramid in my collection. Her pellet of choice is the 18 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy.

AA 510 TC .22

A lot of various guns have passed through my hands over the past five plus decades, but with very few exceptions, the ones that were exceptional, accuracy wise, are still in my collection. The vast majority of guns are accurate, but once in awhile, one comes along that is exceptionally so, and those are the ones that I really cherish, and they find a permanent home in my collection.

At the present time, these six rifles are the cream of the crop among the guns in my airsenal, and none of them are going anywhere, well............... except varmint and small game hunting.

Prepping For 2011 Tree Squirrel Season

VarmintAir — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:00:17 -0700

Tree squirrel season opens here at the the end of the month, so I want to be sure that I'm ready for the opener. This will be my fifth season of hunting these big Abert's Tree Squirrels that inhabit the Ponderosa Pine forests here in Northern Arizona.

As you would expect, the terrain varies quite a bit within the forest area. There are places that are relatively flat, with meadows, or parks as they are called around here, interspersed throughout the area. I like to hunt the edges of the parks, on back a couple of hundred yards into the forest.

Sometimes I'll come across a game trail, and then I'll hunt along, and to the sides of that for a couple of hours. One of the other things that adds a lot of fun to the hunts, is the fact that there are a couple of types of ground squirrels, and a chipmunk that also inhabit these forests, and it's fun to hunt them at the same time I'm after the Abert's Tree Squirrels.

There are also areas that are fairly steep, and thickly populated with Gambel's Oaks, as well as the Ponderosa Pines. I find that both the steep, or flat areas can produce squirrels, but I prefer different guns for the two different types of terrain.

In the Areas where the terrain is steep, and the fact that the shots there are rarely over 40/50 yards, I want a fairly light, fast handling gun along on those hunts. In those areas that I hunt, that are more open and flat, I prefer a gun that has a bit more weight, with plenty of power to take these big squirrels out to 70/80 yards.

My choices this year, are going to be my .22 cal, AA 410 CRBSL carbine, for the light gun, and my .22 cal Benjamin Marauder, for the longer range hunts. Both guns are superbly accurate, and I've used both to take Abert's squirrels with in the past.

In the Marauder, I'll be shooting the Beeman Kodiak 21 grain Pellets, and in the AA 410 CRBSL, I'll be shooting the 16 grain JSB Exact Jumbo's.

Both guns have 5-15x40mm Bushnell Legends, with mildot reticles, mounted on them. I run the scopes at 8x for all of my hunting.

Since I last shot them, I've done some scope and mount swapping on both guns, so I need to shoot them on paper, and make sure they are properly sighted in for the task at hand. I've gone from high mounts, to mediums on both guns, and prefer how the scopes come to my eye with the mediums.

With the CRBSL Carbine, I'll zero her at 40 yards, and with the Marauder, I'll zero her at 60 yards. Then shoot my over and unders with each gun. Note those on a card that I tape to the stock of each rifle, and I'll be ready for opening day.

The plan is to get both guns out into the forest next week, get the sight-in work taken care of, and just for the heck of it, since I just cleaned the barrels on both guns, try some of the H&N, Baracuda Green, non-lead pellets in them, and see how they shoot.

As usual, I've put camera mounts on both guns, with the idea of video taping some of the hunting action in real time.

Should be a lot of fun.

Large male Abert's tree squirrel, taken with .22 Marauder a couple of years ago.