Topic: Any other backyards "plinkers" out there?

[Dracho]

This started with a squirrel problem.. I have squirrels living in my attic.  The varmits are chewing the insulation off of the electrical wiring, so a truce just isn't an option.  Rocky has to die.

Well, as usual, after starting out I found myself off on a side tangent that I never intended to go down.  I was in Wal-Mart and saw a Beeman model 1073 break-barrel pellet rifle.  Now, I know that Beeman is a fine, German engineered weapon that usually sells for hundreds of dollars.  Well, apparently they are experimenting with the notion of building some in China and selling them for around $100.  I couldn't help it... surely this thing would be a veritable "blunderbuss" when it comes to sniping the rodents who are attemting to burn down my house.  The pellet rifle came home with me.  Oh.. the side tangent.. I haven't shot at a squirrel yet, but when the wife gets back from her friend's wedding in San Antonio, I expect she'll have something to say about the shooting range that mysteriously sprung up in our backyard.

The Beeman Model 1073 comes with a Beeman 9x32 scope and 2 interchangable barrels.. a traditional .177 caliber pellet (that's 4.5mm for you metric users), and the larger, heavy-hitting .22 caliber.  The manufacturer claims the .177 will travel at over 1000 feet per second, and the .22 at over 800 fps.  it also has an adjustable tirgger.

After firing it a few times I decided the scope wasn't powerful enough, so I replaced it with a Winchester 3x9x32 zoomable pellet rifle scope.  I did discover that a break-barrel pellet rifle requires a scope specially designed for pellet rifles.  It uses a powerful spring to drive a pneumatic piston to generate the PSI required to drive the projectile, so the rifle recoils both rearward and forward and if you do not use a scope designed for a break-barrel air rifle (such as a regular rifle scope) it'll actually break the optics fairly quickly.

After some testing I replaced the .22 barrel with the .177.  The accuracy on the .22 was just not there, and the projectile start a parabolic arc within 10 yards.  What really amazes me is how much of a difference the pellet ammunition you choose makes.  I think a picture is worth a thousand words, so in the following few posts I'll show you shot patterns for each type of ammo I tested, and provide any comments.

I generally fired 12 rounds of each type.  The rifle was supported on a front rest and I shoulder-supported the rear of the gun.  Targets were a uniform 25 yards away and there was a brisk 25mph crosswind with gusts up to 40.

[Dracho]

This is the first set of ammunition I tested:  Gamo Match Diablo Pellets in 7.71GR caliber .177.  I fired 20 rounds to test the scope adjustments I had previously made.  This is the ammo I used to zero the gun, so you will see later that some other ammo has a decent shot pattern and would have been on the bullseye if I had zeroed with that ammo.  I do think this proves that if you are using a pellet rifle for target practice or for varmit dispatching, you should try several types of ammo,  pick the best performing in your weapon, sight with it, and stick to it.

[Dracho]

This next set of ammo was the Gamo Hunter Impact.  It is a bullet shaped .177 cal pellet that weights 7.56 gr.  As you can see, it's a decent pattern with reasonable accuracy (remember this is scoped from 25 yards).

[Dracho]

The third set of ammo I shot (most of these came in a Gamo sample pack) was the Gamo Master Point (designed for penetration and nearly went through the 1/16 steel realtor (old one given my by my realtor) sign I used as a backstop) in .177 caliber (grain is not shown).  As you can see, the pattern is acceptable, but if I shot this regularly, I'd need to adjust my scope.
By the way, I use Dirty Bird splatter targets, so the tiny dots all over the target are from the lead dispersing.

[Dracho]

The fourth set of ammo was the Gamo Magnum Pellet in .177 (again no grain is listed).  I am not impressed by the shot grouping of this pellet in my rifle, and do not think adjusting the sights would do anything for this shot pattern. 

[Dracho]

This next set of ammo was the Crossman Premier Hollowpoint Hunting Pellet in .177.  The shot grouping is impressive and I could adjust this patter to be dead-on.  The downside to this ammo is that there seems to be a serious quality control issue with its manufacturer.  I had to discard every 5th or 6th pellet because it was grossly misformed, and the difference in diameter as evidenced by how snugly the pellet fit into the chamber varied greatly from pellet to pellet.

Ironically, the one in the bullseye was a stray off of the regular pattern.  That was another issue with this ammo, while most pellets seemed to be grouped well, at least 1 out of a dozen just went where it wanted to.. I attribute this to the volume of deformities present.

[Dracho]

The last ammo I shot (aren't you glad?) was the Crossman Silver Eagle Supersonic Hollowpoint in .177.  It is made of something other than lead and travels faster than the speed of sound, at least in my rifle.  While the pattern is not overly impressive, there is a very satisfying "crack" report when the round leaves the weapon.  I would not recommend this ammo if you have nearby neighbors who would frighten easily because the pellet rifle sounds like a .22 caliber rifle firing.

[Sirgod]

Very Nice groupings. Seems to hit a little high with some of the latter ammo. Might want to play with the scope seatings a little bit there.

Stephen

[Capt. Mike]

Dracho, didn't you move to PA (or am I thinking of someone else)..

if it's rural enough, buy a .22 rifle and use real ammo..for that matter, even a .410 shotgun can take out a squirrel's armor, let alone porcupine, possum, and chipmunks   

Mike


Oh, and BTW..some squirrel recipes  http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html   


                                                                     



Mike

[TheJudge]

We live in River Park, a nice little subdivision with one exit to the main roads.  The American River is just a few blocks away for fishing, swimming, boating fun.  Sacramento State is literally just down the street (Carlson is the exit street onto J/Fair Oaks.  It is also the intersection with the main entrance to Sac State on the far side).  There are tons of old trees in this area, and you can't go for a walk without seeing at least half a dozen squirrels.  Last month there were wild turkeys walking around in the front yard, and we have a perrennial problem with Marsh Herons making their nests.  Right now a typical pigeon has made a nest in the far corner of the front porch.  Smart bird.  We're liberal enough to leave the bird's nest there until the little eggs inside hatch  and are fledged then they get kicked out. 

Now, we have a couple of squirrels that like to run around between our house and the neighbor's house.  There's a walnut tree that is in a back neighbor's yard that has branches crossing over into our yard.  The squirrles love this tree, and the power lines in the area.  What they love even more are our dogs.

Robert and I have two dogs, both neutered females.  Melody is about 3 and a mix of spaniel and dalmation.  Very nervous dog, jumps at every little noise.  Still, her ears perk up quite nicely when she sees the squirrels and she's a crafty one. I've seen her knock squirrles off of the fence by running at the fence and jumping against it, knocking the squirrel loose.  She'll even choose the direction to make it harder for the squirrel to get away.

Zoe, our other girl is about 4 and a mix of British Pointer and some other things.  Oh boy, she's the big girl alright. When Robert got her, she was in the pound after having been abandoned by previous owners.  They would leave her alone for long periods of time and Zoe does not like to be without her feeding machines, um I mean her people.  That's why she's able to jump six-foot high fences in a single leap.  No I'm not kidding. 

Many a squirrel has learned to their demise that when Melody knocks them off the fence, Zoe is right there in a flash, and yes she can jump high enough into the little trees in the back yard to nab them.  That's why they stay on the perimeter after Zoe has had a few extra snacks. 

Oh, and God help any cats they find.  Last time they got one, Melody grabbed one end, Zoe the other and they tore the cat in half before having a late night snack.

[Dracho]

Dracho, didn't you move to PA (or am I thinking of someone else)..

if it's rural enough, buy a .22 rifle and use real ammo..for that matter, even a .410 shotgun can take out a squirrel's armor, let alone porcupine, possum, and chipmunks   

Mike


Oh, and BTW..some squirrel recipes  http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html   


                                                                     



Mike

I'm still in Oklahoma until my house sells.  I'm a cheapskate and I can plink 500 rounds for $4

Besides, the match grade air rifles are more challenging than firearms. 

[Dracho]

Very Nice groupings. Seems to hit a little high with some of the latter ammo. Might want to play with the scope seatings a little bit there.

Stephen

Well, that was sort of the point I learned.  If I zero the rifle for one type of ammo, and then shoot a different type, I have to re-zero because each type of ammo has its own quirk that makes it shoot slightly different... but consistantly different.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Have you considered poison?

Or you can decapitate one of the squirrels and then put its cute fuzzy little squirrel head on a pike as a warning to all the other squirrels.

Your choice.

[Centurus]

Give me your home address, some plane fare, money for Del Taco and chinese food, and I'll fart your problem out of existence.

[knightstorm]

Or you can decapitate one of the squirrels and then put its cute fuzzy little squirrel head on a pike as a warning to all the other squirrels.

Your choice.

That would probably just attract more little squirrels to gnaw their faces off.

Just be sure not to try anything like this

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-01.html

[marstone]

i"d say stay with the .177 (which ever grouped best for you).  Then test it on a live wire eater.  See if it has a stong anough hit.

.22LR is nice, but alittle loud.  My little town has it illigal to even plink with a bb gun in city liimits.  Not that it stops a squarril or two being knocked down at my dad's place.  We only have grays in my area of town, not to distructive.

[Dracho]

Well, I think I have it more or less zeroed in.  This is 20 rounds at 25 yards.  The paper target is 1/2 the size of the previous ones.  For scale, this is a 1" bullseye.

[bigbadwulff]

Just got a 1073.
The .22 barrel is pretty darn accurate.
Having problems with the .177 and think it may be the crappy pellets I bought.
The scope seems to wander some but the fixed sights are fine.

Overall a good buy for the $$.

Do you REALLY have to type in the stuff at the bottom of the post for EVERY post/reply???!!! What a PIA!

[stoneyface]

i was always partial to the cone shaped pointed pellets as they penetrated sooooo much easier. pellets can actaully kill with one shot if you hit them in the right place. once you get the gun zeroed in, that means pretty much every shot is a kill shot. (psssst shoot at the neck or heart) when i was a kid we had a horrible blackbird problem, my dad's unique solution was  to buy my brother and i bbguns i got the scope that you could order with the proof of purchase and once i had that baby, i was deadly blackbird killing machine! i actually lost count of the number of kills i had but i had a compost pile waaaaay out back with a pile of dead blackbirds at one point (you know as a warning to the others) hitting a blackbird in the neck with a bb or pellet is awesome, their head flops down and they fall right where they were sitting. the first time you do it is very satisfying.  it only took three years for them to get the hint that coming to our yard was a risky proposition at best. they eventually started skipping our place and landed in a neighbors yard about 1/2 mile down the road.

so, i don't know if they still make em, but they were steel pellets pointed cones, the back edge had a sort of crenelated edge, not smooth, apparently to make them fly straighter. i also recommend copperhead flat nose pellets, they seem to be heavier than regular pellets and therefore hit harder.

just remember to soak squirrels in milk for a while to get rid of the saltiness and gamey flavor... good luck and happy hunting.

[Bonk]

Do you REALLY have to type in the stuff at the bottom of the post for EVERY post/reply???!!! What a PIA!

Only for your first three posts.