've been very busy as of late and just haven't had the time to go out and shoot like i love to do. So, what better time than to take a day off of work and get some shooting done (work sucks). I took off to one of my usual locals and the day seemed to just be the perfect day. Heck, any day in the field is a good day. I brought along my DS454 and my Ruger 10-22 and my Theoben Rapid 25 and my Logun Solo .20. After observing the weather report for that day, i knew it might be too windy for my .20 cal but decided to bring it anyway.

After arriving at my destination, i decided to start off with my Dragon Slayer 454 as i've made some changes to it and i had not had the scope on it in months, so i reinstalled the scope and began sighting in. My choice of bullets on this trip was some 175 gr S.W.C. 454 pure lead bullets and some 200 gr 454 R.E.A.L. bullets. After filling my gun up to 3100 i began to sight in. I was amazed that upon the first shot, the bullet had struck about 1 in high and right about 2 inches. It was so close to being dead center and i was simply happy that i did not have to shoot 100 times just to get it on paper. DON'T YOU GUYS HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. I then made some adjustments to my scope knobs to move the group down and over to the left. I gave it 8 clicks down and 10 clicks left. The group then printed just to the right of the bulls eye but dead level vertically. So i then gave it another few clicks left and voila, the 141 gr 454 round balls were smacking the bulls eye. But unfortunately, i only had like 10 round balls and i just used those to sight in with. The target ended up looking like a 12 gauge with buckshot hit the target. But of course, ya'll must understand that that was a SIGHT IN target and that's exactly what it looked like....LOL. So now, i break out the 175 S.W.C. and the 200 gr R.E.A.L. bullets and i began to shoot the first groups with each just to see were the bullets not only impacted but what size group they printed as compared to the round balls. And this is what i got from a 3100 psi fill with 3 consecutive shots:



So now i begin to sight the gun in for the 175 gr SWC bullets and once i got the pattern centered, the wind began to pick up a bit, so i decide to put the Dragon Slayer away as i'm definitely not hunting with it, and pull out my Ruger 10-22 lr. Of course though, i don't have pics of the groups with my ruger 10-22 nor of the gun, so i won't talk too much more about it. Just the fact that i bought a new barrel some time ago that has a faster twist rate that was created to better stabilize the Sub Sonic 40 gr HP ammo better than the older 1-16" twist barrel i previously put on the gun. It was an instant success, the groups were roughly about 5/8" which is definitely tighter than what the older barrel could do.

So now i move on to pulling out the old RAPID 25 shooting JSB Kings. Needless to say as it always is, the gun put its first 3 shots dead center into the bulls eye. I just laughed and said to myself, "i wonder why i even bother sighting this gun in before a hunt...it's always on." But of course, i have no pics of that gun with groups either. But you guys have seen those pics before so, no need to keep posting whats already been seen. ITS JUST A RAPID...LOL

So now i pack up my junk and literally head for the hills. I was in search of some ground squirrels to pluck. After getting to one of my usual spots, i glassed the area and quickly spotted what i thought might be a Ground Squirrel. So i grab my gun to look through my much more powerful scope and surely it was a GS. But there darned thing was sitting there so still and was lumped over that i just looked like a tumor or knot on the tree branch that it was perched on. I then lasered the tree branch and it measured out to 131.5 yrds which was further than what i thought i could easily make. So know i think quickly to myself, well, you always want to do 100 yrds shots so, get off your duff and crawl to within that distance. So off i go a crawling away till i was exactly 100 yrds. I then set my gun up on its attached bipod and turn on my camera and get the zoom just right. Well, low and behold, as i move my right hand away from the camera, i somehow bumped my bolt handle which in turn opened up the bolt to the full REAR position. And with a RAPID, once you have already loaded a round and you knock open the bolt handle, you have to remove the magazine in order to close the bolt again to keep from DOUBLE CHARGING the chamber(2 pellets in the barrel). So now i remove the magazine and close the bolt and set the camera to record the action. The wind was blowing left to right steadily and i knew right off the bat to aim using the 4th lower mildot and to also use the 1st right mildot to compensate for the yardage and the windage. At the first shot, i could visibly see the impact of the pellet on the branches to the left of the squirrel and low. BUT, at the same time i could feel some BLOW BY from the breech cause i had removed the magazine. So instantly i knew that it wasn't a bad shot, it was because of the blow by that the pellet struck to the left and low. And the report from the chamber gave a pretty stout CRACK sound. So now i install the magazine and rack the bolt closed and prepared to take the second shot. I was very confident and knew that all i had to do was to keep the original Point Of Aim. I gently squeezed the trigger and all i could hear was....PWWWFFTTTTTTTTTT...plop.... and i could see in the scope that the squirrel had been hit and hit hard. After turning off the camera and hiking to the squirrel (the squirrel was up a pretty steep incline), i quickly found him and i wanted to know if i had hit him in the head. As the squirrel dropped like a rock. Well, the shot landed in his upper right shoulder and then penetrated his skull. Here is the VIDEO:


So, now i'm happy cause this is my second longest shot on a ground squirrel with an air gun. Both shots were done using my Rapid .25. One time shooting Kodiak's and this one done with JSB's. Both produced excellent retained power at that distance and both were END RESULTING HEAD SHOTS.

So now i pack up and move to another spot were i quickly found 2 squirrels in generally the same area. I picked a spot between both of them with a tree hiding me from one while the other was in plain sight. Now, i started to change guns and use the LS.20 but the smarter half of me said...."NO, DUMMY, NEVER CHANGE WEAPONS WHEN ONE IS DOING SO WELL", plus, i never got a chance to sight the LS in earlier that morning. So i went ahead as planned and set up for the 1st of the 2 squirrels. I pulled out my LEUPY rangefinder and lasered him at 45 yrds. I then did my usual by turning on the camera and setting up. But this time, i was careful not to rack the bolt again...lol. Upon the shot, the SMACK simply echoed very loud through the canyon area. I was like "GEEZ, that things sounded like it was hit with a 50 cal or something". So then, i look around the tree to my left to see if the other GS was still there and he wasn't. The impact must have sent him back down his hole....lol. So i now grab my rangefinder again and lasered the concrete slab he was previously perched on and it came out right at 61 yrds. Now, the wait begins. 6 minutes later, guess who comes up looking for whatever was going on around him. And boy was he cautious. BUT NOT CAUTIOUS ENOUGH..LOL. Nailed him too. Here is the video of the 2 squirrels:


Being that i was a little tired from the night before, i decided that i had had enough for the day and packed up all my gear. So as i drove out, i decided to stop and take some pics of the local pine trees. I had a ton of fun as i always do. Hope you guys enjoyed my post.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2010 07:06AM by Tofazfou.

Hi Cedric,

Looks great. What a beautiful area.

Sorry - I can't get the videos. When you first posted ... I was into something. I just got back, and saw that I couldn't make them play. Bummer that nobody else would tell you. I get no control bar.

Sounds like you really have your guns dialed in. Good job.

Being able to get out to a place like that is amazing.

Gary

Pretty country. I love the pines like that. We've got places that look like that in Eastern Washington, but not here on the wet west side. I'd dig moving to an area that looks like that but the misses won't have it. So I get to visit instead.

Why no pics of a squirrel taken by the DS?

Thanks for the pics

GB. The videos work now. AND YEAH, WHY DIDN'T any of you lurkers say anything? LOL. Nahh, my fault, i should have checked the videos myself when i posted this.

Griffen. Oh believe me, i thought about it a couple times. Lol

Hi Cedric,

Great videos bud. Really fine editing.

I really like your movie skills, and you sure have that rifle dialed in. Wow.

Well, I have a crate from China in the driveway. It's raining nicely. It needs to be uncrated and assembled, then lifted. I just built an overhead mount for my chain hoist. Wish ya were here ...

Gary

Hey, i should have responded sooner but i see they must have fixed the server. I was having problems logging in. I know, I know, i should have said something on the other post when you asked the question about server trouble. It took me like 3 times of LOGGIN IN, to actually get in.

But anyole who, thanx GB. And yeah, i would definitely help ya with that CRATE FROM CHINA..LOL. Thats right up my alley since i move heavy elevator parts in crates all the time. What did ya build? An A-FRAME on rollers or something? How much does that crate weight? A few thousand?

Great shooting and photography Ced! It took me a while to get to where I could open the post AND see the video/pictures but it was worth the wait.

I guess coming late to the party sometimes has it's advantages, both videos worked great the first time around. Great shots all, and nice, concise, editing. When your internet connection is as slow as mine it, it bugs to wait through a bunch of "dead time". I'll bet the critters literally never knew what hit 'em.

BTW, use caution with them if there's been any reports of plague in your area. When I was in the New Mexico National Guard I attended a briefing on bubonic plague by the states expert on rodents. It opened with a closeup shot of the swollen, black lymph glands in the armpit area (the buboes) that give plague it's name. The guy went on to say that they're quite painful, as he should know, since those shots were of HIM! Despite taking precautions he got bitten by an infected flea from a ground squirrel and contracted the disease. Fortunately, it's curable these days if you catch it in time, and since plague is endemic in NM he was on the lookout for the symptoms. He went on to say that ground squirrels can hold more fleas than even prairie dogs, over 600 per animal in extreme cases. If you're not eating them, might want to use a long stick.

WOW, thanx for that news RH. That's good to know. Tree squirrels i eat every blue moon but not Ground Squirrels. The are also cannibals and i've seen em in action. As far as the fleas go, i would not doubt it as they live below ground and they are always scampering around while on the ground. So it doesn't surprise me at all.