Evening out

[JackReid 35]

Good day all,

 

Since my gun is waiting to be driven to Sandwell Fieldsports tomorrow morning by myself to be left for a full tune etc I am gunless until its return probably in around two weeks. Luckily my shooting buddy and his brother have been down this weekend and we went for a bit of a roam on saturday but had no luck. One of them has a HW97KT which has barely had 500 hots through her yet, and his brother has the standard stock version, HW97K.

 

Hugos been assigned a unit now he's passed out as a Royal Marine and probably will be in the dustbowl in no time .

His brother lives in London and came down this weekend but as they both went out drinking on the saturday night aftershooting they were both too wrecked to shoot yesterday evening, so I asked whether I could use one of their rifles for a few hours as I have the need to feed my air gun addiction! Hugo has kindly said I can use his gun at any time I wish while he has gone as he knows I will care for her like my own so thats good.

 

Dylan has also said the same and I took him up on his offer.

 

I chose to take his HW97K purely on the basis that the way its setup is better for me and the scope is further back than Hugo's which at the moment I find fairly hard to use with the eyepeice being so far forward. Zini will think I'm mad for not taking the Thumbhole version!

 

I have had a few shots on the 97K with them a few times but this gave me a chance to take it into the field solo.

First impressions are its a heavy duty mans gun, wouldnt be an ideal present or gun for someone under 15 or something as it has a bit of weight, However this comes from a HW95K user which is a light springer by nature. I doubt the 97 is much heavier than TX200 or similar.

 

Edited May 31, 2010 by JackReid

[JackReid 35]

So I set out my pellet catcher at 25 meters and had some shots, doing well I moved back to 30 meters to see where I would need to aim to achieve good shot placement.

 

One thing that did strike me was I felt a real difference in power to my 95k, until I had fired this I felt that my 95k (dieing spring and found recently to be shooting at 9ftlb hence tune) was still going strong however this was like a rail gun!

 

I landed some shots in the bull at 30 meters and was ready to set off, not really intending to go for kills beyond this as I was happy there would be enough opportunities for me not to have to shoot out of the comfort range of a new gun.

 

It was about 19.30 when I left the target and wandered into the main farmyard with the occasional pigeon diving out the tree's. Caught one off guard at about 45 meters but left him as he flew away. I made my way to a point where a large stack of hay bails stands, and that round the corner of these there is always a few rabbits but usually on the small size. It was very windy I may add so I was homing in on spots I believed rabbits may be taking shelter (the least windy side of hedges etc) as I came upto the hay bails, there was a very large bunny diaganal to me, squinting in the sun at just over 20 meters. Without the sun blinding her she would have seen me, but was really zoned out in the sun. I am not a fan of standing shots, and allthough this guns weight seems to make it easier to steady yourslef on them, I leant my side into a wooden post, and looked down the scope. The bunny seemed to have a face injury of some sort? I havent foul shot any in a long time and I wonder whetehr one of the others did the night before, however it could be a run in with the fox or whatever. I took aim just INFRONT of the eye as the bunny was facing me, and wanted the pellet to cross section the brain, and it did. One rabbit down.

 

[zini 1,939]

Nice write up theer Jack.

 

Im glad that you liked the HW97K.

 

Its whatever rifle fits you best buddy

 

Si

[JackReid 35]

Getting over to her I noticed she was very large and had clearly been feeding kits. So I presumed she may have already had a set of them and was no longer pregnant, however when skinning I would find out she was currently carrying little ones. This isnt something that I find horrible, as morally I stand by the view that the babies were not aware of their own existence let alone suffering, however everyones different and if I had known she was pregnant I wouldnt have shot her in this case purely as she was quite far down the line and 6 more sprats wouldnt have been the end of the world. Do mother rabbits develop the physical facilities to feed pre-birth then? Or has this bunny been knocking out kits regularly? I dont know what the turn-around is on birth-pregant again is on rabbits...

 

Oh well, I chucked her up on a trailer for later collection and to avoid coming back to the fox having got her.

 

I wandered around a few other familiar places, made a miss on one sitter, held over the little bit too much, he'll be there tomorrow.

 

 

Drawing a few blanks and one long stalk where I was finally spotted, I headed for a long hedgerow that I havent been able to shoot for the last few weeks as the cows have been in there. I'm not bothered by them and have even shot a bunny standing between a cows legs (dont worry, sideways on!!) before. However the younger ones dont appreciate my desire for staying out of site and will group up and come check me out. I've noticed cows and horses alike get confrontational when you have a face mask of some kind on, they dont quite know what you are unless you move about lots so I usually have to bugger off out their way. The bull isnt kept there anymore, he's a different story .

 

So this hedgerow I checked out is really long, this photo is in retrospect. I had spotted a rabbit around the 4th wooden post down from where the rifle is, however I spotted it from 200 meters back up the hedgeline and decided to slowly walk the OPPOSITE side of the hedge until a little opening on the left of where the rifle lays in this picture. I love doing this as it makes 99% of the stalk fairly risk free.

 

I didnt expect the bunny to be there as he looked very shifty and alert down the scope at 200 meters, yet as I slowly came through the clearing of the hedge, I got down onto my stomach and saw him poke his head up thinking 'What was that over there??' :icon_eek:

 

I estimated just over 30 meters, so gave it a little bit mroe holdover than I had when practising at 30 meters earlier.

Let the shot go and crack, bunny flipped forward and I thought ohhh yess. Sweet kill.

Walked over to find it had been 32 meters (estimations getting better all the time) yet I had foul shot him by a cm or two. , the shot was a few cm too high, I had overestimated the guns drop in the trajectory and that little bit more I gave the hold over for a beyond 30 shot was too much. Luckily it wasnt a nasty ordeal for me or the bunny, it had penetrated both sides of the top of its brain and the bunny was very calm, not scared in the least of me (or even aware) and was prob moments away from dieing. I slowly walked over where the bunny was laying not really too gutted about it as I could ssee the lights were off and despite being 'alive' the bunny was basically gone so I quickly popped a shot through the brain to finish him. As I said before, it was probably as good as a foul shot can go as suffering was non existent really. I will practice with this gun out to 40 before trying anything beyond my comfort range with it, it went ok today but next time it might not and we owe it to the bunnies .

[JackReid 35]

Where he fell, shot behind the eye was to send him on his way, you can see the foul shot above.

 

[JackReid 35]

End of evening pic.

 

Fun time out with the 97K, skinned them up for the freezer. Little tip for anyone who prefers to not get their hands covered in guts etc (providing none of you work at a petrol station near Chipping Norton), is I grab a handful of the plastic gloves they have where you refill your petrol! I am not bothered by the mess but when your driving somewhere after these little babys reduce down the gore a little bit and speed the process up when you dont mess about get in there!!

Probably going to go have a real intense target session with her this afternoon and go for another hunt tonight, will be comfortable and accurate to 45meters or so then as she fires nicely already despite being 1000 shots max into her life-time.

 

Happy shooting.

 

All the best

 

Jack

 

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hiya Jack.

 

Very enjoyable read mate .

 

If you keep shooting like that, you wont want to give the rifle back

Nice shooting, and very good pictures too.

 

Ive had a few of them shot's too Jack,cant be helped, bound to get them

Given the ranges we hunt, it takes second's to reach the quarry and despatch it quickly.

 

We nice post mate.

 

 

ATB.

 

 

Bill.

[falcongit 242]

great shooting mate,very good read and good pics

 

sym

[venomviper 129]

hi ya jack

well buddy sorry to here about the hw95 buddy but nice of your mates to lend you the hw97 i do like them matey as i have one here lol my favorate gun but looking for a hw95k 177 or hw98 177 at the minute it buddy but great shooting jack and very nice write up too

 

shay

[stealthy1 3,964]

Well done Jack, would you swap your 95 for a 97?

[Marksman 934]

I enjoyed the write up and pics mate...well done!

 

Darryl

[JackReid 35]

  On 31/05/2010 at 17:32, venomviper said:

hi ya jack

well buddy sorry to here about the hw95 buddy but nice of your mates to lend you the hw97 i do like them matey as i have one here lol my favorate gun but looking for a hw95k 177 or hw98 177 at the minute it buddy but great shooting jack and very nice write up too

 

shay

 

Cheers mate. To be honest I'm not too gutted about my 95K as its going to be better for it after a full tune at Sandwell Field Sports. I have fired between 35-50 tins (17500-25000) of pellets through her buddy as shes been my only lover (rifle that is) so no suprise she is spring tired. It still shows though you can do the damage even with a 9ftlb I've been knocking over bunnies for weeks with it without knowing! (Under 35 meters of course).

 

My local gunsmith has a HW95K .177 in perfect condition, the fella bought it from him then two weeks later came in and traded it in plus cash for a HW100. Apparently he was loaded so wasnt bothered about the cost drop on trading his gun back in. Its priced up at £225 and has swivels for a sling.

 

  On 31/05/2010 at 17:45, stealthy1 said:

Well done Jack, would you swap your 95 for a 97?

 

Hahah I dont think I would you know... It would be nice to have both but the 95 is much quieter with the full silencer. Saying that I'm judging a 95 thats fully bedded to a 97 thats fairly new. I think I would take the 95 simply as shes my gun, nice and light, very accurate and quiet!

 

Jack

Edited May 31, 2010 by JackReid

[davyt63 1,845]

hi jack

good read and write up buddy good shooting and pics

it seems like your mates missed a good time shooting

well done buddy

 

regards

 

davy

[Phantom 631]

Nice read that Jack

 

Good shooting too

 

Phantom

[farmerkev09 105]

great shooting jack

 

happy hunting

 

farmer