First blood but all's not well

[Mooch. 177]

I bought myself a second hand Weihrauch HW100 last week. A beautiful gun, whisper quiet and, once I'd zeroed it in, deadly accurate.

 

After nearly a week of plinking targets I got up early to try and catch the rabbits before they went to bed. There were several about but they all saw me well before I got into range. There weren't any squirrels about either. They seem to be late risers around here. There were plenty of birds around though and as I was walking up a woodland track a magpie foolishly landed in the tree underwhich I was standing. It was quite high up and I had to aim up at a sharp angle. I took into account the steep climb the pellet would have to take and aimed at a spot above the magpies head......and missed. I watched the pellet sail clean over the birds head (more on this later). The magpie moved to another branch so I adjusted my aim and fired. The bird didn't move and then leaned forward and tumbled to the ground stone dead. First blood for the HW100 and my first magpie to boot. The corpse was duely retrieved by my dog, Max.

 

 

We continued our walk and probably nearly an hour later shot a parakeet.

 

Anyhow, all was clearly not well. I've not been "proper" air rifleing for long but I was pretty sure you're not supposed to be able to see the pellet fly through the air. I took the rifle back to the shop today to test it on their chronograph and they found that there is a problem with the regulator. Some shots are at full power then a few will be low powered and my new gun has had to be sent away for repair. At least the shop has given me a curtesy gun in the mean time.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Mooch.

[marcusp 0]

Nice shot, nice gun, nice dog, hope they get it fixed for you.

 

Marcus

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Nice shooting! You can see a .22 fly in the right conditions, I have seen mine fly down to the target, especially when lamping! My HW100 KT is chronoed at 11.3 fpe with Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum.

Edited March 9, 2012 by secretagentmole

[springer 1498 4]

Parakeets on the vermin list ?

[Mooch. 177]

Parakeets on the vermin list ?

Yes.

 

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/wml-gl06_tcm6-24151.pdf

[ftm 3,357]

couldnt bring myself to shoot a parrot there not ugly like magpies and crows! oops so why am i shooting woodies because there quite nice too ? oh yes they taste nice lol

[The Duncan 802]

Your gun will be fine mate. I regularly see pellets in flight from my .177 and it's clocking 11.8 fpe with single figure fps variation.

The smoother your gun fires (or the better you handle recoil if it's a springer), the more likely you are to see your pellets in flight. Also means you're using good follow thru technique.

Always have to aim a bit lower with an airgun when shooting up or downhill as gravity has less effect on the flight path due to the angle.

Eg at my old ft club, there was a 55 yard target at the bottom of a precipitous quarry, so with the .22 I had back then I would have had to aim bottom thick post in the reticle if it was a flat shot, but aimed dead on with no holdover to hit the centre of the target due to the steep downhill angle.

As a newcomer, one of the best things you can do is find a half decent club to go to. Great to improve your learning curve and you'll find airgunners are a very welcoming crowd.

Atb

 

Duncan

[77 si 21]

Nice read that buddy, congrats on your first blood. Hope it doesn't take them to long to fix your gun.

 

Just out of curiosity what curtesy gun have they lent you?

 

ATB Si

[Mooch. 177]

@ftm, they do look pretty but they're noisy as hell and they compete with our native birds for food.

 

@Duncan, cheers for the advise, i'll take that on board.

 

@77Si, they've given me an HW100 Sport. It's a carbine with shrouded barrel and thumbhole stock. It's nice and it has a better scope than mine.............damn it!

Edited March 10, 2012 by Mooch.

[77 si 21]

@ftm, they do look pretty but they're noisy as hell and they compete with our native birds for food.

 

@Duncan, cheers for the advise, i'll take that on board.

 

@77Si, they've given me an HW100 Sport. It's a carbine with shrouded barrel and thumbhole stock. It's nice and it has a better scope than mine.............damn it!

 

Very nice, sounds like a good shop where you bought the gun from, they seem like they are trying there best to look after you.

[Michael5 2]

Hey I was just wondering what time you got up at to go and spot the rabbits ?

[Mooch. 177]

Hey I was just wondering what time you got up at to go and spot the rabbits ?

Think it was about 6 but that seemed to be a little to late and now the sun's coming up earlier and earlier you'd have to be getting up silly early.

[77 si 21]

Yeh I know what you mean only another month or so and Will be having to wake up at 4am to get down the farm for the break of dawn, but in my opinion well worth the effort, and you can be back at home for lunch cooking the results of your mornings shooting.

[The Duncan 802]

I prefer dusk shooting myself

[Mooch. 177]

All though dawn hunting is spiritually rewarding (you know what I mean), dusk shooting is more practical. I can put my son to bed, have dinner and then leave my wife watching Snog, Marry, Avoid! Everybody's happy!