Some folks, myself included, like seeing shots where the pellet is visible during its flight to the target. The DYNAMIC tin pellets, with their shiny smooth finish, seem to do this quite well. There is a very practical side to being able to see pellets in flight too. It makes it very easy to make a slight correction in your hold, for the second shot, when the first one obviously missed by just a squirrel whisker.
The past month and a half, I've been hunting my Benjamin Marauder Pistol/Carbine, shooting the tin Sn-2 pellets. While reviewing some of the video clips from the various hunts, I noticed a pretty good number where the pellets are clearly visible in flight.
It is especially so during the slow motion replay of the clips. I have put together a compilation of many of those clips, showing the pellets zipping toward their intended targets. Little tin missiles, with SHSR, (squirrel head seeking radar).
The video may take 20 to 30 seconds to load, and runs about one minute.
I've had my Marauder Pistol/Carbine for about two months now. The past month and a half, I've been hunting it heavily on California Ground Squirrels, with excellent performance from both the gun, and the Sn-2 tin pellets.
In the interest of showing what one example of an untuned Marauder Pistol is doing right out of the box, I thought I would post the shot string she produced while I was searching for the best fill pressure. The Sn-2 pellets are specifically recommended by the manufacturer, for use in springers and gas rams, but as others have found, they work great in some Marauder PCP Pistols, including mine. The performance on ground squirrels out to 50 plus yards has been excellent. The weight of mine with the camera mounted is only 6.25 pounds, and the gun is a real pleasure to hunt with.
I was in California, on business again last week, and when we wrapped things up early on Friday morning, I did what any good varmint hunter would do, I threw my stuff in my vehicle and went hunting.
By the time I got up to the ranch that I hunt on, it was early afternoon. I decided to hunt an area of the ranch, that is at a higher elevation than my normal spots. Spring comes later up there, and I knew it would still be green and lush.
It takes four wheel drive to get up the old logging track, that leads into the area that I wanted to hunt. Because of the difficulty of the 4x4 track, and the fact that the area is pretty steep, and takes some physical effort to hunt, it doesn't see much action from most guys. My kinda place.
The weather was about as nice as I could ask for. It was sunny, with the temp in the mid sixties. There was a breeze blowing, but nothing that wasn't manageable. Perfect ground squirrel hunting conditions. There were still a lot of wildflowers in bloom, and that always adds a nice bit of eye candy to the hunt.
Once I had my gear ready to go, I slipped out into the forest, and slowly started to hunt the area. It didn't take long before I started spotting ground squirrels with my binoculars. The adult squirrels were out and about, but for the first time this year, the new crop of mini vermin were also above ground at this elevation.
They were everywhere I went, and lots of them too. There are a lot of critters on this ranch that feed on these things, and the number of ground squirrels is always impressive. The place is an airgun hunters paradise.
I had a great afternoon of hunting. The P-Rod, as usual, performed flawlessly, and did herself proud.
I shot a lot of video, so I'll let the clips tell the story of some of the hunt. It also conveys really well, the type of terrain that I was hunting in. Also, if you pay close attention, you can hear two impacts in some of the shots. The first one is the pellet hitting the squirrel, and the second is the pellet hitting something behind the squirrel, after a complete pass through. Plenty of power for the task at hand.
The following video may take 20/30 seconds to load, and runs about 4 minutes 30 seconds. Thanks for watching.
Day two with my P-Rod was fantastic. The weather was great, maybe a bit more wind, but nothing terrible, and the squirrels were out and about in great numbers. Shot some fun video clips, and as soon as I have time, I'll get the videos from day two posted.
I just got back from another ground squirrel hunt with my Marauder PCP pistol/carbine. What a hoot. The gun, in and of itself is fantastic, but I have to give credit to a few other pieces of gear, that allow me to use the P-Rod to its full potential.
First up, are my binoculars. They are the Leica 8x32 BA model. I've had these things for more years than I can remember. The clarity is superb. They're compact and light enough, that I can wear them around my neck all day without any strain, but more importantly to me, they do not cause me any eye strain either.
When hunting, I spend a tremendous amount of time looking through my binoculars, hunting for ground squirrels that are hiding back in the shadows, and nooks and crannies where they build their dens and dig their burrows. Many times all you will see is a head, or just a part of a head sneaking a peek over the edge of a burrow, or over the back of a log or stump.
At 40/50/60+ yards, you need a good pair of binoculars to pick them out. Especially when the squirrels are tucked back in the shadows. I can spend hours looking through these binoculars, without feeling like my eyeballs are being sucked out of my head.
I've had my Leica Rangemaster 1200 range finder, since they first came on the market. The things I really like about it are, it's very accurate, it is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, the optics are crystal clear, and the reticle is lit.
I had a model from a different manufacturer for awhile, and the problem I was having with it, was the fact that the reticle wasn't lit, and in some lighting situations, like when a squirrel was tucked back in deep shadows, my tired old eyes were having a hard time seeing the reticle. On the Leica's, the reticle is a brightly lit red box. Even these old eyes can see that.
For me, the other indispensable piece of gear is my Stoney Point bipod. Without the use of my binoculars, to dig the squirrels out of their hidey holes, I wouldn't get half the number of shots that I do, and without the use of my bipod, I wouldn't make half the kill shots that I do. Hitting small targets, at range, in the wind, is very challenging. I can use all of the help I can get, and my bipod makes all of the difference in the world.
Depending upon what, and where I'm hunting, the gun changes, but the other three pieces of gear stay the same, and are a huge part of my hunting success.
I shot a bunch of video during this hunt, so I'll have some more stories and video to share soon. It was an awesome time to be in the field. This years crop of mini vermin have come above ground, and were everywhere. I saw multiple dozens of them, just in the area that I was hunting in.
When they first emerge from below ground, they are about one third, to one fourth the size of the adults, with heads about the size of a quarter. Talk about challenging shooting.
Here's a picture looking across a field of wildflowers, that shows the type of terrain that I was hunting in. When I took this picture, I was four wheeling my way up the side of a mountain, headed for a canyon that is very steep, but always produces good numbers of ground squirrels. I hunt the spot and stalk method, and because the area is so steep, I hunt up the side of the mountain in a zig zagging traverse fashion.
I'm off to work on the stories and video. Stay tuned, more to follow.
On day two, of my continuing adventure, of hunting ground squirrels with my Marauder PCP Pistol, I headed out to a canyon that has always produced a good number of squirrels. I always like hunting this canyon, because of the varied terrain.
The mouth of it is fairly open, wide and flat, with a large meadow full of stumps and old logs. Yet as I hunt my way up into it, the canyon narrows, and the timber gets much thicker with lots of deadfall and blowdowns. Perfect ground squirrel habitat.
The sides become very steep, and that can make for some interesting shots. Hit a squirrel up on the side of the steep canyon wall, and it will roll a long ways until it comes to rest at the bottom.
The first shot of the day, was on a squirrel with just its head showing over the back of an old log. The range was just under 40 yards. When the shot broke, the pellet completely penetrated the squirrels head, blowing a lot of dirt and dust off of it, as well as impacting a log behind it, leaving a nice indentation there. The power and accuracy of this rig are excellent, making head shots to 60 yards, the rule of the day.
As I slowly hunted my way up the canyon, and by using my binoculars to find them, I was able to pick off several more ground squirrels along the way . As the vegetation is getting taller, and taller, it's becoming ever more challenging to find them. A few weeks ago, they could easily be seen down on the ground, and sitting on mounds, now, they pretty much need to be up on something to be spotted.
Below, are some video clips from the days hunt. They may take 20 to 30 seconds to load, and run 2 minutes 30 seconds. Thanks for watching.
This little P-Rod carbine is a definite keeper. I will be hunting with her again soon. Stay tuned for more stories, and video adventures of P-Rod doing her thing.
I was in California again last week on business, and when I was finished with that, I was able to get out for a couple of days of ground squirrel hunting with my Marauder PCP Pistol.
For me, hunting with airguns is about precision pellet placement, and having fun with the guns I hunt with. For the hunting to be fun, the gun I'm hunting with has to be accurate. I don't mean pretty accurate, or kind of accurate, I mean dead nuts accurate, and this Marauder pistol of mine is just that. I won't go into the specific accuracy of this pistol now, as I've done that in a past blog entry. You can find the story about the accuracy, by scrolling down the side bar, but let's just say this gun amazes me every time I've taken it out for ground squirrels.
Any ground squirrel inside 50/55 yards is in very, very, serious trouble. I have the gun set up with the shoulder stock on it, and hunt it as a light weight, compact carbine. The "on squirrel" performance is everything I had hoped for, and then some.
One of the reasons that I have as much success shooting ground squirrels in the areas I hunt, as I do, is because I spend a tremendous amount of time in my binoculars, looking for them. I would say that probably 60/70 percent of the shots I get, are shots where I first found the squirrel with my binos.
The videos make it look like they are just sitting out everywhere, but many times, they are tucked back in the shade and shadows, sometimes only a head is showing over the edge of a mound, out of the ground, or over the back of a log, or stump. They blend in really well with all of those things, and in a lot of those cases, they are darned near impossible to see with the naked eye. Especially at 30 to 60 yards. They seem to instinctively know that shade, and the darker places they inhabit, are their friend.
A good pair of binoculars makes finding them, when they are tucked back in their hidey holes, a whole lot easier. By the time I've got the video camera zoomed in on them for the shot, the hard part, spotting them, has already been done.
The first day out, I didn't get started until early afternoon. I headed for a narrow canyon that has a nice creek running down the bottom of it, and is just about perfect for hunting ground squirrels with a gun like the Marauder PCP Pistol.
The lay of the land makes for shot opportunities that run from about 30 yards, out to around 60. I don't normally hunt this area with my rifles, because the shots just aren't very challenging with a 30+ fpe gun.
However, with my P-Rod generating 13 fpe at the muzzle, this particular canyon would be the perfect place to hunt ground squirrels, while using this compact PCP carbine.
As I was getting my gear set up, I could see several squirrels sitting on piles of deadfall, and running up, down, and across the cow path that I intended to hunt along. I knew from experience, that If I could see that many, there were even more tucked back in the shadows, that I would have to dig out using my binoculars.
Once I had my gear all set, I slowly hunted up the canyon for several hours, glassing all of the nooks and crannies, with excellent success. I also had my first up close and personal encounter with a rattlesnake this year. He wasn't very big, maybe a two footer, but man was he grumpy. These snakes are very interesting. Some of the ones I encounter, never coil. All they want to do is get away. Others, like this guy was, are grumpy before they see me, or me them. I heard him before I could see him, and he wasn't at all happy to be sharing space with me. Some of them, just flat don't play well with others. I shot some video of him, and wished him luck with his squirrel hunting this year. In the slomo clip of him, you can hear his rattles clicking away in the background.
The afternoon hunt was very successful, and I was able to shoot some good video, in real time, as I made the various shots. Below are some video clips showing some of the hunt results, along with some footage of my buzztail friend.
The video may take 20 to 30 seconds to load, and runs just a few seconds over 5 minutes in length.
It was another great afternoon hunting ground squirrels with my Marauder PCP Pistol. The Sequel, part 2, is coming soon. Stay tuned.
I have two 88 cubic foot 4500 psi tanks, and just remembered, that April was the last month I could get one of them filled before it needed a fresh hydro test. I forgot to do that, but that's okay, because I have a couple of guns that run on less than 3000 psi fills.
The tank is currently down to 3100 psi. The good news is, my Marauder pistol runs on 2650 psi fills, and my Discovery rifle, runs on 2000 psi fills, so I'm just going to designate this tank for use with those two guns until it's down to 2000 psi, and then I'll jump through the hoops to get it hydro tested.
My other tank still has about a year left on it before it needs to go in for hydro testing, so I'll designate that one for use only with my guns that run on 3000 psi fills.
So why not just run everything off of the tank with the current hydro, and get the other one in to be tested? Because I just don't want to mess with it right now. I'm having way too much fun hunting ground squirrels with my P-Rod, and I can still use the air left in the expired tank to fill the P-Rod dozens of times. That equals a lot of shooting, and a bunch of ground squirrels that will now have something in common with this tank. They'll all be expired. Sorry couldn't resist.
And not only that, but I don't want to waste $5 bucks worth of air, when that $5 bucks could go for a Subway foot long sandwich. Have I got my priorities straight or what? LOL.
When the tank gets down to 2650 psi left in it, I'll just switch to shooting my Discovery rifle, that runs on 2000 psi fills, and just keep on keeping on. This winter, when there aren't a whole lot of hunting opportunities around here, I'll get it in for a fresh hydro test.
Over the past six months or so, several folks have asked me to post the video clips I've used in many of the stories on my blog, in one place, so they are easily viewable. I thought I would try this approach and see how it works.
The following is a collection of most of the videos, that I have used since starting my blog over two and a half years ago. The stories aren't included, but if you want to watch videos of various models of airguns being used for varmint hunting, here they are. As I go on additional hunts, and shoot more videos, I will post them here, as well as embed them in the new hunt stories.
There are well over an hour and a half of videos posted here. They aren't in any particular order. There is a short description above each clip. Scroll through them until you find something you might want to watch, and click on the arrow. Depending upon the speed of your system, the clips may take 30 to 40 seconds, or a bit more to load.
Air Arms 510TC, twin cylinder PCP, .22 cal, hunting prairie dogs part 1.
Air Arms 510TC, twin cylinder PCP, .22 cal, hunting prairie dogs part 2.
Air Arms 510TC, twin cylinder PCP, .22 cal, hunting prairie dogs part 3.
Benjamin Marauder .25 cal hunting prairie dogs this past summer.
Benjamin Marauder .25 cal hunting prairie dogs.
P-rod shooting Sn-2 tin pellets. Lots of shots with pellets visible in flight.
More P-Rod hunting ground squirrels.
P-Rod hunting California Ground Squirrels.
Ground squirrels with my P-Rod.
The fun meter's pegged. Ground squirrels with my P-Rod.
Ground squirrels with my P-Rod, AKA Benjamin Marauder pistol.
Pellets in flight, while hunting with the Marauder pistol.
Hunting ground squirrels with the Marauder pistol again.
Vermin hunting with the .25 Marauder.
Hunting tree squirrels and vermin with the .25 Marauder.
AA 410 ERBSL .22, earning her keep.
Prairie dog hunting with the AA 410 CRBSL .22.
Hunting prairie dogs with the .22 FX 2000.
Hunting prairie dogs with the .25 Marauder.
Hunting ground squirrels with a .177 cal Discovery.
Mac1 .22 Discovery earning her keep.
FX 2000 55, 75, 90 yard shots.
FX Whisper earning her keep.
More hunting prairie dogs with the .25 Marauder.
Marauder .25 at medium and long range.
Marauder .25 shooting the 27.8 grain Benjamin dome head pellets.
A Fall day roaming the woods with my .25 Marauder.
Hunting vermin with the .25 Marauder.
Videos of some of the rattlers I've encountered.
RWS Rapier earning her keep.
More prairie dog hunting with the .25 Marauder.
Prairie dog hunting with the .25 Marauder....the continuing story.
Long rang shooting Wyoming prairie dogs with the FX 2000.
Shooting Wyoming prairie dogs from a Stoney Point bipod.
A black tail prairie dog town. An airgun hunters dream come true.
Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol, ground squirrel hunt, segment 1.
Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol, ground squirrel hunt, segment 3.
Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol, ground squirrel hunt, The Sequel, Part 1
Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol, ground squirrel hunt, The Sequel, Part 2
