VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

Six Hunting Rifles In My Collection - That Are At the Top Of the Accuracy Pyramid.

FWB 300S sporter .177

Over the fifty plus years that I have been hunting, and shooting, both powder burners and airguns, there have been some rifles that have stood well above their peers in the accuracy department.  This FWB 300S is one of them.  I call it my 300S sporter.  It doesn't have the barrel sleeve, so that helps to keep the weight down, and the stock is some kind of hardwood that has been stained a dark brown.  I bought the rifle new, from Beeman, back in the early seventies, but there are no Beeman markings on the gun anywhere.  Interesting.

Accuracy wise, the gun is exceptional.  I use it to take ground squirrels, with head shots, out to 45 yards. This rifle will shoot either the 7.9 grain JSB Exact Express, or the 8.4 grain JSB Exact pellets really well, with a slight edge going to the 8.4 grain Exact .  The rifle generates just under 7 fpe at the muzzle.

With the race for more and more power in todays airguns, some folks miss out on just how effective, and efficient a gun like the FWB 300S can be, as a tool for controlling certain types of small vermin, such as ground squirrels.  

I've killed literally thousands, and thousands, of California Ground Squirrels with it over the years.  It's a keeper for sure.

FWB 300S Tyrolean .177

Another exceptional shooter is my FWB 300S Tyrolean.  It's basically the same gun as my 300S sporter, just sitting in a Tyrolean style walnut stock.  This rifle has the barrel weight/sleeve on it, and that adds some weight.  Especially out front.  Again, this rifle is death on ground squirrels out to 45 yards.  

The pellet of choice here is the 8.4 grain JSB Exact.  For some reason, the JSB Exact Express do not do well in this rifle.  It's a bit on the heavy side, but I really enjoy getting her out for a ground squirrel, or chipmunk hunt a couple of times a year.

FX/RWS/Rapier .22

The folks at FX Airguns in Sweden, make some exceptional air rifles. Somewhere along the way, they private labeled their Timber Wolf model as the Rapier, for RWS to market under their brand name.  The one that I own is one of the most accurate airguns in my collection.  In good conditions, it will literally put 18 grain JSB's through the same hole at 50 yards.  The sporter type turkish walnut stock, just adds to the classiness of this very accurate rifle.    

Instead of a magazine, this rifle has a two shot shuttle.  It works great, and I use it to hunt both ground squirrels in California, as well as tree squirrels and prairie dogs here in Arizona.

FX/RWS/Rapier .22 

FX 2000 .22, in factory walnut stock.

My FX 2000 was the first FX built gun that I purchased.  I acquired it used, and the fellow I got it from told me it was exceptionally accurate, and he wasn't wrong.  Like the RWS Rapier, this rifle will also stack 18 grain JSB's at 50 yards.

I used this rifle while filming the first half of my DVD, "Airgun Hunting the California Ground Squirrel."  The performance with both 15.9 grain JSB's, and 14.5 grain DYNAMIC tin pellets, has been exceptional.  This is the rifle that truly got me hooked on PCP's, pretty much for ever.

No recoil, superb accuracy, that easily surpasses many of my high dollar .22 rimfires, with power to cleanly take ground squirrels, and prairie dogs out to 100+ yards.  How can you not get hooked on that kind of performance.

FX 2000 .22, in custom Blackwidow laminate stock.

I have a Benjamin Marauder in .22, that I have been very, very, happy with, so when I heard that Crosman was going to bring the Marauder out in .25, I knew that I would have to add one to the collection, and I haven't been disappointed.  

My .22 Marauder is very accurate.  It hangs right with my AA 410 ERBSL, FX Whisper, and Logun MK II in that department.

My .25 Marauder however, is in that group I mentioned in the title of this story.  She is definitely at the top of the accuracy pyramid.

While pellet testing, I was blown away by the accuracy of this particular rifle.  The first year I hunted with her, I had her shooting the Beeman 31 grain Kodiaks.  I remember, that on my final sight-in target, she stacked five Kodiaks into a group at 65 yards, that I could easily cover with a dime.  I then went on to kill prairie dogs with her, out past 100 yards. Incredible accuracy and power, from a PCP that didn't cost a grand or two. This rifle is a keeper, and will remain in my collection for many years to come.   

Marauder .25, in custom laminate stock.

Last, but not least, in my collection of super accurate rifles, is the latest addition, my .22 caliber AA 510 TC.  I just added this rifle this past Spring.  

The design of this gun kind of intrigued me.  Instead of the usual big honkin bottle screwed into the end of the receiver, to increase shot count, the folks at AA went with twin cylinders mounted side by side. Much like with a side by side shotgun.

Having hunted quail with side by side 20's, and 12's, for many decades, I was curious about how this rifle would feel in my hands.   I love it.  It is a little bit muzzle heavy, and I like that in a long range varmint rifle.  I shoot from a Stoney Point telescoping bipod, and this rig sits very nicely on the bipod's yoke, and really helps when going for those long range shots in the wind.  

If you've followed any of my prairie dog hunt stories with this rifle, and watched any of the videos, then you've seen me take a bunch of dogs all of the way out to just shy of 100 yards with it.

The accuracy is definitely at the top of the accuracy pyramid in my collection.  Her pellet of choice is the 18 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy.   

AA 510 TC .22

A lot of various guns have passed through my hands over the past five plus decades, but with very few exceptions, the ones that were exceptional, accuracy wise, are still in my collection. The vast majority of guns are accurate, but once in awhile, one comes along that is exceptionally so, and those are the ones that I really cherish, and they find a permanent home in my collection.

At the present time, these six rifles are the cream of the crop among the guns in my airsenal, and none of them are going anywhere, well............... except varmint and small game hunting.  

Prepping For 2011 Tree Squirrel Season

Tree squirrel season opens here at the the end of the month, so I want to be sure that I'm ready for the opener.  This will be my fifth season of hunting these big Abert's Tree Squirrels that inhabit the Ponderosa Pine forests here in Northern Arizona.

As you would expect, the terrain varies quite a bit within the forest area. There are places that are relatively flat, with meadows, or parks as they are called around here, interspersed throughout the area.  I like to hunt the edges of the parks, on back a couple of hundred yards into the forest.

Sometimes I'll come across a game trail, and then I'll hunt along, and to the sides of that for a couple of hours.  One of the other things that adds a lot of fun to the hunts, is the fact that there are a couple of types of ground squirrels, and a chipmunk that also inhabit these forests, and it's fun to hunt them at the same time I'm after the Abert's Tree Squirrels. 

There are also areas that are fairly steep, and thickly populated with Gambel's Oaks, as well as the Ponderosa Pines.  I find that both the steep, or flat areas can produce squirrels, but I prefer different guns for the two different types of terrain.

In the Areas where the terrain is steep, and the fact that the shots there are rarely over 40/50 yards, I want a fairly light, fast handling gun along on those hunts. In those areas that I hunt, that are more open and flat, I prefer a gun that has a bit more weight, with plenty of power to take these big squirrels out to 70/80 yards.

My choices this year, are going to be my .22 cal, AA 410 CRBSL carbine, for the light gun, and my .22 cal Benjamin Marauder, for the longer range hunts.  Both guns are superbly accurate, and I've used both to take Abert's squirrels with in the past.

In the Marauder, I'll be shooting the Beeman Kodiak 21 grain Pellets, and in the AA 410 CRBSL, I'll be shooting the 16 grain JSB Exact Jumbo's.

Both guns have 5-15x40mm Bushnell Legends, with mildot reticles, mounted on them. I run the scopes at 8x for all of my hunting.   

Since I last shot them, I've done some scope and mount swapping on both guns, so I need to shoot them on paper, and make sure they are properly sighted in for the task at hand.  I've gone from high mounts, to mediums on both guns, and prefer how the scopes come to my eye with the mediums.

With the CRBSL Carbine, I'll zero her at 40 yards, and with the Marauder, I'll zero her at 60 yards.  Then shoot my over and unders with each gun.  Note those on a card that I tape to the stock of each rifle, and I'll be ready for opening day.

The plan is to get both guns out into the forest next week, get the sight-in work taken care of, and just for the heck of it, since I just cleaned the barrels on both guns, try some of the H&N, Baracuda Green, non-lead pellets in them, and see how they shoot.

As usual, I've put camera mounts on both guns, with the idea of video taping some of the hunting action in real time.

Should be a lot of fun. 

Large male Abert's tree squirrel, taken with .22 Marauder a couple of years ago.

 

H&N - Baracuda Green - Non-Lead - .22 Caliber - 12.65 Grain Pellets

Just got back from a week long business trip to California.  Before I left 0n the trip, I ordered in a couple of cans of the H&N, .22 caliber Baracuda Green, tin pellets.  They were waiting for me when I got home.

I do a lot of ground squirrel hunting in California, and the ranch that I primarily hunt on, has banned the use of any and all lead ammunition, including airgun pellets.  

For the past 5 years or so, my goto non-lead pellets, have been the ones marketed under the DYNAMIC brand from England.  They have been stellar performers in many of my airguns.  As in, the accuracy is as good as the best lead pellet in the same guns. They have pretty much set the standard by which other non-lead pellets are measured. At least in my small corner of the world.

Sometime back, I noticed that H&N, out of Germany, was offering a non-lead pellet in .177.  I wasn't particularly interested in that caliber, but I was hoping that they would eventually offer one in .22.  Sure enough, awhile back I noticed that they were now available in .22 as well.

My experience with the DYNAMIC brand tin pellets has been outstanding, so I'm curious to see what the folks at H&N have to offer.

When I sorted the Dynamic PCP-2, 14.5 grain tin pellets, I found them to be one of the most consistent pellets, weight, and dimension wise, that I had ever checked.

As a comparison, when I weight sorted some Kodiak Match pellets, they had one of the widest weight variations of any pellets that I had ever checked.  They varied by as much as a full grain across a single tin.

As with the DYNAMIC non-lead pellets, when I checked the H&N Baracuda Green non-lead pellets, I found them to be very consistent in weight, and dimensions as well.

They weren't more than plus or minus a tenth of a grain from the mean weight of 12.6 grains.  That is outstanding consistency in my experience, and will manifest itself as increased accuracy at long range.

Below, is a comparison showing the Baracuda Green, tin pellet, next to the DYNAMIC Sn-2, PCP-2, tin pellets, and a lead Kodiak.  This is a good example of the difference in density of the two metals used in these pellets.  The lead Kodiak, at 21 grains, is over 8 grains heavier than the Baracuda tin pellet, at 12.6 grains, yet the lead Kodiak is only .008 of an inch longer.

The 14.5 grain PCP-2, is .017 of an inch longer than the Kodiak, yet weighs 6.5 grains less.  The challenge with the tin pellets is to get a pellet with some decent weight to it, yet have it be short enough to fit in most airgun magazines.

For example, the DYNAMIC TM-2 tin pellets weigh 17 grains, but at 17 grains, they are to long, and won't fit in any of my guns mags, so I have to shoot them single shot. 

The next obvious step is to shoot these guys out of a few of my guns, and see how they perform in the accuracy department at 50 yards.  No time to do that this week, but maybe I can do some testing next week.  Stay tuned, more to follow.