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.  

FX 2000 - 32 Shot String - With .22 Caliber - 18 Grain JSB Jumbo Heavy's

FX 2000, in black widow custom laminate stock.

The FX Airgun Company out of Sweden, in my opinion, makes some of the nicest PCP air rifles available today. The FX 2000 was introduced maybe 10 years ago, and was sold under a variety of names. 

I have seen it offered as the Webley FX 2000, FX Tarantula, FX Black Widow, RWS Excalibre, and of course, the FX, FX 2000.  There are probably others, but those are the ones that I remember.  They all seem to be the same basic gun, with different stock types, and materials, for each of the different versions.

I purchased mine used off of the Yellow Forum Classifieds.  The gentleman I purchased it from stated that it was very accurate.  Little did I know.  I've owned some really accurate .22lr rifles made by Kimber, and Anshutz, and at 50 yards, this rifle shoots every bit as good as the .22lr's did, when they were shooting .22lr match grade ammo.  Very impressive indeed.

Over the years, I've hunted a variety of critters with mine.  Everything from rock chucks, prairie dogs, tree squirrels, and a wide variety of ground squirrels.  The performance has been incredible.  It shoots either the 15.9 grain JSB's, or the 18 grain JSB's extremely well.

Prairie dogs taken in Wyoming, with FX 2000, all the way out to just shy of 100 yards.

I have a variety of stocks for my FX 2000.  The above picture shows her wearing the factory walnut, beavertail forend stock.  The picture at the top of this page shows her wearing a red and black laminate stock, and the picture below shows her in a light weight sporter type stock.  I swap them freely, depending on my mood, or the type of terrain, and critters that I will be hunting.

Prairie dogs taken in Arizona with the FX 2000.

A few years ago, I hunted this rifle exclusively in the blacktail prairie dog towns of eastern Wyoming, and the results were exceptional.  Any prairie dog inside of 100 yards was in serious trouble.  

She operates with an 8 round rotary magazine.  I run four mags, (32 shots) through her before refilling with air.  I can actually go five mags, (40 shots) but the extreme spread climbs a bit.  Not a problem, if I keep all shots with the fifth mag at 65 yards or less.

So how consistent is she?  Here's a typical shot string with the 18 grain JSB's.

FX 2000, 32 shot string with 18 grain, .22 cal. JSB Jumbo Heavy's, 3000 psi fill.

1 - 848     10 - 855     19 - 857     28 - 856

2 - 847     11 - 856     20 - 854     29 - 856

3 - 845     12 - 859     21 - 858     30 - 855

4 - 846     13 - 855     22 - 861     31 - 853

5 - 844     14 - 854     23 - 858     32 - 849

6 - 846     15 - 851     24 - 861

7 - 853     16 - 852     25 - 855

8 - 858     17 - 856     26 - 855

9 - 856     18 - 860     27 - 856 

AVG - 854 fps

ES - 17 fps

FPE - 29

The sequential shot to shot consistency is excellent, and one of the reasons this rifle is so accurate.  A superbly accurate barrel doesn't hurt either.

Other gear I used on the Wyoming prairie dog hunt.  Leica range finder, Leica binoculars, AirHog Pigmee tank, and a Canon HD video camera. One other piece of gear, that didn't make it into the picture, is my Stoney Point telescoping bipod. Without it, I would have made but a fraction of the long range shots that I did.

Large Abert's tree squirrel taken with the FX 2000 at 75 yards.

A pair of California Ground Squirrels taken with head shots at 68, and 75 yards with the FX 2000.

The Fx 2000, is the only airgun that I have been tempted to collect in all of its various versions.  I like them that much.  I haven't done it yet, but it sure is tempting.

 

 

Stoney Point Bipod - A Must Have - For Walk Around Prairie Dog Hunting (VIDEO)

One of my favorite pieces of hunting gear is my Stoney Point telescoping bipod.  Offhand shots on small targets like prairie dogs, can be very challenging, even more so if the wind is blowing.  The Stoney Point bipod makes it a lot easier to shoot in the wind, and it also helps you to hold steady for those long range shots (80 to 100+ yards) when there is no wind.

I use mine for all of my hunting adventures.  Whether the hunt is for ground squirrels, tree squirrels, prairie dogs, rock chucks, or whatever, my bipod is as much a part of the hunt as my rifle and ammunition.  

Here are some more video clips from my last Wyoming prairie dog safari.  It is almost always very windy where these guys live, and I wouldn't have made but a fraction of the shots that I did, if I hadn't been using my Stoney Point bipod.

The rifle is my .22 cal FX 2000, shooting 15.9 grain JSB Exact Jumbo's.

The video is about two minutes and 45 seconds long, and may take 10/15 seconds to load. The individual shots ranged from about 55 yards, out to just under 70. 

Hunting any small game or vermin with airguns is very challenging, but hunting prairie dogs on the open prairie in the wind, takes the challenge to a whole new level.  The use of a telescoping bipod can make a huge difference in how successful your hunt turns out to be.     

  

Airgun Hunting Video - FX 2000 Drops A Prairie Dog At A Lasered 101 Yards.

A couple of other dogs taken during this hunt.

As I have mentioned on many occasions, the the FX 2000 is my go to prairie dog rifle.  The long range accuracy is superb on this gun, and the last time I had her out, she proved it once again.

I had been slowly hunting along, picking off a dog or three along the way, when I spotted a large prairie dog sitting on a mound at a lasered 101 yards. There was no wind to speak of, just an occasional light breeze.  To make these long shots on a consistent basis, you need a very accurate rifle, and almost perfect conditions.  This particular day I had both.  I don't attempt these 100+ yard shots unless the conditions are pretty much ideal.

I'm running a Bushnell Elite 3200, 7-21x40mm scope on her.  When I set up for the shot, it was dead calm.  I settled the second mildot down from the crosshair, on the dogs head, and slowly squeezed the trigger.  I heard the pellet impact, and saw the dog jump and trot off of the mound. This is very typical of a lot of heart lung shots, whether at 60 yards, or 100+ yards, where you don't take out one or both shoulders.  They almost look like a miss.  In the length of time it took me to rack the bolt, to chamber another pellet for a follow-up shot if needed, I saw him topple over.  The pellet was a complete pass through.

The following video clip shows the shot and the end result.  I occasionally get asked if airguns are powerful enough to take squirrels, prairie dogs, and other small game and varmints at 100 yards.  The answer is yes, at least some air rifles are.  A PCP generating  30 fpe at the muzzle certainly is with the appropriate pellet, assuming the gun is accurate, and the shooter has the skills to take advantage of that.

The 18.1 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy pellet is just about ideal for this kind of hunting.  It's very accurate, carries energy down range really well, and has excellent penetration when it gets to the target.

Video may take 10/15 seconds to load.  It is 1 minute 26 seconds long.

Another prairie dog from the same mornings hunt.  It was a very good day.

  

Airgun Hunting Video - FX 2000 - Longe Range - Prairie Dog Shooting

 

One of the most challenging and rewarding hunts a small bore airgun varmint hunter can do, is to go for black tailed prairie dogs.  They colonize in great numbers, live on the prairie where it is usually windy, and present very challenging targets of varying sizes.  They are curious, but wary, so there are a lot of opportunities for head shots, as they sneak peeks over the tops of their mounds at the closer ranges, but there are also untold numbers of medium, and long range shot opportunities too.  

I've been in towns where there were a hundred or more prairie dogs in view at the same time. Three to four hundred shots a day, in a good town, is very doable.  Most shots range from 50 to 90 yards.  There are dogs farther away, but I limit myself, depending on the prevailing conditions, to 80 to 90 yards on the far side.  If the wind is really blowing, I may set a 65 to 70 yard limit on myself.

Here's a video clip that shows a portion of one of the dog towns I was in.  This town was probably 800 to 1000 yards long, by 400 to 500 yards wide.  It was a target rich environment to say the least.  I hiked a ways to get into it.  No roads leading to it, just a cow path.  The rancher gave me specific directions on how to find it.  He and his sons, and sons friends shoot over a lot of the towns on his ranch with powder burners.  When I told him I would be hunting with an airgun, and wondered if he had any towns that didn't get much pressure from guys with powder burners, he turned me on to this one. It was absolutely perfect.  Tons of shots from 50 out to 90 yards.  

My video panning skills could stand some work, so I've slowed this down a bit to make it a little easier to view.  It might take 10/15 seconds or so for the video to load.

My main air sources for the trip, were a couple of AirHog 88 cubic foot carbon fiber tanks, but when on the hunt, I carried a 9.5 cubic foot AirHog Pigmee tank on my belt.  Running out of air during the hunt was never an issue. While hunting, I would refill the rifle from the Pigmee tank, and then refill the Pigmee tank from the 88 cubic foot tanks, when I returned to my rig to get out of the sun for awhile, rehydrate or get a bite to eat.  The Pigmee tank worked out just great.  I also had a Beeman pellet pouch on my belt, that I kept my magazines and ammunition in.

Other important equipment I used, were my 8X binoculars, laser rangefinder, and Stoney Point telescoping bipod.  All three of those pieces of gear were absolutely indispensable.  The Stoney Point bipod is a must have to me.  All of my shooting is done standing, and hitting small targets at long range, while shooting an air rifle offhand in the wind is tough, but using the Stoney Point bipod to help steady the rifle makes it doable.

The following video shows some of the long range shooting opportunities I had in this dog town.  I hunted with my .22 caliber FX 2000 PCP exclusively on this trip.  It was shooting 15.9 grain JSB's at around 940/960 fps, and did everything I could have asked for.  Knowing that most shots would be medium to long range, I zeroed the rifle at 75 yards.

As the ranges get long, and I have to use more zoom on the camera, the video resolution suffers, but I think these clips are still good enough to give you a feel for what it's like to shoot prairie dogs in the wind at some fairly long ranges.

As you can see, it really is challenging long range shooting.  You get a lot of shot opportunities, and it's a great way to hone your long range shooting, and wind doping skills.  Not to mention, it's a heck of a lot of fun too.

Airgun Hunting Video - Shooting In the Wind - Just Do It - You'll Get Better Over Time

I sometimes get questions about shooting in the wind, and how to get better at it.  I don't know of any shortcuts.  It's one of those shooting skills that's learned by doing. The more you do it, the better you become at it.  It helps to make a study of it though.  

Pay close attention, and precisely note where you are holding for each shot, that way you will know where to adjust your hold to for your second shot. That may sound kind of obvious, but knowing that you were holding on its head isn't good enough for hunting with airguns. You need to remember whether you were holding on the center, or left or right sides.  Maybe you were holding on the top of its head, but to the left or right, depending on distance, wind direction, and velocity.  Also, when possible, watch the dust tossed up by the pellet impacting in the dirt.  It can give you some indication of how much you missed by, and in what direction.  That's info you'll need to remember if the shot is a miss, so you can make an informed correction before taking the second shot. Your second shot kill ratio will go way up, if you've learned important information from the first shot miss.

If conditions allow, and  they don't always, try and make your shots during lulls in the wind. Generally speaking, the wind at your shooting position has more impact on the path of a pellet, than wind at the target.   

Over time, when shooting in the wind,  your brain will start to build up a database of information learned from your previous experiences while shooting in the wind. 

A must have tool these days, is a scope with multiple hard aim points built into the reticle. Scopes with mildot, or christmas tree type reticles are indispensable when shooting in the wind.   

Back in the days before mildot scopes, and the other more recent developments in reticle design, I would buy scopes with duplex crosshairs, so that I had at least two hard aim points. The thin crosshair junction of course, as well as the tip of the duplex where the crosshairs went from thin to thick.  It was a great help for holding off when shooting in the wind, and also for holding over for those long range shots.  Not as useful as todays mildot scopes though.

The following videos are examples of years of experience gained from shooting in the wind paying off.   The wind that day was really howling.  It was clearly audible, bending the dry grass, and moving tree branches all over the place.  I had two choices, go home, or hunt and deal with the wind. I decided to hunt.

I spotted this guy at 53 yards.  The wind was blowing right to left, at 90 degrees to my line of fire.  My brain, and gut said to hold one mildot into the wind.  I put the first dot left of the crosshair junction on the squirrels head, waited for the wind to drop a bit at the spot I was shooting from, and gently squeezed the trigger.  I was sighted in at 55 yards, the squirrel lasered right at 53 yards, and the one mildot hold off was on the money.  When the shot broke, I saw and heard the pellet impact, and the furball rolled off the log DRT.  I love it when that happens.

The second video clip shown below, was shot about a half hour later, and about 300 yards farther down the same canyon. The conditions had not changed a bit.  The wind was still howling, only on this shot I was shooting across it in the opposite direction. Where before it was coming from my right to left, this time it was reversed.

I shot a range to this guy and got 57 yards.  The database between my ears said, "hey, that's almost the same range as that shot back up the canyon, the conditions are the same here, let's use the same one mildot hold off, except in the opposite direction."  Works for me.

I got the shot set up in the scope, lightly touched the trigger, the pellet launched, and this guy was dead before he hit the ground.  

This particular day, I was hunting  with my .22 caliber FX 2000, shooting the 15.9 grain JSB Exacts.

Punching paper in the wind can be time well spent too.  Before starting a prairie dog hunt in Wyoming a couple of years ago, I spent a few hours on the prairie shooting in the wind at 50, 75, and 100 yards.  I like to use the large Birch Wood Casey Shoot-N-C bullseye targets.  The pellet impacts were easily seen at the longer ranges, the instant feedback was very educational, and payed off in spades when I hit the dog towns the next day. 

Airgun Hunting Video - FX 2000 Taking California Ground Squirrels At 55, 75, and 90 Yards

My FX 2000, is hands down my favorite .22 caliber PCP.  It was the gun I used when I first started shooting video while producing my DVD, "Airgun Hunting the California Ground Squirrel."  The accuracy is second to none, especially at the longer ranges.

These three video clips were all shot with the FX 2000 the first month or so that I was filming for the DVD. The pellet of choice at the time was the 15.9 grain JSB Exact.  This was before the lead ban on the ranch that I mainly hunt, and also before the introduction of the 18.1 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy.  This gun shoots the Jumbo Heavy's even better than the 15.9 grain Exacts.  When I don't need to shoot tin, my go to pellet in this rifle now days, is the JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy.

The first squirrel in the video below, is a close range shot at 55 yards, the second is a medium range shot at 75 yards, and the last one is a long range shot at 90 yards.  The last one is a bit grainier than the first two because I was running the camera at 40X zoom. These guys aren't very big to begin with, and then you find them out there at close to 100 yards, and it takes some serious magnification to get them to show up on the screen at all. Of the 40X, 20X is optical, but the other 20X is digital zoom.  The camera is an older 3 megapixel version, and at 40X the image starts to get a bit grainy, but I think it still makes for an interesting clip.  It does show the power and accuracy of this rifle.  One of the other things that's kind of interesting about the last clip, is the time delay from the moment the gun fires, to pellet impact. These clips are in slow motion, but it's still a good indication that the squirrel is out there a good ways.

Airgun Hunting Prairie Dogs - You Never Know What You Might See

Last week, I had a chance to get out and hunt with my .22 cal FX 2000 sporting her new Black Widow stock. You never know what you might see on one of these hunts. I've seen quite a few pronghorn antelope, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, quail, and coyotes, but this badger is the first one I've encountered in these dog towns.

I dropped the first pasture poodle I spotted, right at 60 yards. I had gone over to get a picture of the varmint alongside the FX 2000, when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. My initial thought was, "rabbit". WRONG! El Tejon was giving me the once over, and then headed straight for me.

He was about 25 yards away when I first spotted him. Like every badger I've ever encountered, he was totally fearless. I thought for a minute, that he was going to run up and grab the prairie dog off the mound, right in front of me. At about 15 yards distance, he must have realized that I wasn't just another cow, and hung a quick left turn and headed off into the sage.

I'm thinking to myself, "hey buddy, you could do a lot worse than to follow me around today. I'll drop them...you eat them...what a team." Like me though, he seemed to like to hunt alone. He probably came back through the area later and gorged himself. That is if the Turkey Vultures didn't get them all first. 

He doubled back a couple of times sniffing the air, like he could smell the prairie dog on the mound and was going to head straight for it, but each time, he turned around and continued off into the sage. 

It was interesting to watch him hunt his territory. He would run up to a prairie dog hole, sniff it briefly, then run off to the next one. He evidently never found one with dogs in it, because I didn't see him try and dig one out while I could still see him.

The contrast in hunting styles was interesting though. I'm out there with an air rifle, picking off prairie dogs at 50 to 70+ yards.  On the other hand, he's out there digging them out with his claws, and catching them with his teeth. 

What ever works, but I like my method way better. LOL.

This was the first prairie dog of the day. The one that I thought the badger was going to run up and grab.

It turned out to be a very productive morning hunt. I got a lot more dogs than usual. I think because the day was ten degrees cooler than usual, there were more p. dogs out and about, and they stayed out longer.

Later in the morning I dropped two in a row that were at 63 and 69 yards. I took the 69 yarder first. The one at 63 yards just sat up and looked around to see what that loud THWACK sound was. A few seconds later, JSB delivered the mail, and he had his answer.

A couple more taken at just under 70 yards.

My FX 2000 - In An RWS Rapier Stock - Comes Through With Flying Colors - A Hike and A Hunt

A few weeks ago, a cowboy on the cattle ranch I hunt prairie dogs on, gave me a tip on, and directions to, a prairie dog town with no roads leading out to it. No roads means little hunting pressure, and that can be a good thing when varmint hunting with an airgun.

About two years ago, I spotted a nice sporter type stock for sale online.  It was advertised as being for the FX 2000.

At the time, I wanted a lighter weight stock for my FX 2000, so I grabbed it. Well, when I got it, it was for an RWS Rapier not an FX 2000.  The difference being, the Rapier does not have an air guage and the FX 2000 does.  That means the stock does not have a hole in it to accept the air guage.  I thought about trying to put the hole in it myself, but I don't have the equipment to do it right, and I didn't want to screw up a very nicely checkered walnut stock from Italy.  In the closet it went.

In one of my recent conversations with a custom stock maker, I mentioned the issue with this stock.  He said he would gladly put the hole in the stock for me, so off it went to him.

When I got it back, it was a perfect fit, and makes the FX 2000 into a great light weight hunter.  An eight shot partner to my two shot Rapier.

So what does all of that have to do with the dog town?  Well, I put the RWS stock on the FX 2000, turning her into a light weight hunter, and since it was about a mile and a half hike into the town, and I knew it would get hot, I thought light would be a good thing.  I have five mags, for a total of forty shots.  I aired her up and off we went.

The cowpath I followed out to the dog town.

I located the cowpath the cowboy told me about, and had been following it for about twenty minutes, when I spotted the first prairie dog mound.  A few minutes later I spotted the first prairie dog sitting on the lip of another mound.  He was at a lasered 56 yards. (the picture at the top of this story)

The 18 grain JSB impacted the side of his head, and he dropped in place.

I continued to hunt along, and had taken several more in the 50 yard range, when I saw a pair of dogs on the side of a mound at 66 yards.  I dropped the first one with a solid head shot.  The second one ran off of the mound and into the grass.  It wasn't long though, before he was back to check out his buddy. 

At this point he was down on all fours, so I took a shot that entered at the right rear of the rib cage and exited in front of the left shoulder.  I stopped to get a quick picture of the pair along with the rifle.

The RWS Rapier stock on the FX 2000 is working out great.  It has turned this rifle into a nice light weight hunter.   Great for heading cross country on a hunt like this one.

A pair taken at 66 yards.

I continued to hunt, following the cowpath.  I took short trips off to either side, for shots on prairie dogs I could see on mounds or in the grass.  It was obvious that these guys did not get shot at very much. They were nowhere near as skittish as the dogs are in the more accessible towns.

I had been on the hunt for several hours, and it was getting pretty warm, so I decided to start hunting my way out of the town, and head back to my vehicle. 

I had dropped several more dogs in the 60 yard range, when I spotted one sitting on a mound at a lasered 72 yards.  There hadn't been much wind all morning, and at that point in time it was very calm.  I put the first mildot south of the crosshair, on top of the dogs head, and touched off the shot.

At pellet impact, the prairie poodle rolled onto its back, and started doing the bicycle. Much to my surprise, another dog came out of the burrow, and started sniffing the first one.  The conditions were the same, so I put the same mildot on the top of the second dogs shoulders, and sent a second pellet down range.  There was a resounding, THWACK, and the second dog dropped in place with a heart lung shot. 

It was starting to get hot, and time to go.  I stopped for a quick picture, and hightailed it for my rig.

A pair taken at 72 yards.

It was a fun hunt, with quite a few dogs out and about.  The lighter stock on the FX 2000 worked out just as I had hoped it would.  It turned the FX 2000 into a multi shot, nicely balanced, light weight hunter. 

This dog town is perfect for hunting with airguns.  The dogs haven't been educated by guys shooting powder burners, so getting into airgun range was not much of a problem.

I shall return. 

FX 2000 In Her New...Custom..."Black Widow"....Laminate Stock

My FX 2000, is my goto long range varmint rifle. It fits me like a glove, and is the most accurate air rifle in my stable. With this rifle, prairie dogs and ground squirrels at 100+ yards are in EXTREMELY deep trouble.

The FX 2000 will be with me forever, so I thought it might be fun to put something a bit different, stock wise, on her.

I had a custom stock made for her from a laminate called, "Black Widow". 

I'm going to take the...FX 2000/Black Widow...out next week, and see if she can maybe put the "BITE" on a few prairie dogs.