VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

HW 100 T FSB - German Side Lever - PCP Air Rifle - In .22.

BEEMAN/WEIHRAUCH H100 T FSB .22 PCP

I'm guessing that it's been six or seven years ago now, that I was at the Beeman facility in Huntington Beach, dropping off a couple of FWB 300S rifles for new seals and springs, that I first saw the HW 100 PCP.

When you walked into the service office, hanging on the walls, were many samples of the Beeman line of airguns.  Among those, I spotted the HW 100 PCP.  The gentleman helping me asked if I would like to shoot one. Heck yeah I would like to shoot one.  He took me into the back area where they had an enclosed indoor range set up.

 

The gun I was given to shoot was in .177 caliber.  I got to put a couple of 14 round mags through her, shooting at a variety of spinners, and paper targets they had set up down range.  The distance was short, maybe 10/15 yards.  The three things that impressed me were, A) the trigger was very good, B) the side lever action was incredibly easy and smooth to operate, and C) it would stack pellets one on top of the other.

The thing, at the time, that was a deal breaker for me though, was the lack of any quick fill capability.  Unscrewing the bottle each time I wanted to fill the gun was a non starter for me.  The fact that the gun wasn't shrouded, and didn't have a pressure gauge didn't bother me as much as the lack of a quick fill port.

So, I pretty much just forgot about the gun.  Over the passing years, when I thought of HW airguns, I thought of springers.  Never giving the HW 100 PCP a second thought. That is until a few weeks ago.

I recently sold off the last remaining powder burner varmint rifles in my collection, and wanted to take a portion of that money and add a new PCP to my airsonal.

I was perusing the PYRAMYD AIR web site, when I noticed the HW 100 T FSB rifle.  It looked different from what I remembered, and it got my attention, so I decided to take a look.

What I discovered, was a much different gun than the one I originally shot at the Beeman facility many years ago.  This one, now has a built in air pressure gauge, and the FSB in the model designation stands for, Fully Shrouded Barrel.  But the best part, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that the gun now has a quick fill port on the end of the air cylinder.  I have no idea when HW made these changes, maybe years ago, and I just never noticed, but I'm glad it popped back up on my radar.

It can be ordered with either a sporter type walnut stock, or an ambidextrous thumbhole walnut stock.  It is also available in .177, .20, or .22.  I whipped out the ole credit card and opted for the thumbhole version in .22.   Officially known as the HW 100 T FSB .22.

I was out of town at the time, so I placed the order to time the arrival of the gun, to be delivered the day after I got back into town.  It's always nice to have something fun to look forward to when you've mostly been busy dealing with some of life's unexpected challenges.

I was not disappointed.  This gun just reeks of old country german quality.  The fit and finish are superb.  I was surprised to see that the gun comes with two (2) fourteen round magazines, and if you want more, they are under $30 bucks each.

The stock is a nice piece of straight grain walnut with a dark finish.  I'm not usually a big fan of ambidextrous stocks, but the cheek pieces on this one are so subtle, and well done, that I don't even notice them.

Out of the box, the gun comes with a few accessories.  On the left, in the below picture, is a DIN adapter that allows you to fill the bottle with it off of the gun.  I suppose if you lost your fill probe, this could save the day. Next is the fill probe.  I've added a male foster fitting to it.  To the right of that are the two mags, and last, on the right, is a degassing cap for removing the air from the cylinder if needed.  All items are very well made.

The air pressure gauge is on the end of the air cylinder, and is color coded for quick easy reading.  The item sticking out of the air cylinder at five o'clock, just behind the gauge, is a probe that you put in the fill port, after charging the air cylinder, to keep out dust and dirt between fills.

The side lever is shown below, along with the magazine, and the magazine retainer latch.  To remove the magazine, simply open the side lever, slide the magazine retainer latch to the rear, and lift out the mag. To load, put the magazine in the slot in the receiver, move the latch forward, and close the action.  The action has now fed the pellet at the 12 o'clock position, in the magazine, into the breech, and you are now ready to shoot.

Close up of mag retainer latch and the magazine.

There is an index mark on the outside of the mag.  If you index that to the top, at 12 o'clock, when you insert the full mag, you can easily tell where your pellet count is. The next time it comes up at 12 o'clock, you are out of ammo.  It is also  easy to see the pellets in the magazine as it rotates.

The weather was pretty lousy the day the gun arrived, so there was no going out to the forest and sighting her in.  Instead, I set up my shooting stand and pellet trap in the house.  I can get 15 yards without moving stuff, so that's what I went with.

For optics, I installed a Hawke 4-12x40mm Panorama scope on her. Punching paper isn't my favorite thing to do, so I've come up with a system that works for me, and keeps the bench time to a minimum. Over the years, I've come up with a short list of pellets that I shoot first. There are tons of pellets, but most, for my application of medium to long range varmint hunting, are a waste of air and time to shoot, so I don't bother.

This time, I went straight to the pellet that I hoped this gun would shoot well.  Time after time, in a wide variety of my PCP's, this is the go to pellet.  What is it?  It's the 18.1 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy.  I bought about 15,000 of these when they first came out, and in the accuracy department,  they have been absolutely amazing.

The first thing I did, before doing any shooting, was to clean the barrel. The barrel wasn't nasty, but it was definitely worth doing.  After about a dozen patches, we were good to go.

I shot three five shot groups.  Fifteen yards isn't very far, but you can tell a lot about how a pellet is working in a given gun at that distance.  There are some that won't stay inside a quarter at that range.

What I'm looking for is a group that is one hole, better yet, pellet on pellet.  I got both while testing the 18.1 grain JSB's in this HW 100 PCP. The first two groups, out of the clean barrel, were one hole.  The last group of five, were pellet on pellet.  I see this happen a lot as the bore gets conditioned with the first ten or twelve pellets, the groups shrink. My hold was at 6 o'clock on the black dots.

Below are how the groups went.

Group 1, shots 1-5

Group 2, shots 6-10

Group 3, shots 11-15

The gun was rested on a Caldwell Shooters Bag up front, and a Protektor, heavy bottom, rabbit ear, rear bag.  This thing was rock solid steady.

I'm very happy with what I'm seeing so far.  Next, I'll run her over the chrono, and see what we get.  This is a regulated gun, so I'm expecting very low single digit velocity spreads across the shot string.

Okay, fast forward a day or so.  I've now had time to run her across the chrono.  I'm very impressed.  I'll do a seperate blog story on that, and include all of the data, but the bottom line is, this gun is doing an average of 884 fps, with the 18.1 grain JSB's, for an average of 31.4 FPE at the muzzle.  Not too shabby.

I'm really glad I gave this gun another look.  You don't hear much about them, but the HW 100 is most definitely a player in the PCP market.

Next up, is to sight her in at 50 yards and see how she does.

  

 

 

AA 410 ERBSL .22 - Gets Some New Glass - And Loses Some Weight

Here she is when I started.  Ten pounds two ounces without the camera.

It's been quite some time since I've hunted my AA 410 ERBSL .22 PCP. That needs to change.  I got her out of the gun case, and decided that what I needed to do first, was to get the weight down some.  As currently configured, without the video camera mounted, she comes in at ten pounds, two ounces.   I wanted to see if I couldn't get her down under nine pounds.

The scope on her, when I started, was the 4-16x50mm MTC Viper, with 30mm tube, camera mount, and sunshade installed.  That combination was then mounted in a set of high BKL rings.

She was also wearing the sporter style stock.  I prefer the thumbhole stock, that my AA 410 CRBSL carbine came with, and my thumbhole stock is about 5 ounces lighter than the sporter stock.  Step one, swap out the stocks.

Next up, was to replace the scope and rings.  A while back, I purchased some of the Hawke, Panorama AO IR EV scopes.  Two of the 4-12x40mm models, and one of the 4-12x50mm versions.  I have really been impressed with these scopes, especially for the kind of hunting that I do. I decided to get another of the 4-12x50mm models, with sunshade, to mount on my AA 410 ERBSL.

I especially like the floating, etched in glass, 1/2 mildot reticle.  Since there are no mechanical strength issues with the stadia wires, since there are no stadia wires, they can make the crosshairs extra fine.  That along with the additional hash marks in-between each mildot, has made this scope one of my favorites, especially for the type of hunting that I do.

I shoot small critters at long range, (by airgun standards) and like a crosshair that doesn't cover very much of the furballs torso.  Many times, I make very minor adjustments in my hold, to compensate for varying wind conditions, and/or range, and this particular reticle is perfect for that.

Floating reticle.  The scope has illuminated reticle capability, in either red or blue.

This scope has a one inch tube, so I mounted it in a set of medium height BKL one inch rings.  I didn't install a camera mount on her, saving another couple of ounces. 

Here's how she looks, sitting in the thumbhole stock, with the new scope. Configured this way, she now comes in at eight pounds twelve ounces.  A savings in weight of one pound six ounces.

Next up, was to get her sighted in again with the 18.1 grain JSB's.  The weather forecast was calling for high winds, starting late morning, so I was out early to try and beat that issue.  There's a weather front moving in, and we're supposed to get some snow this weekend.

This rifle absolutely loves the 18.1 grain JSB's.  Here's a target I shot, while sighting her in with them, shortly after they came on the market.

The five in the bullseye were at 30 yards, and the five in the head were at 50 yards.

Since I already know how she shoots these pellets, my main goal was to just get her sighted in again.  I wasn't trying to shoot itty bitty groups.  I didn't use my shooting stand with front an rear rests, nor did I put my wind flags out.  I shot her over the hood of my vehicle, while resting her on a Caldwell Shooter's Bag.

The only wind flag I used, was the one made from a strip of video tape, that I mount to my barrel or air tube while hunting.

I love a scope, with the reticle centered, scope mount, rail system, that is so well aligned, that the first shot on paper is very close to the aim point, and that's what happened with this combination. I've had some setups, where the first shot isn't even on the target backer.  Then the hunt is on for a set of windage, and elevation adjustable mounts.  Not this time.

I put my target frame out at a lasered 40 yards, grabbed my pellet pouch, loaded a round, aimed at the quarter inch orange dot in the center of a Shoot-N-C bullseye target, and launched the first pellet.  It landed on the target backer, about two and a half inches high, and an inch right.  Not bad, but right then, I remembered that I had the wrong pellets out.  The last time I hunted, was with my FX Whisper, and I had 16 grain JSB's in the pellet pouch.  I put those away, and dug out the 18 grain versions.

Okay, let's try this again.  This time the pellet landed a little lower, but still in the white.  I made some scope adjustments, and fired five for effect.  They cut a nice ragged hole in the black, about a half inch high from my center hold on the orange dot.

I darned near left it there, with just a small right windage adjustment, but since all of my other tree squirrel rifles are sighted in dead on at 40 yards, I decided to do the same with this rifle.

First target shot, while sighting in, with the new Hawke scope. 

That was the last Shoot-N-C target that I had, so I moved up to a half inch orange dot that I had also put on the backer.  After making a small scope adjustment, and while holding at 6 o'clock on the orange sticker, I fired three shots.  They clustered right where I expected.  I added one click of right windage and called the deed done.

Final sight-in target.

Now all I need, is for the weather to improve, and I'll get after the tree squirrels once again with this newly configured rifle.

 

 

 

 

Celestron Ultima 100 Spotting Scope, Used To scout Potential Ground Squirrel Hunting Area - The Rest Of The Story

Celestron Ultima 100 spotting scope.

If you haven't read my last blog story, about the whys and wherefores that lead me to once again add a spotting scope to my hunting kit,  you might want to go to the sidebar and give that story a quick read.

As an initial test of the resolving power of this spotting scope, I put a target out at 300 yards that had .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes in it, and discovered that in decent conditions, the scope would indeed resolve .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes at that range.  Great, then I should have no difficulty at all seeing much larger items like stumps and ground squirrels at 400 to 500 yards. 

After I finished with that experiment, I headed a couple of miles away, to an area that I had seen on an earlier scouting trip.  It was an area that I wanted to check out from a distance, for ground squirrel habitat and squirrel sign.

This is the area that I was focused on.  The far tree line is 400+ yards away.

Once I had the scope set up, and started looking back into the trees, it wasn't long before I was seeing the all important old stumps.  There were also a lot of old blowdowns back in there.

I'm mostly interested in the area from the meadow's edge, back into the woods about 100 yards.  For some reason, that I haven't figured out yet, if ground squirrels are there, the greatest number will typically be found around the edge of the meadow, and back into the woods about a hundred yards or so.

I've got the spotting scope set at about 35 power, and I'm liking what I see.  As I'm slowly working the scope across the area, I spot a stump back in there, with a bright pile of debris sitting on the top of it.  I know from experience, that the debris is from the remains of seeds and pine cones that have been field stripped by a ground squirrel.

Stump spotted in scope, at about 400 yards, with pile of debris on it.

This is good stuff, and it's decision time.  This is our rainy season, and there are a bunch of thunderheads building in the distance.  I know that it won't be long before I will be getting rain, with thunder and lightening all around.  In looking at their size, speed, color, and direction of travel, I figure I've got an hour or so before I need to start getting to concerned.

Let's do it.  I've got my RWS, .22 cal Rapier along, with its new 4-12x40mm Hawke Panorama EV scope on it, and I'm anxious to drop some squirrels with the combo.  I get the Rapier out, along with my binos, range finder, pellets, pellet pouch, and bipod, get geared up and head out across the park, to the far tree line.

As I slip into the tree line, it definitely looks like ground squirrel paradise back in there.  I locate the stump with the debris on it, and go over to check it out and take a picture.  When I'm finished with that, I start looking the area over with my binos, and about 40 yards away, I spot another stump with debris on it also.

Second stump with squirrel debris.

Man, this is looking really good, but I have yet to see a squirrel.  About that time, out of the corner of my left eye, I see a flash of movement.  I put my binos on the area, and sure enough, a furball has jumped up onto the back of a stump, in the shadows, and is looking directly at me.  I zap it with my ranger finder, and get 46 yards.  I've got the rifle sighted in dead on at 40, so I just hold a little high on his head, and squeeze off the shot.

I'm shooting the 18 grain JSB's out of the Rapier, and the combo is just stupid accurate. This might just be the most accurate PCP I own.  For sure, it's a close tossup between this rifle and my FX 2000. Anyway, the pellet hit exactly where expected, and the squirrel was DRT.

First squirrel taken at 46 yards, with RWS Rapier, and new 4-12x40mm Hawke Panorama EV scope.

As I'm heading over to get a picture of the squirrel, with the rifle and new scope, I hear a loud clap of thunder, and see a bright flash of lightening off in the distance.  Hmm, go, stay, go, stay, I decide to stay for just a little while longer, and I decide to hunt in a way, that will take me back in the general direction of my vehicle.

It is absolutely beautiful back in there, and I'm really glad I decided to try the spotting scope method of scouting some of these kinds of areas. I'm very diligently using my binoculars as I hunt along.  Lot's of stumps and blowdowns to check out, and with their coloration, these guys can be hard to see with the naked eye, especially when they are sitting back in the shadows.

There's another loud clap of thunder, accompanied with a flash of lightening, and a few rain drops start to fall.  Nothing major, just a drop here and there, but an indication of what is on the way.

As I'm glassing the area ahead of me, I see a squirrel sitting on an old blowdown log. The R/F says 106 yards.  I want to close the range some, so using the pine trees, that are between myself and the squirrel, I start putting the sneak on him.

I finally reach the point where I've run out of trees to use for cover.  I very carefully stick my head around the side of the tree I'm behind, and shoot a range to the furball. It comes back as 61 yards.  This'll do.  Very slowly, I move my bipod into position, and while resting my rifle on it, I put my right shoulder against the tree and line up the shot.

At 61 yards, I know I'm going to need to show some daylight between the horizontal crosshair and the top of the squirrels head.  I decide to use the hash mark between the first and second mildots on the Hawke scope. Considering the thunder and lightening going on, there really isn't any wind.  One of those, "calm before the storm" scenarios.

I held on the spot between the eye and earhole, and launched the pellet. Because of the angle of lighting in the area, I was able to watch the pellet in flight, as it reached the apex of its flight path, and dropped, like a heat seeking missile, down onto the squirrels head.  Always amazing to see.

The furball dropped down onto the log for a few seconds, and then rolled off of it out of sight.  This is what I initially saw when I got up to the log.

Looking down, I found the squirrel on the ground, DRT.

By now, the thunder is getting louder, and the lightening flashes are getting closer, so I decided to get a quick picture of the squirrel and rifle, and get the heck out of there. 

I took a somewhat circuitous route getting back.  I Stayed tucked back in the trees, and followed the tree line back to the road I drove in on.  I then stayed inside the trees along the road, and hiked back to my vehicle.  No way did I want to walk 400 yards, in the open, across that meadow, with lightening strikes hitting all around the area.  On the way back, I saw several more squirrels, but not wanting to get caught in the deluge that I knew was coming, I gave them all a pass, but I will be back.  

The hunt was a lot of fun, even if it was cut short.  It's the first time I've used the spotting scope to locate ground squirrel habitat at relatively long distance, and it was the first hunt with the new Hawke scope on my Rapier.  Next time, I'm going to get out there a lot earlier in the day, before the thunder heads have a chance to build, and spend a few relaxing hours hunting more furballs.

Here's that last squirrel I dropped off of the log at 61 yards.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these park/meadow areas in the forest. Some large, and some small.  I've humped across many of them, only to find nothing, squirrel wise, in the forest on the other side. With others, I've hit the jackpot. I figured there had to be a more efficient way to check them out.  I think I have found it.  All in all, I'm very happy with the concept of using a spotting scope to optically recon some of these areas for squirrel habitat, and I'm sure she will earn her keep in no time at all. 

  

 

 

 

 

After About 10 Years Without One - I've Added A Spotting Scope - To My Hunting Kit Again

Up until about a decade ago, I had a spotting scope that I used when hunting rock chucks, at long range, in Montana and Wyoming.  A buddy and I, would stop on our way to hunt prairie dogs in eastern Wyoming, or South Dakota, and shoot rock chucks at 500/600 yards in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains.  My spotting scope was an indispensable tool.

The model that I had at the time, was the Leica Televid 77, and as you would expect, coming from Leica, the optics were beyond excellent.   For a variety of reasons, we stopped making those trips, and about ten years ago, I sold off the spotting scope.

Fast forward to today, and now, living in Northern Arizona, I have found several reasons to need another spotting scope.  There is a lot of wildlife here available to view, but I mainly want to use it to optically recon potential ground squirrel hunting sites.

If you've been following my blog, you know that the ground squirrels that we have up here live in the surrounding Ponderosa Pine forest, and have a very specific set of habitat requirements for them to populate an area.

I've covered those requirements before, so won't go over all of it again, but will say, that the number one need, is a goodly number of 80 to 100 year old rotting stumps, left from when the area was logged, many decades ago.

The attraction to those old stumps, is the fact that they have started to rot in the centers, and around the edges, leaving openings that lead down into the ground under the stumps. That gives the ground squirrels the perfect place to build their underground dens. They climb up through the holes in the stumps, sit on the top viewing their territory, and/or eating seeds and nuts.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

The holes at nine o'clock, and eleven o'clock, drop straight down into chambers beneath the stump. The holes make great escape hatches for when danger is near. The ground squirrel that inhabits this particular stump, has been feeding on the readily available pine cones, and that pile of debris, is one of the things I'm looking for when glassing areas for squirrels.

I'm always searching for new squirrel habitat.  Because these guys do not populate any given area of the forest in great numbers, I prefer not to hunt the same spot more than twice in any given year.

Finding new spots involves covering a lot of ground.  Sometimes I drive right into an area that has ground squirrels.  Other times I see an area three or four hundred plus yards away, across a park/meadow, that looks like it might have potential, but my eight power binoculars just don't give me enough detail to really tell much.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

That far tree line is a good 400+ yards away.  There is no vehicle access to that area, and it is highly illegal to drive across that park.  The only option is to hike into the area, and check it out.  Not a big deal, unless it's the sixth hike that day, and when my squirrel habitat success rate is about one in every six hikes, then it gets old real quick. My solution to the issue, is to get a spotting scope, and where possible, recon the areas optically, from a distance.

The Leica scopes are first rate, but the reality is, I don't need a $3000 spotting scope to do what I want to do.  After spending some time researching spotting scopes, and talking to a few guys here locally, I settled on the Celestron Ultima 100 with the 45 degree viewing angle.  I picked it up from Amazon for $280 bucks.  I know, I know, it's made in China, so how good can this thing be for that kind of money.

Well, the guys that I talked to about them, were real happy with the performance, so I figured I would give one a shot.  First impression, it's big, well made, and heavy.  That 100mm objective lens, also helps to give nice bright images, and my aging eyes like bright images.

As I said, it's a big heavy scope.  It does need to be mounted on a good sturdy tripod.  I already have one of those, with ball head, for my DSLR camera. The Ultima 100 comes with a zoom eyepiece, that goes from 22 up to 66 power. For my application, I'm finding that from about 35 power to 40 power is the most useful.  At that power range I can readily see back into the trees, and it's easy to spot the types of stumps, and squirrel sign that I'm looking for, if it's there.  

Scope mounted on my tripod.

A closer view.

Sometimes, because of the high magnification, it can be a challenge to find, in the scope, what you want to look at.  This model has a clever fix for that problem.  There is a peep sight tube, moulded into the left side of the housing.  You look through that tube, move the scope until you locate your subject in it, and when you then look through the scope itself, you will be very close to being on.

Close up of peep sight tube.

Okay, so is this thing going to work for my application or not?  Well, for starters, on my way out to the area where I wanted to test it, I could see a large herd of three or four hundred elk, feeding in a very large open area.  They were a good 1000 yards away, so I decided to stop and check them out with the new scope.

A portion of the elk herd.  Photo taken with small point and shoot camera, at max zoom.

With the Ultima 100, set at 35 power, it was very easy to pick out the big bulls, small yearling bulls, and the cows with calves.  Geez, I would hope so.  Some of the big bulls are the size of a small car.  It was a fun stop, but didn't really tell me much about how the scope would work for my needs.

Next, I headed into the forest, so that I could set up my target frame, and view a target that had .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes in it.  I was curious if I would be able to see those holes at 300 yards.  I figured that If I could see those, I would be able to clearly see ground squirrels, and stumps at much, much greater ranges.

The target that was placed at 300 yards.

Truthfully, I didn't expect much, but when the air was calm, and the heat waves were quiet, I could see the .177 pellet holes.  The half inch orange dots were easy, and of course the Shoot-N-C targets looked huge in comparison.  

I'm very satisfied with the purchase.  If you want a scope where you can tell the 12 different shades of blue and grey, on a mountain bluebird, at 500 yards, I think you would be better served with the Leica, but for my purpose, this scope is going to work out great.

So how does it perform for my application?  Well, I took it back to that park/meadow area that I posted a picture of earlier, and used it to check out that spot.  So how did it work out?  It was great, that picture of the stump up above, with the squirrel cuttings on it, was one of the things I saw when I scoped the area back in the trees.

That's all I needed to know.  I got out my RWS Rapier, the rest of my hunting gear, and hiked on over there for a short hunt.  How did that go? Well, that's a different blog story, but below is a hint.

So, is the Ultima 100 the equivalent of, or even close to the current Leica Televid 82, or even the older Televid 77?  Well, no.  I was a Leica sporting optics dealer for ten years, and the tight tolerances held, materials used, and processes those folks apply in the manufacture of their optics are second to none, and are borderline fanatical.  All of that definitely shows up in their finished products.   

However, having said that, for my application, the Celestron Ultima 100, is going to work out great. Now, I'm going to head back out into the forest, and check out some of the likely looking areas that I originally let pass, because it was either to hot and humid, or I just didn't have the energy to get out and cover the ground, to see what those areas might have to offer.

Stay tuned, Lots more to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Went Out To Sight In My FX Whisper - And Found A Nice Ground Squirrel Area As A Bonus

FX Whisper, sporting her new Hawke 4-12x50mm, Panorama EV Scope. 

The local temps finally dropped about ten degrees, and the humidity dropped by about thirty percent, so I thought I would take the opportunity to get out and get my Whisper sighted in with her new scope.

I only had about three hours to spend, so I decided to hit an area not to far away, and one that I had driven by many times.   The Forest Service map showed a 4x4 road that paralleled the county road for about three miles.  I had never taken it before, because with that easy access, I figured it would probably get a lot of traffic from the local hikers and bikers.  Nothing wrong with hikers and bikers, but my past experience had shown that a lot of those folks aren't real compatible with hunters. Especially this hunter.

I found the turn off, and headed down the 4x4 track.  It went in about a half mile before it turned and started paralleling the county road.  It was a pretty drive through the pine trees, but I was looking for a place that I could pull out and set up my target frame at 40 yards.

I was down the road about a mile, and hadn't found a place flat enough for my purpose, but as I was slowly driving along, I saw a small canyon opening up off to my right.  The mouth of it is pretty well blocked by young, ten foot tall Gambel's Oaks, and Ponderosa Pine trees.

Because of the density of the trees, I couldn't really see back into the area, but as I drove along, I suddenly came to a spot where a game trail exited the canyon, and there was a path through the trees.  I used my binos to sneak a peek back in there, and liked what I saw. Piles of deadfall, stumps, and blowdowns, with plenty of open area.  I decided that after I got the Whisper sighted in, I would come back and check it out. Anyone hiking, or biking down the road, wouldn't even know I was there. Another advantage to hunting with a quiet airgun, which my Whisper is, is no muzzle report to startle the tree huggers.

About 200 yards further down the road, I found the ideal spot to sight in the Whisper. It took all of five shots.  The first shot at 40 yards hit about two inches high, and one inch left.  I made a scope adjustment and fired another shot.  Almost there.  One more fine adjustment, and fire for effect. The next three shots were touching, right where I wanted on the target. Great, now lets go check out that canyon.

I hiked back down the road, and picking up the game trail, I headed into the canyon.  As soon as I was clear of the young trees, I started glassing the area.  It was great looking ground squirrel country, and within seconds I spotted squirrels out and about.

The first one I have a shot at is sitting on an old blowdown log at 52 yards.  It's dead calm back in there, so I just hold a little high for the 52 yard distance, center him with the vertical crosshair, and squeeze off the shot.  The pellet knocked him off of the log and out of sight.  

When I got over to him, I could see that the pellet had taken him through both shoulders.  I stopped for a photo-op, and then continued to hunt.  A little further into the canyon, I spotted three squirrels at distances of 43, 48, and 57 yards.  I started with the 57 yarder first, the 48 yarder second, and the one at 43 yards last.   I dropped them all with four shots.  I missed the first one, a bit high at 57 yards, but he didn't spook, and I got him with the second pellet.  The other two were one shot kills. Three squirrels in about 40 seconds, not bad.

The three taken at 43, 48, and 57 yards.

About this time, a pair of Red Tail hawks came screeching through the area, and that was the end of seeing any squirrels for about twenty minutes.

Things finally quieted down, and the squirrels started to appear again.  I hunted for another thirty minutes or so, and got three more ground squirrels.  The area turned out to be worth checking out, and I'll be back when I have more time to spend.

A couple more pictures from the hunt. 

 

The Whisper, Hawke Panorama EV scope combination is working out great.  I think I finally have this rifle set up just the way I want.  It's been a long time coming.

 

 

A Trio Of Hawkes - Ready To Pounce On Small Game - And Varmints

L-R, Benjamin Discovery .22, FX Rapier .22, FX Whisper .22.   All with Hawke Panorama AO IR EV series scopes mounted.

A couple of months ago, I picked up one of the Hawke Panorama AO IR EV 4-12x40mm scopes for my Disco.  At the time, I was looking for a scope to replace the Bushnell Legend that I had mounted on her.  

The Legend is a nice scope, but I always found myself wishing that the crosshairs were a bit thinner, and that it would take a sunshade.  After some research, I settled on the Hawke Panorama AO IR EV series to meet my needs.  The Panorama series do not include a sunshade, but they are available as an add on accessory.

I've had the scope mounted on my Disco for a couple of months now, have had the rifle out on a half dozen ground squirrel hunts, and I am really pleased with the performance of this scope.  So pleased that I ordered up a couple more.  Another 4-12x40mm for my RWS Rapier, and a 4-12x50mm for my FX Whisper.

Below is a shot of the end of the box.  It shows the floating reticle. Hawke offers a couple of different reticle options on this model, I went with the half mildot.  Since the reticle is etched into glass, and not attached to the edge of a tube, there are no mechanical strength issues, and they can make it very fine.

These scopes have the front adjustable AO.  The third knob on the left side of the scope, is the on/off brightness control, for the illuminated reticle.  Using this control, you can choose either red or blue illumination. 

About half of my scopes are side focus, and the others have the front AO. I switch between the two types of focus adjustment, pretty much seamlessly. 

Above is the 4-12x40mm Hawke Panorama AO IR EV mounted on my Disco. At a length of 39 inches, this rifle is essentially carbine in size, and weighs 7.2 pounds as you see her. It's just a great size and weight to carry for hours while hunting either ground squirrels or tree squirrels.  

Above is my RWS Rapier.  I replaced a Leupold 3-9x33mm EFR scope, that was on her, with a 4-12x40mm Panorama AO IR EV.   I've had a love, hate, relationship with the Leupold for years.  It's a nice scope, but I'm always just a bit dissatisfied with the duplex crosshair, and the fact that it doesn't take a sunshade.  

After hunting with the Hawke Panorama on my Disco, I decided that the same scope on the Rapier, would be everything I was looking for.  Fine crosshair, sunshade, and a weight of only 17.3 ounces.  

At only 40 inches in length, this rifle is also carbine in size.  It weighs 8.5 pounds, but because of the excellent balance, seems lighter.

I needed a set of medium scope mounts for the Rapier, so I ordered a set of the Hawke's to try.  They are very nicely made, and are lined, to help minimize ring rash on the scope tube.   

Last, but not least, is my FX Whisper.  I've had a BSA scope mounted on her, and once again, I was not happy with the thickness of the crosshairs. The BSA probably has the thickest crosshairs of any of my scopes.  A perfect candidate to be replaced with a Panorama AO IR EV.  

I went with the 4-12x50mm Panorama for this rifle, simply because a scope with a large objective looks better on this gun.  Because of the height of the magazine, the use of high rings is a must.  A scope with a 40mm objective looks goofy on this rifle. How's that for some scope vanity.  LOL.

This rifle runs 42.25 inches in length, but only weighs a few ounces more than my Disco. The synthetic stock really keeps the weight down.

Next up, is to get the Rapier and Whisper sighted in with their new glass, and get ready to do some ground squirrel hunting with them.

Here recently, It has been too darned warm and humid to do any actual in the field hunting. Nothing like 85 degrees, and 85 percent humidity to kill my desire to do much hiking around.  For about another month, It's the monsoon season up here, and remains fairly warm and humid, especially humid.

Rather than waste the time though, I've been scouting new areas for ground squirrels. Riding around in my air conditioned 4x4 isn't bad at all.  Last week, I found a couple of really good spots.  In both areas, using my binoculars, I could see lots of squirrels sitting on stumps and deadfall.

Now, I just need to wait for the humidity to drop back down into the 20/30 percent range, and we'll be on the hunt.  I love hunting these guys in the deep forest.  There is just nothing like it. 

While scouting, I started taking some pictures of some of the squirrels I came across. Here's a couple of examples, shot from inside my vehicle.

As soon as I have some time, I'm going to post a story or two about the scouting experience.  It has been a blast, and time really well spent.  Plus I've had a chance to see a lot of really beautiful country.

Benjamin Discovery .22 - Gets Some New Glass - And Continues To Impress The Heck Out Of Me

Discovery .22, with new Hawke Panorama 4-12x40mm AO EV scope, with sunshade.

I've been running my .22 Disco with a 5-15x40mm Bushnell Legend scope on it, which is a nice scope, but I wanted something with a finer crosshair, and that would also take a sunshade.

After a bit of research, I decided on one of the Hawke Panorama 4-12x40mm AO EV scopes, with the half mildot reticle, using one of their sunshades.  I mounted it in a set of medium mounts that I had on hand.

Of course the first thing to do, after getting the scope mounted, was to get the Discovery sighted in at 40 yards, my preferred distance for this rifle.

I bought my Disco back in May of 2008, just after they first came out, and it has impressed the heck out of me right from the first time I shot it.  For me, accuracy is my first priority in a gun, and this little rifle just blew me away from the first time I put it on paper.  Are they all like this, I don't know, but this one is a tack driver.  Below, is a target shot from my first time out with her.

Five JSB 15.9 grain Jumbo's at 30 yards.

Again, shooting the 15.9 grain JSB's, I got her sighted in at 40 yards on a bullseye target, and then just for the heck of it fired a couple of shots at a sabertooth prairie dog target that I happened to have along.

Holding on the eye, I fired two shots that touched.  There was just a whisper of a left to right breeze, so I didn't change my scope settings, I just put everything away, and headed out into the forest to see if I could find a ground squirrel or two.

Two 15.9 grain JSB's from 40 yards, very light left to right breeze. 

As I was hunting along, I spotted an old stump out in the open, and when I glassed it with my binoculars, I could see the head of a ground squirrel looking at me from the back side.  I couldn't resist grabbing a quick picture of the squirrel on the stump.

First squirrel of the day, 41 yard head shot opportunity.   

My rangefinder lasered the squirrel at 41 yards.  Since I have the gun zeroed at 40 yards, I held on for elevation, and the left edge of its head, to allow for a light left to right breeze.

When the shot broke, there was a loud THWOCK, and the squirrel disappeared.  A few seconds later, it tumbled out from behind the stump, rolled a couple of times in the grass, and came to rest.  When I got over to it, I could see that the pellet had gone in one ear, and out the other. Score another one for my tack driving Discovery.

Ground squirrel taken at 41 yards with a head shot from my .22 cal Disco.

After the requisite photo op, I continued to hunt for another hour.  I only saw two more ground squirrels, and didn't get a shot at either one. They both bailed before I could get within range. 

Then, as I was hunting my way back to my vehicle, I spot another one on the limb of an old blowdown, out in the open at 88 yards.  There was a very large Ponderosa Pine tree between me and the squirrel.  I shot a range to the tree, and it came back at 45 yards. That told me, that if I could get to that tree, without spooking the squirrel, I would have a 43 yard shot to the furball.

The sneak was on.  I was very careful to carry my rifle, and Stoney point bipod directly in front of me, so the squirrel wouldn't see them moving and sticking out from the side of the tree I was using for cover, as I closed the range.  I was also very careful not to step on any crunchy sticks or twigs along the way.  These guys have amazing hearing.

I finally made it to directly behind this big pine, and stuck just enough of my head out, so that I could see if the squirrel was still there.  Yep, he's still there alright, and better yet, has climbed up a little higher on his perch.

He's presenting me with a nice face on shot.  For elevation at 43 yards, I held on the center of his head, and for windage, just off the right edge of it, to allow for a frisky right to left breeze. The shot knocked him off the limb he was sitting on, and he dropped out of sight behind the blowdown.  When I got up to the old tree, he was DRT.  The pellet had entered under his chin, and exited the back of his neck.

Squirrel taken at 43 yards with .22 Discovery.  Air tube mounted wind flag showing right to left wind direction.

It was a very satisfying hunt, and I'm more than pleased with the new Hawke scope. As usual, the Disco did what she always does, and that is to put a pellet right where I want it, when I want it.

Sometimes, I get asked why I would put a custom stock on an inexpensive rifle.  Well, when I get a gun that shoots as good as this one does, I want it the way I want it.  The factory stock is a bit small for me, and since I will be keeping this little rifle for ever, I decided to put a custom stock on her, that not only enhances her appearance, but also her handling and shootability.  She now fits me like a glove.

Below is a picture of a game tank that was in the area I hunted.  On my way out, I came around a bend in the road, a couple of hundred yards from this tank, and encountered four cow elk that were headed toward the game tank for a drink.  I need to start leaving my camera out, so that I can get pictures of some of the critters I come across while driving these old logging roads.

So far, I've seen elk, deer, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, a bobcat, and several gray foxes.  Pretty cool. 

Game tank.

 

 

 

Scopes For Airgun Hunting With PCP's - How Much Do You Really Need To Spend?

Above, are some of the scopes that I find work just great for the type of hunting that I do with my airguns. Top to Bottom.  MTC Viper 4-16x50mm, Leupold Vari X II 4-12x40mm, Bushnell Legend 5-15x40mm, and a Leupold 3-9x33mm EFR.  In addition to those shown, I have others from Crosman, Nikko Stirling, and Simmons that are mounted on various guns, and ready to hunt.

When talking about scopes and prices, the sky is the limit, $800, $1500, $2000+, Swarovski, Zeiss, Leupold are some examples, and there are others up there as well. For sure there are some differences in the mechanical build, and optical quality, between the premium priced scopes, and the value priced units, but do I really need that difference on guns that have no recoil, and rarely get shot past 100 yards.  I decided some time ago that the answer is no.

Up until four or five years ago, I had a couple of Leupold 6.5-20x40mm EFR models mounted on a couple of my air rifles, and they were really nice scopes.  Around that same time, I picked up a used FX 2000, and started looking for some glass to put on it. I settled on a Bushnell Elite 3200, 7-21x40mm with mildot reticle.  At the time, I think it was around $325 bucks.  It turned out to be a very nice scope mechanically, and optically, and the performance on various hunts, was everything I could ask for and then some.

I sold off the Leupolds, and bought myself a nice AA 410ERBSL .22 cal PCP with the money, and at the time, dropped a $200 dollar Bushnell Legend 5-15x40mm scope on it, and never looked back

I currently hunt with scopes by CenterPoint, MTC, Bushnell, Simmons, Nikko Stirling, and Leupold.  The price range is from $114 dollars, to around $400.  Some were picked up on sale, and others were purchased at the going price of the day.

The big CenterPoint, MTC, and Nikko Stirling 4-16x50/56mm scopes are all on my prairie dog rifles, and they work great when looking to put a pellet through a prairie dogs head at 100+ yards.  With these scopes, I can easily spot a prairie dogs head sticking up out of the prairie floor at 100 yards, and dropping a pellet onto it is not a problem.

A high dollar scope might also let me see the whiskers, on the prairie dogs nose, but do I really need to see the whiskers, to drop a pellet down a dogs ear hole, that I can plainly see with my value priced scopes?  Not really.  A nice clear image of the dogs head is all I need to get the job done, and all of these value priced scopes that I use, give me that.

Some of my hunting rigs, and the scopes I run on them.  All the scopes are variables, and set at 8X.

Leupold 3-9x33mm, on my FWB 300S .177, duplex crosshair.

Bushnell Legend 5-15x40mm, on my Benjamin Discovery .22, mildot reticle.

Leupold VariX II 4-12x40mm, on my RWS Rapier .22, duplex crosshair. 

Bushnell Elite 3200 7-21x40mm, on my FX 2000 .22, mildot reticle. 

Nikko Stirling Nighteater 4-16x50mm, on my AA 510 TC .22, mildot reticle.

Simmons Whitetail Classic 6.5-20x50mm, on my FX Whisper .22, mildot reticle. Thick crosshairs, but this is a dedicated cottontail rifle, so it's a non issue.

MTC Viper 4-16x50mm, on my AA 410ERBSL .22, SCB reticle.

CenterPoint 4-16x56mmAORG, on my Benjamin Marauder .25, mildot reticle.

CenterPoint 4-16x56mmAO, on my Benjamin Marauder .22, mildot reticle.

With just about any of these scopes, I can see the ticks in a jackrabbits ear at 90 yards. With a much more expensive scope, I might be able to tell the gender of the ticks in that jackrabbits ear, but I don't really need that capability to drop a pellet down that hares ear canal.

So like I tell folks all the time, when it comes to scopes for airguns that are recoilless, and rarely get shot past 100/120 yards, it's your dime, spend it how you want, but for what I do with my PCP's, these value priced scopes have all performed to perfection for me.  Never an issue of any kind with any of them, and I have never thought to myself, "man, I've got to get some better scopes."  YMMV.  

 

Crossman CenterPoint - Power Class 4-16x56mmAO - Mounted On My Marauder .22 - This Scope Has Got To Be A Best Buy

Marauder .22, with CenterPoint 4-16x56mmAO scope mounted.

I have a CenterPoint 4-16x56mmAORG, mounted on my .25 cal Marauder, and have hunted her hard for a couple of prairie dog seasons now.  The combination of that scope and rifle, have been amazing out in the dog towns.  They have allowed me to make head shots on prairie dogs all the way to 100 yards, and the optical performance of this scope is a big part of what has allowed me to do that.

Marauder .25, with the CenterPoint 4-16x56mmAORG mounted.

I was so impressed with its capabilities in the field, that I picked up this CenterPoint, Power Class 4-16x56mmAO, to put on my .22 cal Marauder.

The only difference that I can see, between the two scopes, is the 4-16x56mmAO does not have the illuminated red/green reticle feature, that the 4-16x56mmAORG, on my .25 Marauder has. Since I don't use that feature, I opted for this model without the illuminated reticle.  I picked it up at Walmart online for $114.  I don't know if that's a close out price, but as far as price performance goes, this scope has got to be a best buy.  

The specs are the same as my first CenterPoint, excluding the R/G illuminated reticle. Coated lenses, 30mm tube, side focus, 1/8 MOA click value on the W/E turrets, all weather construction, mildot reticle, lockable turrets. It also comes with a 4 inch sunshade, popup lens covers, and fast focus eye piece.

The weight runs 27 ounces, just what I'm looking for when I want to add some heft to a rifle I'll be hunting prairie dogs with in the wind.  I really like the clarity of the two that I have, and the side focus is nice also.

One of the things that I really like about both scopes, is the size of the crosshairs and mildots.  I run my scopes at 8x, and the crosshairs are thin enough, and the mildots are small enough, that they do not completely cover small critters, like prairie dogs, even at 100+ yards. This is very important to me, because I make some very small corrections in my hold sometimes, and it's nice to be able to see the critter behind the crosshairs, even at long range.

This is not a small, light weight scope, so it's not one that I will be putting on one of my carbines any time soon, but for what I bought it for, like on my .25 cal Marauder PCP, this will be a very nice addition to my .22 cal Marauder rifle.

The below targets show how she shoots at 55 yards.  I was sighting her in with the 18 grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy's, and fired this five shot group in a light switching breeze.

 Five shots easily covered with a dime.

Now I've got twin Marauders, not quite identical, but close.

Marauder .22 with CenterPoint 4-16x56mm scope mounted, and ready to hunt. 

 

 

Crosman - CenterPoint - 4-16x56mm - Power Class Rifle Scope - Mounted On My .25 Cal Marauder - For Hunting Prairie Dogs With

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A few weeks ago I acquired a new CenterPoint 4-16x56mm Power Class rifle scope. Crosman Power Class Scopes  I have been swapping an MTC Viper 4-16x50mm scope back and forth between my FX Whisper and several other guns, including my .25 caliber Marauder.

Using a set of the CenterPoint high rings,  I mounted the new scope on my .25 cal Marauder, and have been hunting prairie dogs with this setup over the past couple of weeks.  

Like the Viper, this is a big scope, and it does have some heft to it (27.5 oz). The tube is 30mm, and the objective lens is 56 mm.  It has side focus, and the ocular lens has fast focus capability.  The windage and elevation turrets have 1/8th MOA clicks, and are very positive. They are also lockable, so you don't have to worry about them accidently getting moved while hunting.

The scope also comes with a set of pop-up lens covers, a nice 4 inch sunshade, and user selectable, red or green illuminated reticle.  Speaking of the reticle, it is what I would call medium fine, and the mildots are appropriate in size too. Not too large and not too small, just about right. 

The optics are bright, crisp, and clear.  I was easily picking prairie dog heads out of the grass and ground cover at 80/90 yards no problem.  Using the side focus knob, the parallax is adjustable from 10 yards to infinity.  I like the way it feels, and it is very easy to snap your target into focus.  There is also available as an accessory, a 4 inch side wheel with range markings on it, to aid in range estimation.

As I said earlier, the scope has some heft to it.  I like that in a scope that will be used on a gun that I will be hunting prairie dogs with.  I like a heavy rifle when out on the plains.  The wind is forever blowing, and a rifle with a bit of weight to it, is much easier to hold on target in the wind, than a light weight rifle is.  

So how did it perform in the field?  I love it.  It's bright, easy to focus, the crosshair and mildot sizes are perfect for what I do, and I intend to leave her mounted on my .25 Caliber Marauder.

Here are a couple pictures of prairie dogs that I took while hunting with the CenterPoint 4-16x56mm.

A Prairie dog taken at 65 yards using 4-16x56mm CenterPoint scope. 

A pair of prairie dogs taken just shy of 70 yards.  Head shots using CenterPoint scope.

I'm very happy with this rifle and scopes performance in the field, and now, no more swapping scopes between guns.