American Airgun Hunter

and just posted on my early experience shooting this very cool rifle. These are the types of springers that keep pulling me back from the pcp world. A lot of fun to shoot!! rnrnhttp://www.americanairgunhunter.com/nitro_trail.html rnrnJim

and spent a few hours shooting them through a variety of guns. Off to a great start, can't wait to get them out hunting to see how they perform on game. Randy Mitchell and I are going to try to get out on a squirrel hunt in Kentucky next week before the season ends. Take a look at intial results http://www.americanairgunhunter.com/baracuda.html

Handgun hunting has become a very popular sport over the last couple decades. As a rule handguns are more difficult to shoot accurately than rifles, and many hunters have found themselves drawn to the challenge. I took up the sport in the late seventies, hunting small game with a number of rimfire pistols and revolvers. Before long I’d graduated to larger caliber handguns, and spent a lot of time in the field tracking feral hogs up and down the coastal hills of my native California.

As my interest in airguns grew, it crossed my mind that using an airpistol for small game and pest control would provide me with an opportunity to get in more shooting, and be a lot of fun to boot! I started looking around and found that while there was an almost unlimited selection of low powered CO2 plinkers (clones of popular Colts, Sig Sauers, etc) there was a very limited selection of guns with the accuracy and power to reliably kill anything larger than a field sparrow. I wanted a hunting tool that would be applicable for shooting pigeons inside of a barn, or rabbits around the garden. Many years ago a chart was published in the Beeman catalog that stated most small game and pest species required 3 to 5 foot pounds energy (fpe) to kill, and since I planned to use these guns inside of the twenty yard range thought that a muzzle energy around eight or nine FPE would be sufficient.

There were a few guns that came close to this; the Sheriden H Series multi-pump .20 caliber pistol, the Crosman 600, the Crossman 2240 CO2 in .177 and .22, and a few others. I found that that the stock Sheriden and the Crosmans produced around 7 fpe and were capable of making clean kills on pigeons, starlings and rats at close range. These results should not be surprising, British airgun hunters are limited to sub 12 fpe airrifles (without a special firearms permit), and have obtained excellent results using them for rabbit and pigeon hunting. When taken in the context of firearms, most airguns are relatively low powered, and the ability to precisely deliver a pellet on target is the critical piece. If you are keeping the range inside of twenty yards, it doesn’t matter if you hit a squirrel in the head with 9 fpe or a 10 fpe, what matters is that you hit him in the head!rnrnrnOf course if accuracy is comparable, more power is better. A more powerful gun will allow a bit more latitude in shot placement and it will allow shots to be taken at slightly longer ranges. This simple truth led me on a search to find ways to boost the performance of the guns that were available, and I stumbled on a small cadre of hobbyist that were hot-rodding production CO2 pistols; particularly the inexpensive and readily available Crosman 2240. This gun can be purchased for around fifty dollars, and with a Dremel tool and a couple evenings tinkering, can be turned into a 9-10 fpe hunting gun. The pistol is dismantled and the internal dimensions of the valve increased, and the transfer port between the valve and the receiver opened up to facilitate improved gas flow. The process of modifying the valve and transfer port, optimizing the hammer spring, and fine tuning the trigger is not only easy but a lot of fun. There are also a number of after market accessories such as complete replacement valves, receivers and bolts, and custom grips in exotic woods and laminates now available from several sources; (see sidebar).

I have used the modified 2240 to take pigeons, squirrels, cottontails, and jackrabbits out past 20 yards. While not an absolute necessity, it is preferable to stick with head shots. The intrinsic accuracy achieved with most of these airpistols is more than adequate; sub ¼ inch groups at twenty yards are the norm. It is a good idea to check several different brands of pellets to see what works best with a specific gun; I find that light weight round nose pellets are effective hunting projectiles well suited to the lower velocities of pistols. Hollowpoints tend to be ineffectual at these low velocities, wadcutters don’t penetrate very well, and pointed pellets are typically the least accurate. While caliber is not critical, one can argue whether the higher velocity and deeper penetration of the .177 or larger wound channel and increased energy delivered by the .22 offers greater advantage. I have recently been shooting the Gamo PBA Raptors with some interesting results; there is a substantial jump in velocity over standard pellets. Inside of twenty yards they are fairly accurate and the terminal performance is quite good. As a matter of fact I’ve had much better results using them in pistols than rifles.

There are three basic options available when selecting a sighting system for the hunting air pistol; at these close ranges iron sights are fine, but many hunters opt for either a scope or a red dot. Most of my guns are equipped with low power scopes, and as pest control often takes place at night some are also equipped with lights and lasers as well.rnrnrnUp to this point we have been looking at the most common airpistols available, but there are some new high power PCP and CO2 handguns on the market that open up new territory for the hunter. The Evanix AR 6 .22 caliber PCP pistol is a six shot revolver that generates approximately 25 fpe, which puts it in the same performance range as many full sized rifles. Falcon has a single shot air pistol that is very accurate and more than powerful enough for small game hunting, though is a bit on the expensive side. A gun I was very excited to see at the SHOT Show this year was the new Crosman Marauder pistol, which is an eight shot .22 caliber pistol with a shrouded barrel and a responsive two stage trigger. This gun will be available before spring rolls around, and should prove an effective hunting arm.

Another source for high power airpistols are the small custom houses specializing in providing components for conversions or producing ground up builds. Once an airpistol is above the 20 fpe threshold, it is capable of taking prairie dogs, woodchucks and raccoons. Dennis Quackenbush has a line of big bore (.308 and up) PCP handguns that put out well over 100 fpe and have been used to take feral hogs and coyotes!rnrnrnIf you are a handgun hunter and want to get in some practice, or simply want a compact shooting tool for taking care of pest control duties around the property, an air powered handgun might be the right option. Make sure you pick a gun that is up to the job, find the right ammo for it, and practice a lot to make sure you can hold up your end. Getting in lots of practice should present no problems; a tin of pellets, a few CO2 cartridges, and an open section of basement or garage and you are good to go!

Just about any airgun is quieter than almost any firearm, some more than others. Spring piston airguns tend to be pretty quiet out of the box; most of the noise originates from the piston slamming home and is more of a low level mechanical twang than the sound of a firearm discharge. Pre-charged pneumatics and CO2 powered guns tend to be louder, producing a more firearm like crack though at a substantially lower volume. While the report of even a high power air rifle is much quieter than a rimfire, there are ways to quiet these guns down further still. A PCP or CO2 gun with a shrouded barrel can be as quiet as a whisper.

Urban hunting for pest such as pigeons, starlings, rats and smaller species typically occur at closer ranges, say inside of 25 yards. So a great deal of power does not need to be generated to achieve fast clean kills. One could argue that a gun producing 9-10 fpe is more than adequate for most pest control duties, and it certainly will cause less damage in case of a missed shot. I generally use a spring piston airgun for this type of pest control, though I have a couple of pcp guns that fit the bill as well. If I intend to shoot something bigger such as a groundhog or raccoon I will opt for a more powerful pcp rifle. There are spring piston airguns that have the power and range for larger quarry, but they tend to be big and bulky. It is quite possible to find a substantially more powerful pcp in a compact and unobtrusive package, which makes them a better candidate for taking care of larger urban pest.

I mentioned that the gun should provide a means of mounting targeting accessories such as scopes, lasers, and lights. Iron sights are fine with respect to range, but as urban pest control often takes place in darker conditions I prefer a scope. A high power scope is unnecessary for the ranges typically associated with urban hunting. However a lower power scope is very useful, especially in settings of low ambient light, such as hunting in a dark factory building or shooting rats at night. There are a couple of other pieces of gear that are of use in these conditions; such as a laser and a flashlight mounted on the gun using a specialized mounting system with remote switches that permit them to be easily set up and quickly deployed.rnrnI have several guns that qualify as urban hunters; my favorite springer for this type of hunting is a Chinese built B57, which is a low powered (560 fps) .177 side cocking springer, that has a 4x Tasco airgun scope in a Leapers Picatinny Tri-Rail scope mount which accommodates a flashlight and laser for night hunting. Shooting Polymag pellets, this combo is very effective on quarry such as pigeons, rats, and rabbits. Hunting with this rig at night, I use the light with a red filter to scan an area until I see the glow of eyes, then flick on the laser to hone in for the shot. For bigger game such as wood chucks, I use the pre-charge pneumatic Airforce Talon SS in .22, which has an adjustable power setting that allows the power to be dialed up or down to accommodate the type of quarry and ranges being encountered. Both of these guns are quite compact but also offer the advantage of a takedown design, allowing them to be carried onsite discreetly and assembled for the hunt.

These guns don’t have to be ultra-compact in many cases, the main attributes that makes a pcp right for urban hunting is that it is very accurate and has a shrouded barrel to reduce the sound signature. I also like the gun to be a multi-shot, and an adjustable power output can be very useful. You want to match the gun to the application, for larger quarry the attributes listed above in a larger caliber .25 would be hard to beat and good for headshots on coyote out to 35 or 40 yards. I’m waiting for the Crosman Marauder .25 to be released, as I think this may prove to be an ideal urban predator hunting rig.

One of the reasons that airgun hunting has gained popularity is that increasing urbanization has resulted in less land available for traditional hunting pursuits. The observer of nature and wildlife will also note that these built up areas; be they industrial complexes, railroad yards, dumps, or other scenes from the urban landscape often become the home territory and feeding grounds for a variety of pest and small game species. Airgun hunting for pest animals provides a service to the property owner while allowing the hunter to hone his shooting skills and have a little off season practice close to home. Where local regulations permit, it is often possible to obtain permission from owners and facility managers to shoot pest animals on their property. The process of gaining access is facilitated by the airgun hunter demonstrating that they are responsible, explaining that they will remove pest species that cause financial damage or present a health risk, and will use a type of hunting tool that minimizes or negates the risk of damage to people or property. When I am asking permission to shoot on a property, I’ll often carry along a couple articles or books that discuss airguns and airgun hunting to share if they seem interested. I also keep a gun stowed in the trunk of my car that can be demonstrated on request, and this has lead to more than one impromptu plinking session! A frequently encountered obstacle to overcome is concern over liability; I carry a form letter which assumes responsibility for any damage I might inadvertently cause and to release the owners from liability for any injury that might befall me while on their property.

Once you determine that the local ordinances allow you to shoot an airgun and have lined up a property to hunt on, you may feel that everything is set and ready to go. But things can still go wrong! You may find yourself in a legal shooting area with permission to hunt and an eye on legal quarry, only to find you must pass through a populated area where it is preferable not to be seen toting a gun. I had once arranged to shoot at a local lumber yard that was having a problem with pigeons messing all over the place. Walking from a parking lot to the yard, somebody saw me carrying a rifle and called the police. After discussing the situation and ascertaining that I had permission and was breaking no laws, I was allowed to go on my way. But this still cost me an hour of my precious shooting time, and it would have been better not to have been seen at all! This experience gave me impetus to consider what constituted the perfect hunting gun for urban hunting/pest control, and I formulated my own set of requirements. The gun must be quiet, compact, generate appropriate power for the intended use, accept various targeting accessories, and if it can be broken down for transport to my hunt site, all the better.

In Part II we'll look at some of my favorite urban hunting airguns

I've got the gun set up with a scope mounted NCD Laser and using the H&N Baracuda Match Pellets .... a great combination! Dead accurate and knocking the spinning targets in my backyard all over the place! Will post the details of the hunt in the next couple days.rnrnOn a different but related note; the range of H&N pellets I've been shooting are consistantly excellent. I pulled out 25 of my favorite guns for a quick check and shot them all using the Baracuda Match pellets. There wasn't a gun that didn't like them. Am doing some major testing over the next few weeks and will have a comprehensive review coming.rnrnLove post SHOT Show .... lot's of new guns, ammo, and gear to test!

Had a lot of fun at the SHOT Show, but today was the beginning and end for me, due to previous commitments I had to catch a plane out on Wednesday morning. But I’d had meetings lined up with all the airgun players and got some quality time with their Senior staff. There is a lot happening this year for airgunners, and the sport had even more visibility.

The two biggest airgun presences were Crosman and Gamo, both had great booth positions, large floor space, and received a lot of traffic. Their approach was somewhat different; although both presented new guns, ammo, and adjunct gear, Crosman was focused on their new guns and enhancements to existing models while Gamo had a focus on their new coherent laser light and new ammunition.

As reported yesterday, Crosman presented a couple very interesting new pcp pistols; the Marauder Pistol for hunters and the Silhouette Pistol for competitive shooters. The Marauder will be released in .22, and uses an eight shot rotary magazine that has a lower profile than the mag used for the rifle. The gun I was shooting got in the 16 fpe range and yielded 3 clip (24 shots) per fill with no appreciable shift in POI. They are looking for a manufacturer to produce a hunting style holster to carry the scoped gun in the field, and I can’t wait to get this gun out for some hunting. The other gun Iam anxious to use in the field is the Marauder .25 along with the .25 CPs that are being manufactured in parallel to the gun. It is the standard Marauder, but with eight shot magazine. The shrouded barrel provides quiet shooting, they say it’s louder than the .22, but on the range I couldn't’t pick up much difference in the sound level. A quiet .25 doing almost 50 fpe, that’s a potential game changer for urban predator hunters and will I think open the door for a lot more firearm hunters that need a tool for shooting in more populated areas. The Nitro was doing well, and available in .25 as well.

Gamo focused a lot of energy on their new ND 5 coherent laser light, and I have to say after a few months of using this light it is not a bad strategy. This is the most impressive jump in lamping technology I’ve yet seen, and it got a lot of traction across the board with mainstream hunters. They had three versions on display; two locator (full sized) and one scope mounted version. They also focused a lot on their ammunition line of specialty pellets. While they showed the PCP DynaMax, which is a multishot in .177 and .22 with a floating barrel (and a threaded muzzle) with a plunger style cocking mechanism, it didn’t come off as a center piece in their product line. As a matter of fact the head of marketing for the group told me they placed much more import on springers that were distributed through the big box stores. While this may not resonate with the hardcore airgunning community, it is certainly a valid marketing approach. The gun they were really pushing was the new SOCOM line, and are also offering a couple of their guns in .25 along with new ammo in that caliber, including the PBA. Gamo sponsored the Outdoor Channel’s special broadcast that rolled 24 hours a day in most of the Vegas hotels, and had all the heavy hitters from the hunting world, singing their praise. They are getting the word out to the non airgunning and hunting community that they are THE Airgunning Company, and are obviously chasing that demographic.

Pyramyd Airgun had a good sized booth that was getting heavy traffic, and showed their broad range of guns. They were the only place to discuss big bores and were showing the range of Sam Yang and Shin Sung guns. But the two new guns that I found very interesting were the Rainstorm and Windy City (with a Rapid style air bottle)….. two multi-shot, shrouded pcps that I’ll do full reviews and field/hunting test on in the near future. The whole back of the booth was turned over to AirArms and their traditional line up of classic springers and PCPs. They had a selection of new stocks (including a true ambi design) for the AA400 series that were done in poplar . They were beautiful, felt great on the shoulder, and super light weight. Pyramyd also gave a lot of display space to the H&N pellets they now carry. I received several tins in various calibers and designs to test out before the show, and have been well impressed. Will have a report on quantitative testing in coming weeks, and will also be working with some of their innovative new designs. One thing worth mentioning, this company has done the best job I’ve seen of labeling their product; you get style, weight, suggested range, applications, and other useful information on the lid, consist ant and clearly marked …. A great idea that you’d think every one would have incorporated into their packaging…. But haven’t!

I also enjoyed visiting with Airguns of Arizona; they have a collection of some very nice guns. Their top of the line centers on the Daystate Airwolf, the news here is they have discontinued the .223 version and are producing the new guns in .25 caliber. This was driven by two factors, the .223 ammo was harder for them to stock, and there is a growing selection of .25 pellets becoming available. The gun that took my breath away was a limited model called the Huntsman Midas. It is not related to the Huntsman of old, but revives a venerated name in airgunning. The stock on this gun is perhaps one of the finest designs I’ve ever seen on an air rifle that you need to see and hold to appreciate. I was told that there would be less than a hundred made. They also had the Brocock line of guns, and I particularly liked the compact little pcp pistol (called the Automatic). I think Brocock is a brand to watch, I thought the Draconian UK regs on their pressurized cartridges had sunk this ship, but looks like they’re coming back with some well designed and well executed products.

Looking at adjunct equipment, Leapers had a lot of new scopes available. On that I liked was the Acushot with a 35 mm tube with an 8-40x magnification! A big scope, but not unwieldy; the optics were very clear and sharp and could focus down to about 10 yards. The scope comes with rings, which is good as you couldn’t walk into the local Cabelas and ask for 35mm mounts and expect to get them! There was a trend towards 30 mm tubes on many of the newer scopes. A new entry level scopes is the Golden Image line aimed at providing a budget scope for shooters (MSRP approx $30.00) complete with mounts was also being shown. I also liked the 30 mm Holographic red dot, that had an optical quality not often seen on this type of sighting system. I’ll be doing some write ups on many of Leapers products in coming months as well. I think Leapers continues to represent on of the best values in optics for airgunners, and man their product line is extensive.

Another scope company that I spent time with was Hawke, and this is another group that continues to bring out quality product for airgunners. This group has been making inroads into the US market for the last couple of years, and leverages off their strong position in the UK and access to some very talented FT shooters and hunters, to continue refining their product line. I liked the new low profile Sidewinder models, which have a reworked reticle, and a much smaller (I think about 2”) side adjustment wheel for AO. I didn’t realize they carried a range of quality Binnoculars in their product line, but they have some excellent ones. I particularly liked the Frontier ED 8x43, compact, ergonomic, and very crisp and clear image quality. I think that every airgun hunter should carry good binos with them in the field, and as with scopes buy the best you can afford. These offer an excellent quality at a very good price.

I’ll do another installment with more information on other companies such as Airforce, Umarex, Hatsun, Stoeger, and Predator International in the next few days. I though there were some interesting trends; more guns in .25 were coming onto the scene (springers and pcp), most new gun designs with integrated shrouds, more pcp hand guns (Crosman, Brocock, Falcon), and a more extensive range of scopes, lights, and lasers targeted for airgunners than I recall seeing in the past. Also there is more awareness of airguns by the non-airgunning community than I’ve seen before. Crosman has been reaching out at a grass roots level with training and competition, and can leverage their extensive distribution and marketing resources. Gamo has made a point of going after the mass market and expanding into the traditional firearms space, and agree with them or not, has been effective in capturing mindshare in the larger potential market (traditional firearm shooters and hunters). While at the same time, companies like Pyramyd have positioned themselves as an information center with a broad range of guns for new shooters researching and choosing airgun products.

spent some time on the range shooting the new Crosman guns. On first approach the .25 caliber Marauder is pretty impressive. It is powerful (around 45 fpe), accurate, and quiet. In otherwords, it is what we've come to expect out of the Marauder, but throwing a big chunk of lead down range. rnrnAlso had the opportunity to shoot the new pcp pistols, they have a .177 single shot for the silhouette shooter, and a .22 that uses an eight shot Marauder style magazine for hunting. It was just a brief plinking session, but it looks like this might be what us handgun hunters have been waiting for; a multi-shot, with a shrouded barrel producing around 18 fpe.rnrnWill be seeing all the new stuff tomorrow, so I'm going to sack out and get ready for a long day.rn

in .177,.22, and .25 to test out. I've got several springers and pcps to shoot them with, and several other pellets to compare to. We'll see how they shoot in coming weeks, I plan on doing a lot of range work as well as a couple hunts. Next week before the shot show I'll be out in the desert after jackrabbits for a couple of days. One thing I immediatly liked about these pellets is the labeling: count, weight, suggested applications, suggested range, caliber, and optimal energy are stated. Lot easier than going online or to my notebooks everytime I need the info. Pellets look very well made and consistant at first look, see how they shoot soon!

9:00 AM I'll try to keep this thread updated as the trip progresses. I'm meeting up with Eric in Dallas in a couple hours (if my flight goes right) and we're driving about 7-8 hours south to hunt free ranging feral spanish goats, other exotics and predators on a large ranch eric has set up. Off to a rough start, we have winter storm conditions here in Indy and it took me almost 2 hours to cover the 30 miles to the airport. Check in was a breeze, my gear was over the weight but they let me slide, and checking my gun was straight frorward and easy. Eric just texted that there were no delays in Dallas, so hopefully my next entry will be from there!

11:50 AM Still sitting in the Indy airport, looking outside at a white-out. They say the incoming plane is in the air, so hopefully will have a plane and be ready to go soon. With an 8-9 hour drive ion the other side hope it's not too long. This is the fun side of traveling to hunt that you hardly ever hear about..........

Day 4 Well sorry about the delay, but I couldn’t get a link up so I couldn’t post during the hunt. We spent the first couple days tracking the herds of feral goats over hundreds of acres of rough south Texas terrain ….. we found lots of spoor but no goats. They seemed to have cleared the properties we had permission to hunt and reached safety. Saw lots, and I mean lots of deer, but we were hunting with our airguns and kept on sweeping the area without luck.

Went out in the evening with calls and the new coherent laser light from BSA to call predators. In the first stand I called in a ringtail cat, and a couple stands later Eric called in a fox. We both missed our shots, no excuses, it happens sometimes. Eric and I used rabbit distress calls and argued over calling techniques, but both worked.
My feet got shredded in the boot/sock combo I selected and I was walking on two sets of blisters with toenails. Then Eric sat on a cactus, which was enjoyed by all. We didn't cover ourselves in glory........

Moved to another ranch further Northwest that has a variety if exotics spread over a few thousand acres. We had a couple challenging stalks. Man, the camera work for filming the hunt adds another whole layer of complexity and we had to hold back a few times because we couldn’t get the angles and everything set up quick enough. The terrain was rugged with lots of cactus and rock formations to work around. The animals were very wary, and when they picked up any movement they were gone over the next hill. In the end we got a couple nice rams, and will write it all up when we’ve got the photos together.

7:30 PM Dropped at airport in Dallaswith my gear, somehow my baggage had gained 10 lb (even though I left gear behind) and was stuck with excess weight charges. Brought a lot more gear than I needed, but I use this experience to help refine equipment for future hunts. It's always more difficult to pack when there will be weather changes, and it did change on this trip. My real problem was my feet, they boots were broken in but the socks I brought were new, which resulted in really bad blistering. I was glad I had my first aid kit along, I'd almost left it behind trying to lighten the load. All in all, it was a good trip ... if not exactly what we'd planned.