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Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I was determined to get some good kills using the airshotgun but utilizing the .22 cal crow mags as opposed to the shell shot. And also using the bead open sight instead of a scope.

Today was a good day for it. Every so often this flock of black birds comes in and runs amuck. They fly up into the tree outside my window and when I start shooting and their brethren start falling to the ground, it seems to incite them into a frenzy of loud cawing and fluttering about the limbs, and they keep flooding in, I guess to see what all the comotion is about. This has happened before to about the same result. It basically just turns into a shooting gallery and I just reload, acquire a target, fire, and repeat. This goes on for at least five minutes before they are all either dead or have flown off. The results are below:

All of these were shot from up in the tree at 10 yards or less.

They were literally falling right on top of each other.

billandbeaufort · Senior Member

Roger, When someone kills and then eats it, that is "hunting". When someone has a pest that is destroying possesions or crops that killing is required. When someone kills to protect themselves or others, that is self defense. What you are doing is just childish cruelty and disgusting! To post photos as if you are proud of ending a creatures life makes me ashamed to be the same species as you (of course that is a presumtion)

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

It's trophy hunting. I'm not the first to do it. Compared to the guys over at seekers of the red mist, I'm a paragon of animal kindness.

cw · Banned

What is this " seekers of the red mist"?

cw · Banned

Why would you use that "shotgun", when you have a Talon?

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

Seekers of the red mist is some varmint hunting organization that blasts groundhogs with high powered rifles. I guess it makes a "mist" of blood when they explode or something.

I've since converted the air shotgun to a .22 rifle and put a good scope on it. I've gotten to the point where I have no faith in the buckshot and I noticed it was leaving a ton of plastic deposits in the barrel, so now I just use it as a pellet rifle. It seems to be pretty accurate now and I just got a kill with it yesterday.

As far as why I used it instead of the talonss....Not sure. I have a lot of .22 pellets that never get used and I wanted to burn through some. It was kind of like a project to get this thing up and running. Plus, the springer is so much quieter than the talonss, and I don't have to worry about scaring the neighbors. I have 5 air rifles, so no sense in using just one.

cw · Banned

So, you put a rifled barrel on it?

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

No rifled barrel. Don't know where I would get one since it is a custom shotgun barrel and is made of plastic on the outside. It is suprisingly accurate at 15 yards or less with the smooth bore. Probably because the velocity is still pretty high and windage/air drag doesn't have much of a chance to effect the pellet flight.

What I like about it is that it is Gamo's lightest rifle, less than 6 pounds. And its nice to wield a lightweight springer, especially when packing the punch of a .22 cal. That (realtree) Hammerli .22 springer I got is a monster to lug around, even for a big guy like me. So its nice to have a nice lightweight springer like this.

abbastuzlu · Member

you must'nt shoot what you don't eat !!!!!!!!!!!! you are not innocenttttt Evil or Very Mad

thepaladin · Senior Member

Varment shooting is useful and helpful when it kills pest species. Birds that push other birds aside and over populate and area (usually where they are not native), animals that destroy crops or fruit trees, animals that raid feeders, garbage etc, animals that do property damage....

None of these are endangered species. Some of them make a good meal (squirrel for instance) some I'd rather not eat even though there are times they need to be thinned out for some of the above reasons (possum for example).

So I believe in eating what you kill, when practical. Varment hunters don't alwaus shhot animals that "lend themselves to good eating", but are not "guilty" of some wrong doing, they (or we, though I haven't been able to participate lately I would) serve a useful purpose.

cw · Banned

Only the Clampets eat everything that they shoot.

I do a lot of pest control, so I guess that I'm guilty too of not eating the
rats, possum, rock/woodchucks, nutria, coyote, bobcat and mountainlions
that I have shot. Then again, why would any sane person want to?

thepaladin · Senior Member

Well I hear that in some parts of the world, nutria are considered good, you know the plentiful giant rats! But for now we're not in a famine so, I'll forgo the rats. Hope it doesn't get to the point we need to eat those. Maybe if we keep the wood chucks and such out of our crops, we won't have to for a while at least.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I gave up on the airshotty. I had it scoped and it would hit targets fine but I just couldn't seem to render clean kills.

cw · Banned

I think that they probably built it as more of a novelty item or
conversation piece.

thepaladin · Senior Member

Okay....interesting post. Lots of emotion, not a lot of explaination, what is your idea there. I mean, expand on the thought so it can be talked about.

On the earlier topic, I was never enamored with the air shotgun. I mentioned earlier that years ago I tried .22 rimfire long rifle cartridiges loaded with tiny shot and found them to be.... inadiquate, so I figured the airgun version would be too light.