FWB on the farm

[Garvin]

I just remembered this story, from my youth when I was staying with my mate in his granny's cottage in Yorkshire. We visited his uncle, who lived at a nearby farm to show him my new Feinwerkbau Sport.

He took the rifle out of its slip and examined it doubtfully in the farmhouse kitchen. "So this is a spring gun? I used to have an old one of these as a boy. Where are the slugs?" I handed him a nearly full tin of RWS pointed pellets. He cocked and loaded it and walked to the open back door.

He squinted through the Diana no.10 telescopic sight (in Apel 1-piece mount) and taking aim at the rear end of one of his cows, which was grazing peacefully in the sunshine about 60 or 70 yards away, he fired.

You could hear the 'thwack' as the pellet made contact. The cow roared in pain, bucked its back legs in the air and took off, charging at full pelt around the field, greatly unsettling the rest of the herd.

The ashen-faced farmer handed the Sport back to me and I quickly put it back in the slip. I saw him several times again in later months and years but he never spoke of that day. It was as if the incident had never happened.

[Hsing-ee]

I borrowed a .22 Feinwerkbau Sport of that era for an FT competition (sounds funny now, but the first FT comp ever was won with a .22 Sport.), gave it the moly treatment and zeroed it for 25 yards.

Well I had to borrow another rifle because it was doing 16 fpe when the marshals checked it over the chrono.

Why did the farmer choose one of his herd to practice on? Not only was it cruel and unusual.. also could have damaged its eye .. and pointless but it’s hardly testing the rifle or his marksmanship. A barn door would have been more appropriate. What a numpty.

[Garvin]

Why did the farmer choose one of his herd to practice on? Not only was it cruel and unusual.. also could have damaged its eye .. and pointless but it’s hardly testing the rifle or his marksmanship. A barn door would have been more appropriate. What a numpty.

The farmer would have been the first to admit it was stupid but I don't think a pellet at that range was a serious threat to the cow. It was probably more shocked that anything and the pellet went nowhere near its eye.

[rapidresponse1]

what a mad thing to do to any animal

[Dornfelderliebe]

Not excusing his lack of judgement but he probably wrongly assumed it was as low powered as whatever he had when he was young.

[Garvin]

Not excusing his lack of judgement but he probably wrongly assumed it was as low powered as whatever he had when he was young.

Exactly. He was probably surprised it even reached that far, although not as surprised as the poor cow.

[Hsing-ee]

Exactly. He was probably surprised it even reached that far, although not as surprised as the poor cow.

Must have thought it was the horsefly from Hell got her number.