John Darling JD (1946-2004) was my inspiration to be the best i can and enjoy the sport i love. R.I.P
A dedicated HW80 Fanatic and owner since 1986 to present.
bighit, most interesting post. Makes a lot of sense to me.
As a Deer Warden I have to dispatch a good few deer. My method is a explosive brain shot. It can take a good while for the body to realise its very dead which is no help when there are witnesses to Bambi's demise.
I consider air rifle pellets be it .177 or .22 as a stiletto stabbing rather than some explosive grenade going off inside. Shot placement is everything. I suspect it takes at least 18ft/lbs to generate some kind of meaningful hydraulic destruction effect.
This flapping around after death is quite common in chickens I have dispatched. My mate Pat Yoko told me of a Cape Buffalo shot with a 375 Holland and Holland and it ran over 100 yards before dropping. When butchered its heart was found to be destroyed. Its thought the muscles in the body and legs keep the blood pumping around for a while. What a subject to get on !
Baz
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
I have a similar feeling, 12 ft is JUST enough for hunting but Marksmanship has to be top notch. However for .177 12 ft lb is enough as at 55yds the pellets jsb heavies, just go straight thro a rabbits head. In .177 fac air, more power is a complete waste of time. Sub 12ftlb .22 is a noticeable improvement on bunnies but range has to be known exactly for a clean kill. I am currently filling the FAC application form in and will be going for .22 at 30ftlb and .25 at 45ftlb. Some will say why not go for rimfire or hmr but you will almost inevitably get a richot some time!! There is plenty of housing within half a mile radius of where I shoot.
mk2 rapid.22
I converted to .177 in sub 12 for all my hunting a few years ago.
Without doubt shot placement is key.
But..... what I've found is that most .177 pellets do over penetrate. My thinking on this has lead me to use JSB express in .177 but actually at lower power.
I run all my springers at 10.5 with express. The energy transfer with the lighter pellet is staggering. No over penetration, much more of a visible "mess" and cleaner kills.
So in my mind its not about greater power. Its getting the combination of the rifle power and pellet choice right.
B.A.S.C. member
I've shot some squirrels of late with a sub 12 ft. lb. .177 JSB Exact. Bottom line is, if you are going to shoot a squirrel with a 12 ft. lb. gun, expect it to do some acrobatics. In my experience, it's impossible to be 100% certain of a clean kill. Even at 15-20 yards you just never know when the squirrel will may slightly move it's head. I've waited for ages on the perfect time to shoot and have still had them move slightly. I think they were still kill shots, but it does make me think about it very hard. I shot one out at 25 m and was certain I'd hit the spot, but the thing did some very strange twitching. Head and chest were flat on the ground, but the rear end was standing up still and the tail was straight up and doing this little curl and uncurl thing with the tip of the tail. I ran out to it to put in another shot, but it was obviously dead. The pellet passed through right between the eye and ear on both sides with the top of the skull ruptured a bit. Squirrels are solid muscle and it would take a cannon to drop one, if they weighed a couple hundred pounds.
"corners should be round" Theo Evo .22/.177 - Meopta 6x42, DS huntsman classic .20 vortex razor LH 3-15x42 under supervised boingrati tuning by Tony L & Tinbum, HW77 forest green - Nikon prostaff 2-7x32 plex.
Practice practice and more practice. Sitting on a range and getting good better and dammed good is a start.
Then ask around your area for permission to place targets on different parts of the land this will help to learn the wind issue along with shot placement.
Once mastered start again as practice and more practice is better than none.
Once confident then go hunting but always always remember what you are shooting at feels pain and does not deserve to suffer. After all would you like having a pellet stuck in you unroll you die.
I like believe that I’m a good shoot but always strive to improve as practice and more practice helps.
With the new rifles coming out we are getting some dammed good accurate rifles that are great and help the shooter no end. But no matter how good your kit is you are the one pulling the trigger.
A must have are good field skills for with out them you are stuffed and again it is all about practice.
My old man used to take me out hunting and every time I trashed his stalking I would have to run around a field with my springer above my head until he was sure his point has been made.
He no matter how much I begged him let my pop my first animal until he was 100% sure I would kill it and cause no issues for the animal.
No one in this world is a perfect shot but every shooter can strive to improve and improve some more.