I visited an old farmer friend last week intending to shoot some woodchucks with my 17 Fireball. I also took my FX Impact M3 .25 cal with a full bottle of air. Good thing! I never took the Fireball out of the case but the Impact saw LOTS of action.
After my visit at the farmers house I headed up to the farm. When I arrived there were 15-20 pigeons on his 80ft silo. I parked on the opposite side of the road and below the silo so I had a rather steep angle and could only shoot the pigeons on my side. Forgot my range finder so I was guessing on range (about 70 yards) but at the angle it was pretty much a dead on hold other than holding about an inch right for the wind. I knocked down 8 in about 20 minutes missing a few head shots. I was shooting 25gr FX pellets. I should note that the pigeons kept flying after each shot but they came back pretty quick and kept landing on the silo. 40-50 pigeons in 2 or 3 different little flocks.
The farmer showed up and insisted I get in the field behind barn giving my a better angle. It was still about the same range, maybe 75 yards now and wind affecting more making it about a 2 inch left hold. Got 17 or 18 from this position and lost count because of the fast action. Just for the heck of it I tried the 34gr JSB’s and 40gr Apollo slugs and shot 2 each with these. I really need to get some more Hades for better instant knockdown. Some really loud solid hits allowed the birds to fly off and drop in the surrounding fields. I think the Hades would anchor them better. I wish they made these heavier than 25 grain, 34 gr, like the heavier JSB’s would be the ticket!
I also got 2 starlings, estimated 85 & 60 yards and 2 English sparrows at about 45 yards. The 85 yard starling really surprised me. There were 10 or so in a shortish tree upwind from me about 150 yards out. I walked towards them to a calf pen in the field and used that for a rest. My range at home is 94 yards and it didn’t look quite that far so I held one line above my 94 yard line and knocked it out of the tree. Having only owned .177 cal air guns before this .25 Impact I never would have believed a pellet gun would shoot that far accurately. The rifle is unbelievably accurate but I know the heavier .25 pellets make much of that happen.
I did shoot my first woodchuck with this gun in the back yard 2 weeks ago. It was only about 25 yards away and broadside. A shot to the head flattened him but it was still trying to move down the hill back to his hole. I put a few more into for good measure but he was basically dead on his feet.
I might head back to the farm Monday morning. Farmer said to be there by 7am for some real action. Might take my FWB 124 with wad cutters to shoot the English sparrows along with the Impact for pigeons of course.
After my visit at the farmers house I headed up to the farm. When I arrived there were 15-20 pigeons on his 80ft silo. I parked on the opposite side of the road and below the silo so I had a rather steep angle and could only shoot the pigeons on my side. Forgot my range finder so I was guessing on range (about 70 yards) but at the angle it was pretty much a dead on hold other than holding about an inch right for the wind. I knocked down 8 in about 20 minutes missing a few head shots. I was shooting 25gr FX pellets. I should note that the pigeons kept flying after each shot but they came back pretty quick and kept landing on the silo. 40-50 pigeons in 2 or 3 different little flocks.
The farmer showed up and insisted I get in the field behind barn giving my a better angle. It was still about the same range, maybe 75 yards now and wind affecting more making it about a 2 inch left hold. Got 17 or 18 from this position and lost count because of the fast action. Just for the heck of it I tried the 34gr JSB’s and 40gr Apollo slugs and shot 2 each with these. I really need to get some more Hades for better instant knockdown. Some really loud solid hits allowed the birds to fly off and drop in the surrounding fields. I think the Hades would anchor them better. I wish they made these heavier than 25 grain, 34 gr, like the heavier JSB’s would be the ticket!
I also got 2 starlings, estimated 85 & 60 yards and 2 English sparrows at about 45 yards. The 85 yard starling really surprised me. There were 10 or so in a shortish tree upwind from me about 150 yards out. I walked towards them to a calf pen in the field and used that for a rest. My range at home is 94 yards and it didn’t look quite that far so I held one line above my 94 yard line and knocked it out of the tree. Having only owned .177 cal air guns before this .25 Impact I never would have believed a pellet gun would shoot that far accurately. The rifle is unbelievably accurate but I know the heavier .25 pellets make much of that happen.
I did shoot my first woodchuck with this gun in the back yard 2 weeks ago. It was only about 25 yards away and broadside. A shot to the head flattened him but it was still trying to move down the hill back to his hole. I put a few more into for good measure but he was basically dead on his feet.
I might head back to the farm Monday morning. Farmer said to be there by 7am for some real action. Might take my FWB 124 with wad cutters to shoot the English sparrows along with the Impact for pigeons of course.
