50 Yard Shot on Rabbit with a Prod .22

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Ezana4CE

Ezana4CE

Member
Jan 15, 2021
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Texas, United States
Was out squirrel hunting and came back empty handed. On the walk back I saw and took this young cotton tail from approx 50 yards with my Prod (Benjamin Marauder Pistol) topped with a Vector Veyron shooting .22 CPHP. One shot through the left eye sent it for a high back flip and it didn’t move from the spot it landed. When I walked up to it it was bleeding from the eye with the opposite eye bulging, but still breathing. Put it down with one to the back of the head close range. First blood on a new-to-me Prod .22. 
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Hell of a shot. Got my 34th nutter yesterday. Never 50 yds. Crow
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@Crowski Thanks. I saw a few squirrels today. I even went after one barefoot and in my pjs. Spotted it as I sipped my morning joe. Lost it when I went to grab a rifle. I think I have that one’s number. I’ve noticed a pattern. Get ‘em tomorrow. I was seeing them throughout the day in various places. Then I hit the woods when I finished working and all I heard were songbirds, crows, hawks, and frogs. Didn’t see or hear a squirrel in an hour and a half. 
 
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Through both eyes and still breathing…
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No. I typed what I meant. I shot it through (in) the left eye. My angle was wrong, as I was maybe 10-15 degrees behind it. Instead of penetrating both eyes I believe the pellet went into and lodged inside of the sinus cavity. I saw lots of blood from nose, mouth, and in the grass. I didn’t see an exit wound, thus the need for a close range head shot. I’ve shot a rabbit through both eyes before with a .25 and it went down rather fast. .22 caliber PCPs are relatively new to me. I have to get used to using less power. I’d wager a large amount that my shot was 14-15 fpe at the muzzle using a 14.3 grain pellet. No idea how much energy was retained at 50 yards, but I heard the impact and it wasn’t too loud. 
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I see squirrels really close up — like 5-6 feet away! But we can't shoot them in town. Thinking of getting a spear. Not sure if that would be legal, but it would be front yard quiet!
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@rsfrid Those sound like animals that aren’t used to being hunted. Squirrels in these parts see me or see a vehicle and it’s as if they saw a bobcat or coyote. I think that they know we look at them pretty similarly, so they make it a point to leave when we show up or remain very still and quiet. 
 
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50 yards with a prod is good shooting. You must really know your drops. I've done 40 at my max and honestly I misjudged the range thought it was 30 and had to do a quick follow up. Great job dude. 50 is about 20 yards past my comfort level with a prod so your doing pretty good. I also use cphp often and have found them to be accurate enough to hunt with. I hear people say that they are trash but they were all I ever hunted with for most my life. 50 does seem a bit much for a prod and cphp tho. You may want to hit the range and see if you can do that shot every time. I couldn't that's the only reason I'm saying this. Hell if you can do what you do brother. 
 
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50 yards with a prod is good shooting. You must really know your drops. I've done 40 at my max and honestly I misjudged the range thought it was 30 and had to do a quick follow up. Great job dude. 50 is about 20 yards past my comfort level with a prod so your doing pretty good. I also use cphp often and have found them to be accurate enough to hunt with. I hear people say that they are trash but they were all I ever hunted with for most my life. 50 does seem a bit much for a prod and cphp tho. You may want to hit the range and see if you can do that shot every time. I couldn't that's the only reason I'm saying this. Hell if you can do what you do brother.
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I can say this - it's not a stock Prod, I've tested several types of pellets, identified which ones group best, their velocities, and their ranges. I have practiced out to 50 yards with it and have DOPE. Before shooting the animal I ranged the shot with my parallax knob and I actually remembered the hold for the distance without giving it much thought. I hit it on the first shot. BUT my shot was wide left about 1"-1.5". I decided to take a shot at the vitals and hit the head. I don't know why it was wide, but I intend to investigate. It's unlikely that I'll hit the shot every time. I usually shoot it off sticks and have hit a bullseye or two that way, but I took this shot kneeling and braced against a wooden post. I took my time and was confident that I could take and land a good shot with what the animal presented. 
 
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I didn't mean to say your shot wasn't well placed or not ethical. It was a good shot and should have finished it off,

My comment was meant as to how sometimes the result just doesn't seem to match the shot.

I still take head shots at pests. Here that is ground squirrels, pigeons and of course hosp and collards.

But, that shot that went straight through both eyes sure didn't drop that pigeon. 

My Prod is stock by the way. 675 fps with polymags. It shoot cphs well, just not as well as polymags.

Love the Veyrons too. Have a 3-12 on a wildcat and one on a compatto too. The maverick has the 4-16 veyron.
 
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I didn't mean to say your shot wasn't well placed or not ethical. It was a good shot and should have finished it off,

My comment was meant as to how sometimes the result just doesn't seem to match the shot...

My Prod is stock by the way. 675 fps with polymags. It shoot cphs well, just not as well as polymags...
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@DonaAna1 I didn’t interpret what you said that way. I just wanted to be clear. I thought you may have assumed that since I shot one eye that the other was taken out with the same shot. Generally I would expect a perpendicular eye shot to take out both eyes on animal within reasonable distance, say 30 yards. In my reply to your post was pointing out that I wasn’t exactly perpendicular. As for the my expectation from the shot, I thought I’d hit it in the shoulder, but when it didn’t move after the flip I didn’t know what happened until I walked up and saw it bleeding from the nose and mouth with a bulging eye and still breathing. It was slightly unsettling, but it happens sometimes. If the head shot isn’t a clean brain shot chances are that a follow up shot is necessary. 


Are you shooting regular .22 polymags or .22 polymag shorts? How do they sound upon impact?
 
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That had to feel pretty good on the walk back home!

You will enjoy the 22 with the lighter pellets. It’s a totally different experience/ballgame than the 25. Still plenty of juice at 50 yards. Depending on the velocity of your 25, it also should be flatter out to 50

mike
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@Flintsack It did feel good when I didn’t see it move after the shot, at least until I got close. Then I put her down quick. I was happy to see that she wasn’t obviously pregnant or lactating. Had I been aiming for her head I think I would have been more pleased.

I think 50 yards is my limit with this pistol in carbine configuration. My shot was around 675-680 fps with a .22 CPHP 14.3 grain pellet, so about 14 fpe at the muzzle. 


@dizzums Thanks. It’s a good little woods walker for small game. Now if I can only find a nice lightweight scope for it. I had something lighter than the Veyron on it and now it feels heavy with the Veyron.
 
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Great shot! When I was young I used to go to Southern California (outside Temecula) every summer to visit my aunt and uncle. They lived about 15 miles out of town and were surrounded by fruit orchards. Absolute paradise for a young Oklahoma boy. I made a 50 pace shot on a rabbit with my Sheridan C9. My cousin took the first shot and missed, I Kentucky’d that sucker right in the boiler room with my first shot! That was over twenty years ago and still feels great! Good job my friend!

Beau
 
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