Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Another fun day AG'nin (AirGunnin)

After toying with some ideas about DE-tuning my Logun Solo, i wanted to move the velocity down a bit to around 800 or so.  After doing so, i found the groups to be LESS THAN STELLAR or acceptable.  So then i decide to set the velocity at around 880-890 fps with Crosman Premiers and JSB Exacts in .20 cal.  I still have not come to a conclusion as to which pellet i like more, the CP's or the JSB's in this caliber so for now, i shoot them both.  They both have produced some stellar groups at different velocities.  More testing and more time behind the Solo's trigger will tell me which ONE pellet the gun likes.  But i know i prefer the heavier weight of the CP at 14.3 grs.  For the climate here in California, the heavier weight projectiles suite my cravings for longer shots while in windy conditions.  The .20 does get blown of course EASILY.  I was using 3 mil dots of windage to shoot a couple of balloons at 100 yards.  I attached a small video below of me popping those 2 balloons (nothing fancy).

My usual morning started off with setting up to sight in.  The Solo would be up first as the winds were i shoot usually don't start blowing till around 8'ish.  Now would be a great time to start with the smaller and lighter caliber.  Since moving the velocity to 880-890 in my garage, this would be the first group from the gun at that FPS range.  I also had previously cleaned the barrel.  Aside from the CP's and JSB's, the Dynamic SPC-5 pellets at 12 grains were also brought along for testing.  These pellets to date seem to only like high speed.  i've pushed them around 1000 FPS and they perfom well but not stellar.  Shooting them at 890+ fps would prove interesting.  What i also want to do from here on out when i post a GROUP picture of any of my daily targets, i want to show the first group with the gun instead of a hand picked on.  Random groups like these ones are to me what a normal group looks like.  Its not the best of 10-15 groups from the day, these pics are the FIRST 2 at about 7:45 am.  Here are the results:

 My .20 cal Logun Solo:

Groups with the 14.3 gr Crosman Premiers:

Group w/13.5 gr JSB Exacts.  Again, the DYNAMICS were no good in the solo:

A little more fine tuning and i think i will keep it there.  880-890 FPS seems to be a good place for this gun and what i wanna do with it.  She also shoots this accurtely at 1000 fps with CP's but, i wanted to make this gun a lot more conservative with air.  Even though i've shot it numerous times at 100 yards, i will call 75 yards MAX on small game for this gun at this setting.  I'm good with that.

After plinking and playing with the Solo, i broke out the Rapid .25 and tried some 100 yard groups with the Benji domes and the the Kings.  Both pellets shot very well to say the least.  I really could use either slug but, i guess i'm just a die hard JSB man.  I have a bunch of those and i was given about 100 Benji Domes so, that's good as i don't have to buy more pellets.  Here is a 55 yard group from last month with the domes and kings.  Again, these groups were shot FIRST.  No best of the day groups but, pulled the gun out and simply shot these groups:

I then pull out my Corsair and JH 457 and i attempt to sight them in at 100 yards.  Unfortunately it did not go so well as i forgot my Corsair bullets (don't ask).........ARGGGGGHHHH! and i only found about 20 in the bottom of my ammo box and the Haley needed some fine tuning as i've been playing with trying to make the gun more efficient.  I think I'm headed in the right direction with the Haley but i will see come this weekend when i can shoot it again.  Well, these things happen so i then decide to put up the big bores but not before i blasted another 2 water balloons at 100 yards with the Haley.  This gun is a beast and is very accurate.  Time for a group photo of what i brought out for the day.  The picture explains it all:

After packing up the hardware...lol.  I head to one of my ground squirrel spots to let the ole trusty Rapid .25 stretch her legs.  It had become too windy to break out my LS.20 which is the gun i had planned to primarily hunt with on this day.  I took 3 ground squirrels and 2 were at 75 yards and one was at 68 yards.  One of the 75 yard shots had to be made in the heart while shooting just under a branch that was half blocking the squirrels head and body.  When i say my Rapid .25 is a Surgical Scalpel, i'm not exaggerating in the slightest.  Today was a good day for the Rapid .25 and the JSB Kings:
 
Here is a lil fella i appropriately named WOODY as he kept flying next to me to get a look.  Must have been a FEMALE bird....lol.  So i shot her too...........WITH MY CAMERA:

Despite the big bore issues, this day like no other was thoroughly enjoyable as any day in the field no matter the outcome is better than any day in the office.  Air guns are truly a BLAST.