All my life I've been trained to shoot center-mass. From my earliest days shooting (7 years old) to the present day (54 years old), it's been center mass. Head shots were "discouraged" for reasons varying from being too hard to hit under stress, to political shenanigans. So needless to say, it stuck and I prefer body shots.
I watch a lot of rat pesting videos and most of the shooters go for head shots for an 'instant' DRT. Now I know the pest is dead almost the instant the pellet strikes, but there's just something about all the nerves causing all the jumping around that is unsettling for me and makes me want to put a second shot into the pest immediately, but with a pumper, that's just not possible - follow up shots are slow at best - muzzle loader slow and I've lost a few 'dead' chippers to muscle spasms that propel them back into their holes. I find that with a solid chest shot (mid neck to lower rib cage), the majority of my shots cause DRT. There is the shove from the pellet knocking the pest back, and maybe a few twitches, but the chipper usually collapses less than 6" from where it was hit, with nowhere near the amount of spasms and kicks. Granted I'm using a .22 with mid weight - 18.21 gr Crow Magnums or 15.4 gr Gamo Redfires at medium velocities (roughly 568 FPS/10.2 FPE).
In my experience, on body shots, the Crow Magnums hit like a ton of bricks, but with very little (external) blood loss, the chip goes down hard and stays there. The Redfires don't hit quite as hard, but there is massive and rapid (external) blood loss and again, the chip drops almost right where it was hit. Upper neck and head shots almost always lead to spasms that propel the chippers a good distance, many times into their holes. Like the one I hit yesterday, I tried for a head shot because there was a rock directly behind the chipper's body, I KNEW the pellet was going to pass through and I didn't want it bouncing somewhere it shouldn't go, but behind the head was a mound of dirt - a perfect back drop. It must have only been a grazing head shot, because it "recovered" and sprinted into its hole. If I had aimed for the body, it may have hit a bit off center, but it still would have been a solid hit, but with the risk of a ricochet.
Well, I've explained my reasons for preferring body shots, what does everyone else prefer and why?
I watch a lot of rat pesting videos and most of the shooters go for head shots for an 'instant' DRT. Now I know the pest is dead almost the instant the pellet strikes, but there's just something about all the nerves causing all the jumping around that is unsettling for me and makes me want to put a second shot into the pest immediately, but with a pumper, that's just not possible - follow up shots are slow at best - muzzle loader slow and I've lost a few 'dead' chippers to muscle spasms that propel them back into their holes. I find that with a solid chest shot (mid neck to lower rib cage), the majority of my shots cause DRT. There is the shove from the pellet knocking the pest back, and maybe a few twitches, but the chipper usually collapses less than 6" from where it was hit, with nowhere near the amount of spasms and kicks. Granted I'm using a .22 with mid weight - 18.21 gr Crow Magnums or 15.4 gr Gamo Redfires at medium velocities (roughly 568 FPS/10.2 FPE).
In my experience, on body shots, the Crow Magnums hit like a ton of bricks, but with very little (external) blood loss, the chip goes down hard and stays there. The Redfires don't hit quite as hard, but there is massive and rapid (external) blood loss and again, the chip drops almost right where it was hit. Upper neck and head shots almost always lead to spasms that propel the chippers a good distance, many times into their holes. Like the one I hit yesterday, I tried for a head shot because there was a rock directly behind the chipper's body, I KNEW the pellet was going to pass through and I didn't want it bouncing somewhere it shouldn't go, but behind the head was a mound of dirt - a perfect back drop. It must have only been a grazing head shot, because it "recovered" and sprinted into its hole. If I had aimed for the body, it may have hit a bit off center, but it still would have been a solid hit, but with the risk of a ricochet.
Well, I've explained my reasons for preferring body shots, what does everyone else prefer and why?
