Hey everyone, brand new to this game still, and this weekend I finally finished setting up my new AA s510 xs ultimate sporter .25 (Athlon midas tac 4x16) that came in last Thursday. I’m coming from a career involving precision, and the hobby of traditional archery.
I have open access to a a few separate land plots, all of which are cow ranch’s or small farms, surrounded by almond orchards. I got into this primarily, as I said, I love precision, getting rid of pests for friends and family is an added bonus.
Anyway, Saturday was spent tuning and gaining some comfort and confidence in the beauty. I zero’d her in at 30, toyed with Strelok, and got the scopes turret adjustments all noted (up to 50yds for now). I’m not too familiar with scopes, so that took a while, I’m still Ironing out the kinks, and move like a snail when I need to adjust or calculate distances, but it’s coming along. It’s my first Mil reticle, and also my first dance with MRAD, so add that to the pile of “figuring things out”. My biggest issue tho, is how out of whack I am with shooting coordination.. I’m left handed and am left eye dominant…. But I mimicked what I saw as a child (ALL right handed shooters), so natural for me, was to shoot right handed while aiming down the scope or iron sites, with my dominant eye, my left one (I try to do it now and have no idea how I did as a kid). I had somewhat of a similar handiness mix up with archery when I was 11, but back to rifles - after my uncle ‘called me out’ for shooting right handed with my left eye around 12, I started focusing on shooting right handed with my right eye instead… With VERY minimal practice, I just started shooting rifles left handed with my dominant left eye only 4 years ago (I’m 31). So as it stands, I shoot both ways and am slowly working on feeling comfortable shooting the way I was designed
This evening, I went to one of the small cattle farms (3 acres) that houses show cattle (conditions: 94, very low humidity, 4mph on and off breeze. There are THOUSANDS of squirrels that rotate around 3 properties. there’s an entire 100 yard levee positioned PERFECTLY for sniping. The squirrel sanctuary, that stretches the embankment has probably around 60-80 holes to scan, and were set up in the center about 40 yards out - with each end reaching up to 100ish yards.
After plinking a few within the range I’ve tuned it, I started to feel more comfortable and my confidence rose. I decided to stretch it out. My first, spotted a ground squirrel sitting at the mouth of a hole (70 yards). I entered the my data into Strelok (all zero’d at 30), lined up my Mil, and took the shot - through the neck. Out the lower back, dropped instantly. After that…. Wow, I’ve only ever used break barrels as far as pellet guns go, and shot birds of nuisance, and squirrels within 25yds. Just consistently hitting squirrels at 50 with my cousins .22 Benjamin the last few weeks has been incredible, but stretching it out beyond that, (considering the rifle) and with precision, AND with my own rifle was a pretty dang cool thing.
After the 70 yarder, I turned to the holes I have marked at 50 tuned my turrets and popped another. I was pretty sure I could take one out to 100, so I started eye balling the next furthest group of squirrels, and they were playing around the 80-90yd range. After settling in for the one at 82yds, I entered my data, lined up my reticle, then took the shot. Sailed wayyyyyy over. I realized I had took a shot and zero’d my turrets to 50yds to hit the squirrel I had just shot… but my Strelok was set at a 30 zero *_* (that’s oddly been more common than I’d hope… just another thing to get use to). He stuck around, so I zero’d my turrets back down to 30yds, and put my reticle where I had the location memorized from Strelok. Took the shot and it was on line, JUST high - 1 dot off my reticle. He bailed. I waited. Within seconds I called him back out, took the shot - flew up into the air, tried to run but only made it a few steps before dropping.
Ok, so after that, a distance down the bank was a fatty at 100yds exactly. Again, plugged in my data, first shot, I connect with that oddly satisfying thud (left handed might I add) - body shot, as she was standing up facing my direction. Not ideal - not a slow death, but not a fast one. She ran 15-20 yards then laid in some thick weeds before going.
All in all, it was an awesome day, my ultimate goal was to work up to being able to put a squirrel down from 100yds. So to do it on my first time out has me ecstatic. 70+ yards seems to be the key range at this farm, where you can sneak up on a group of 20+ with 1/2-3/4 sticking around after the first shot, or if you’re camping their mounds like we were doing this evening, they come out at almost a double rate than sitting in the 30-60yard range - I was pleasantly surprised with my ratio and percentage of misses and connects from 70-100yards. Considering these are pests and a severe danger to the cows, I can handle with not being 100% precise, but it’s where I wanna get 
I, myself have never invested into a higher tier rifle or scope. I’ve felt it going from a cheap recurve to a top tier recurve, but this equipment gap from a cheap break barrel and scope to a mid-higher end PCP and scope is next level. I’d like the thank those technologies for bridging the gap and giving me excessive margin-for-error
My cousin and I took out about 24-26 squirrels in 2 1/2-3 hours time - constant action
My confidence boosting kills:
100yds - body
95yds - neck
88yds - Headshot
82yds - body
75yds - Headshot
70yds - neck
2 unconfirmed kills in the @ 79 and 85 (ran into hole after contact)
Some things I learned with my first squirrel shoot using my S510.
-Strelok is no joke
-The precision these guns have is so fine, it’s nice to be able to justify frustration with yourself when you miss
-ALWAYS bring “Off” and sunscreen
-Always make sure your turrets are set correctly after plugging data into Strelok
-ground squirrel sounds on YouTube with a Bluetooth speaker actually works… ..incredibly well
- I love my AA S510
- bring an extra air source (had to drive home)
- I figured out the importance of proper eye relief regarding scopes….
- while scanning for squirrels, don’t always expect a keen eye if you have a 12 year old with you (“look! Look! It’s right there! 4 fence posts to the right of the gate, 1/4 up the lev…. No, not to the left
)
I enjoy reading other peoples stories in here, and have gotten motivated by ‘em, so I figured with my excitement, I’d share mine. My apologies for the novel
- thanks for all the awesome info and involvement everyone!
Stay well
P.S. I’ve noticed most stories here have pictures attached - I don’t do social media, so pictures generally aren’t much of a thought, and it was the first time out with my gun - I was preoccupied with uber excitement, the 50 other things my mind was fumbling , and was also trying to make sure I didn’t misplace anything, next time out ill get some pictures of the location, set up, and downed pests
I have open access to a a few separate land plots, all of which are cow ranch’s or small farms, surrounded by almond orchards. I got into this primarily, as I said, I love precision, getting rid of pests for friends and family is an added bonus.
Anyway, Saturday was spent tuning and gaining some comfort and confidence in the beauty. I zero’d her in at 30, toyed with Strelok, and got the scopes turret adjustments all noted (up to 50yds for now). I’m not too familiar with scopes, so that took a while, I’m still Ironing out the kinks, and move like a snail when I need to adjust or calculate distances, but it’s coming along. It’s my first Mil reticle, and also my first dance with MRAD, so add that to the pile of “figuring things out”. My biggest issue tho, is how out of whack I am with shooting coordination.. I’m left handed and am left eye dominant…. But I mimicked what I saw as a child (ALL right handed shooters), so natural for me, was to shoot right handed while aiming down the scope or iron sites, with my dominant eye, my left one (I try to do it now and have no idea how I did as a kid). I had somewhat of a similar handiness mix up with archery when I was 11, but back to rifles - after my uncle ‘called me out’ for shooting right handed with my left eye around 12, I started focusing on shooting right handed with my right eye instead… With VERY minimal practice, I just started shooting rifles left handed with my dominant left eye only 4 years ago (I’m 31). So as it stands, I shoot both ways and am slowly working on feeling comfortable shooting the way I was designed
This evening, I went to one of the small cattle farms (3 acres) that houses show cattle (conditions: 94, very low humidity, 4mph on and off breeze. There are THOUSANDS of squirrels that rotate around 3 properties. there’s an entire 100 yard levee positioned PERFECTLY for sniping. The squirrel sanctuary, that stretches the embankment has probably around 60-80 holes to scan, and were set up in the center about 40 yards out - with each end reaching up to 100ish yards.
After plinking a few within the range I’ve tuned it, I started to feel more comfortable and my confidence rose. I decided to stretch it out. My first, spotted a ground squirrel sitting at the mouth of a hole (70 yards). I entered the my data into Strelok (all zero’d at 30), lined up my Mil, and took the shot - through the neck. Out the lower back, dropped instantly. After that…. Wow, I’ve only ever used break barrels as far as pellet guns go, and shot birds of nuisance, and squirrels within 25yds. Just consistently hitting squirrels at 50 with my cousins .22 Benjamin the last few weeks has been incredible, but stretching it out beyond that, (considering the rifle) and with precision, AND with my own rifle was a pretty dang cool thing.
After the 70 yarder, I turned to the holes I have marked at 50 tuned my turrets and popped another. I was pretty sure I could take one out to 100, so I started eye balling the next furthest group of squirrels, and they were playing around the 80-90yd range. After settling in for the one at 82yds, I entered my data, lined up my reticle, then took the shot. Sailed wayyyyyy over. I realized I had took a shot and zero’d my turrets to 50yds to hit the squirrel I had just shot… but my Strelok was set at a 30 zero *_* (that’s oddly been more common than I’d hope… just another thing to get use to). He stuck around, so I zero’d my turrets back down to 30yds, and put my reticle where I had the location memorized from Strelok. Took the shot and it was on line, JUST high - 1 dot off my reticle. He bailed. I waited. Within seconds I called him back out, took the shot - flew up into the air, tried to run but only made it a few steps before dropping.
Ok, so after that, a distance down the bank was a fatty at 100yds exactly. Again, plugged in my data, first shot, I connect with that oddly satisfying thud (left handed might I add
) - body shot, as she was standing up facing my direction. Not ideal - not a slow death, but not a fast one. She ran 15-20 yards then laid in some thick weeds before going.All in all, it was an awesome day, my ultimate goal was to work up to being able to put a squirrel down from 100yds. So to do it on my first time out has me ecstatic
. 70+ yards seems to be the key range at this farm, where you can sneak up on a group of 20+ with 1/2-3/4 sticking around after the first shot, or if you’re camping their mounds like we were doing this evening, they come out at almost a double rate than sitting in the 30-60yard range - I was pleasantly surprised with my ratio and percentage of misses and connects from 70-100yards. Considering these are pests and a severe danger to the cows, I can handle with not being 100% precise, but it’s where I wanna get I, myself have never invested into a higher tier rifle or scope. I’ve felt it going from a cheap recurve to a top tier recurve, but this equipment gap from a cheap break barrel and scope to a mid-higher end PCP and scope is next level. I’d like the thank those technologies for bridging the gap and giving me excessive margin-for-error
My cousin and I took out about 24-26 squirrels in 2 1/2-3 hours time - constant action
My confidence boosting kills:
100yds - body
95yds - neck
88yds - Headshot
82yds - body
75yds - Headshot
70yds - neck
2 unconfirmed kills in the @ 79 and 85 (ran into hole after contact)
Some things I learned with my first squirrel shoot using my S510.
-Strelok is no joke
-The precision these guns have is so fine, it’s nice to be able to justify frustration with yourself when you miss
-ALWAYS bring “Off” and sunscreen
-Always make sure your turrets are set correctly after plugging data into Strelok
-ground squirrel sounds on YouTube with a Bluetooth speaker actually works… ..incredibly well
- I love my AA S510
- bring an extra air source (had to drive home)
- I figured out the importance of proper eye relief regarding scopes….
- while scanning for squirrels, don’t always expect a keen eye if you have a 12 year old with you (“look! Look! It’s right there! 4 fence posts to the right of the gate, 1/4 up the lev…. No, not to the left
)I enjoy reading other peoples stories in here, and have gotten motivated by ‘em, so I figured with my excitement, I’d share mine. My apologies for the novel
- thanks for all the awesome info and involvement everyone!Stay well
P.S. I’ve noticed most stories here have pictures attached - I don’t do social media, so pictures generally aren’t much of a thought, and it was the first time out with my gun - I was preoccupied with uber excitement, the 50 other things my mind was fumbling , and was also trying to make sure I didn’t misplace anything
, next time out ill get some pictures of the location, set up, and downed pests Last edited:
