The setting:
Father-in-law asked me to come reduce the numbers of the English sparrows getting into their chicken feed.
The chain link portion is the outdoor "run" for the chickens. There are two feeders, one in view here, the other is right inside the shed. The sparrows flit back and forth from the juniper trees to the shed. Once they're in the junipers, they're nearly impossible to shoot. They're hard to locate in the branches, and they jump from branch to branch so much that they're just never sitting still long enough for a shot. They also appear to be nesting in the building, as I saw some flying into holes in the eaves with nest-building material in their beaks.
The gear:
The first attempt was a few days ago, with the BSA Gold Star that I've been reviewing. It took me about 2 seconds of looking through the scope to realize the 20x fixed power scope was a little overkill and less than ideal for the situation. I got a couple, but it was simply too much scope for fast-moving, small targets at close range.
I returned today, with an FWB 300s "Mini." Topped with a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x40 and using JSB 7.87gr pellets. I believe it was shooting in the 625-630fps range the last time I shot these pellets over the chrono. So, about 6fpe, more than enough for the quarry and the range. MAC1 knee riser located in the UIT rail in the Mini's forearm. Using a Phone Skope that was given to me by a friend and an old Samsung S3 that had been sitting in a drawer for a couple years, up until a few weeks ago.
(that sexy/gaudy purple phone case with the yellow and plastic Phone Skope contraption looks like pure SACRILEGE on such a classic springer, the mismatched wood of the knee riser isn't doing it any favors in the aesthetics dept either)
The Results (at least a couple of them):
These were the easily retrieved victims from today. The final count for the two attempts was only 7. Judging by all the white droppings in this pic, there's just FEW (hundred) more that need to be removed.
Couple short scope cam clips:
A hit, and a miss. There's some nerve action but he was quite dead. The miss was in the top of the tree, probably around 35 yards, between the wind blowing him around on the branch, and the light pellet in heavy wind, in hindsight, I didn't probably give this shot enough windage. I'd have been shocked if it would have connected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNWNudSMkDk
I really wanted to take this shot, but couldn't see how the pellet had any chance in heck of making it through all those fence wires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc_EEb-jsJU
This one is wondering where all his chest feathers went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKflm97rek
And finally, camera isn't good enough to tell for sure, but she sure acted like it was a head shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQmJSSIgTo
For the safety-minded. No children live at this house (the jungle gym in the background is only used when grandkids are around, and my animal children/the grandkids were at my home during the shooting). And for the top of the tree shot, there is a shed at the top of the hill but otherwise vacant land in that direction.
Conclusion:
6fpe is more than enough for sparrows-when the shot is good. Each time I get the 300s out, specifically in the Mini configuration, I'm left with a strong impression that for pest birds in back yards, this little rifle is just about the perfect solution. Not worrying about air and shot counts, and being able to place pellets pretty accurately, it's just the ultimate yard gun.
I'm fairly certain that I didn't even begin to make a dent in the problem, but I sure enjoyed it. I'll likely try again, just because it was so much fun. Trying to make the shot and get it on camera is difficult-lots of respect for the guys that capture enough quality scope cam footage to make a living off of YouTube videos. If I tried to reduce the time that went into this fun little venture into an hourly rate........well let's just say I can't see it being a "living wage" like we've heard so much about in the news in the past year or so. Good thing I do it for fun and not as a means of income.
I made a repeating bird trap about 5 years ago and took something like 40-50 English sparrows out of this area. I might have to resort to setting that trap back out if I want to really get rid of them, but then I'd miss out on the fun of shooting them!
Father-in-law asked me to come reduce the numbers of the English sparrows getting into their chicken feed.
The chain link portion is the outdoor "run" for the chickens. There are two feeders, one in view here, the other is right inside the shed. The sparrows flit back and forth from the juniper trees to the shed. Once they're in the junipers, they're nearly impossible to shoot. They're hard to locate in the branches, and they jump from branch to branch so much that they're just never sitting still long enough for a shot. They also appear to be nesting in the building, as I saw some flying into holes in the eaves with nest-building material in their beaks.
The gear:
The first attempt was a few days ago, with the BSA Gold Star that I've been reviewing. It took me about 2 seconds of looking through the scope to realize the 20x fixed power scope was a little overkill and less than ideal for the situation. I got a couple, but it was simply too much scope for fast-moving, small targets at close range.
I returned today, with an FWB 300s "Mini." Topped with a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x40 and using JSB 7.87gr pellets. I believe it was shooting in the 625-630fps range the last time I shot these pellets over the chrono. So, about 6fpe, more than enough for the quarry and the range. MAC1 knee riser located in the UIT rail in the Mini's forearm. Using a Phone Skope that was given to me by a friend and an old Samsung S3 that had been sitting in a drawer for a couple years, up until a few weeks ago.
(that sexy/gaudy purple phone case with the yellow and plastic Phone Skope contraption looks like pure SACRILEGE on such a classic springer, the mismatched wood of the knee riser isn't doing it any favors in the aesthetics dept either)
The Results (at least a couple of them):
These were the easily retrieved victims from today. The final count for the two attempts was only 7. Judging by all the white droppings in this pic, there's just FEW (hundred) more that need to be removed.
Couple short scope cam clips:
A hit, and a miss. There's some nerve action but he was quite dead. The miss was in the top of the tree, probably around 35 yards, between the wind blowing him around on the branch, and the light pellet in heavy wind, in hindsight, I didn't probably give this shot enough windage. I'd have been shocked if it would have connected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNWNudSMkDk
I really wanted to take this shot, but couldn't see how the pellet had any chance in heck of making it through all those fence wires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc_EEb-jsJU
This one is wondering where all his chest feathers went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKflm97rek
And finally, camera isn't good enough to tell for sure, but she sure acted like it was a head shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQmJSSIgTo
For the safety-minded. No children live at this house (the jungle gym in the background is only used when grandkids are around, and my animal children/the grandkids were at my home during the shooting). And for the top of the tree shot, there is a shed at the top of the hill but otherwise vacant land in that direction.
Conclusion:
6fpe is more than enough for sparrows-when the shot is good. Each time I get the 300s out, specifically in the Mini configuration, I'm left with a strong impression that for pest birds in back yards, this little rifle is just about the perfect solution. Not worrying about air and shot counts, and being able to place pellets pretty accurately, it's just the ultimate yard gun.
I'm fairly certain that I didn't even begin to make a dent in the problem, but I sure enjoyed it. I'll likely try again, just because it was so much fun. Trying to make the shot and get it on camera is difficult-lots of respect for the guys that capture enough quality scope cam footage to make a living off of YouTube videos. If I tried to reduce the time that went into this fun little venture into an hourly rate........well let's just say I can't see it being a "living wage" like we've heard so much about in the news in the past year or so. Good thing I do it for fun and not as a means of income.
I made a repeating bird trap about 5 years ago and took something like 40-50 English sparrows out of this area. I might have to resort to setting that trap back out if I want to really get rid of them, but then I'd miss out on the fun of shooting them!
