A follow on from my previous hunting post as well as my gun rack post which has had two open rifle slots...
As a lot of the pest control I do is on rather large farms of 1000s of hectares (lots of acres), with the one farm being over 8,000 hectares/20,000 acres in size, with large open fields or grassland, night shooting is often done from a vehicle so as to be able to cover enough ground each trip.
(Walk and stalk and ambush hunting is preferred, but not always practical or efficient).
I normally use my Dreamline Classic .22 FAC for this, which, as great as it is, is a long rifle with a moderator on, and driving, handling a shooting lamp, and also handling the rifle at the same time can be quite cumbersome.
All the night shooting is within 50m, more often 30m or less.
For the longer daytime shots I will continue to use my Dreamline.
As the last outing for the year came up this week, I decided I need something compact, i.e., bull-pup style rifle.
I generally do not like the format, preferring more traditional rifles, but this was a test to see if it works for me.
Enter the little Kral Puncher Empire in .22 FAC I had delivered on Monday.
I did not have time to set up or test the rifle before the trip, only being able to mount the scope and bipod before the time, so testing had to happen on Tuesday on arrival at the farm before any hunting could begin.
Initially there was a niggle with the trigger, which turned out to be the nut on the trigger transfer bar not being properly tightened.
Stock off, sorted this, then got the little rifle sighted at 50m and shot over the chronograph.
Of the pellets I have on hand it liked the JSB 18.13s best, which is good as I have a lot of those already.
Thoughts on the rifle before hunting started...
- finish is a bit rough, but par for the price class, and I will clean that up over the next few weeks, it is not really an issue.
- the trigger, once I sorted the transfer bar, is excellent.
- It is not the mythical and often reported 'laser', 'pellet on pellet', stacking them in one hole at silly long range' accurate, but at 50m it groups really well (after a barrel clean and only a few magazines put through for testing and sighting).
- The stock was as dry as can be, but I have already started oiling it, and it is already improving.
- With the standard shroud it is fairly quiet, but I will move the shroud forward and add more baffles to improve it a bit more).
- I get around 26 FPE with the 18.13s which is ample for what I need it for.
Then the hunting started.
It was rather windy on both evenings, but I will let the photos speak for the hunt.
First night... (3 more guinea fowl and two Egyptian geese also shot but could not be recovered).
Second night... (two more guinea fowl were shot but could not be recovered).
Post hunt thoughts...
I am still not a fan of the bull-pup format from a visual, do I like the way it looks perspective, but for the purpose I bought the little rifle it is perfect and performed flawlessly as long as I did my part.
We will have many more hunts together if possible.
Now... time to start thinking what will fill the second open slot in my gun rack...
As a lot of the pest control I do is on rather large farms of 1000s of hectares (lots of acres), with the one farm being over 8,000 hectares/20,000 acres in size, with large open fields or grassland, night shooting is often done from a vehicle so as to be able to cover enough ground each trip.
(Walk and stalk and ambush hunting is preferred, but not always practical or efficient).
I normally use my Dreamline Classic .22 FAC for this, which, as great as it is, is a long rifle with a moderator on, and driving, handling a shooting lamp, and also handling the rifle at the same time can be quite cumbersome.
All the night shooting is within 50m, more often 30m or less.
For the longer daytime shots I will continue to use my Dreamline.
As the last outing for the year came up this week, I decided I need something compact, i.e., bull-pup style rifle.
I generally do not like the format, preferring more traditional rifles, but this was a test to see if it works for me.
Enter the little Kral Puncher Empire in .22 FAC I had delivered on Monday.
I did not have time to set up or test the rifle before the trip, only being able to mount the scope and bipod before the time, so testing had to happen on Tuesday on arrival at the farm before any hunting could begin.
Initially there was a niggle with the trigger, which turned out to be the nut on the trigger transfer bar not being properly tightened.
Stock off, sorted this, then got the little rifle sighted at 50m and shot over the chronograph.
Of the pellets I have on hand it liked the JSB 18.13s best, which is good as I have a lot of those already.
Thoughts on the rifle before hunting started...
- finish is a bit rough, but par for the price class, and I will clean that up over the next few weeks, it is not really an issue.
- the trigger, once I sorted the transfer bar, is excellent.
- It is not the mythical and often reported 'laser', 'pellet on pellet', stacking them in one hole at silly long range' accurate, but at 50m it groups really well (after a barrel clean and only a few magazines put through for testing and sighting).
- The stock was as dry as can be, but I have already started oiling it, and it is already improving.
- With the standard shroud it is fairly quiet, but I will move the shroud forward and add more baffles to improve it a bit more).
- I get around 26 FPE with the 18.13s which is ample for what I need it for.
Then the hunting started.
It was rather windy on both evenings, but I will let the photos speak for the hunt.
First night... (3 more guinea fowl and two Egyptian geese also shot but could not be recovered).
Second night... (two more guinea fowl were shot but could not be recovered).
Post hunt thoughts...
I am still not a fan of the bull-pup format from a visual, do I like the way it looks perspective, but for the purpose I bought the little rifle it is perfect and performed flawlessly as long as I did my part.
We will have many more hunts together if possible.
Now... time to start thinking what will fill the second open slot in my gun rack...
