This afternoon I pumped up my .22 Mrod, shot a couple 21g NSA slugs to see where they were hitting at 40 yards (my normal JSB zero) and dialed a bit of right to get them hitting vertically below the crosshairs. 1.5 mil-dots low at 12X and 1 mil-dot low at 8X. Last weekend these slugs were shooting 818fps and since then I turned the 10.5# hammer spring preload in one more turn so I'm guessing they in the 830ish fps range, didn't chronograph them to know for sure. I pumped the Mrod back up, grabbed a Mountain Dew and loaded up.
Lately I've been seeing a bunch of pigeons flying outside of town where 2 interstate bridges cross some railroad tracks so I decided to check it. It was about 17:00, breezy and mostly sunny with a few puffy clouds floating by. It turned out to be a pretty good location. The interstate comes down a gradual hill and crosses over 3 railroad tracks (2 main lines and a siding) at about a 30* angle. The siding had 3 box cars and some lumber cars staged on it right below the interstate. The 2 bridges are massive, about 40' off the ground, 200y-300y long and the bottoms are very thick steel plating with concrete poured above them. There is a powerline running across both the interstate and RR near the end of the box cars. To the sides of the interstate and RR are just scrub brush areas so misses or pass-throughs wouldn't be a problem. There is a RR maintenance road right between the RR spur and the hillside supporting the bridge footings so parking a car was mostly out of sight.
When I got out of the car it was pretty sunny out so spotting a dark pigeon in the dark shadows was difficult. After a minute or two I spotted one and greased it with a high chest shot. A whole bunch of pigeons flew off and started flying around the area. I spotted another and took a guess at distance and missed (thought it was about 45 yards, was probably closer to 60). The slug clanked harmlessly against the heavy steel plating. I didn't have a rangefinder on me so all distances were estimates or side AO if I thought of it. All shooting was either offhand or standing with moderate at best vertical support. I then walked to the end of the box car by where the powerlines pass overhead. There must have been 30+ pigeons neatly lined up. I used the end of the boxcar as a vertical support and ranged them at 35 yards with the side AO. Whop! It flew about 50' then fell out of the sky. I heard some flapping behind me in the overpass braces and saw a couple pigeons at about 30ish yards silhouetted perfectly with a concrete background. I aimed a bit high to get a high chest/neck shot. Whop! It fell over and about 10 seconds later fell off the bridge support onto the ground with a thud. I waited for a couple minutes in the shade of the boxcar to let the pigeons land on the powerline again, which they did. Whop! This one flew a couple hundred yards before it made a dead-stick landing. I ended up walking back and forth the length of the 3 box cars, using them as cover and getting pigeons most of the time from each end. Right end from the powerlines, left end from the bottom of the bridge. I learned that they like to roost in the 30* angle steel braces and they have large pigeon poop nests in each one. I spotted two of them in their nests about 30-35 yards away. The lighting was perfect, with the sun low at my 5:30, so I could see the silver backs of the slugs streak towards the dark shaded pigeons, like a silver tracer. Both died in their nests. I had to leave about 6:30 to go play tennis with the wife so I picked up the 6 that were accessible and shot another that landed above me as I was packing up.
![Ycdr1xx.jpg](http://[url="https://i.imgur.com/Ycdr1xx.jpg"][img]https://i.imgur.com/Ycdr1xx.jpg)
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Overall I shot 2 full mags (20 shots) starting at 3000psi and had solid hits on 15-16 with the remainder clean misses or very minor hits, ending at 2200psi. A majority of my shots were in the 40ish yard range and my calcs show they impacted with about 28FPE. These same shots with JSB 18.1g at my normal tune would impact with 22FPE.
When I got home I quickly plucked 3 of them to look at the entrance and exit wounds, hoping one slug would not have passed through. Not. All 3 entrance holes were frontal upper chest/lower neck shots with exits out the back side. Definitely more substantial damage than pellet holes. Not sure if anyone wants to see these pics, if so I can add them later.
Lately I've been seeing a bunch of pigeons flying outside of town where 2 interstate bridges cross some railroad tracks so I decided to check it. It was about 17:00, breezy and mostly sunny with a few puffy clouds floating by. It turned out to be a pretty good location. The interstate comes down a gradual hill and crosses over 3 railroad tracks (2 main lines and a siding) at about a 30* angle. The siding had 3 box cars and some lumber cars staged on it right below the interstate. The 2 bridges are massive, about 40' off the ground, 200y-300y long and the bottoms are very thick steel plating with concrete poured above them. There is a powerline running across both the interstate and RR near the end of the box cars. To the sides of the interstate and RR are just scrub brush areas so misses or pass-throughs wouldn't be a problem. There is a RR maintenance road right between the RR spur and the hillside supporting the bridge footings so parking a car was mostly out of sight.
When I got out of the car it was pretty sunny out so spotting a dark pigeon in the dark shadows was difficult. After a minute or two I spotted one and greased it with a high chest shot. A whole bunch of pigeons flew off and started flying around the area. I spotted another and took a guess at distance and missed (thought it was about 45 yards, was probably closer to 60). The slug clanked harmlessly against the heavy steel plating. I didn't have a rangefinder on me so all distances were estimates or side AO if I thought of it. All shooting was either offhand or standing with moderate at best vertical support. I then walked to the end of the box car by where the powerlines pass overhead. There must have been 30+ pigeons neatly lined up. I used the end of the boxcar as a vertical support and ranged them at 35 yards with the side AO. Whop! It flew about 50' then fell out of the sky. I heard some flapping behind me in the overpass braces and saw a couple pigeons at about 30ish yards silhouetted perfectly with a concrete background. I aimed a bit high to get a high chest/neck shot. Whop! It fell over and about 10 seconds later fell off the bridge support onto the ground with a thud. I waited for a couple minutes in the shade of the boxcar to let the pigeons land on the powerline again, which they did. Whop! This one flew a couple hundred yards before it made a dead-stick landing. I ended up walking back and forth the length of the 3 box cars, using them as cover and getting pigeons most of the time from each end. Right end from the powerlines, left end from the bottom of the bridge. I learned that they like to roost in the 30* angle steel braces and they have large pigeon poop nests in each one. I spotted two of them in their nests about 30-35 yards away. The lighting was perfect, with the sun low at my 5:30, so I could see the silver backs of the slugs streak towards the dark shaded pigeons, like a silver tracer. Both died in their nests. I had to leave about 6:30 to go play tennis with the wife so I picked up the 6 that were accessible and shot another that landed above me as I was packing up.
Overall I shot 2 full mags (20 shots) starting at 3000psi and had solid hits on 15-16 with the remainder clean misses or very minor hits, ending at 2200psi. A majority of my shots were in the 40ish yard range and my calcs show they impacted with about 28FPE. These same shots with JSB 18.1g at my normal tune would impact with 22FPE.
When I got home I quickly plucked 3 of them to look at the entrance and exit wounds, hoping one slug would not have passed through. Not. All 3 entrance holes were frontal upper chest/lower neck shots with exits out the back side. Definitely more substantial damage than pellet holes. Not sure if anyone wants to see these pics, if so I can add them later.
![AXj43rg.jpg](http://[url="https://i.imgur.com/AXj43rg.jpg"][img]https://i.imgur.com/AXj43rg.jpg)