Well, I blew it this morning, guys.

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Smaug

Smaug

Member
Aug 5, 2016
1,112
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midwest, United States
I had my .177 Marauder by the back door, ready for squirrel duty.

Most of my shots are 10-15 yard offhand head shots, so I decided the Marauder is overkill.

I let the air out of it, put it in the basement, and brought up my trusty HW30s. Yesterday evening, I took some practice shots with the target paper right where the squirrels usually are. I got so that I was putting the shots within a 1/4 to 1/2" of that spot. Finished an old tin of JSB Exact RS. (7.33 gr.)

This morning, I looked out and found two big squirrels chowing down on bird seed. I cocked and loaded the gun inside, slipped out silently, took aim, right behind the eye and POP! The squirrel jumped up, then hopped away on his hind legs like a tiny kangaroo. It was really weird. I don't think I was off by more than a 1/2". I couldn't hear the pellet hit, because I was too close, I was still hearing the sound of the gun.

I think maybe I just gave him a good headache.

Now I KNOW the HW30s is no powerhouse, it shoots at about 6 FPE. But for a skull shot on a squirrel at 10 yards, that should be plenty of medicine, right?

What happened?

*****

I hate to just have this great little gun be a plinker and target gun. It should at least be good enough for head shots on squirrels at 10 yards... (it shoots the 7.3 gr. JSBs at 650 fps) But for now, I don't want any brain-damaged squirrels dying in the neighbors' yards, so I'd better get the 18 FPE Marauder back out again. I have some other springers that are loads more powerful, but they're not quiet like the Marauder and HW30s.
 
You said that you just finished an old tin... If you finished the tin and then put a pellet of a new tin in the rifle, you should have re-checked your zero. It happened to me several times that I zeroed my rifle for a specific pellet and as soon as I put in a pellet of a new tin (of the same pellets), it would be off by as much as 2" at 25 yards, so almost 1" at ten yards is quite possible. If you put in another type of pellet - most probably the same case.

If it happened the way I mentioned, I suggest you re-check your rifle with the new tin on some target and if I was right and you´re consistenly off now, then you don´t really have a problem with your rifle. And... if you know where the pellet went afterwards, you will have a good idea if and where you hit the dang critter. 

If this isn´t what happened, I still doubt that it had to do with the energy of the pellet - a 6 FPE brain mixer should do the job well enough at 10 yards on a tiny thing like a squirrel - it would at least enter one side and make pudding of that squirrels brain. 

As far as I am concerned... well, overkill... can a squirrel really be dead enough? I shoot ´em with my 44 fpe .22 Walther with Polymag predators though I have two GAMO .177 springers with about 10 FPE - its a totally humane kill and way more fun. 
 
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I didn't think a new tin of the exact same type of pellet could make that much of a difference. I will re-check the zero later.

I have to admit, the first tin was at least 5 years old, the next tin was from a couple years later, so maybe some design change or mold change. Label changed too. Damn.

That little HW30s will put the head of one of those Exact RS pellets INTO the end grain of a hardwood log at 35 yards. Not buried in it, the skirt still sticks out, but it gave me confidence that it would have enough penetration to do in a squirrel with a head shot.
 
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Well, I figured out the main cause, which was that I had zeroed at 14 yards, but shot the squirrel at 10 yards, so it was a notably different zero. It was probably 5/8" low when I shot at a target at 10 yards.

The point of impact also moved a smidge off to the right, maybe 1/4" @ 10 yards. (I chalk this up to a different hold or a new batch of pellets)

So if I was aiming at the skull behind the eye, and missed down 5/8" and right 1/4", he was facing right, I might've hit him in the jaw or neck. :(

I'm going to head downstairs and print out a couple trajectory charts.
 
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You might want to zero the rifle in a way that it hits a one inch kill zone within 8 to 20 or 25 yards. If your scope isn´t mounted too high, that should be no problem. Hawke Chairgun Pro will figure out the perfect zero distance if you put in the correct data. After zeroing it, its just a matter of verifying and possibly making small adjustments.

Don´t feel bad about the thing with the squirrel. It happened to every hunter and it will happen again one day. If you want to be sure that it goes down, you can take the 18 FPE Marauder with Predator Polymags and make body shots. You might also want to try the Polymags in your HW30, they expand pretty well even with lower velocity. When you go for body shots you will either miss completely over/under or the critter will bleed out in under 5 minutes even if you pull the shot, the pellet wobbles or whatever else might happen that affects accuracy. If your gun likes Polymags, I can absolutely recommend them.

BTW. Iride is right - never let the air out of your PCP. If the pressure inside is the same as outside, dust can easily kill your o-rings. The best thing is to leave it filled up or have at least half the pressure inside when the gun is in storage.
 
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Smaug, why did you let the air out of the Marauder? 
It's best to leave air in PCP's. From what I understand, it's better for the o-rings, seals, and internal workings to stay under pressure. I've also heard that if you drain a metal pressure cylinder all the way it is susceptible to moisture build up due to atmospheric changes causing a negative pressure effect and moist outside air getting in. This has the potential to cause rust on the inside. 
If you're nervous about so much pressure, drain it down to ~100bar. 
Tom
Edit: Sorry, I just saw that others had posted about this already. Didn't mean to beat a dead horse! :)
 
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Well, kinda let MOST of the air out of it. I leave a couple hundred PSI in, for just the reasons you mention. It's enough to keep pressure on seals and such, but not enough to stretch out the tank over time. 

I came home from the range this afternoon, and there was a pigeon just CHOWING DOWN under the bird feeder. I prepped the HW30S and put a pellet through him. In by the shoulder, exited through the belly neat the leg. 
 
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Thats crazy! England. I mean... you put two .22 pellets in a squirrel and it maybe is knocked k.o. and doesn´t move so you simply assume it is dead. You come back after two hours, realize that the critter is still alive and immediately put in another three from point blank... and the dang thing still lives???

C´mon - prosecution??? That´s insane. If he had deliberately shot it in the legs and watched it suffer - o.k. another story. But given the frame of his possibilities and the sheer number of shots, he did what he could.

The U.K. have a limit of 12 fpe but I have two 12 fpe spingers (in .177) shooting between 700 and 760 fps and either one of those would put the pellet clean through a squirrel. I killed a good size rabbit with the dang thing and a Crosman Premier Hollow Point went straight through its head at 15 yards. Its a bit unfortunate that they did not show the gun but from the x ray pictures, the spring must have been weakened to about 2 fpe, I cannot find another explanation for this.
 
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