The weather this summer has been undermining my attempts to shoot, torrential rainstorms replete with ground striking lightening, howling winds, everything is soaked …… and the frustrating thing is that I’ve got several guns from Daystate, Hatsan, Gamo, and FX to shoot. On top of the weather, my day job has had me traveling to Japan, Scotland, LA, NYC, and I’m sitting on a plane heading for Portland Oregon as I write this…….. But not to worry! When I get back I have about four weeks of vacation and comp time, and am planning trips to Arizona, Nevada, Kansas, and maybe Florida to do a few varmint hunts! If all goes well mgiht even get in a bunny shoot in the UK.
I have gotten out for some shooting, one of the local hunting/fishing stores lets me use their archery range after hours (only 25 yards however). Been shooting spingers from RWS, AirArms, Hatsan, Crosman, and Gamo on my 20 yard basement range as well. Also gotten out with my Wolverines and the Huntsman Classic, I can’t overstate how beautifully designed and executed these British guns are. My FX Boss has nade it out a couple times, but as with the Wolverine, I really need to get out to a (dry) place where I can open up the range.
But shooting the springers down in the basement has reminded me what a lot of fun this powerplant can be! I’m getting downstairs everyday for at least a while to shoot offhand, kneeling, standing on sticks, sitting…. all the positions I use in the field. I believe that when I can consistently do tight twenty yard groups standing with my springer, it will prepare me for just about any field situation.
Had another fun experience, my fourteen year old daughter is a very girly girl, lives to shop, wander the mall, and discuss fashion with her BFF’s ……. shooting with dad, not so much. One of her friends was having a sleep over and the girls were bored (who’d have guessed, it was raining), so they asked if I’d let them shoot for a little while. It turned into a two hour shooting session as I taught the one girl to shoot and rekindled my little princess’s interest. they punched paper and then moved to spinners and knocking down plastic dinosaurs. They went through several gun, spingers and pcps and had a lot of fun! Maybe next time I head for the range she’ll join me….
On the project side, I am revisiting my old love affair with the Crosman 2240. Several years back I did a number of builds on this platform, including higher power C02 guns, larger bore conversions, and PCP conversions. I actually wrote a small booklet on how to do the C02 rebuild; increase the valve capacity, open the transfer port, replace breech, cut down and recrown the muzzle, shape grips, improve trigger, etc. It was a lot of fun, I have a crate of parts, and due to the weather (did I mention it’s raining a lot???), have a lot of indoor time. I want to get a 12 fpe pest control gun for my next pigeon shoot in AZ ….. When you coming home Scott D?
So that’s it for me this week…… you’ll start to see more hunting content coming up again soon. If you take one thing away from this weeks blog, it’s that you should make use of the opportunity your airguns provide, and get into a daily practice routine to sharpen your skill for when the small game seasons start to open up!
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