I tried a few rounds of the Colibri in my .22 in the backyard and it is no louder than my pellet rifles, but it would require re-zeroing of the scope, and the local only ones have some silly rule about firearms in city limits, so I think I'll stick with pellet guns.
I did note that the rifling in both pellet rifles' barrels is pretty well worn down, probably from shooting a million BBs through each when I was a boy. Lesson learned. :(
I have a Crosman 1389 "Backpacker" I hadn't mentioned heretofore. It was doing pretty well until the pellet retainer in the swing-out breech disintegrated from age and use. I made up another one but the elastomer I used was too soft, so the retainer squished ovoid on me and accuracy suffered when the pellets started hitting the feedthroat at strange angles. I will probably try making another block from something harder. I also found out that, with a different barrel and a few other parts, I could possibly convert the Backpacker to .22, which would be a beautiful thing.
My Daisy 880 is a proven killer and I spent just over an hour this weekend deciding that my inherited Tasco 4x20 scope is faulty, and the 4x15 that came with the rifle is too dim. I put the Redfield 4x40 back on and it's literally a night-and-day difference. Later, I took the Dasiy down to springs & pins and found out the reason the rifle doesn't "suck" as hard with each pump as it used to do, is that the seals are just about shot.
That didn't keep me from knocking a grackel off the fence with it! . . . and it went down into the neighbor's yard. Oops. I hope their dog found it first. Either way, remember kids:
Shooting is Good Great Fun!
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4 comments:
I still get a kick out of shooting Grackles. When I was a kid there was a farmer up the road that would pay us 10 cents a bird. Great shooting and money in hand to boot. What better way to spend a summer as a kid.
Stupid as it is, those thousands of grackles that NEVER leave the McDonalds parking lot are protected migratory fowl. There are several thousand "nuisance" grackles where I live. I consider them a target of opportunity, but they hang out around my neighbors' house more, and I'm not too keen at shooting on somebody else's land.
From the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management:
"Legal Status
"Blackbirds are native migratory birds, and thus come under the jurisdiction of the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a formal treaty with Canada and Mexico. Blackbirds are given federal protection in the United States. They may be killed only when found “committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in such numbers and manner as to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance,” as stated in federal laws regarding migratory birds (50 CFR 21). Some states have additional restrictions on the killing of blackbirds."
Well it was the mid 70's when all of this took place. Things sure do change and seeing the number of grackles around I wonder what stooge figured they were endangered.
Little things like this show how far down the road we have came since I was a kid.
It does say you can off them when they are so concentrated as to be a hazard (poo = biohazardous) or a nuisance (noise).
I just wanted to point out that we have, indeed, come a long way.
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