19 replies to this topic

[VarmintAir]

I've been thinking about doing this for some time, so a few months ago I started pulling the pieces together to start a BLOG about hunting varmints and small game with "Modern Adult Airguns". I've been hunting with these guns for over three decades, and since there are no hunting oriented airgun magazines out there for people to read, enjoy, and maybe learn something from, I thought a BLOG about the subject could be fun and maybe expose folks to a side of airgunning that is very challenging and rewarding.I've been fortunate to live in the West my whole life. The variety of varmint and small game animals to hunt out here is nearly endless. I've had the opportunity, over the years, to enjoy many fantastic days in the field hunting most of them. I have a lot of hunts planned for this year, and will be adding to the blog on a weekly basis.If you already hunt with airguns, or are curious about hunting with them, I hope you will find something here that is interesting, entertaining, and maybe even informative.The BLOG contents will consist of, as that old expression goes, "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". I hope you enjoy it. The BLOG can be found here: http://varmintair.ty...rmintairs_blog/

[ShooterJohn]

Very nice Cliff.

[MikeNC]

Looks great VAir...Have it saved in my favorites for lots of future reads...Thanks!

[Mr Del]

I have it saved also. I watched your video on squirrel hunting the other night. Now that is an education film. You are very good at what you do, that is for sure.

[Rimrock]

Great!! I appreciate your efforts and the airgun community will surely benefit from your experience.

[VarmintAir]

Very nice Cliff.

Thanks John,Looking to tweak it some as I go along. I'm trying to find out if there is a way to add video clips, but of much higher quality than what is available to me right now. I know I can add them now, but the quality really sucks. I'm hoping to find a way to include clips that shows them in as close to original quality as possible.

[VarmintAir]

Looks great VAir...Have it saved in my favorites for lots of future reads...Thanks!

Thanks, I've got a ton of stuff to post as time goes along.

[VarmintAir]

I have it saved also. I watched your video on squirrel hunting the other night. Now that is an education film. You are very good at what you do, that is for sure.

Thanks, glad you found the DVD informative. You know, if you do something long enough, and I've been doing this for getting close to 50 years, 35 years with airguns, one does tend to get halfway decent at it.

[VarmintAir]

Great!! I appreciate your efforts and the airgun community will surely benefit from your experience.

Thanks, hunting with modern adult airguns is just too much fun not to try and spread the word.

[THE KNOT]

Read 3 blogs while watching 3 hours of ax men all where a plesure with a foot of snow comming my way tommorow i should get some more reading done thanks cliff i do live vicariously through your discriptions of hunts , for what it's worth just whacked a rat on my wood pile he just couldn't refuse the chicken feed disco and 22 cal jsb predator easy work at 20 yds

[VarmintAir]

Glad that you are enjoying them. Congrats on the rat in the woodpile. On a smaller scale, mice in the woodpile was precisely where this whole airgunning thing got started with me as a kid. (11 in 1953) I grew up on the outskirts of Tacoma, Washington. We had an old wood burning furnace in the basement, and I was responsible for keeping a supply of kindling cut for it. I was also responsible for throwing the deliveries of cords of wood, that would show up every so often, down a chute into the basement. This got them in out of the never ending rain.Well, the upside to having all of that wood in the basement was, it attracted bunches of field mice that were looking for a place to spend the winter. I soon found out that a Daisy Red Ryder would kill those things from about 15/20 feet away. Man, did I ever have a blast in that basement picking off those mice. The BB probably would have bounced off of a real rat, but it would kill a field mouse like it was a house sparrow.It was about a year later that I discovered, if I put a squirt of Ronson lighter fluid down the barrel, just before firing the gun, the velocity and apparent power, like tripled. I had inadvertently discovered dieseling in airguns, only didn't know it. I also didn't know how hard it was on the internal working of the gun, but it sure was fun while it lasted. Which wasn't very long as I recall.That was okay though, because it was about that time that I became the proud owner of an old pump Benjamin .22 cal pellet rifle. Life hasn't been the same since.

[Jerry]

Nice write up on the Dyniamic pellets in the Discovery! I didn't know there were different diamaters in the .22 category (5.56-5.54). Is this common among other manufacturers as well, or just avaliable on the tin pellets?

[VarmintAir]

Nice write up on the Dyniamic pellets in the Discovery! I didn't know there were different diamaters in the .22 category (5.56-5.54). Is this common among other manufacturers as well, or just avaliable on the tin pellets?

Now that you mention it, a few years ago it was very common to see the JSB pellets offered in several different head sizes. I haven't seen that in some time now. A call to one of the distributors like AoA, or Straight Shooters would probably get an answer. I don't recall any other brand being offered in that way. The reason the tin pellets are supplied, in some cases but not all, in different head diameters is, they are relatively hard compared to a lead pellet, and will not upset to fill the bore when hit with a blast of high pressure air like soft lead will. Also, different manufacturers use different makes of barrels, and with tin being hard, different diameters are needed for different dimensioned barrels.

[Jerry]

Thanks for the clarification. What about these barrels I hear of being "choked"? At what distance in the bore does this occur? Is the "choke" a couple ten-thousandths of an inch or greater, or am I missing the boat here somewhere?

[VarmintAir]

They are choked at the very end, and yes it's not a whole lot of constriction, I don't know the exact amount, but enough so each pellet leaves the bore the same size, but not so much that it deforms the pellet.

[Jerry]

Thanks for the info ^^^ up there!I just read the blog about you hunting prarie dogs, nice work!

[Jerry]

What is the scale you are using in the blog entry about sorting pellets and helping your mental game? Look like a pretty compact handy unit. Faster than my RCBS powder measure for what you're using it for as well.

[VarmintAir]

It's a Jennings brand Gemological scale. It's used in the jewelry business for weighing precious gems, and it had to be accurate, fast , and repeatable. I've had this one for a couple of years now. I gave up on the reloading scales, they just can't meet the above criteria.These things are not expensive either. I think the one I have sold for about $80/90.Do a Google Search for: JS-VG Digital Precision Gem and Grain Scales

[Jerry]

Thanks, I will look into it. Does it measure in grains, or do you you have to convert it?Edit: Nevermind, answered my own question: "It reads in 7 modes; grams, carats, grains, ounces, troy ounces, pennyweight, and even milligrams."

[sasquatch200269]

Hey Cliffits because of your video that i got into hunting squirrels, and LOVE it, you inspired me to hunt with air rifles, and now i record my hunts and love to review them in slow motion and share them with others.Jovan