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FARM PEST HUNT: Beeman R1/HW80s shootout (.177 soft tune vs. .22 hard tune).
Summary: Hamilton with his soft tuned .177 Beeman R1 goes up against Dr. Pest Deaths FAC power .22 Beeman R1. Hamilton wagers a soft tuned .177 is a better California ground squirrel gun than a max power .22 caliber R1/HW80. Winner determined by can shootout at 80 yards and which airgun gets the most squirrels.
THE IDEA:
I have been living of late, a quiet life of work, family and farm pest hunting, not writing up hunts and only rarely participating on the airgun chat sites.
A newbie airgunner who I met sometime back and had a ground squirrel hunt with, a year or two ago with, whom I nicknamed Dr. Pest Death for good reason, recently bought a new Beeman R1 in .22 caliber. He is relatively new to the airgun hobby, though a veteran hunter with gun and bow. A skilled hunter and expert shot.
BEEMAN R1 (WEIHRAUCH HW80):
The Weihrauch Beeman R1 (Weihrauch HW80) is a classic, large, heavy break-barrel, steel coil spring-powered, single shot pellet rifle (this said for those airgunners who are so into pcps that they have forgotten the roots of modern airgunning).
.22 BEEMAN R1 -- FACTORY TUNE:
His new .22 Beeman R1 with an all-factory-parts lube tune shot 14.66 grain .22 Beeman/H&N FTT (Field Target Trophy which look an awful lot like H&N Beeman Field Target Special) round head pellets, fingertip seated, at about 730 fps (17.3 ft/lbs muzzle energy). Sweet shooter.
.22 BEEMAN R1 MACCARI TUNE:
Then the same gun with a Maccari full power tune kit shot at about 750 fps (18.3 ft/lbs muzzle energy). Nice!
.22 BEEMAN R1 -- V-MACH (Steve Pope) TUNE:
Next, a V-Mach V-Glide kit (includes mainspring, guides, V-Mach Power Pulse piston seal (lower priced copies available from Maccari), and a V-Mach piston) did 810 fps (21.3 ft/lbs muzzle energy). Wowser!
The H&N FTT pellets in this particular R1 grouping a 3 shot group in 3/8 ctc at 40 yards. Shot sitting, rested, low winds.
I got to try a few shots with his .22 V-Mached R1 and what was amazing to me, was how docile it shot for the power level. It was quiet and the discharge sound was sort of a thud and no twang. The trigger felt like a sweet, smooth 16 ounces or under. And there was almost no kick, jump or muzzle climb. Dr. Pest Death told me that when shooting ground squirrels, there is so little kick and muzzle climb, he can see pellet impact. Something very useful in pest hunting.
BETTING MEN:
Dr. Pest Death praised his .22 Beeman R1 (HW80) and even had the audacity to tell me that I ought to get a .22 barrel for my .177 Beeman R1, or at least a .20 caliber barrel.
What?! He DARE say .20 or .22 caliber is superior to .177 for the small game pest hunting that is California ground squirrels?! Small quarry commonly shot at extended distances out here in these wide-open, mostly tree-less flats and low hills? Where 60 yards is a common shot distance. Despite .177 offering a flatter trajectory, and so being a better long distance choice for springers?
As a hard core .177 enthusiast, I had had enough! I challenged Dr. Pest Death to a shoot off hunt.betting money (only $5 bucks but Im part Scottish, ok?) and a lunch. His 21.3 ft/lb Muzzle Energy (M.E.) V-Mach kitted .22 caliber Beeman R1 competing against my 13.4 ft/lb M.E., .177 caliber soft tuned Beeman R1.
LET THE HUNT BEGIN!:
The .22 vs. .177 shoot off location would be 300+ acres of cattle pasture covered with tall wild grasses. Flat grasslands with a handful of grazing cattle bordered by some farm orchard and crop lands to the north and rolling, oak tree-dotted grassy hills to the south. Unfortunately, with only a few cattle, the grass was not eaten down enough to easily spot the ground squirrels, the grass averaging about 12 inches tall most everywhere.
The weather was favorable. Sunny. A bit on the hot side at about 80F, but thankfully with low winds. Dr. Pest Death had arrived early and had warmed up by shooting 10 ground squirrels before I got there (said squirrels not to be counted in our hunt-off wager), at distances out to about 70 yards. The squirrels having a spook distance of about 60 yds.
BEEMAN R9s VORTEK TUNE KITS:
A serious hunter never hunts a distant location without a backup gun. Both Dr. Pest Death and my backup airguns were .177 Beeman R9s. Mine with a Maccari tune kit and his with a Vortek tune kit. Both R9s shooting similar power levels.
While Maccari R9 tune kits are tried and true and praiseworthy, Tom Gore of Vortek is rapidly becoming the new Springman (Springman2 ?) with his revolutionary R9 tune kits, performing just as well or better, plus being a bit more affordable. Excellent as Maccari kits are, can Vortek tune kits be yet better? There are some interesting reviews and analysis of Vortek R9 tune kits online. My next R9 kit? Got to give some thought to that decision. Maccari or Vortek?
Hmmmm.
MACCARI OR VORTEK?
Jim Maccari might say that I would favor Vortek, because that is all I can buy.
Ah contraire.
Admittedly, I am banned by Jim. Been banned for years for reasons that make me smile and admire how Jim can use his imagination for doing more than just imaginative product naming (Hornet seals, Tarantula springs, etc), but that has never kept me from being a Maccari products fan and buying his excellent, high quality, precision-made products.
And it is hardly a stigma anyway as THE legendary Tom Gaylord who wrote the R1 Book, published the Airgun Letter, and who is IMO the greatest airgun generalist in the USA, is also on Maccaris banned list. So I should be honored to be on the same list as Mr. Gaylord, as well as a VERY respected senior tuner (who told me he had no idea why), and other airgun notables.
Tom Gores Vortek Beeman R9 tune kits are what I call Bumblebees. The bumblebee is a bee that should not be able to fly, but no one told it that it cant, so it does anyway. Tom Gore has developed and is now selling a revolutionary Beeman R9 (HW95) tune kit that I would not have thought would work, but Dr. Pest Deaths Vortek-kitted R9 -- quiet, smooth, powerful and VERY consistent demonstrates otherwise, chronograph and target range.
Others, including some very experienced and knowledgeable airgun enthusiasts who have tried one of the new Tom Gore Vortek R9 tune kits, are reporting impressive results. Despite having a supply of Maccari kits, Im curious enough that I am considering getting a Vortek for my own Beeman R9, as its next tune kit.
And I hope Tom Gore/Vortek starts making his muzzle brakes again, tune-able and non-tune-able. They were the best muzzle brakes made in the USA at the time, and Ive still not seen better USA-made brakes.
DIDNT USE THE BEEMAN R9S:
But our R1s performed well. No problems, so the R9s stayed in the cases this hunt, though next hunt challenge?
THE HUNT CHALLENGE#1: CANS AT 80 YARDS.
I arrived at the cattle grasslands about 9:30AM. Dr. Pest Death was stalking ground squirrels in Field#1, near the Field#2 fence line, about ¼ mile away. I shouldered my heavy .177 R1 and hot footed it across the flat grassy pasture, making up for my late arrival by not bothering to take shots at occasional California ground squirrels as I walked. I wanted to get our .177 vs. .22 contest started before the winds blew.
Dr. Pest Death wanted to cross over into the virgin territory of never-been-hunted Field#2 but I pulled out two identical 17 oz steel coconut juice cans (like a standard 12 oz soda can but taller), and set them on a tree stump at a laser range finder-measured 80 yards.
The bet would be loser buys lunch. The winner would be whoever could hit their can with fewest shots. On my 4th shot, the 7.9 grain JSB Exact 4.52mm Express round head, soft lead pellet did a direct hit and toppled my can. Ahah! I knew the pellet drop, but now light cross winds were making the competition more challenging.
Unfortunately Dr Pest Death drilled his steel can on his 3rd shot. Literally drilled his can. My 13 ft/lb M.E. R1 merely put a goodly dent on the steel can. His 21.3 ft/lb M.E. R1 drilled through the front of his can and blew a hole out the back and kept going.
Well?
Well, I demanded a re-match, sure I could do better, now that I had a better feel for the wind drift. And I did. On the re-match, I dinged my can on the 2nd shot and it toppled on its side, noticeably dented. Beat that, I challenged Dr. Pest Death!
He did. Knocked his can off the stump, holing it again. With one shot.
Darn! Lost again!
Well, I was a very experienced farm and ranch pest hunter and ground squirrels my specialty. Now started the who gets more squirrels, wins bet. I had the honor of Caliber .177 to uphold, as a hunting caliber.
FIELD#2:
We started the squirrel contest, Dr. Pest Death hunting south and me going north, both hunting unfamiliar land. I started to hunt near the fence line between this field of native grasses and the neighboring orchard and veggie crop lands. But even a hundred yards from the neighboring orchard and veggie crop lands there was nothing to hunt. The fruit/veggie farmer had placed poison bait stations about every 100 feet along the border fence and had created a wildlife dead zone.
POISONING:
Here in California, the politicians ban lead bullets least condors (a bird) eat lead fragments in unburied deer gut piles and get sick. But the California politicians ignore the massive and widespread poisoning campaigns conducted by veggie farmers, who are forced by political e-coli scare campaigns to kill off whatever small amount of wildlife that survives their clean farming, via heavy poison bait distribution. A case of giving attention to the parakeet in the room, but ignoring the elephant.
GROUND SQUIRRELS:
I trudged away, putting distance between me and the poisoned zone, heading south and in a few hundred yards found an area of lower height grass (est. 6 to
where I could see squirrels here and there. I stopped when I had ground squirrel dens on all sides of me and stood, waiting. These un-hunted ground squirrels did not stay spooked long and within ten minutes, started re-emerging from their underground tunnel complexes, giving me shots from about 40 to 75 yards.I had not shot my R1 for months and at first I missed. Soon the R1 felt familiar again and ground squirrels were going down with solid hits, the soft lead of the JSB domes proving to be effective hunting pellets, though the moderate winds persisted and I was only getting about one in three shots. I just didnt have the wind doped well. But Dr. Pest Death had to cope with the same wind and reported a lot of misses as well.
These dry grasslands squirrels were mostly small and scrawny. Summertime reducing them to dry grass and scarce water, though Dr. Pest Death noted mud near one den entrance, suggesting underground water available. The squirrels were challenging targets. Especially challenging due to most shots having to go through a screen of dry grass before reaching the ground squirrels.
GRASS SCREEN PENETRATION:
When is a heavier .22 pellet with more power superior to a lighter .177 pellet with less power? When the ground squirrel had a screen of native, wild grass stems partly hiding it.
I had a number of misses where I could see through the scope that my .177 pellet was cutting grass stems in front of the ground squirrel, but the grass stems still deflected the path of my lower-powered, light weight, .177 pellets enough to cause a miss.
The heavier .22 pellets from the more powerful gun was better able to plow through the grass stems screen and hit the squirrels.
Here, at least, my soft-tuned, smaller caliber Beeman R1 performed less well.
COMPETING TRAJECTORY PLOTS, WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE?
ROBERT HAMILTONS .177 BEEMAN R1 SPECS:
.177 Beeman R1, 02Oct09 (and still the same)
875 fps 7.9 JSB Express 4.52mm domes (soft tuned), 13.4 ft/lbs M.E.
Pellets: fingertip seated,
Chairgun2 generated t.plot
BC=0.020; Scope height = 1.625
Maccari 950 fps Aussie Wire Spring (mid-power)
Ed Canoles spring guides
Piston: EdCanoles 8.1oz o-ring sealed lightweight piston
5 yds = -0.674
10 yds = +0.156
15 yds = +0.857
20 yds = +1.420
25 yds = +1.817
30 yds = +2.099
35 yds = +2.195
40 yds = +2.116
45 yds = +1.851
50 yds = +1.388
55 yds = +0.715
59 yds = +0.018
60 yds = -0.180
65 yds = -1.309
70 yds = -2.688
75 yds = -4.330
80 yds = -6.250
(sitting, rested group size: 1 ctc; 60 yds; 5 shots)
(pellet vertical travel: about 6 between 10 and 80 yards)
DR. PEST DEATHS BEEMAN R1/HW80:
.22 Beeman R1
V-Mach/Steve Pope Lazaglide power tune
14.66 grain H&N FTT (Field Target Trophy) domes,
810 fps (21.3 ft/lb M.E.);
Extreme spread: 11 fps (10 shot chrony string)
Pellets: finger-tip seated;
Piston: 12.9 oz V-Mach buttoned piston
Hawk/Chairgun-generated t.plot:
05 yds = -0.981
10 yds = -0.353
15 yds = +0.128
20 yds = +0.458
25 yds = +0.629
30 yds = +0.637
35 yds = +0.475
40 yds = +0.137
41.5 yds = +0.0
45 yds = -0.384
50 yds = -1.094
55 yds = -2.001
60 yds = -3.111
65 yds = -4.431
70 yds = -5.970
75 yds = -7.735
80 yds = -9.730
(sitting, rested groups size: 3/8 ctc group; 40 yds; 3 shots)
(pellet vertical travel: about 9 between 10 and 80 yards)
Is .177 REALLY at a disadvantage on longer shots? Note that the .177 trajectory plot shows about 6 inches vertical rise and fall between 10 and 80 yards. The .22 trajectory plot shows about 9 inches vertical rise and fall between 10 and 80 yards. Can we not conclude that .177 DOES yield the flatter trajectory?
Dr. Pest Death works off the dots of his Hawk mil-dotted 4-12x 40mm scope and so has a dot/scope magnification setting so he can put a mil-dot right on the squirrel and hit it. Whereas I, with my standard duplex crosshairs on the Weaver v16 4-16x@12x 42mm scope, have to estimate hold over or under.
.177 VS. .22 BET#2 WHO WON?
Wind was blowing more by 2PM when I had to leave for the trip home. I had tallied 25 ground squirrels. But Dr. Pest Death? Twenty eight squirrels (which did not include the 10 he got before I arrived).
Aarrghh! I had lost both bets and failed to convince Dr. Pest Death to dump his .22 R1 barrel and go to a .177 barrel.
Sigh.
Good hunting,
Robert Hamilton, California, Oct2010
