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I just got back from my first trip to South Dakota, where I had a few days of hunting prairie dogs, viewing wildlife, and enjoying the wide open spaces. I took along a wide range of airguns, optics, and pellets to see how they performed in what I expected to be a high volume shooting situation. My host on this trip was well known outfitter/guide Willie Dvorak, who hunts everything from deer and antelope to brown bear in South Dakota and Alaska. He also guides hunts for prairie dogs, pheasant, and predators The shots on this trip was expected to include a lot of longer range opportunities out to 150 yards, and I brought several guns that I either knew or believed to be good candidates for this type of shooting. I brought along the Benjamin Marauder in .22 and .25, the Airforce Taloin in .22, the Air Arms TWICE, the Rainstorm .22, and the Benjamin Rogue (which I expected to use for coyote). The first thing I did on arriving was to head out for a session of checking the zero on my guns and getting used to the gun/pellet/scope combination at longer ranges. There are thousands of acres of public grasslands where I could shoot, and I had but to drive out and find a convenient spot to set up and shoot. The pictures to the left and below shows some of the guns and gear I had set up for this outing. For air I brought alongRead More →

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When I think of Walther, I think of spring piston airguns. Over the last several months I’ve been shooting the LGV break barrel which is one of the nicest shooting springers out of the box that I’ve seen. And though I haven’t used it, I’ve hear very good things about the LGU under-barrel lever cocking model. But what I haven’t thought about when considering all things Walther, were PCP rifles. But based on the new Walther ROTEX rifle, this could change. Before using the rifle I reckoned that at the very least, Walther dipping their toe into the PCP waters had to be a good thing! Starting with the obvious, the ROTEX is a bottle forward design. Walther has done an excellent design job on this gun, with the an almost seamless transition between the forestock and the airbottle as the stock seems to organically grow around the bottle. I live in Minnesota, and even though its spring right now it is cold, a week short of April and I’m watching the snow come down as I write this. So I can tell you I appreciated not gripping an ice cold bottle as I was shooting on the range this morning! The seam between the bottle and the stock is bridged by a synthetic guard. This is one good looking bottle gun; the dimensions are compact with an overall length of 41″ and a 19.6″ Lothar Walther barrel. It is not shrouded and moderately loud, though the threaded muzzle allowsRead More →

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Airgun hunting for one of the largest North American pest species is a challange. Unlike hunting them at 200 – 300 yards with a centerfire, the airgunner needs to work his way inside 50 -75 yards and achieve perfect shot placement to anchor this member of the marmot family. In this article, Jim Chapman will present his experience and views on hunting ground hogs in the midwest. These animals are found all over North America in one form or another; groundhogs, woodchucks, rockchucks are members of the marmot clan. They are a large rodent that can cause a fairly substantial degree of damage in farmlands, undermining roads, buildings, and damaging crops. In agricultural areas or family gardens, the animal will destroy great quantities of forage and vegetables, and its burrows are also dangerous to both horses and cattle. There is a definite need for control of the woodchuck in such places. The woodchuck has a coat of silver gray and brown with underparts of a lighter hue. The head is dark brown and the feet are so brown as to be nearly black. His chunky body is carried on squat, sturdy legs. The animal has small economic value because of the low quality of its furs. However they are very wary and a lot of fun to hunt, creeping inside of 50 yards to get a clean shot is quite a challange, especially if they have experienced any hunting pressure. I typically do my woodchuck shooting in the border areasRead More →