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I’ve been living in the Midwest for about ten years now, and have become a serious squirrel hunting enthusiast in that time. Every year I wait for the second or third week in August to roll around, for the opening of the season. And while I now have several farms to hunt where the woods are full of these bushy tailed rodents, it has become a tradition that my first hunt of the year is on public land near Mississinewa lake where I did my first squirrel hunt on moving to Indiana. It took me two or three trips before I finally started scoring, with the primary species being the big fox squirrels. I only had a couple hours free to hunt, so I woke up at 4:30 and made the one and a half hour drive getting onsite just as the red glow of the Eastern sky made its appearance. I grabbed my daypack, camo gloves and face mask, and the Evanix Rainstorm .22 I’d chosen for the days outing, then headed off to a stand of mast producing trees about a quarter mile in. I started off sitting at the base of a tree in an area that had produced for me in the past. I heard movement in the canopy above, but besides the fact that it was still fairly dark, the foliage was so thick that I couldn’t see anything. I sat and listened, then as daylight started to creep up, started walking around the tree.Read More →

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I had a few days and lots of target rich land to wander over, but what made it truly outstanding was a gun that was doing everything I asked of it. This was my first chance to really hunt this gun, and it made a positive impression! I was out on a prairie dog and rabbit hunt in the Arizona desert recently, and one of the guns I used extensively was the Weihrauch HW 100, a handy little carbine in .22 caliber that is a light, compact tackdriving example of what’s right in German engineering. The gun is a 14 round multishot, that is ergonomic, intelligently designed, and impossible to double load (a great feature for me). The sidelever action is smooth, and indexes the simple yet efficient magazine, which in my experience fed flawlessly. The stock is an ambidextrous thumbhole design, shaped from a nicely figured piece of walnut. I have an affinity for thumbhole stocks, and this one offers an instinctive and natural hold, with a well shaped pistol grip that features a sharp checkering. The raised comb provided a good sight alignment, and I found that I shot this rifle well from any position. I was shooting the rifle off of the tripod rest for prairie dogs out to 100 yards, and knocking them over left and right. The trigger is a 2 stage adjustable match sporting trigger that was tuned to about 20 oz and broke crisply on the second stage, which further facilitated my fieldRead More →

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There has been a lot of talk floating around centering on the anticipated arrival of this first British big bore. Ever since seeing the prototype gun at the SHOT Show and the IWA, I like many others have been very eager to shoot it. On a recent trip to Arizona to do some varmint hunting with several different guns, the guys over at Airguns of Arizona (the US importers of Daystate products) invited me over to shoot it at their facilities, then offered to let me use it for a few days in the field! This is just my first hands on experience with the gun, but based on this I have ordered one and will use it this season for predator hunting, and will also do some range testing with it. My experience with the Wolverine for long range varminting made a positive impression on me!! In a couple days, I shot so many jackrabbits that I almost lost count. I shot several cottontails as well (right), but wanted to focus on the much bigger jackrabbits at longer distances. This is a substantial gun, about that there is no doubt. But the materials used and the superb stock design make the gun lighter than expected and so well balanced that shooting offhand in just about any situation presented no difficulty. Whether you agree with the philosophy or not, the gun is designed to work with a specific pellet and to keep the power to around 100 fpe. I haveRead More →

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“I love the way this gun performs, one of the best all around .25 calibers I’ve shot! This rifle is heading towards my short list of favorite guns” Part I The Pre-Hunt Work Up Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot several guns from the Swedish manufacturer FX, using both the Gladi8tor and Vermintaor on multiple hunting trips, and have always been impressed with the design, quality of build, and performance associated with the brand. So when I received the FX Royale to use on an upcoming hunt out west, I was very excited to see what it could do. Airguns of Arizona sent me the Royale in .25 caliber topped with the 6-18×44 SFIR FX scope. The gun wore a black synthetic thumbhole stock, with an inletted shelf on the left side to support the thumb for a very secure and consistent hold on the rifle during shooting. This configuration yields an excellent sight alignment with medium profile rings. The manual safety is positioned to the rear and under the cocking lever, and can be easily manipulated without taking the gun off shoulder. I am sometimes critical of the fit and feel of bottle type reservoirs on field guns, but this is one of then best designed examples I’ve shot. The metalwork is solid without being at all chunky; it is beautifully executed with a deep glossy bluing. The receiver has an incorporated 11 mm dovetail for mounting a scope, and a side lever cocking action withRead More →

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Falcon Prairie .22 ; Initial Observations The Prairie is an incredibly accurate hunting rifle, which is also plenty powerful. The first time I took it to the range for sight in after mounting a scope, I fired three pellets down range to see where it was hitting. But when I did a walk up could only find one pellet hole near the edge of the target. I figured the other two were off the paper, so went back and dialed to the left and down and shot again; this time five shots that I could see slightly enlarging a single hole. I zeroed the scope at 40 yards, and spent a couple hours punching holes in paper, and was very impressed by what this gun was capable of. I have often said I’m a good, but not exceptional marksman. However, I was blown away at how consistent my results were with this Falcon. The reason that this level of consistency can be achieved is the target grade barrel, and the balanced air valve design which allows these guns to deliver the shot-to-shot consistency of a regulated gun. As the afternoon went on, I noticed that there was a stand of trees about 75 yards away with a partially bare tree that grackles, starlings, and other (good) birds were perching on before flying to their nests under the roofs and in openings of the outbuildings. I’ve had permission to shoot on the property surrounding a local factories storage facilities for aRead More →