The Soft Touch Members Jim Williamson and Mic McPherson
WILLIAMSON’S THOUGHTS A quality pellet gun can be effective on smaller species of
vermin to surprising distances. The combination of signifi cant practice, an accurate gun, and a scope with a usefully busy reticle (something similar to the Leupold Varmint Hunter’s) are necessary for highly successful shots beyond point blank range. Making hits near 100 yards might not be routine but I succeed often enough to make such attempts worthwhile. Spring 2009, John Anderson (our editor) invited me to join
him and Mic McPherson on a Richardson’s ground squirrel hunt. I took along several conventional rifl es, a spring-powered pellet pistol, and my air-powered rifl e. For the pellet rifl e, I took one high-pressure air tank and 1,500 pellets. When fully charged, my air tank will recharge the gun
at least 50 times. Each recharge of the air reservoir in the gun gives about 35 pellet launches at near full velocity (about 830 fps). Therefore, one air tank allows me to fi re more than 1,750 full-power shots. (My special tank will safely hold 4,500 psi, which is signifi cantly more pressure than the average air tank will safely withstand.) In two full days of shooting, I ran out of pellets after mak-
ing more than 700 kills. Most of the targets were Richardson’s ground squirrels. Most were at ranges from about 15 yards to about 40 yards but many were well beyond that distance. The longest measured kill was at about 75 yards. I also took two full-grown black-tailed prairie rats. Each of
those required several well-placed hits. Such a target is asking a bit much of a 22-caliber pellet. Spring 2010, McPherson and I hunted the same area, but
Anderson could not join us. I hunted less with the airgun and more with centerfi re guns. Nevertheless, I took several hundred Richardson’s with pellets. Again, most of those shots were at less than about 40 yards. Pellet guns have signifi cant advantages over any regular
gun. Chiefl y, these are quiet and inexpensive to shoot. Quality pellets cost only a few pennies each and the air, or muscle power, is essentially free. Because of simple convenience, for most folks a modern
quality spring rifl e is probably a better choice than an air rifl e. However, as a retired fi refi ghter, I have several high-pressure air tanks. This changes the balance. For me, the airgun is a bet- ter choice. One persistent problem with scoping an airgun of any type
is that quality scopes that are otherwise ideal will not focus and parallax zero to close enough distances for common shots. I have discussed this situation with several manufacturers. So far, the demand just has not been suffi cient. Perhaps that will change. A signifi cant advantage of hunting such vermin with a
pellet rifl e is that landowners tend to have an entirely different perspective about such guns, compared with any conventional gun. Lack of noise is one obvious reason. What they cannot hear will not bother them. On one farm, the landowner allowed me to hunt all around the house while she was home. Mic had a Hornet and Barnes Varmint Grenade loads that are far safer against ricochets, even when compared with a
Williamson with kill and supplies: Gun, pellets (in pouch), binocular, and air tank. He stages the tank in a central location so that getting a refi ll does not require much of a walk. He also carries extra pellets in a can in a pocket. The barrel extension improves accuracy.
simple BB gun, but you can bet that he never would have gotten permission to do such hunting, even if she had not been home. Perception matters.
MCPHERSON’S COMMENTS I was amazed at the amount of entertainment Williamson
achieved with his pellet gun. I know that he eradicates thousands of vermin annually for friends and neighbors who live within a few tens of miles of his home in southern California but it was enlightening to observe what a serious marksman could do with such a gun. I took several dozen shots – enough to learn that hunting
Richardson’s with an airgun is perfectly feasible; and, enough to learn that I would need considerable practice to approach Williamson’s level of expertise. I am interested. However, I do not need another hobby. So,
for now, I will stick to primers and nitro compounds to power my shooting fun. One reality of pellet-gun hunting is that most shots do not
result in instant kills. This might bother some folks. However, regardless of gun used, wounded vermin are part of the reality of what we do. Nothing is perfect. One compensation, as Jim has noted, is that he can hunt with a pellet rifl e without disturbing anyone and without signifi cant expense or concern about rico- chets ranging beyond about 200 yards (even under the worst of circumstances).
www.varminthunter.org Page 133
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