Air Arms Owners Club

Historically I have always used headshots on whatever vermin I am shooting, and that is still my first choice.
However I was at a new permission recently where there are woodies flying down into the walled garden, and I was holed up in the greenhouse (mind those windows!) to snipe them as they came down.
Problem is that they are always on the move once they are on the ground and getting a reliable head shot was very tricky.

I am after a bit more guidance on exactly how and where to place a body shot in this situation. I wouldn't take one from the front due to the crop, and feel unsure of the side on positioning. Am I best leaving it to head or between the shoulder blade from behind? (This is a standard sub 12 in 177).

What do those of you who decoy them in do?

cheers

Dave

Hi Dave, welcome to AAOC!
Generally speaking I take headshots only from the front, if the bird is sideways on or at an angle I go for the "armpit" but allow just in front or behind depending on how square to you the bird is. With the bird facing away you have a choice of head or spine but go for a placement that puts the shot into the lung/heart area if you miss the spine.
Regards
Tim

Hi Tim,

I'm a returnee from the "old" site, didn't post much there but gleaned a lot of useful information!
With the "armpit" shot I guess the idea is to hit the heart/lung area so the exact aim point is going to depend on the angle of the shot through after point of impact. At some subconscious level I think I was trying to avoid shooting through the wing but there is no real logic to that. Is the side on shot taken just above the wing joint?

Dave

All the right idea, going through the wing is not ideal but just below where the wing joins the body is ideal if the bird is at right angles to you. A well placed shot there tends to drop the bird with little flapping or commotion so less feathers scattered around to deter the others.
If you can position yourself near to a tree where they will sit for a look around, the upward shot is easier!

Thanks for the advice Tim, I have a better mental image now of what I need to do.
Much prefer knocking them out of the trees as they tend to be more static at that point and the head shots work.
Will try the body shots going forward, subject to range and being happy in my mind with what I am doing.

In the meantime, some friends in the village have asked me to help with some rats, so time to dig out the NV and the flat heads

round heads do good job on rats , as well as pigeons .

Between the shoulder blades is probably the safest shot for a woody ... certainly my most preferred one.

thanks for the feedback guys.
I'll certainly try the body shots on pigeons in future if the angles are right.

Granville - yep I tend to use roundheads for shooting normally. A diet of AA fields as that is what I use HFT and it keeps life simple But I was looking at trialling something heavier for short range rat work, and the fact that the flat head types are cheaper is a plus point as well! Means a second set of aimpoints but the NV setup is completely different anyway.

aye up dave,
as you use aa field for hft, then i take it these must be the most accurate in your gun, so they will be by far the best pellet to use for rats or owt else for that matter
i think paul uses bisley magnums because his gun likes em, but i've never had any trouble using .177 jsb exact for rats
not sure if you saw the video on the old site, so i'll put it up anyway
its a bit of a myth really, that flat headed, hollow points, or any other special hunting pellet is best for rats
the fella in the video used jsb exact .177, and despite the overpenetration, you can clearly see some sort of shock transferred to roland, seems very fatal too
the fella does a slow motion video on pigeons but i cant find it, its on youtube somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5rozQFDqVc

Thanks for the link mate, nice video.
Agree that the most accurate pellet is the best to go for, and historically I have always used AA for that reason. I was trying out a few other pellets and got some sample packs to see how they worked out.
The chances are once those are used up I'll go back to the old faithful - there have been plenty of rats, woodies etc that I have dropped to them over the last few years to know they work. But I felt there was no harm in trying other options for short range stuff, there is no way I'd try and use them beyond about 15 yards though