First Hunt in over 2 yrs

[Simshaz]

Sold all my gear over 2 yrs ago to help fund the renovation of my 71 Bay Window VW Camper and decided it was time to get another gun. Picked up another US510, same as my last in .177 but this one has some issues ... or is it me ... lol
Had some chips to the laminate i have scraped out with a Stanley blade and repolished, looks like new, came with a hideous Hawke Scope. And has some fliers. I have cleaned the barrel and reset the scope so decided a hunt and scope session was needed.
Rang a few old permissions and had no issue getting access, took some whole maize and pigeon special for the tree feeders, pigeon special gets them on the feeder nice then cut back to whole maize at low cost.
Sighted up and seemed ok. ....... so why did i miss the 1st Rabbit ? ... maybe me pulling it or over estimating the shot.
Rechecked the zero and parallax, scope has to go .. hate it.
1st shot was off. Tweaked to the right and it’s ok again ?
Squizzer pops up 35yds under the trees and sits side on looking into the Paddock ... hello ... man with gun here ...
Just under the ear and he is down. Feeling happier but thinking there is power variation between shots causing the variation in POI . Mmmmmmmmmm
Anyway ... threw him on his back top end of the field as the Crows were coming over and tucked under the hedge ..
Maybe a little late as light fading fast and the birds that have circled back are not looking to land
Still thinking on power drop
This is pulling my confidence
Ok
Home to plan ... going to drill the AT and remove the spring and hammer and give them a polish, if they are dirty as no telling how the gun was treated previously it would cause inconsistency in shot power.
Gun is on the bed in bits, drill the AT out tomorrow and see what its like

[tonyc]

Not pleased to hear you go out hunting before fully checking and understanding the chracteristics of your gun. I'd certainly be checking trajectory and groupings at a various ranges - looking for 9 out of 10 shots in a 20mm group at max hunting range +5yds.

[Simshaz]

As i said i did think i had it sorted with the clean and scoping session, maybe i pulled the 1st shot ...
Shot on the squirrel was spot on .. will do some more testing tonight and see if its the gun or me. I intend to drill the AT and polish the hammer and slide and Chrony it anyway .. gonna take a week or so to get the feeder going so plenty of time to fettle the rifle before the next session. If its not right i won’t hunt with it ..

[Blackbaronfish]

A quick squirt of wd40 on the rail will help to check things out


BBF

[Simshaz]

20 shot string average is 11.69 with a spread of 0.23. Highest was 11.82
Nothing wrong there
Scope is going in the trash next may be head position that’s causing it on parallax .....
If i keep my head dead still and load they are much better .....

[143granville]

bit of practice never goes amiss .
good to hear you are getting back into
hunting rat season is coming soon .

[Simshaz]

She is bang on now, old scope sold and new one will be here any day.
Was just me not liking that old scope so much ... was pellet on pellet when i pulled the scope off to sell it. Just not the right one for me