Not a bad morning

[Wade.S]

Myself and Doug .T headed out this am at 0700 to a new ranch that Doug had received permission to hunt birds on. Upon arrival to the ranch we saw many birds flying about, but there is no one spot it keep the birds, ie. feed piles as in the other ranch we like to shoot at. So once you shoot the birds like to leave that area and you need to move on because they may not come back any time soon. This is a cattle ranch and many of the birds were among the cows so we had to pass on a large amount of possible shots. We were able to take 2 crows, 2 starlings, and 11 pigeons however by 0915. Not a bad morning. Here is the photo of the ones we collected.

[adrian]

AWSOME SHOOTING!!!I really want an 850 airmag

[1377x]

nice haul
good shooting

[DougT]

If we weren't worried about a ricochet hitting a cow we could have shot hundreds of times and got MANY more birds.  We had to be very careful of the backstop.  Some of the shooting was way up on scaffolding and grain towers at least a 45* angle.  That was kind of tricky but there was nothing in the distance to worry about so we shot at every pigeon up there.  They sure hit hard falling 100+ feet straight down.....

Also, WadeS was shooting my TF-89 and wasn't used to shooting it so that was an issue.  I just got my 850 running pretty well and don't really know it's trajectory yet so a lot of shots were guessing on how high to hold.  It all worked pretty well as we were over 50% hits.  Numerous shots 40-60 yards.  Under 30 yards were gimme's (this gun is shooting one hole at 25 yards).

Once we hunt this place a few more times we'll figure out the best areas and techniques and we'll be more successful.  Cow crap brown seems to be the best camo color out there.

Adrian, you would like a HPA 850.  I'm running about 1700+# on the regulator and have done a bunch of internal valve mods, trigger work and a heavier hammer spring.  Stock internals it was about 760fps with a 1600# regulator, 800fps after the first series of mods and now sits at about 860fps.  It's pretty cool to pull the trigger and watch the pellet fly and make impact.  It kinda makes a pinging sound when you shoot.  I'll try a few more things to hit 900fps.  We shot about 40? times today and my 22ci tank went from 3200# to about 2650#.  I'm guessing I'll get 80+ shots from this tank.

[adrian]

i was looking at them on the 850 store website and couldnt decide if i should just get one tuned up for hpa or buy one from PA or somewhere and try to do it myself.how did you do yours and how loud is it.i kinda dont want a gun thats much louder than my marauder
As much as i love my mrod i want another pcp but want a .177,and i love the look of 850 with the big tank out front and a big scope.

[DougT]

Adrian,

This is the only HPA gun I've shot so I don't have any real-world comparisons on noise.  My 850 has about a 5" LDC on it and it is not too loud.  I've watched plenty of PCP/HPA guns on YouTube videos and they seem to be much louder than my 850.  The Marauder does seem to be quieter than my 850.  We were shooting in cattle feedlots yesterday and the shooting wasn't bothering them.  

If you don't have machine tools and are mechanically inclined, I'd at least order the parts from The 850 Store already set up for your power goals.  Matt at Expert HPA is great to deal with for tanks/regulators and can supply whatever pressure you want.  

Doug

[adrian]

Thanks Doug

[shadow]

Great shooting guy's and super pic of your harvest. Ed

[dk1677]

Nice shooting guys!

[jake]

great shooting! thats not a bad morning at all

[gamo2hammerli]

Very good....15 birds in a span of only a few hours.  Excellent shooting.