Sorry Jeff! I had to try out the Predators on the Condor. I 've been practicing with them and I 'm surprised they are very close to the Kodiaks' accuracy up to 30yds. At 40yds the groups start opening up more than the Kodiaks but still not bad. I 've been target practicing shooting up at a ~40-45deg angle at marks or rings on tree trunks & branches at 30 & 40yds. That's where I shoot most of the crows & squirrels, not on the ground.
Had a fresh 2500psi fill on the Condor this afternoon and chronied first 2 shots with 16.5gr Predators. 1,045 & 1,042fps. Shot about another 20 Predators to zero them in at 30yds shooting upwards until I was getting same-hole shots & tight clovers. I 'm guessing the Condor was shooting them somewhere in the mid-900's, or low 30's (fpe) when I was done with the first 22 shots.
I did not see a single squirrel on my property during the 1hr I spent looking for them in the early afternoon but it was a little windy. I then resumed hunting after I finished work around 5:30pm. At 6pm I see a squirrel on the ground at the base of a tree about 25yds out. Oh great and I just zeroed the gun to shoot at the clouds and he 's on the ground! I had him in my crosshairs but he kept on the move. After a couple of minutes up he goes and starts climbing. He finally settled down behind a lot of leaves some 35-40ft up. Perfect, that's what I was target shooting, and he was only a few feet away from the holes in the tree the Predators made and about 2ft lower! I spot a tail, then his body.. he kept moving around back there and I could only see some partial "gray" through the leaves. Finally he comes towards me and gets on top of the leaves.
It's about time. He was facing me and put something in his mouth. I could only shoot his nose or mouth. I could not see the top of this head very well but had a very clear shot of his upper chest and neck. I then decided, what the hek, let me save some meat (like a couple of grams, hehe) and go for a mouth/nose shot to see if the pellet exits out the back of the skull, being the sadist that I am :-) Lets really put these Predators to the test. Adjust A/O one more time, which later read ~26-27yds, and take the shot. The nutter drops hitting a lot of branches on the way down, bounces off them, and hits the ground with no further movement.
Unfortunately I had just missed his "chin" by maybe 2 milimeters and had hit the base of the neck severing a major artery because there was massive blood loss. Pool of blood by the time I walked over and kept coming out later during the pics. Exit point did not have much blood at all but looked like it had also broken the spine going through the neck. It was all pouring out the front and no other head cavities either. I know what happened. I had closed the gap by a few yards and the pellet striked slightly lower as I should have guessed but was too excited to think about it. So the Predators passed the test, but I think any pellet that is propelled from a Condor that finds its target, will do a number on whatever it hits...
Dropped off the big male nutter at the neighbor's and he said to come over tomorrow afternoon as he was putting him in salt water. We are going to feast on 2 squirrels because the one I took on 10/5 remains to be eaten! I 'm going to try and get off work early and have a few beers with my good neighbor who will eat almost anything :)
