Last month I purchased a .22 cal Beeman R-9 goldfinger combo but believe it or not this morning was the first chance I had to put it through it's paces on my backyard range testing all my .22 cal pellets, shooting chrony strings with each pellet, and doing the final sighting in with the best performing pellet. I will be making a post in the "Review Gate" giving my impressions of the gun, as well as the pellet and chrony info, but this post here is about the guns first hunting trip. After sighting the rifle in for JSB Predator pellets I jumped in the truck and headed to a small wooded lot that usually has some squirrels running around. I was really anxious to test out the gun on a live target.
I still hunted through the woods for an hour and a 1/2 but just couldn't find any bushytails. I gave it my best but could not find a squirrel anywhere. I switched tactics and tried to locate some rabbits in a lage brushy field adjacent to the woods but again, no luck. Light was starting to fade so I got back in the truck and headed home very disappointed. I don't mind coming home from a hunt without any game bagged, but I really wanted to test out the rifle on a squirrel.
I pulled into my driveway, got out of the truck and as I looked into my backyard I scanned the large oak trees behind the house. I've been trying to thin out the squirrel population in my yard to prevent them from destroying my feeders so I am always on the look out for the culprits. As I looked into the top of one of the largest trees I saw the wisp of a tail sticking out from behind a large branch. He knew I was there and he was clutching the opposite side of the tree. I knelt down next to the house, adjusted the scope to the proper distance which was 20 yards, and waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later I see him poke his noggin around the branch to take a peek.
All I could see was his tiny head next to the branch, but considering the way the predators performed when I sighted it in I knew I could hit him. I placed the crosshairs on the white hair underneath his chin and squeezed. I heard the "thwack" followed by Mr. Bushytail falling limply out of the tree. Pellet hit him exactly where I aimed, right under the chin and exited the other side of his head just underneath his eye. He hit the ground and didn't even twitch. No better Karma than bagging a tree rat with the first hunting shot from a new rifle :)
I had my oldest daughter take some pics so I'd have some to post. In one of the shots you can see where the pellet hit him under the chin. I'll post my "review" of the gun probably tomorrow, but I will say that I absolutely love this gun !! :)
