A buddy and I were heading out this morning to do some starling sniping and I decided to take along a tin of Gamo "Rocket" pellets and try them in the field for the first time. They shoot extremely well out of my .177 S1k, with very tight groups, so I thought I'd give them a try. I originally bought them to use on squirrels when small game season opens here, but I wanted to see what they would do to starlings. Anyway, I was very impressed with their performance. Every bird I hit, from 10 yards out to 40 yards, dropped like a stone. I usually use Beeman Crow Magnums or RWS Super HP's on starlings, and they work well, but the Rockets worked equally well, just in a different manner. The rockets basically blasted almost cleanly through the birds but didn't leave them wounded or flopping around, just stone cold dead, so perhaps the claim of the pellets "shocking power" is true. Of course the real test for me will be taking aim at a thick skinned squirrel, but I will definately use them again on my starling hunts, especially if the wind kicks up. It was rather windy today while I was shooting and while the wind had an effect on the crow mags I shot, the rockets handled the wind much better. My buddy and only got to shoot for about an hour and 1/2 but we bagged a mess of starlings and had a great time.
