45 Ranger

[roachcreek]

I purchased my Ranger 45 and recieved it around April of this year.  I wanted a powerful big bore and from all I had read the Ranger was producing as much power in a 45 bore as anything out there.  I wanted it for big game hunting, elk and deer and had first considered the 58 that XPairguns manufactures, but finially diecided that the 45 would give me a little more reach.

I have killed a lot of elk in my life and plan on shooting my next one with a air rifle.  The area I hunt in consists of about a one square mile area of canyons and mountain mahogney that I carved trails thru years ago to hunt elk with Black Powder cartridge rifles.

I also wantd a rifle that I could cast my own bullets for, at one time I was an avid caster having 33 bullet molds, but I had sold them.  I had competed in 1000 Yard Blackpowder cartirdge gong shooting, so a 45 rifle seemed to fill the bill for me.


After recieving the rifle, I tried a couple of commercial available bullets, mostly hollowpoints and bullets designed for the 45 Long Colt due to the bore size of .452 of the Ranger.  Butcher had given me a link to Accurate molds and while looking thru his catalogue I settled on a mold that was oringinally a 458 mold and had it made in .452.

\
THis bullet produces excellent accuracy and up to 600 FPE of energy.  I get between two and three shots per fill at 4300 PSI on high power.

[melloroadman]

Nice to see you post here RC . Hope you continue . Buy the way when is the drawing for elk tags ? And is that your 100 yard target ? Marvin

[ronbeaux]

Congrats! Good hunting!

[Butcher45]

Great to see you posting here RoachCreek!  There are analytical thinkers/communicators in this community that you will surely appreciate.

Guys, RoachCreek knows shooting/hunting, and has documented the most consumer XP-Ranger testing using all three of it's power levels.  Didn't take long for RC to find a few accurate (we're talking M.O.A. and sub-M.O.A. ACCURATE here) designs for that Ranger, weighing anywhere from 154grains, to 207grains, to 400+grains!  Pretty impressive to say the least.

RoachCreek.....take a good long look the hunting section here at Gateway.  It's the most active airgun hunting/pest control forum I've seen, so there is a lot to see!  Got some people that are serious about targeting coyotes on here as well. 

[jetmangd]

 Congratulations on a most Awesome .45 Caliber Powerhouse Big Bore Rifle. Happy Hunting.




                                                                            Jetman

[roachcreek]

Marvin,

No that is a 50 yard group, here are a couple 100 yard groups.



THe drawing was in May, but I will not be going elk hunting this year, maybe next.  I do have a spike Blacktail I have been watching since he was a fawn on one of the vineyards here that I might try the Ranger on, or even one of those new 25's.

Thanks Butcher, I will take a look at the hunting gate.

[airpuffhunter]

congrats, excellent choice of gun

[amb5500c]

Welcome to the GTA. Very cool gun. Good luck and have fun.
Richard

[lloyd-ss]

RC,
Good to have you posting here.  The Ranger certainly seems to have hunting power and accuracy as it 2 main goals... and it delivers.  Nice looking 50 yd group.    I always have to chuckle when I happen to lay a big bore target next to a .177 target.   The contrast is so extreme.
And good luck on the hunting with that rifle!
Lloyd

[Butcher45]

RC,
Good to have you posting here.  The Ranger certainly seems to have hunting power and accuracy as it 2 main goals... and it delivers.  Nice looking 50 yd group.
Lloyd

Did you notice that last .31 c-to-c@100yards group?  That's what I'm talking about!

[lloyd-ss]

RC,
Good to have you posting here.  The Ranger certainly seems to have hunting power and accuracy as it 2 main goals... and it delivers.  Nice looking 50 yd group.
Lloyd

Did you notice that last .31 c-to-c@100yards group?  That's what I'm talking about!

I think I was distracted by the other markings on that target. 
But yeah! when a gun does that a couple of times, it kinda puts the onus back onto the shooter. I've never shot a BB pumped that high, but I have shot them at that power level and it really does throw an extra level of effort onto the shooter to maintain consistency.
With some good shot placement, it looks like another elk is goin' down! Got the gun to do it!   
Lloyd

[roachcreek]

The Ranger is truely an accurate gun.

It does take some wallet dedication to run a rifle that needs 4500 PSI and a supply of heavy cast bullets.

You have to have a 4500 compressor or nitro tanks at 6000 PSI, a few scba bottles, and if your hunting far from home, you are well served with a booster.

When I made the descision to get the Ranger, and realizing I was not made of money, I sold almost all my collection of air rifles and pistols, then added considerable money to that for the gear to feed it.

So now I am down to three rifles, a 25 Condor with a Airarcher kit, which looks like the Axis powers did scientific experiments on it, a superb little AAS410 and the Ranger, do I regret the transformation?

Not at all.

Funny thing is I used to look at Wolf's and Royales and wish I had that kind of money, in the long run I could have had both for what this cost me, but again, I do not regret it.

It is like they say you can only shoot three of them at a time.

[lloyd-ss]

Well, if you can only have 3 airguns, you've made some really nice choices.

[pindog2000]

Wise choice bro I recently got rid of 75% of my sprinters keeping only my elite 5 to fund a bigbore project.Many asked why get every one of Jack Haley's big bore qb conversion? I say why not?I have from the. 22 to the big. 457 and wont look back enjoy your babies you have some keepers.

[lloyd-ss]

Wise choice bro I recently got rid of 75% of my sprinters keeping only my elite 5 to fund a bigbore project.Many asked why get every one of Jack Haley's big bore qb conversion? I say why not?I have from the. 22 to the big. 457 and wont look back enjoy your babies you have some keepers.

Pindog,
I hope you don't mind me emphasizing your words.    I'm with ya 100% !
(Edit added - but it is also interesting to know what drives each of us to our decisions, and "why not" is as good an explanation as any.)

Lloyd