My very first pigeon, and at literally point blank range

[oldpink]

This is definitely an unconventional hunt if ever there were one.
I work a job that requires me to be up at unusually late hours, walking through buildings, and the night before last, I was in the upstairs penthouse of a building at my site about to leave, when I noticed a mass of bird droppings on the ventilation duct.
I slowly walked back to the area of the duct, spotting several small gray feathers that had clearly been deposited recently, since they had not been blown off yet.
I then took out my Surefire flashlight to look around above the duct, seeing a hole in the ceiling about one foot square, and that was when I spotted the large gray feral pigeon just sitting on the underside of the ceiling, looking over the hole.
Somehow, this bird had found a way through a small hole somewhere in the eaves and was now unable to find his way out, and he would eventually die of starvation or thirst, then rot in the upstairs of this building, probably above the ceiling, stinking up the place and attracting bugs and other nasty critters.
The pigeons in this part of the country are disease ridden little invaders, and my own brother got infected with histoplasmosis from them two years ago, and it came within a hairsbreadth of blinding him in one eye.
Only the miracles of modern science using laser surgery saved him from blindness in that eye.
I had nothing to get the pigeon out of the ceiling on me that night, so I came up with a plan.
When I went to work the following night (last night), I took along my gas ram powered .22 caliber Gamo CFX and a tin of JSB Predators.
As I climbed upstairs with the rifle and tin of pellets in hand, I was doubtful that the pigeon would still be there, but I reasoned that the Predators would be the best choice if he were, both for knockdown power and to prevent overpenetration.
I took out my Surefire again, shining it up at the hole in the ceiling again, and the pigeon was still sitting exactly where he was the previous night.
The ceiling was about nine feet up, and I am rather tall, so I loaded a Predator, then held the flashlight in my left hand as I held the CFX in my right, resting the cheekpiece of its buttstock against the underside of my right forearm to stabilize it.
I then carefully raised the CFX to the hole in the ceiling, not using the sights at all, only pointing the muzzle until I had that muzzle only about one foot away from the pigeon, pointed where I was pretty sure I would have it directed at his sternum.
I squeezed the trigger and heard the hard crack of the pellet striking something.
I was at first worried that the pigeon would retreat into the huge area between the ceiling and the eaves, where he would still decay, but instead he simply dropped out, bounced off the duct, then landed on the floor.
He only flapped once on the way down, then folded up as he hit the floor, completely expiring within thirty seconds.
I grabbed a plastic bag from the trash barrel that was nearby to carry him out, snapping a photo with my cell phone when I had the opportunity, then tossing him into the woods near the site so the critters (opposum, raccoons, fox, or skunk) could get a free meal.
As I said, because of the histoplasmosis, I don't eat pigeons, and this was the first I ever took.
As you can see from the photo, the Predator struck him almost perfectly where I had intended, right at the bottom of the sternum, angling upward into the high chest cavity.
Better still, the pellet never exited, even though it was going its full 554fps at the extreme short range I struck him with it, proving its worth to prevent overpenetration.
It's very rare when a plan I have goes exactly as I had intended, but it all went perfectly in this case.
Scratch one disease spreader.

The pigeon:


The Gamo CFX:


Just a bit of info about my rifle used here.
Gamo CFX with Air Venturi gas ram
Sun Optics model SM002 11mm to Weaver adapter rail -
Beeman scope stop - https://www.pyramydair.com/product/beeman-scope-stop?a=688
Leupold steel PRW Low Weaver style 1" rings -
Centerpoint 3-9x40mmAO scope - https://www.pyramydair.com/product/centerpoint-adventure-class-3-9x40ao-rifle-scope-illuminated-mil-dot?a=1656
My scope is identical to this the one in the link here, but without the red/green reticle illumination, since the model with it came out right after I bought mine.
Yes, that's CharlieDaTuna's/Bob's magnificent GRT-III trigger on the Gamo - http://www.charliedatuna.com/Testimonials%20GRT%20III%20Trigger.htm

[Furseeker]

Great shot and good looking shooter.

[only1harry]

Wow 1ft shot!  Nice pesting and sneaking up on it! 

So CFX guns only shoot Predators at ~550fps in .22?  Or did the Air Venture gas ram reduce the velocity?  I thought they 'd be more powerful.  Still surprised it didn't go through.  That tells you it expanded well and spent all its energy in the bird.  It also tells me they are really tough birds, if you got no passthrough at almost point-blank range.  Nice story!

[oldpink]

Wow 1ft shot!  Nice pesting and sneaking up on it!  

So CFX guns only shoot Predators at ~550fps in .22?  Or did the Air Venture gas ram reduce the velocity?  I thought they 'd be more powerful.  Still surprised it didn't go through.  That tells you it expanded well and spent all its energy in the bird.  It also tells me they are really tough birds, if you got no passthrough at almost point-blank range.  Nice story!

About the muzzle velocity, it does puzzle me that it only gets that much with Predators, although I consider it enough for what I do, and I use the JSB Exact Jumbo almost exclusively for all the rest of my shooting, and it gets somewhere over 600fps.
This subject reminds me that I need to re-Chrony all the rest of my pellets to check.
One other that I did recently check was the Crosman Premier Hollow Point, which gets 601-658fps.
I also have not done any tuning or seal replacement whatsoever on the CFX, so it's very likely that there are nicks and wear on some components, especially since I have already fired between 3,000 and 4,000 shots through it.
I'm already hearing the call to build my own spring compressor, and start going through all the wealth of information from those who have tuned their CFXs.
I have never done that before, but I want to keep the gas ram, and I'm thinking of basically honing away all burrs, replacing seals, lubing, and using a few of the tricks (aluminum can?) that others swear by when they tune.
I have a hunch that I will be able to realize at least 100fps more muzzle velocity with each of my pellets once I get all that done properly.
Then, there should be some accuracy improvement, although mine gets 0.44" five shot groups @ 25 yards with JSB Exact Jumbos (15.8 grains), and it manages to put six other pellets within 0.55" maximum at that range.
The JSB Predators produce 0.61" @ 25 yards.

[longislandhunter]

Good shooting and nice pic 

Jeff

[dk1677]

Nice shooting on that pest!