Diana 48 .22 makes its 2nd kill..

[only1harry]

It was only 24hrs ago the unscoped Diana 48 .22 harvested its 1st squirrel.

Today I realized I have wireless in my laptop and could work from the porch if I wanted to   So I took the laptop out there around 2:30pm along with the 48 and went to work, frequently checking the trees for movement.  About 3:30 I decided to take a few practice shots and get the seal heated up in case a nutter decides to show up.  The first couple of shots shoot a little high when it's "cold".

I had taken 3 shots at my 19yd target and 1 at the 25yd one, when I went to cock the gun again but heard a little "crack" up in the trees.  I cocked the gun quickly and scanned the trees.  10min later I had spotted nothing and as I was turning to my laptop I saw something out of place in one of the trees.  I had spotted part of a Gray's tail hanging down from a branch about 23-24yds out!  He was laying very low and flat on a very small branch.  I used my Bushnell 12x32 binos to evaluate the situation.  He was eye balling me with 1/2 his eye!  Only half the eye was exposed and most of his ear and the upper half of its body.  He looked terrified.  Probably when I started shooting the 48 he froze and tried to conceal himself.  This one looks like the female's mate when they both came yesterday.  He must have seen me shoot her.  He was up on the same tree where I was watching the 2 squirrels running around yesterday but he was a little closer to me on a long thin branch.  He was not broadside, nor facing me, but something in-between. 

I looked at him for a good 2-3min. with the naked eye to get my eyes focused better on his position, and whatever little of his head was exposed.  I then got on my knees on the porch floor and rested on the window sill with the 48 at hand and a 14.3gr CP loaded.  He was up there, about 40ft high so I had to get on the floor so I could rest my palm on the sill.  I put the front sight on his ear or whatever seemed to me to be his head, and squeezed.  I heard a "thwak" and the squirrel dropped to the ground and started doing some small twitching spastic moves and then expired very quickly.  He never moved from where it hit the ground.  I never expected to hit him, and I was certain I was going to hit the branch or shoot over his head, because I only had between 0.5" and 0.75" of body and head exposed - to work with.  On top of that the front sight blade being so thick, covered most of my very "small" target, so I thought I had no chance! 

The CP had entered below the ear at an angle and traveled back through the neck and out the top of the back of its neck!  It broke the spine again!  No wonder the squirrel could not do a death dance, but only kicked the rear legs a little and slightly twitched.  I love my new 48!!  I can't wait to put some glass on her because the front fast sight is kind of getting to me and have to estimate a lot..  But I can't complain   She is right on target every time.

In a couple of the pics you can also see the small 14ft tall hill (37-38yds long) that is in the back of my house where I do most of the shooting.  There are 15 Groundhog holes there in a ~30-35yd stretch, unfortunately all empty hehehe.  Look for the incline that goes up beyond the gun in the pics. There used to be more trees there but many of them have fallen the last few years as they got taller.  I just hope one of them does not land on my roof or my living room

[dk1677]

A nice second break in shot Harry!

[timegoat]

Nice going, Harry! And might I add, pulling the laptop onto the porch is a stroke of genius! Might have to do the same thing myself. I got another gray floating around out back but haven't got a bead on 'em yet. Web work outside with a rifle close at hand might just be the answer.

- Mark

p.s. There's also another munk out there somewhere. Heard it giving the alarm cry, but couldn't see it. All in good time.

[Atchman2]

I'd do it but I'm too lazy.   Nice shooting man!  I'm finally back from working out of town and the ding donger has went off already!  It is prime time possum time! 

Nice shooting with the 48!  I still don't see how you can stand the sights on it   File that bad boy down! 

[Lochlainn]

Harry, you said usually your first couple of shots usually shoot high until the seal warms up. I find the same exact thing happens to me. I am trying to figure out how I should zero in my scope to compensate for that. If I am stalking some squirrels in the woods, I will basically be firing from a "cold" gun because I am not shooting one after an another. So I would assume I would have to zero in lower than normal so that the first 1 or 2 "cold" shots are right on the money. I am new to hunting with airguns so I have been trying to figure out how to deal with this phenomenon.  Do you zero your scope low so they will hit right on the bullseye for the first couple of shots ? Or do you just fire a few shots before you head out ? How long do you think the seal stays "warmed up" ? Trying to figure out if I get it zeroed in on a warmed up gun..say after shooting 50 shots it's holding zero, if I shoot it a few times the next day when I get to the woods... I wonder how long it stays warmed up and on target...1 min ? 5 min ? 15 min ? etc. How do you deal with this phenomenon in regards to hunting?

[bradyman1]

Harry, you said usually your first couple of shots usually shoot high until the seal warms up. I find the same exact thing happens to me. I am trying to figure out how I should zero in my scope to compensate for that. If I am stalking some squirrels in the woods, I will basically be firing from a "cold" gun because I am not shooting one after an another. So I would assume I would have to zero in lower than normal so that the first 1 or 2 "cold" shots are right on the money. I am new to hunting with airguns so I have been trying to figure out how to deal with this phenomenon.  Do you zero your scope low so they will hit right on the bullseye for the first couple of shots ? Or do you just fire a few shots before you head out ? How long do you think the seal stays "warmed up" ? Trying to figure out if I get it zeroed in on a warmed up gun..say after shooting 50 shots it's holding zero, if I shoot it a few times the next day when I get to the woods... I wonder how long it stays warmed up and on target...1 min ? 5 min ? 15 min ? etc. How do you deal with this phenomenon in regards to hunting?

Yeah I want to know this too. Great question Lochlainn.

[only1harry]

Thanks guys! 

Yeah I don't know why I didn't think about taking the laptop to the porch before and work and shoot at the same time   I won't be able to do it for much longer though.  The cold weather will be here before I know it. 

Randy:  I don't like "defacing" my guns.  The more original they stay I feel the better it is or the more the resale value.  I 'll be scoping it in the next couple of week so it's no big deal for me.  It's performing really well with that fat front sight and I am managing ragged hole groups which blows my mind, so I 'm leaving it.  I have the iron sights adjusted to where all I have to do is just put the tip of the front blade right under the bullseye or target, and the pellet will strike just a hair above it.  So that way I can still see the 0.75" and 1" black bullseyes I use, or most of a squirrel's body or head.

Lochlain:  You can't really zero the gun for that.  I just compensate and aim slightly lower for the first 2-3 shots and then it's dead on.  This is very common with Springers, and most of them tend to shoot high for the first few shots. 
I am not sure how long the gun stays "warm" after you stop shooting, but it has to be several minutes, because I have taken small 5min. breaks to go to the bathroom or get a drink, or make an instant coffee, come back and it still shoots pretty "normal", but that's after taking 50 shots.  It would depend on how much you had shot it.  If you only took 3 shots, I would imagine within a couple of minutes and depending on the ambient temperature, that the seal would go back to its original size.  If you took a lot of shots and the seal was well expanded and heated, it should take a little longer to go back to original state.  Now having said that, the POI (point of impact) should not be considerably higher when the gun is cold.  If it's like an inch at 25 or 30yds, that's too much.  My Diana Springers shoot 0.3" to 0.5" high at the most at 25yds.  You should still be able to make a decent shot on a critter unless your gun shoots 1" high which is kind of excessive, and could possibly indicate higher tolerances (not tight enough) are present in your airgun.

[Atchman2]

Gimme break! The only way you are selling your guns is at your estate sale.  

[Lochlainn]

Thanks guys!  

Yeah I don't know why I didn't think about taking the laptop to the porch before and work and shoot at the same time  I won't be able to do it for much longer though.  The cold weather will be here before I know it.  

Randy:  I don't like "defacing" my guns.  The more original they stay I feel the better it is or the more the resale value.  I 'll be scoping it in the next couple of week so it's no big deal for me.  It's performing really well with that fat front sight and I am managing ragged hole groups which blows my mind, so I 'm leaving it.  I have the iron sights adjusted to where all I have to do is just put the tip of the front blade right under the bullseye or target, and the pellet will strike just a hair above it.  So that way I can still see the 0.75" and 1" black bullseyes I use, or most of a squirrel's body or head.

Lochlain:  You can't really zero the gun for that.  I just compensate and aim slightly lower for the first 2-3 shots and then it's dead on.  This is very common with Springers, and most of them tend to shoot high for the first few shots.  
I am not sure how long the gun stays "warm" after you stop shooting, but it has to be several minutes, because I have taken small 5min. breaks to go to the bathroom or get a drink, or make an instant coffee, come back and it still shoots pretty "normal", but that's after taking 50 shots.  It would depend on how much you had shot it.  If you only took 3 shots, I would imagine within a couple of minutes and depending on the ambient temperature, that the seal would go back to its original size.  If you took a lot of shots and the seal was well expanded and heated, it should take a little longer to go back to original state.  Now having said that, the POI (point of impact) should not be considerably higher when the gun is cold.  If it's like an inch at 25 or 30yds, that's too much.  My Diana Springers shoot 0.3" to 0.5" high at the most at 25yds.  You should still be able to make a decent shot on a critter unless your gun shoots 1" high which is kind of excessive, and could possibly indicate higher tolerances (not tight enough) are present in your airgun.

Thanks for the reply Harry I remember when I was shooting a Trail NP (which I returned because it had a few defects...canted scope mount base and a few other things) I would always have it zeroed in and then the next day I would shoot the first 1-2 shots were about an inch high..then if I kept shooting they would begin to move south again and arrive back close to where I zeroed in in a bout 10-20 shots or so. Always drove me nuts. I recently picked up a Storm XT and it also seems to behave like that as well although not as extreme. But it still shoots close to and inch high for the first shot or two. I have just been trying to figure out how to deal with it in regards to hunting. I guess I will just have to aim a bit low for the first few shots. Sometime I should do an experiment and see exactly how many shots shoot high and then trying doing some time tests...shoot a few shots until it warms up and then try different intervals of time to shoot the next shot...like 1min...5min...7min..10min..15 min....30 min etc. and see at what point the seal cools down and causes the pellet to hit low again. Because out in the woods you only shoot a few pellets so it can't get very warm in the chamber for very long... Now shooting 50 shots which each shot producing over 2000 degrees in the chamber must warm up the receiver quite a bit and provide plenty of thermal energy for a while as opposed to the heat that is stored in the surrounding metal when only a few shots are fired. It must cool down much faster after only a few shots are fired as opposed to a target shoot session. Interesting stuff

[Atchman2]

Man that sounds way too much like loose bolts somewhere. Either stock screws, scope mounts, etc.  It shouldn't be off that much.  I can pick up most of my guns (that are accurate) and put the first shot close enough to kill a squirrel at least! 

[only1harry]

Yeah 1" high at 20yds is too much, but at 30yds is about typical with the first cold shot, 2nd should be lower, 3nd even lower or close to the Bull. 

You are right Randy!  I don't know what I was thinking.  Looking back at my airgun sales track record, I have sold none, so they will probably be included in my will, hehe 

[Atchman2]

I've sold a couple, but at a huge loss.  They were just so wild I couldn't tame them!  The new owners sorted them out and they are shooting great for them!  That is good though because I had reached a point where I couldn't stand them anymore. 

[longislandhunter]

Whenever I go hunting I always take a couple of practice shots with the rifle before I head into the woods.  I do this to "warm it up" and also to get the "feel" for the trigger. 

Jeff

[gamo2hammerli]

Harry, great account of your squirrel hunt.  Wow...a head-shot....and practically just a sliver of opening to land that shot.

[Erskine]

"Cold Bore" zero, Harry.  A hunter is almost always shooting on a "cold bore".  Military snipers understand this concept and zero their weapon for that "cold bore" shot, because it is the only shot that matters in the real world ... unless you are shooting at a whole flock of squirrels...

[only1harry]

Thanks Stanley.

Erskin, yes, that would be Lochlainn's best choice.  I shoot paper regularly, so I can't do that.  The 48 is actually not bad, <1/2" high at 20yds.  The 350's are worse, and the 36 is actually very minimal but it's there.  I have just gotten used to compensating when shooting the gun "cold".  It just comes 2nd nature to me when I aim at a critter with a cold gun.  However, my PCP's do not seem to have that problem, and I have never compensated when using them.  I have shot them in 10-15deg. weather at racccons and the 1st pellet always hit the critters where the crosshairs were.  About a month ago I shot a very large Groundhog at 41yds with a Condor and the pellet just hit it between eye & ear perfectly where I was aiming.  It's the Springers I am more careful with when taking that 1st cold shot.